Addison Harms’s Reviews > Mirror of Infinity: A Critic's Anthology of Science Fiction > Status Update

harlan ellison's "i have no mouth and i must scream" - 5/5, finally read the short story i got this book for in the first place. absolutely love how visceral and existential this got. very relevant with all of the chat GPT/AI goings on in the news right now. (read a couple months ago but forgot to log)

pa zoline's "the heat death of the universe" - 5/5, running out of characters but this is my fave of the collection

robert heinlein's "all you zombies--" - 5/5, that was literally the most insane short story i've ever read, my brain broke

cordwainer smith's "the game of rat and dragon" - 3.5/5, took a while to grasp what was actually happening but i had a good time once i was able to understand lol

james blish's "common time" - 3.5/5; really liked how the author played with the concept of relativity and how time is a construct, especially when traveling close to the speed of light (or in this case, faster than the speed of light). though i have no clue what the man in the foreword for this story was on about though with the main character being an allegory for sperm?? anyways it was fine

robert sheckley’s “specialist” - 3/5; really weird concept about animate/conscious spaceship parts? i don’t really know how to properly visualize or describe what was happening but i guess that’s the beauty of sci-fi, authors have the freedom to make something super out there

“private eye” by lewis padgett - 4.5/5, super intriguing storyline that reflects our current surveillance state with scary accuracy.

“the sentinel” by arthur c. clarke - 5/5, perfect length, perfect description, perfect ending. really really want to read the full 2001 novel now

issac asimov's "nightfall" - 3.5/5, an interesting concept that dragged out a bit too much for me, i really did enjoy his writing style though (good balance between to the point and descriptive) and am intrigued by his foundation series now

h.g. wells’ “the star” - 4/5, short and effective story about the insignificance of humans in the context of the universe

john w. campbell’s “twilight” - 3/5, i think i might be too dumb to understand