SCarab's SciFi Reviews

SCarab's SciFi Reviews
I've read quite a few sci-fi short stories. In order to remember what I'd read, and to see which authors I like the most (so that I can read more), I decided to keep track of my impressons of them. The computer was as good a place as any to keep them, so I figured that I might as well put it on a web page.

Note that the "Comments" section is really to help me remember the stories more than anything else. I also tried to avoid real spoilers.
Anything with a rating of 6 or more is recommended

Best SF: Science Fiction Stories (first published 1954, stories © 1944-1953)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Dormant	A.E. Van Vogt	2.5	Godzilla meets The Bomb
Pictures Don't Lie	Katherine MacLean	3	'50's failed first contact
Dumb Martian	John Wyndham	3.5	Duncan, Collie on lonely outpost
Or Else	Henry Kuttner	2.5	Desert feud, alien intervention
No Woman Born	C.L. Moore	8	Entertainer's brain preserved in machine body
The Fire Balloons	Ray Bradbury	4.5	A religous Martian Chronicle, better alone
The New Wine	John Christopher	2.5	Biology/Telepathy doomsday
Prott	Margaret St.Clair	4	Alien life form, --ing the --
A Present from Joe	Eric Frank Russell	3	Psychic Martians influence Earth
The Cerebrative Psittacoid	H. Nearing, Jr.	5	Smart parrot, Dante specialist
First Lady	J.T. McIntosh	6.5	Terran Control escort first woman to Lotrin
The Ruum	Arthur Porges	5	Abandoned alien sampling rover chase
The Xi Effect	Philip Latham	2.5	Scientist's view of unrealistic doomsday
A Case of Conscience	James Blish	7.5	4 explorer team debate fate of Lithia; Spanish Jesuit biologist protagonist

Book Average: 4.29

The Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels 1956 (© 1956)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Jungle Doctor	Robert F. Young	5.3	Sarith, telepathic doctor, accidentally meets Earth and Lindsey, drunk car washer.
Judgment Day	L. Sprague deCamp	5.5	Aging, bitter physicist debates ending the world.
The Game of Rat and Dragon	Cordwainer Smith	6.3	Interstellar travel, telepaths teamed with Partners, who see interstellar threats as dragons and rats, respectively.
The Man who Always Knew	Algis Budrys	5.6	Bar-room tale of man who stumbles on inventions.
Dream Street	Frank M. Robinson	4.7	14-year old runway orphan seeks Roswell spaceport
You Created Us	Tom Godwin	2.8	Mutant telepathic lizards created by bombs bent on world domination.
Swenson, Dispatcher	R. DeWitt Miller	7.7	Brilliant drunk dispatcher manipulates to save Acme Interplanetary Express from ruin.
Thing	Ivan Janvier	4	Post-nuclear skirmish world; 2 gov't agents and a reporter seek successful mutant.
I Do Not Love Thee, Doctor Fell	Robert Bloch	5.8	Man going mad, losing words to cliches, seeks sanity from Dr. Fell.
Clerical Error	Mark Clifton	7.2	New head psychiatrist fights beurocracy and Security to save broken scientist.
A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.	7	Life of far-future monk, preserving knowledge.
The Cyber and Justice Holmes	Frank Riley	7.3	Law case, man outperforming machine; nice commentary on proper role of computers in our lives.
The Shores of Night	Thomas N. Scortia	6.4	Novella of quest for interstellar flight, General Matt Freck, Beth Berchtoldt, Pluto base, cybernetics.

