Título: El Terriplano (Flatlander, 1967); autor: Larry Niven Título: El Crimen y la Gloria del Comandante Suzdal (The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal, 1964); autor: Cordwainer Smith Título: El Planeta Sandaroth (Overproof, 1965); autor: Jonathan Blake Mackenzie Título: Un Planeta Pobre (Poor Planet, 1964); autor: J.T. McIntosh Título: La Guerra de Shamar (Shamar’s War, 1964); autor: Kris Neville Título: El Saboteador Juicioso (The Tactful Saboteur, 1964); autor: Frank Herbert Título: Ministerio de Disturbios (Ministry of Disturbance, 1958); autor: H. Beam Piper
Edward Groff Conklin (September 6, 1904, Glen Ridge, New Jersey - July 19, 1968, Pawling, New York) was a leading science fiction anthologist. Conklin edited 41 anthologies of science fiction, wrote books on home improvement and was a freelance writer on scientific subjects. From 1950 to 1955, he was the book critic for Galaxy Science Fiction.
The first two stories were very enjoyable, and very much fit into what I consider science fiction. Flatlander was my favorite short story in the book. There was adventure, discovery, danger and a good sense of humor throughout. The Crime and Glory of Commander Suzdal was also a very interesting read that had a decent payoff at the end. The story held tension throughout and the strangeness was entertaining.
The rest of the stories were an absolutely awful experience. Overproof started off well, but dragged on, and on, and on. The pages kept turning with entirely pointless scenes, until the author seemed to paint himself into a corner of predictability (and even distastefulness). Poor Planet never, at any point, became interesting. It was a weak premise that served only to criticize propaganda, while at the same time, serve as it's own form of twisted version of the same, apparently unbeknownst to the author.
The last 3 stories I had to skim. For some reason, after just sitting through an incredibly weak story involving court systems and espionage, they gave us 3 more of exactly the same thing! I don't know about you, but when I pick up a sci-fi book, I don't want to read 4 short stories about court cases and political/corporate espionage. Each respective story loosely disguised these as "science fiction" by slapping on some alien identity to a people painfully human. The Frank Herbert story at least attempted to make aliens as different. However, the story just read like an info dump of nonsensical gibberish.