Status Updates From Science Fiction & Fantasy S...

Okay that’s two bad stories in a row

Wells’ stories: fine, good enough I get why they exist

The second guy’s story: so dissatisfying?

The Folk of the Mountain Door by William Morris. A Nordic tale that was supposedly an influence on early twentieth century fantasy authors. That may be the case, but I did not enjoy reading it. The prose is strong, but archaic, and the text has far too many poems/songs for my liking. I also found the story itself to be pretty unmemorable.

The Regent of the North by Kenneth Morris. Cool, a Viking story! Except that I found it to be very mundane. It felt like reading a history book with elegant prose. This style of short story is just so different from what tends to be popular today.

The Dancer in the Crystal by Francis Flagg. This story imagines a scenario where electricity becomes nullified. Despite the strong premise, the story itself is a little underwhelming. Written in 1929 and taking place in the 1950s, the effect of the complete loss of electricity in the story is actually nowhere near as catastrophic as it would be were this to occur in our world today.

The Sea-Witch by Nictzin Dyalhis. I was completely unfamiliar with this author, and perhaps if would have been best left that way. This was an overly long and largely uninteresting story about, well, a witch? It is Viking-inspired, but quite pulpy and I got very little out of it for the time I invested in reading it.

The Shadow Kingdom by Robert E. Howard. This pre-dates the Conan stories, and is apparently regarded as a highly influential work, considered to be one of the very first truly gritty sword and sorcery story. Be that as it may, I did not find the story particularly interesting or enjoyable to read. It feels pretentious and needlessly excessive. I guess I can at least say that I have read it now?

The Tower of the Elephant by Robert E. Howard. Another Conan story, this one is about a young Conan attempting to steal an artifact from a guarded tower. Again, it is purely an adventure story from another era. It is a good bit of fun with the right expectations, but it lacks any depth. This one is probably slightly more memorable than the previous Conan story in this collection.

The Phoenix on the Sword by Robert E. Howard. A Conan story. I have read a couple of Conan novels long ago. I am not a huge fan. This is more or less what I expected, but at least in short form, it is less of a commitment. It is mildly entertaining, but there is zero depth and it suffers from some very dated tropes that feel a little uncomfortable today.

Within an Ace of the End of the World by Robert Barr. This is a story where a world food shortage occurs at the dawn of the twentieth century. It is discovered that food can be manufactured from nitrogen in the air, but of course that then causes other problems. It was written in 1900, and is a bit bland, but it is an early attempt at tackling certain topics which are still pretty relevant today.

On the Martian Way by Harry Gore Bishop. I was surprised to discover afterward that this was first published in 1907, before the Titanic. I would have guessed that it took some inspiration from that event. Overall it is an average story, with some interesting insight into what we would now say is a pretty archaic view on how "shipping" routes between colonies on different planets might look.

Rats in the Belfry by John York Cabot. An eccentric man builds a bizarre mansion and then discovers a portal. This is perhaps a simple precursor to other similar works that have since presented much more expansive ideas based on this concept. Still, this brief story was worth the small investment.

Moxon's Master by Ambrose Bierce. This starts out with "do you really believe that a machine thinks?" No doubt this was a wild statement in the late 1800s, but with AI prevalent everywhere today, it hardly raises an eyebrow. However, this was an interesting relic of a bygone era, complete with outdated perceptions of technology. And the ending, well, still very much relevant in our world today.

A Visit to the Moon by George Griffith. I cannot say that this was a particularly good story, but it was an interesting read due to its age. This was written in 1900, the same time as H.G. Wells' serialized novel on the same topic. Some of the details seem quite ridiculous today, but it is fascinating to see how some authors envisioned such a trip the better part of a century prior to when it occurred in reality.

The Darwinian Schooner by W.L. Alden. An interesting idea of a story about a schooner found at sea, but ultimately I felt that it never went anywhere very satisfying. There was potential for a deeper story. Modern authors likely would have taken this concept much further.