Book Average: 5.82

Science Fiction Showcase (© 1959)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Ticket to Anywhere	Damon Knight	6.5	instant travel;sanitized society
That Low	Theodore Sturgeon	5.5	failure specialist
Or the Grasses Grow	Avram Davidson	3	Indian reservation split up
The Man Who Ate the World	Frederik Pohl	4.5	forced consumption, robots
The Long Remembering	Poul Anderson	5	leap into stone-age ancestor
The End of the Beginning	Ray Bradbury	5	parents; first space station
A Work of Art	James Blish	6.5	Srauss reborn
The Cold Green Eye	Jack Williamson	3.5	kid from monestary -- Kansas
Med Service	Murray Leinster	8	Murgatroyd; colony piracy
Expendable	Philip K. Dick	6	intelligent ants
Mantage	Richard Matheson	5.5	life as movie
Nightmare Number Four	Robert Block	5	poem

Book Average: 5.33

The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, 8th series (© 1957, 1958, 1959)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Ministering Angels	C.S. Lewis	6.5	women for 1st Mars colony
Backwardness	Poul Anderson	4	stupid Federation
The Wait	Kit Reed	3.5	twilight-zoneish Virgin's wait
The Up-to-Date Sorcerer	Isaac Asimov	6.5	love potion
A Deskful of Girls	Fritz Leiber	6	ghostgirls, superstar, psychic
Eripmar	Damon Knight	6	short short full of puns
Poor Little Warrior!	Brian W. Aldiss	4	time-travel escapism
The Omen	Shirley Jackson	5.5	lost note -- omen
Gil Braltar	Jules Verne	6	apes vs. Gibraltar
The Grantha Sighting	Avram Davidson	4.5	mundane alien visit
Theory of Rocketry	C.M. Kornbluth	6	Ruthless h.s. student
A New Lo!	Ron Goulart	5.5	odd, Miskatonic, news clippings, teleport
Gorilla Suit	John Shepley	4.5	smart gorilla, job
Captivity	Zenna Henderson	7	kid w/great TK
The Men Who Murdered Mohammed	Alfred Bester	4.5	chronicide
Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot	Grendel Briarton	5 3.5	2 short-short pun stories
Origin of the Species	Karen Anderson	4	short-short cats
Epithalamium	Doris Pighin Bch	4	poem
The Watchers	Anthony Brode	4.5	poem
The Better Bet	Anthony Brode	5	poem
Ye Phantasie Writer and His Catte	Winona McClintic	4	poem
In Memoriam: Henry Kuttner	Karen Anderson	5.5	poem
Valise Macabre	Winona McClintic	3	poem

Book Average: 4.94

The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, 12th series (© 1960, 1961, 1962)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Test	Theodore L. Thomas	3.3	5-page short of driving test
Please Stand By	Ron Goulart	7.7	Fun; paranormal investigator and man who becomes elephant on holidays
Who's In Charge Here?	James Blish	2.4	Dull; Blind out in NYC
Three for the Stars	Joseph Dickson	3.5	Weird story of monkey to Mars, etc.
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed	Vance Andahl	3.4	Post-apocalyptic man plagued by It
Landscape with Sphinxes	Karen Anderson	4	Nothing-special 3-pager of sphinx family
My Dear Emily	Joanna Russ	4.3	OK vampire story, set in 1880's San Francisco
The Gumdrop King	Will Stanton	3.5	Kid meets Korko the king in UFO
The Golden Horn	Edgar Pangborn	6	Feudalish 40 yrs post-apocalypse wanderlust in 14-yr. old, finds "mue" with musical treasure.
The Singular Events Which Occurred in the Hovel on the Alley Off of Eye Street	Avram Davidson	4	Weird alternate-universe, plays on words, "foul" happenings re: alchemist at presidential inauguration
A Kind of Artistry	Brian W. Aldiss	6	Disturbing story of Derek Ende, his Lady, his work as explorer, and adaptation experiments
Two's a Crowd	Sasha Gilien	5	Mixup puts two personality controllers in one person.
The Man Without a Planet	Kate Wilhelm	5.5	Rod's dumbbell-ship trip to Mars, and the man in seat 13.
The Garden of Time	J.G. Ballard	5	Couple stalls advance of onrushing horde with time flowers.
Hop-Friend	Terry Carr	5	Mars construction worker gets help from odd, impatient "Marshie."

