TABLE OF CONTENTS:
I was reading John O’Neill’s post on BLACKGATE.COM last week where John finally took Brian Aldiss’s Galactic Empires (1979) collections off his shelf after they sat there for decades (you can read about it here). It struck me I’ve had Aldiss’s Galactic Empires on my shelves for nearly the same amount of time! So I read them.
Brian Aldiss is a wonderful SF writer, of fiction and non-fiction, but he’s also an excellent SF editor. I’ve enjoyed every anthology Aldiss has assembled (and I have a couple in the pipeline for blog posts in 2022).
It would be hard to choose a favorite between Volume One and Volume Two. “The Star Plunderer” by Poul Anderson is a favorite of mine. I reread with pleasure Asimov’s famous “Foundation” and Cordwainer Smith’s haunting “The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal.” Clifford Simak’s “Immigrant” and James White’s clever “Resident Physician” make Volume One hard to beat.
But Volume Two includes John D. MacDonald’s “Escape to Chaos” and A. E. Van Vogt’s classic “Concealment.” For those readers who are in the mood for some pulp stories, try “Tonight the Stars Revolt!” by Gardner F. Fox and Poul Anderson’s “Lord of a Thousand Suns.” Rounding out the second volume are “Big Ancestor” by F. L. Wallace and Harry Harrison’s “Final Encounter.”
If you’re in the mood for some old-fashioned Science Fiction with Big Ideas and Cosmic Reach, Galactic Empires will tantalize you! GRADE: A
VOLUME ONE:
Introduction by Brian Aldiss
A Sense of Perspective, by Brian Aldiss
“Been a Long, Long Time” by R. A. Lafferty (Fantastic, December 1970)
“The Possessed” by Arthur C. Clarke (Dynamic Science Fiction, March 1953)
“Protected Species” by H. B. Fyfe (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1951)
“All the Way Back” by Michael Shaara (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1952)
“‘Wider Still and Wider…’ by Brian W. Aldiss (non-fiction)
“The Star Plunderer” by Poul Anderson (Planet Stories, September 1952)
“Foundation” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1942)
“We’re Civilized!” by Alex Apostolides and Mark Clifton (Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1953)
Horses in the Starship Hold, by Brian W. Aldiss (non-fiction)
“The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal” by Cordwainer Smith (Amazing Stories, May 1964)
“The Rebel of Valkyr” by Alfred Coppel (Planet Stories, Fall 1950)
“Brightness Falls from the Air” by Margaret St. Clair (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1951)
“Immigrant” by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954)
The Health Service in the Skies, by Brian W. Aldiss (non-fiction)
“Resident Physician” by James White (New Worlds Science Fiction, #110 September)
“Age of Retirement” by Hal Lynch (Astounding Science Fiction, April 1954)
“Planting Time” by Pete Adams and Charles Nightingale (Antigrav, 1975)
VOLUME TWO:
Introduction by Brian Aldiss
You Can’t Impose Civilization by Force by Brian Aldiss (non-fiction)
“Escape to Chaos” by John D. MacDonald (Super Science Stories, June 1951)
“Concealment” by A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, September 1943)
“To Civilize” by Algis Budrys (Future Science Fiction, January 1954)
“Beep” by James Blish (Galaxy Science Fiction, February 1954)
The Other End of the Stick, by Brian W. Aldiss (non-fiction)
“Down the River” by Mack Reynolds (Startling Stories, September 1950)
“The Bounty Hunter” by Avram Davidson (Fantastic Universe, March 1958)
“Not Yet the End” by Fredric Brown (Captain Future, Winter 1941)
All Things Are Cyclic, Brian Aldiss (non-fiction)
“Tonight the Stars Revolt!” by Gardner F. Fox (Planet Stories, March 1952)
“Final Encounter” by Harry Harrison (Galaxy Magazine, April 1964)
Big Ancestors and Great Descendants, by Brian Aldiss (non-fiction)
“Lord of a Thousand Suns” by Poul Anderson (Planet Stories, September 1951)
“Big Ancestor” by F. L. Wallace (Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1954)
“The Interlopers” by Roger Dee (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1954)
“Epilogue,” by Olaf Stapledon (excerpt from Star Maker, 1937)