ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes discussion

Came across Silverberg's first published collection of short stories, called Next Stop the Stars. It's short, 5 stories at 144 pages, and was originally published as part of a Tor Double:
Slaves of the Star Giants
The Songs of Summer
Hopper
Blaze of Glory
Warm Man
Having just finished Hild, I need something lighter weight, so I'm going to knock this out quickly.

Slaves of the Star Giants
1957 story, very pulpy & not particularly good. The hero is mysteriously plopped into an alternate world, a very primitive jungle world with tribespeople, strange creatures, giants & robots!

The Songs of Summer C+
Another mysterious transport of a current (1950s) human into a future where cities no longer exist & tribes appear to be primitive.

Hopper B-
A miscreant middle manager becomes the very thing he's assigned to prevent.

Blaze of Glory C
Not a terrible story, one of sacrifice to save a ship, but one of the main characters personifies one of my pet peeves of authors.

Warm Man B+
The most original story in the book, a take on the myth of the sin eater.

Here is an interesting review of a 1950s magazine issue in which the young Silverberg had several stories, under different names. Review is by Rich Horton.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/17507...