Book Average:
4.57
World's Best Science Fiction, Third Series (© 1967)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
We Can Remember it for you Wholesale	Philip K. Dick	6	Total Recall Inspiration
Light of Other Days	Bob Shaw	7	Slow Glass
The Keys to December	Roger Zelazny	5.5	Coldworld Catform Colonization
Nine Hundred Grandmothers	R. A. Lafferty	4	Old creatures, The Beginning
Bircher	A. A. Walde	9.5	Remarkably accurate future murder mystery
Behold the Man	Michael Moorcock	6.5	Time traveller's quest for Christ
Bumberboom	Avram Davidson	4	Boom
Day Million	Frederik Pohl	2	Rough description of far future relationship
The Wings of a Bat	Paul Ash	6	Baby pterodactyl, troubles on mining world
The Man from When	Dannie Plachta	3.5	Short-short time traveller boom
Amen and Out	Brian W. Aldiss	6.5	Technological religion, ancient humans, and hippies
For a Breath I Tarry	Roger Zelazny	6.5	Frost/Beta, Solcom/Divcom, robotic quest for Man

Book Average: 5.58

Best SF 1969 (© 1969)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
The Muse	Anthony Burgess	?	?
Working in the Spaceship Yards	Brian W. Aldiss	4.5	odd, workday, androids
The Schematic Man	Frederik Pohl	?	?
The Snows are Melted, the Snows are Gone	James Tiptree, Jr.	?	?
Hospital of Transplanted Hearts	D.M. Thomas	4.5	poetic? table of Heart of: Body of:
Eco-Catastrophe!	Dr. Paul Ehrlich	0.5	1979 doomsday
The Castle on the Crag	Pg Wyal	3.5	tale; cool last line
Nine Lives	Ursula K. LeGuin	5	clone family
Holding Your Eight Hands	various	3	poetry
The Killing Ground	J.G. Ballard	3	expansionist USA
The Diamond Cheque	Ken W. Purdy	4	letter/photo/object; assasination
Womb to Tomb	Joseph Wesley	7.5	alien war; breathe fluid
Like Father	Jon Hartridge	4	darker; time travel/evolution
The Electric Ant	Philip K. Dick	6.5	adroid/reality/unreality
The Man Inside	Bruce McAllister	4.5	kid's-eye view of catatonic schizophrenic
Now Hear the Word of the Lord	Algis Budrys	4.5	robots restoring history

Book Average: 4.23

World's Best Science Fiction, 1970 (© 1970)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
A Man Spekith	Richard Wilson	8	Esoteric Ed the Space Disk Jockey, and Marty the machine
After the Myths Went Home	Robert Silverberg	3	yr. 12450, conjure gods
Death By Ecstasy	Larry Niven	7	Gil the ARM vs. Loren the organlegger
One Sunday in Neptune	Alexei Panshin	6.5	Short exploration to ease boredom
For the Sake of Grace	Suzette Haden Elgin	5	Extreme paternal society, poetry exams
Your Haploid Heart	James Tiptree, Jr.	5.5	Esthaans, Flenni conflict; slow start, decent conclusion
Therapy 2000	Keith Roberts	4	Travers and Deidre, NOISE
Sixth Sense	Michael G. Coney	5	Telepathic future, Gull Crag
A Boy and His Dog	Harlan Ellison	2	Vulgar, Violent, Vic and Quilla June
And So Say All of Us	Bruce McAllister	6	Schizophrenic Psychic with interesting twist
Ship of Shadows	Fritz Leiber	5.5	Really weird ship, bar, talking black cat
Nine Lives	Ursula K. LeGuin	*	See above
The Big Flash	Norman Spinrad	4	4 Horsemen rock group used to support The Bomb; interesting ideas, but heavy-handed

Book Average: 5.12

SF: Author's Choice 3 (© 1971)

