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Galactic Cluster
The unforeseen:
Two men alone on a space station - an over-zealous colonel and the civilian who tries to talk him out of dropping three hydrogen bombs on Washington, D.C.
A seductive actress signs up for the maiden flight of a space ship so that she can track down the husband who jilted her.
A fiendishly clever agent infiltrates a top-secret government project and threatens the very existence of Earth.
James Blish's starkly realistic stories mirror the perils of the world of the future - a world where scientists can master the intricacies of space travel but cannot yet control the mind of man.
One of the growing number of science fiction authors educated in the field of science, JAMES BLISH graduated from Rutgers as a science major and also studied at Columbia. He is a member of the American Rocket Society, the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, and the History of Science Society. His book, THE SEEDLING STARS, is available in a Signet edition.
Contents:
Tomb Tapper
King of the Hill
Common Time
A Work of Art
To Pay the Piper
Nor Iron Bars
Beep
This Earth of Hours
Two men alone on a space station - an over-zealous colonel and the civilian who tries to talk him out of dropping three hydrogen bombs on Washington, D.C.
A seductive actress signs up for the maiden flight of a space ship so that she can track down the husband who jilted her.
A fiendishly clever agent infiltrates a top-secret government project and threatens the very existence of Earth.
James Blish's starkly realistic stories mirror the perils of the world of the future - a world where scientists can master the intricacies of space travel but cannot yet control the mind of man.
One of the growing number of science fiction authors educated in the field of science, JAMES BLISH graduated from Rutgers as a science major and also studied at Columbia. He is a member of the American Rocket Society, the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, and the History of Science Society. His book, THE SEEDLING STARS, is available in a Signet edition.
Contents:
Tomb Tapper
King of the Hill
Common Time
A Work of Art
To Pay the Piper
Nor Iron Bars
Beep
This Earth of Hours
128 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1959
5 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
James Blish
454 books327 followersJames Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr.
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.
Blish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Army. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer.
He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. (The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term; Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)
Blish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.
From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.
Between 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. In total, Blish wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970 — the first original novel for adult readers based upon the series (since then hundreds more have been published). He died midway through writing Star Trek 12; his wife, J.A. Lawrence, completed the book, and later completed the adaptations in the volume Mudd's Angels.
Blish lived in Milford, Pennsylvania at Arrowhead until the mid-1960s. In 1968, Blish emigrated to England, and lived in Oxford until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame.
His name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις"
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 28, 2024
A mixed bag - a "galactic cluster", in fact - of short stories and novelettes, also varying in interest - the stories omitted are ones I didn't find all much that interested me. "Tomb Tapper" I forgot almost immediately after reading. "King of the Hill" is a fantastic piece of Cold War paranoia, almost a companion piece to Dr Strangelove. "Common Time" describes a journey to Alpha Centauri, and is really about time, duration, and the sensation of duration, an interesting viewpoint on one of the staples of science fiction, faster than light travel. "A Work of Art" is a thoughtful piece about art over time, starring a Richard Strauss brought back from the dead in 2061 to write one last opera. "Beep" is about time travel paradoxes and the sleight of hand of James Blish making his plot plausible is the main interest.
March 3, 2020
Full review: https://sciencefictionruminations.com...
"James Blish, famous for his Hugo winning novel, A Case of Conscience, early Star Trek novelizations, and the Cities in Flight series also wrote some interesting short shorties. This volume includes a selection of his work from the 1950s: ‘Tomb Tappers’, ‘King of the Hill’, ‘Common Time’, ‘A Work of Art’, ‘To Pay the Piper’, ‘Nor Iron Bars’, ‘Beep’, and ‘This Earth of Hours.‘
(4/5) ‘Tomb Tappers’ (1956) is a wonderful and haunting story set sometime during Cold War [..]"
