Spaceworlds: Stories of Life in the Void, is the latest volume in the British Library Science Fiction Classics series edited by Mike Ashley. The stories selected by Ashley were published between 1940 and 1964. The most famous story in this collection is Anne McCaffrey’s “The Ship Who Sang” about an intelligent starship and the bond with its Captain.
My favorite story, Jack Vance’s “Sail 25” (aka, “Gateway to Strangeness”), involves the testing of young recruits in space by an eccentric teacher. I also enjoyed E. C. Tubb’s “Umbrella in the Sky” where anti-matter asteroids threaten to trigger our Sun to send out waves of heat that would fry the Earth. The project to shield the Earth is stalled and an agent is sent to find out why.
Jame White wrote many stories and several novels about the massive Sector General Hospital space station that treats all life-forms. It’s an entertaining series revolving around medical mysteries somewhat like House except with exotic alien maladies. “O’Mara’s Orphan” shows how clever White can be with unusual diagnoses. John Brunner’s underrated “Lungfish” explores the dilemmas a generation space ship faces when it finally reaches its destination. As with all of the Mike Ashley anthologies I’ve reviewed, Spaceworlds: Stories of Life in the Void delivers solid story-telling and some thrilling adventures! GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION by Mike Ashley — 7
Umbrella in the Sky — E. C, Tubb — 19
Sail 25 (aka, “Gateway to Strangeness”) — Jack Vance — 47
The Longest Voyage — Richard C. Meredith — 87
The Ship Who Sang — Anne McCaffrey — 113
O’Mara’s Orphan — James White — 139
Ultima Thule — Erie Frank Russell — 185
The Voyage That Lasted 600 Years — Don Wilcox — 207
Survival Ship — Judith Merril — 251
Lungfish — John Brunner — 267
Story Sources — 317
I like the Vance story. Not much of a McCaffrey fan. Probably read the Russell White and Merrill but can’t remember anything about them. Seems a bit shorter than most anthologies by Ashley.
Steve, SPACEWAYS is 316 pages.
Man, Ashley is really turning out a lot of these anthologies lately, isn’t he? Granted, this isn’t the size of his Mammoth books. The British Library books I’ve read so far have all been worth reading. I’ve read more than half of White’s Sector General novels and stories and have a few more on the shelf.
Jeff, I’m trying to ration the SECTOR GENERAL books I have left…I read one per year or so. It will be a sad day when I finish reading that series!
I think the new void is right here and now. Lots of horror stories will be written about this one.
Patti, we live in Dark Times, no doubt. I can’t believe the Dems can’t get their act together and pass SOMETHING! Every day they dither makes them look more feckless.
Which is pretty much the same sort of divided (or too often undivided, as with Mansion and the bizarre but cashing-in Sinema) loyalty that has left the Dems so unsuccessful at he state level and below…and the DP’s willingness to embrace corporatism and privilege weakens the position of old-school business Republicans and allows the nutbars to run rampant in that party. It’s no damned good.
Well, Manchin, but his entire career encourages the typo…
They are fecklesss! The president is senile so what can you expect?
Bob, I’m always concerned about elderly politicians. I know I’m slowly losing my vim and vigor so I have a good idea of what aging decision makers are dealing with.
It might help if a few REPUBLICANS would step up and vote for the good of the country and their constituents, but no, Mitch says no and they all wet themselves in their hurry to say yessah, massah.
Rick, politics and economics seldom mix well. Moscow Mitch has his own agenda.
I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed science fiction short stories lately. I have seen some of the anthologies edited by Mike Ashley coming out from the British Library lately but haven’t tried any of them yet.
I had never heard of the Sector General novels and stories by James White. They sound very interesting.
Tracy, you would enjoy James White’s Sector General stories. Treating sick aliens and diagnosing their health problems keeps the stories bordering on mysteries.
This is a very good anthology! I like every story in it, and that’s rare. Good one, George.
Rick, Mike Ashley gets all the credit for this wonderful anthology! This British Library series is first-rate!
I’d have given it an A.
The only writer whose work I usually don’t like here is Meredith…the Wilcox is the most famous of his, one of the earliest generations will live and die in the voyage stories in sf, and one of usually-cited notable stories tp have been published by Ray Palmer at AMAZING. Ashley certainly knows what he’s about.
Todd, I thought I was the only one who didn’t care for Meredith’s work. I’ve read some of his stories and one of his novels. I walked away unimpressed.
I’ve yet to read anything by him that was even competent. So, perhaps the Ashley anthology has at least the promise of a competent Meredith story…
Todd, I found the Meredith story so-so.
Well, that would still be a huge improvement in my experience of his work! Nah, I won’t be buying the book for the Meredith story…any more than I’d buy anything for the T. C. Boyle story, or a Bret Easton Ellis story…
Off topic, George, but are you and Jeff sorry the Yanks got beat?
Rick, I’m a lukewarm baseball fan. I followed the Toronto Bluejays while they played their home games in Buffalo, but I haven’t watched a complete MLB game in decades. Too slow.
Ah. Well, baseball is one of the few sports I’ve paid to see, if with vanishing infrequency. I was a good batter as a kid. I’m still pretty good at swatting at things in the air. (New England street hockey prepared me to be a surprisingly adept co-ed field hockey player in high school in Hawaii, embarrassing the jocks who’d never handled that kind of stick. So much so the PE teacher was perturbed.)
Todd, I have a friend who has a number of season tickets to the Buffalo Bills home games. He used to offer to take me to one Bills game a year, I would just have to chose the game I wanted to see. For over a decade I took him up on his offer, but when the Bills went into a 17-year Playoff draught, I decided to decline my friend’s generous off. I haven’t been to a professional football game since. My brother used to be a physical therapist for the Buffalo Sabres NHL team. He was required to attend all home games and was given two free tickets per game. Occasionally, my brother would ask me if I wanted to see a game and occasionally I’d go. My brother became the Chairman of the Physical Therapy Department at Villa Maria College and no longer works for the Sabres. I haven’t been to a professional hockey game since.
Ice hockey, like football and boxing, is a sport too much about hurting one’s opponents. Albeit one of my high school classmates who played ice hockey on some sort of teen or HS league noted he would Never play football as seriously…”You can get REALLY hurt doing that.” He wasn’t wrong, and at that point still had all his teeth.
Todd, I rarely watch much on ESPN or any of the other sports channels that come with our Spectrum cable package. I might check the scores, watch some highlights, but that’s just about it. When the Buffalo Bills are playing on TV, Diane and I usually listen to our radio Bills announcer, John Murphy, who has been calling the Bills games for over 20 years.