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land	Brian W. Aldiss	4.5	prison spa
Phog	Piers Anthony	5	phog!
The Power of Every Root	Avram Davidson	5	Strained Mexican policeman
The Deepest Blue in the World	Sonya Dorman	3.5	marriage bench
O Ye of Little Faith	Harlan Ellison	6	reality/myths
By the Falls	Harry Harrison	4.5	nice imagery, little point
The Coming of the Sun	Langdon Jones	2.5	odd new-wave
The Falcon and the Falconeer	Barry Malzberg	4	accident; xmas play; aliens
The Transfinite Choice	David I. Masson	4.5	multiworlds/timerates
The Tank Trapeze	Michael Moorcock	4	odd dark hit-man
Bordered in Black	Larry Niven	5.5	1st other planet
At Central	Kit Reed	5.5	TV
The Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde	Norman Spinrad	6.5	.

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Appearance of Life	Brian W. Aldiss	6	Far-future Seeker explores Museum
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank	John Varley	7.4	Fingal's trip to Kenya becomes a trip to computerland; great basis for computer game
Those Good Old Days of Liquid Fuel	Michael G. Coney	4	Reminiscing about rocket landings
The Hertford Manuscript	Richard Cowper	8	Neat sequel to Wells' _The_Time_Machine_
Natural Advantage	Lester Del Rey	5.5	3-eyed aliens trade info of coming disaster; not bad, but nothing special
The Bicentennial Man	Isaac Asimov	8.8	Among Asimov's best
The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor	Barrington J. Bayley	6.8	Nayland, inventor of thespitron, escorts Watson-Smythe on intergalactic trip to vulgar artist Corngold
My Boat	Joanna Russ	5.5	A flight of fantasy; writer reminisces integration school days
Houston, Houston Do You Read?	James Tiptree, Jr.	4.8	3 men on solar mission shot 300 yrs. later to world of women
I See You	Damon Knight	4	Invention of space and time TV

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
In the Hall of the Mountain Kings	John Varley	6.5	Mars explorer mission disaster becomes colony attempt; native engineered life
A Time to Live	Joe Haldeman	5	7-page short of Thorne Harrison's two lifetimes
The House of Compassionate Sharers	Michael Bishop	6.2	Man in machine body has trouble coping with new self
Particle Theory	Edward Bryant	4.2	Well-written, but far from enjoyable; cancer, planes, supernovae
The Taste of the Dish and the Savor of the Day	John Brunner	6.5	Delicious alchemical recipe for life
Jeffty is Five	Harlan Ellison	3.3	Remembering the Good Old Days
The Screwfly Solution	Raccoona Sheldon aka James Tiptree, Jr.	2.5	Disease/cult for "purification" from women
Eyes of Amber	Joan D. Vinge	9	Titan's T'uupieh sees Earth probe as "her demon"
Child of the Sun	James E. Gunn	3	Time traveller fixes problems in energy-starved Depression future
Brother	Clifford D. Simak	4.3	Old Lambert deals with strange identical twin

Title	Author	Rating	Comments
Ill Met in Lankhmar	Fritz Lieber	8.7	Grey Mouser and Fafhrd take on Thieves Guild
A Meeting with Medusa	Arthur C. Clarke	8.2	Jupiter blimp pilot; time delay can be deadly
Home Is The Hangman	Roger Zelazny	8.3	Agent outside The System tracks robot revenge
The Persistence of Vision	John Varley	3.5	Commune of the blind and deaf
Enemy Mine	Barry B. Longyear	9	Human and Drac stranded, child
The Saturn Game	Poul Anderson	8	Iapetus roleplaying goes too far
Hardfought	Greg Bear	8.5	Somewhat pessimistic millennial war of Humans vs. Senexi
Sailing to Byzantium	Robert Silverberg	8.2	50th century citizens pull cities from the past
The Last of the Winnebagos	Connie Willis	8.7	Regulated world after dog plague
The Mountains of Mourning	Louis McMaster Bujold	8.8	Dwarf's investigation of "mutie" infanticide

Book Average: 8.01