"James Blish, famous for his Hugo winning novel, A Case of Conscience, early Star Trek novelizations, and the Cities in Flight series also wrote some interesting short shorties. This volume includes a selection of his work from the 1950s: ‘Tomb Tappers’, ‘King of the Hill’, ‘Common Time’, ‘A Work of Art’, ‘To Pay the Piper’, ‘Nor Iron Bars’, ‘Beep’, and ‘This Earth of Hours.‘
(4/5) ‘Tomb Tappers’ (1956) is a wonderful and haunting story set sometime during Cold War [..]"
December 31, 2018
Unfortunately this one was fairly dated and just didnt work for me
July 23, 2022
Somewhat hit-and-miss short story collection falling short of Blish's usual standards. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/200...
June 8, 2025
2 is being kind
Most stories were so deep in either pure baffle-gab or science so far beyond normal comprehension they were tediously terrible!
Most stories were so deep in either pure baffle-gab or science so far beyond normal comprehension they were tediously terrible!
May 2, 2024
Certaines nouvelles sortent du lot et justifient une bonne position de ce livre dans une bibliothèque.
July 14, 2012
UK edition of a selection of Blish's short stories and novellas. This has somewhat different contents to the US edition under the same collection name.[return][return]Common Time[return]Short about a test pilot flight of a faster than light ship (using the Haertel overdrive, a common strand in Blish's work). The two previous test flights left successfully but never came back, so this one is under total computer control and Garrard's primary job is to stay alive long enough to report back. The opening sequence is a vivid description of the effect of drive on time perception, with the perceived time rate decoupled from the physical time rate. This section is very hard sf in tone. It then goes into a passage that feels very New Wave to me, even though the story predates the New Wave movement. The juxtaposition is rather disconcerting. I've always loved the opening sequence, but I seem to be getting old and cranky as regards the middle section.[return][return]A Work of Art[return]One of my favourite pieces by Blish. Richard Strauss finds himself alive again in 2161, the product of a mind sculptor. As is quickly explained to him, his personality and talent has been recreated in the body of a musically talentless volunteer. Strauss welcomes the chance to write new music, and adapts well if crankily to the changes in society over 200 years, but is not impressed by modern music. He gradually comes to realise what the true artform of this era is. A moving exploration of identity and personality.[return][return]To Pay the Piper[return]The survivors of an apocalyptic war have been living in deep bunkers for years. The war goes on, but one side develops a method to re-educate the population so they can survive on the plague-ridden surface. The hard part -- it's a slow process that for practical reasons is to be restricted to the troops who will be sent to do final battle, but the civilian population want *out*. A politician exploits popular sentiment to lean on the scientists to give him priority... [return][return]Nor Iron Bars[return]Set in the same sequence as Common Time, but somewhat further on in the development of the Haertel overdrive. Space colonisation has begun, but the Haertel overdrive is not yet fit for shipping large numbers of humans. This is an experimental flight of another ftl drive -- and it too has strange effects, this time a disconnect between spatial dimensions. But this ship has passengers, giving the captain an added incentive to find a solution before the various side-effects kill people. Notable for showing an inter-racial couple in a story written in the 1950s.[return][return]Beep[return]Short story later expanded into a short novel, The Quincunx of Time. There's a spreading interstellar culture, and the intelligence service is using the top-secret Dirac transmitter, a communication device that offers instantaneous transmission over unlimited distances. Any message sent on a Dirac device can be picked up by any other Dirac, anywhere. Blish explores the practical and philosophical implications of the technology. I like this a lot, but a lot of people don't.[return][return]Beanstalk[return]Novella about a group of genetically engineered humans, and the problems they face in being accepted by standard issue humans. The group are tetraploids, with features common in polyploid life-forms -- longevity, large size and low fertility. It's an interesting way of looking at racial and cultural discrimination, as the group are of the same genetic stock and culture as the host culture, but are clearly differentiated by their much greater height, and have created their own sexual mores to deal with the twin problems of low fertility and the skewed gender ratio that has resulted from prospective parents being far more willing to use the treatment on male embryos than female. But it somehow falls a bit flat for me.[return][return]Overall, the collection's worth reading, but some stories are definitely more interesting than others.
