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Ten sci-fi short stories (Bantam #1400)
What if...
- A Time Traveler from the past and future were tampering with today's history?
- A man from Mars suddenly appeared in a midwest suburb, asking directions to the next planet?
-A science fiction writer was betraying atomic secrets he didn't know he had?
What if...
There are the words that turn the wheels and spin the story . . . words that open the way to limitless adventures, with utterly believable characters who are living in worlds that transcend the barriers of space and time.
What if...
- A Time Traveler from the past and future were tampering with today's history?
- A man from Mars suddenly appeared in a midwest suburb, asking directions to the next planet?
-A science fiction writer was betraying atomic secrets he didn't know he had?
What if...
There are the words that turn the wheels and spin the story . . . words that open the way to limitless adventures, with utterly believable characters who are living in worlds that transcend the barriers of space and time.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
140 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1954
21 people want to read
About the author
Wilson Tucker
64 books33 followersArthur Wilson "Bob" Tucker was an American mystery, action adventure, and science fiction writer, who wrote as Wilson Tucker.
He was also a prominent member of science fiction fandom, who wrote extensively for fanzines under the name Bob Tucker, a family nickname bestowed in childhood.
He was also a prominent member of science fiction fandom, who wrote extensively for fanzines under the name Bob Tucker, a family nickname bestowed in childhood.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 12, 2023
Wilson Tucker was a name only vaguely familiar to me before reading this wonderful short story collection. Although he sold over 20 novels and both edited and wrote extensively for science fiction magazines and fanzines, Tucker (1914–2006) made his living as a movie projectionist and theatre electrician. He was one of the early superfans walking in the footsteps of Forry Ackerman, contributing greatly to the development of science fiction criticism and vocabulary – he may be best known for coining the term “space opera”.
This collection, originally titled “The Science-Fiction Subtreaty” was released when “serious” SF was starting to break into the mainstream with writers like Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. In his stories, Tucker takes aim at many of the tropes prevalent in much of the early SF published in the emerging days of the pulp magazine; “heavy-handed and machine-bound [...] The hero wore form-fitting shorts [while] the maiden was always lush”.
The ten stories within are almost all written with a sharp intellect, a stinging satire and a beautiful, precise prose somewhat reminiscent of the best of the hard-boiled detective stories. Some are laugh-out-loud funny in the style of Henry Kuttner or Fredric Brown, while others are more serious in tone, but always written with a wry, mischievous smile. My favourites are “The Street Walker”, set in a future Chicago where walking is outlawed, “Home is Where the Wreck Is”, a satirical take on the “space ranger” subgenre, featuring a completely inept hero and a Leia Organa prototype as princess, as well as “Exit”, a superbly contained little story about four death row inmates trying to escape through the law of infinite probability: that at some point in the history of the universe, the atoms of a prison wall will align with those of a human being, letting one slip through the wall. Few stories have happy endings, at least in a traditional sense.
This collection, originally titled “The Science-Fiction Subtreaty” was released when “serious” SF was starting to break into the mainstream with writers like Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. In his stories, Tucker takes aim at many of the tropes prevalent in much of the early SF published in the emerging days of the pulp magazine; “heavy-handed and machine-bound [...] The hero wore form-fitting shorts [while] the maiden was always lush”.
The ten stories within are almost all written with a sharp intellect, a stinging satire and a beautiful, precise prose somewhat reminiscent of the best of the hard-boiled detective stories. Some are laugh-out-loud funny in the style of Henry Kuttner or Fredric Brown, while others are more serious in tone, but always written with a wry, mischievous smile. My favourites are “The Street Walker”, set in a future Chicago where walking is outlawed, “Home is Where the Wreck Is”, a satirical take on the “space ranger” subgenre, featuring a completely inept hero and a Leia Organa prototype as princess, as well as “Exit”, a superbly contained little story about four death row inmates trying to escape through the law of infinite probability: that at some point in the history of the universe, the atoms of a prison wall will align with those of a human being, letting one slip through the wall. Few stories have happy endings, at least in a traditional sense.
December 29, 2020
Somewhat dated, but competent stories -for their days. They don't publish them like that anymore.
May 23, 2014
2.5 stars rounded up.
May 29, 2015
1983 grade B
short stories
short stories
June 5, 2016
Very humorous collection of science fiction short stories.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews