The Great SF Stories #19 features some classic stories: “Poul Anderson’s “Call Me Joe,” “Kate Wilhelm’s “The Mile-Long Spaceship,” and A. Bertram Chandler’s “The Cage.” I remember watching the Outer Limits TV version of Harlan Ellison’s “Soldier” back in 1964. Robert Silverberg shows up with one of his clever stories, “World of a Thousand Colors.” But my favorite story in this anthology is H. Beam Piper’s “Omnilingual,” a story about trying to translate an alien language. I appreciate Piper’s research and skill in writing a very technical story but keeping the “sense of wonder” as events unfold. I’d say 1957 was a pretty good year for Science Fiction! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 9
“Strikebreaker” by Isaac Asimov (aka, “Male Strikebreaker,” SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, January 1957) 15
“Omnilingual” by H. Beam Piper (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, February 1957) 33
“The Mile-Long Spaceship” by Kate Wilhelm (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, April 1957) 89
“Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, April 1957) 103
“You Know Willie” by Theodore R. Cogswell (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, May 1957) 149
“Hunting Machine” by Carol Emshwiller (SCIENCE FICTION STORIES, May 1957) 149
“World of a Thousand Colors” by Robert Silverberg (SUPER SCIENCE FICTION, June 1957) 167
“Let’s Be Frank” by Brian W. Aldiss (SCIENCE FICTION (GREAT BRITAIN) June 1957) 187
“The Cage” by A. Bertram Chandler (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, June 1957) 199
“The Education of Tigress McCardle” by C. M. Kornbluth (VENTURE SCIENCE FICITON, July 1957) 215
“The Tunesmith” by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (WORLDS OF IF, August 1957) 229
“A Loint of Paw” by Isaac Asimov (THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICITON, August 1957) 281
“Game Preserve” by Rog Phillips (WORLDS OF IF, October 1957) 285
“Soldier” by Harlan Ellison (aka, “Soldier from Tomorrow” and later adapted into The Outer Limits 1964 episode “Soldier”, FANTASTIC UNIVERSE, October 1957) 305
“The Last Man Left in the Bar” by C. M. Kornbluth (INFINITY SCIENCE FICTION, October 1957) 335
I wish I had one of these and the time to read it! Good choice!
Bob, James Wallace Harris claims my FFB reviews of THE GREAT SF STORIES series has raised the prices of these books online. Many of the volumes are very pricey now.
I think you and I have caused both the Asimov/Greenberg and Bleiler/Dikty books to go up in price. The last Bleiler/Dikty volume I bought was $100. When I started out I could find them for $15-20. Then it was $40-50. I believe I have one last one to track down. No telling what its cost will be. Don’t want to mention it in case booksellers are lurking.
I’ve been buying up other anthology series before I review them.
Jim, I’ve noticed the prices of all the YEAR’S BEST series–both paperback and hardcover editions–have been rising. I’m picking them up whenever I find them for a reasonable price. I haven’t bought a $100 book in years!
Normally, I’d never pay $100 for a used book either, but I’m really into this reading project. So I rationalized I’m paying for the project and not the book.
Jim, I remember seeing the Asimov/Greenberg and Bleiler/Dikty books in used bookstores for a pittance. I regret not buying multiple copies when they were available and affordable!
Just reading that list of authors makes me yearn for the good old days – of course I was much younger then and more easily expressed, but many of the ideas behind those stories were breathtaking/overwhelming
Wolf, I started reading Science Fiction in the 1950s. Many of these stories take me back to my childhood.
I started reading SF about 1960 or 61. My first book purchases were I, Robot by Asimov and The Mind Thing by Frederic Brown. I started reading the magazines about the same time.
I’m sure I have read most of these stories except maybe the Chandler. The one I remember most is Omnilingual.
Steve, Chandler’s “The Cage” has been anthologized many times. It’s clever. I read I, ROBOT and THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY about the same time you started reading SF. I remember reading Asimov’s books during Study Halls when I should have been doing my homework!
Nice one. Great group of stories. I am pretty sure this is one of the ones I have on the shelf at home waiting for me.
Jeff, I only have six more volumes to reread and review in THE GREAT SF STORIES series. I’ve been at this for over a year and a half…but it’s been fun!
I am going to a book sale tomorrow and will look for one of these collections.
Patti, THE GREAT SF STORIES series is well worth reading…if you can find copies.
Good luck Patti. I have found the selection of older sf books at used book sales in the Detroit area to be pretty slim.
Steve, I have better luck finding older books in thrift stories than Library Book Sales.
My favorite would be “Omnilingual” too, but it would be #2 if Asimov/Greenberg could have included “The Menace From Earth” by Heinlein. And if that great story is missing, what else did they overlook or couldn’t buy?
Jim, I’lll have to reread “The Menace from Earth.” Heinlein is the great missing author in THE GREAT SF STORIES series. Greenberg said they couldn’t buy the rights to Heinlein’s stories.
Did they mean couldn’t because they weren’t for sale, or couldn’t because they cost too much?
Jim, they weren’t for sale.
A weak selection from F&SF that year, though…the Asimov pun story just so-so (a favorite of his and Greenberg’s I guess), the Cogswell well-meaning but not compelling, the Chandler not sticking in memory (so I should re-read it).
“Let’s Be Frank” is an excellent Aldiss story–from SCIENCE FANTASY rather than SCIENCE FICTION…
Thriftbooks will sell you a copy of #19 here for a stiff but not ridiculous 11 bucks and change. Look around a bit before rewarding scalpers…though perhaps this one sold poorly and sparsely available compared to some of the earlier volumes.
Nope, misread the entry. Just under $9.
Todd, the Chandler story, “The Cage,” may be his most popular short story.
The Emshwiller and Wilhelm stories will reward the effort, among others.
And the Kornbluths.
Here’s all the stories that got citations in our database. However, none got at least 8, so no 1957 story made our final list.
https://csfquery.com/SearchResult?yrbegin=1957&yrend=1957&mincite=1&category=story&sortby=7
Jim, 1957 was a good year, but not a great year for SF stories.
Jim, thanks for the link!
I’ll join the chorus in lamenting that I never bought the whole series, never kept the three or four volumes that I did purchase new, and failed to pick up random copies that I saw a couple of times (at reasonable prices) in used book stores in Virginia and Maryland. I’m particularly sorry that I never bought any of the later volumes, like this one, that carried the series into the late ’50s and up into 1963.
Fred, I bought and read THE GREAT SF STORIES as they were published. But, I could have bought duplicate copies at very cheap prices over the years. Now, it’s too late. And, as Jim pointed out, the prices are soaring!
Nice selection of stories.
Rick, 1957 was a pretty good year for SF stories. But 1958 was even better as you’ll see in next month’s FFB on THE GREAT SF STORIES #20!