February 9, 2021
"Galactic Cluster" brings together 8 stories James Blish published in SF pulps in the 1950s. Many stories (and books) from that long-ago time haven't worn well. Silly technology, predictions of the future refuted by events -- not to mention plodding plots and cardboard characters. Blish, who today is probably best known as a writer for "Star Trek," managed to avoid most of these pitfalls. Each story ends with an unexpected twist. The plots are well thought-out, and the characters have some depth.
That said, some elements will make today's readers cringe. "Nor Iron Bars" features a female character who's chasing a man across interstellar space and cannot contain her panic; Blish rather dumps her toward the end of the story, without resolving either her subplot or the sexual tension between her and the starship's captain. On the other hand, the story addresses racial prejudice in a moderate way (the Black character is voiceless and invisible; we see her only through her white fiance).
In these days of corona-time perhaps the most resonant story is "To Pay the Piper," which features an Earth devastated by plagues that have forced warring populations underground. An effort to effect immunity by genetic transformation goes wrong when a trusted leader turns out to be a spy. Race raises its head here again but in a troubling way, as the leader has "Asian" genes eliminated in the white population he supposedly guides.
These stories are not classics. You won't be missing some overlooked works of genius if you never read them. They are, for the most part, solidly written and well-scripted examples of the better productions of the 1950s pulps. Blish fans probably already know them, or, if not, they are likely to be the most appreciative audience. Otherwise, there is so much great SF out there that you can confidently not worry about missing out on "Galactic Cluster."
That said, some elements will make today's readers cringe. "Nor Iron Bars" features a female character who's chasing a man across interstellar space and cannot contain her panic; Blish rather dumps her toward the end of the story, without resolving either her subplot or the sexual tension between her and the starship's captain. On the other hand, the story addresses racial prejudice in a moderate way (the Black character is voiceless and invisible; we see her only through her white fiance).
In these days of corona-time perhaps the most resonant story is "To Pay the Piper," which features an Earth devastated by plagues that have forced warring populations underground. An effort to effect immunity by genetic transformation goes wrong when a trusted leader turns out to be a spy. Race raises its head here again but in a troubling way, as the leader has "Asian" genes eliminated in the white population he supposedly guides.
These stories are not classics. You won't be missing some overlooked works of genius if you never read them. They are, for the most part, solidly written and well-scripted examples of the better productions of the 1950s pulps. Blish fans probably already know them, or, if not, they are likely to be the most appreciative audience. Otherwise, there is so much great SF out there that you can confidently not worry about missing out on "Galactic Cluster."
January 9, 2017
A thinking person's collection of eight science fiction short stories by Blish first published in various magazines between 1953 and 1959.
Tomb Tapper • (1956) • novelette
King of the Hill • (1955) • shortstory
Common Time • (1953) • shortstory
A Work of Art • (1956) • novelette
To Pay the Piper • (1956) • shortstory
Nor Iron Bars (expanded) • (1957) • novelette
Beep • (1954) • novelette
This Earth of Hours • (1959) • novelette
Some of these stories are dated in various ways, such as the first one, 'Tomb Tapper', dealing with the recovery of a crashed Soviet rocket fighter that apparently just dropped a nuke on the east coast of America. I thought 'Tomb Tapper' was among the best of this collection as was 'A Work of Art' which was about the resurrection, in a way, of the composer Richard Strauss in the year 2161.
Although the subjects or story content may be dated, the writing approaches the subjects in a much more intelligent and thoughtful manner than one might expect from '50's science fiction. These are mostly "hard" science fiction tales, and several are loosely related. Overall I liked this collection, although there are a couple weaker stories mixed with the strong ones.
