Status Updates From The Folio Science Fiction A...

The Philip K Dick story, “Recall Mechanism,” redeems this collection a bit. It’s fantastic.

Slowly, a squeeze of cold reptile blood toothpastes down the wrinkled flank of one cheek.
- Brian W. Aldiss, “Poor Little Warrior!”

It’s frustrating that Aldiss is the editor of this, because I’m discovering that I don’t share his taste in SF stories any more than I enjoy his own turgid writing. This 8-page story is EXCRUCIATING.

The third story, Asimov’s “Bridle and Saddle,” is a longish chunk of the first Foundation novel. No matter how many times I read it, Foundation remains a MIND-NUMBINGLY boring, obsolete, and deeply flawed book. In his introduction, Aldiss laments that the trilogy isn’t as popular nowadays, but that’s just because we have so many better options now.

No strong opinion on the first story, "Micromégas" by Voltaire, but the second, H.G. Wells's "The Star," was a really welcome reread.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

"Bridle and saddle" - Isaac Asimov

Considering the mass and temperature of the missile that was flung through our solar system into the sun, it is astonihsing what a little damage the earth, which it missed so narrowly, has sustained. [...]
Which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few milion miles


"The star", H.G. Wells

...a great white star, come suddenly into the westward sky!
Brighter it was than any star in our skies; brighter than the evening star at its brightest. It still glowed out white and large, no mere twinkling spot of light, but a small round clear shining disc, an hour after the day had come.

- "The Star", H.G. Wells

Dipping into these short stories -- so far completed five of mixed variety -- choosing the most well known authors although that may be a mistake. The stories are good but some better than others --some of the writing and use of language has been excellent --maybe the plots could have been more adventuress.