By today’s standards, this anthology – at fewer than five hundred pages – is not all that large. It includes twenty-two
tales, comprising both novellas and
short stories.
What this anthology lacks is focus; the stories (though representative in terms of content) are drawn from two disparate and distinct periods. There are ten tales drawn from the “golden age of science fiction” – the period ranging from the fifties to the seventies. These tales include all the well-known names in science-fiction, such as Brian Aldiss, Philip K. Dick, Damon Knight, Eric Frank Russell, Robert Sheckley and Clifford D. Simak. These are the tales worth reading – and if you are a fan of science fiction, in all probability you would already have read one or more of these tales.
Unfortunately for the editor, the later stories drawn from the “new wave” of science fiction – the period from the nineties onwards – simply do not measure up to the standards set. These nine tales could just as easily be skipped by the reader. It is not that these stories are lacking in originality, but that their presentation leaves much to be desired. These new wave stories contain no big names, and there are no reputations that have to be defended. One comes to the regrettable conclusion that these have simply been added to make up the numbers.
The editor has done a disservice by mixing up these two groups of stories. Sorry to say, but these stories just do not mix, and neither do they complement each other. It is almost as if the entire genre of science fiction had been taken over by aliens from the star system Sirius! The real reason – of course – is that the technology has become dated; forcing the “new wave” authors more and more into the realm of the bizarre. The “new wave” authors seem to have forgotten the basic lessons of the pioneers (H.G. Wells and Jules Verne) that good science fiction is as much about the human impact of technology as the technology itself. The reader would have been better served if the anthology had been presented in two sections consisting of ten and nine tales respectively. And then left to judge for himself, according to his tastes…
Interestingly, there is only one story (“Firewatch”) which is drawn from the interim period of the eighties, when science-fiction was going through a phase of transition. It is also the only tale by a female author – reinforcing the stereotype that science fiction is written and read mostly by men.
To round off the collection, the author has included two classical tales from the era of H.G. Wells. Not a bad idea, for it gives a flavor of those times, and tells us exactly where science-fiction is coming from. But these should have served as an introduction to the anthology, and been included right in the beginning (instead of the middle). In other words, the material is there to make a decent collection, but the arrangement leaves much to be desired. Because science-fiction is an evolving field, that has changed with the times. And any anthology that claims to be a definite work on science-fiction should have forcefully brought out this aspect as well.