Tomb Tapper • (1956) • novelette
King of the Hill • (1955) • shortstory
Common Time • (1953) • shortstory
A Work of Art • (1956) • novelette
To Pay the Piper • (1956) • shortstory
Nor Iron Bars (expanded) • (1957) • novelette
Beep • (1954) • novelette
This Earth of Hours • (1959) • novelette
Some of these stories are dated in various ways, such as the first one, 'Tomb Tapper', dealing with the recovery of a crashed Soviet rocket fighter that apparently just dropped a nuke on the east coast of America. I thought 'Tomb Tapper' was among the best of this collection as was 'A Work of Art' which was about the resurrection, in a way, of the composer Richard Strauss in the year 2161.
Although the subjects or story content may be dated, the writing approaches the subjects in a much more intelligent and thoughtful manner than one might expect from '50's science fiction. These are mostly "hard" science fiction tales, and several are loosely related. Overall I liked this collection, although there are a couple weaker stories mixed with the strong ones.
March 21, 2010
This is a collection of five short stories set in the same universe in different points in its history, all relating in some way to space travel, except one (To Pay the Piper, possibly the most poignant of the stories).
This is a trick that Blish has done before (on a much larger scale) with his Cities in Flight sequence, but containing it to a single book of short stories seems to work out better than the larger work.
This is a trick that Blish has done before (on a much larger scale) with his Cities in Flight sequence, but containing it to a single book of short stories seems to work out better than the larger work.
January 24, 2009
I read this collection many years ago and recently picked up another copy, it was an enjoyable read.
Some interesting views of the Cold War and 1950's society reflected in these stories. Especially Tomb Tapper, King of the Hill and To Pay the Piper.
My personal favorite is Beep.
Some interesting views of the Cold War and 1950's society reflected in these stories. Especially Tomb Tapper, King of the Hill and To Pay the Piper.
My personal favorite is Beep.
October 6, 2010
Excellent collection of classic 1950s and 1960s stories.
March 11, 2011
Grade C+
April 16, 2017
Science fiction with a twist of wild imaginings
Experiments in faster than light travel…
A soul officer on a heavily armed satellite gone mad…
The famous composer Richard Strauss revived in 2161…
Civilization driven underground in an unending and unwinnable war…
A regime that seems to be able to predict the future…
A meeting with a strange alien race…
In this book Blish has written eight classic, science fiction short stories that exude the hard boiled style of the 1950s. These stories are the first in The Haertel Scholium series. They loosely interconnect in a kind of history, though they certainly can be read as standalone works. Blish also writes fantasy, so be ready for some mind-bending playing with science here. Physics, for example, comes in for some wild imaginings.
For the most part these stories move along nicely, with no dull spots. Occasionally the 'science' is confusing gobbledygook, but thankfully those passages do not go on for two long. The story 'Common Time' has a section involving mental communication with Alpha Centaurians, which is an interesting experiment in psychedelic stream-of-consciousness.
The characters certainly come across as real people, though character development is not really a feature of these stories. 'A Work of Art' is an exception to this. In that story Blish explores the temperament of the artist, and manages to write a quite moving study.
I certainly enjoyed this book and am happy to award it four stars.
Experiments in faster than light travel…
A soul officer on a heavily armed satellite gone mad…
The famous composer Richard Strauss revived in 2161…
Civilization driven underground in an unending and unwinnable war…
A regime that seems to be able to predict the future…
A meeting with a strange alien race…
In this book Blish has written eight classic, science fiction short stories that exude the hard boiled style of the 1950s. These stories are the first in The Haertel Scholium series. They loosely interconnect in a kind of history, though they certainly can be read as standalone works. Blish also writes fantasy, so be ready for some mind-bending playing with science here. Physics, for example, comes in for some wild imaginings.
For the most part these stories move along nicely, with no dull spots. Occasionally the 'science' is confusing gobbledygook, but thankfully those passages do not go on for two long. The story 'Common Time' has a section involving mental communication with Alpha Centaurians, which is an interesting experiment in psychedelic stream-of-consciousness.
The characters certainly come across as real people, though character development is not really a feature of these stories. 'A Work of Art' is an exception to this. In that story Blish explores the temperament of the artist, and manages to write a quite moving study.
I certainly enjoyed this book and am happy to award it four stars.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews