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Nebula Awards Showcases #2
Nebula Award Stories Number Two / 2
THREE AWARD-WINNING STORIES
THE SECRET PLACE by Richard McKenna
One man discovers that war can demand of some men risks more obscure and ignoble than even death.
THE LAST CASTLE by Jack Vance
Their castle was the last outpost of civilized man--and it was doomed to fall.
CALL HIM LORD by Gordon R. Dickson
There are many characteristics desirable in an emperor but there is one that any true ruler absolutely must possess.
Eight Distinguished Runners-up:
LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS by Bob Shaw
WHO NEEDS INSURANCE? by Robin S. Scott
AMONG THE HAIRY EARTHMEN by R.A. Lafferty
DAY MILLION by Frederik Pohl
WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE by Philip K. Dick
WHEN I WAS MISS DOW by Sonya Dorman
IN THE IMAGICON by George Henry Smith
MAN IN HIS TIME by Brian W. Aldiss
THE SECRET PLACE by Richard McKenna
One man discovers that war can demand of some men risks more obscure and ignoble than even death.
THE LAST CASTLE by Jack Vance
Their castle was the last outpost of civilized man--and it was doomed to fall.
CALL HIM LORD by Gordon R. Dickson
There are many characteristics desirable in an emperor but there is one that any true ruler absolutely must possess.
Eight Distinguished Runners-up:
LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS by Bob Shaw
WHO NEEDS INSURANCE? by Robin S. Scott
AMONG THE HAIRY EARTHMEN by R.A. Lafferty
DAY MILLION by Frederik Pohl
WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE by Philip K. Dick
WHEN I WAS MISS DOW by Sonya Dorman
IN THE IMAGICON by George Henry Smith
MAN IN HIS TIME by Brian W. Aldiss
244 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1966
3 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Brian W. Aldiss
775 books639 followersPseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.
Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 11, 2022
This is the second in the series of anthologies that presented the winners (and several runners-up) of the Nebula Awards for short fiction as decided by the vote of the Science Fiction Writers of America. The anthologies had a different editor each year, and I think this was the only volume that had two. The stories are all from the year 1966, just as the winds of change were beginning to blow through the field (the New Wave was on the way) and the world in general (one more year until the Summer of Love). The winners are The Secret Place by Richard McKenna (best remembered as author of The Sand Pebbles), Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson, and The Last Castle by Jack Vance, my favorite of the three. Harrison and Aldiss also include eight runners up from Bob Shaw (Light of Other Days, my favorite, a Slow Glass story), Robin S. Scott (later known as Robin Scott Wilson, instrumental in the Clarion project), R.A. Lafferty, Frederik Pohl (Day Million, another good one), Sonya Dorman (the only female in the book), Aldiss himself, George Henry Smith, and Philip K. Dick's classic We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (filmed as Total Recall), which, in my opinion, should have won. It's a very good collection of stories, but not the best of the decade. By the way, Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany tied with Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes for the best novel award that year... both solid classics.
July 6, 2016
So much thought-provoking in this slender volume and not always for the reasons expected. The introduction and the afterward - decrying the lack of originality in the state of SF at the time - give once a sense of time-travel. ("Perhaps the editor of the 2000 AD Nebula anthology has not been born yet!" they decry after declaring boldly that the Nebula Award will last that long. I had to look it up - Gregory Benford, editor of the 2000 Nebula Award Showcase, was born in 1941. Sorry guys.)
Still, these are the names I grew up reading, and it felt a bit like returning to old friends. I got a little choked up when the last story, by editor Brian W. Aldiss, is prefaced with a note that the rest of the editorial staff snuck it in behind his back. OMG BESTIES ALL THE FEELS
ahem. Now let's talk about the stories themselves:
The Secret Place by Richard McKenna - 1966 Nebula for short story - as a Geology major its dense passages of Geologic jargon appealed, though those of other persuasions may find their eyes glazing over. Ostensibly a romance, the manic pixie dream girl heroine (an early prototype thereof) has so little agency and the author so little appreciation for her inner life that it feels like she could have been replaced with a lamp, or I suppose a journal the main character could refer to and carry around. He's downright rapey toward her and her response is to fall madly into his arms. Gripe.
Oh, and, like, she can see the landscape as it was a geologic age ago while in some trance state but he really loves her when she doesn't know where she is or who he is... and she dutifully has a son and it is the narrator's concern for how this affects his male offspring that bookends the story. Comma patriarchy.
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw - this one stood the test of time in all but one minor aspect. It's SF conceit is charming: "Slow Glass" which slows the passage of light so that a pane can be set up in a field for ten years and then for the ten years after put in a city apartment to show the very real view of that field for the next ten years. (The story does not go into the recycling industry with pane after pane of ugly alleyway views overlooking Loch Lomond.) The tech story is perfectly meshed with a very touching human story - the inevitable passage of time and taking ones family for granted. It's a little corny, but I was in just the right mood to get all sniffly for it.
Now here's the part that doesn't stand the test of time. It involves gender roles. Surprised?
The main tension in the story is between the main character and his wife. They have just learned that she is pregnant and now they are under financial strain because she MUST LOSE HER JOB, and as he is a poet, she was the primary breadwinner. Yeah. You have a hovercar, dude, and slow glass - I think we can invent stay-at-home dads now.
Who Needs Insurance? By Robin S. Scott - a military adventure that starts with bombing runs over Romania that land in Benghazi and then skips to Vietnam, it set my dramatic-irony-time-awareness tingling. Especially ironic when there is a time-traveler in the story, who is a guardian angel for the main character, guiding his unlikely survival. Scott did guess right that we'd slang the heck out of our to be verbs, I guess. Some amusingly odd details, lots of smoking, computers that think things through just by having them typed in (another prototype cliche!) and a computer-gal who is smoking hot, young, and shockingly single. (Manic Pixie Dream Girl number two and it's only story number three!) Yeah, she's only plot significant because she has a womb.
Among the Hairy Earthmen by R. A. Lafferty - Super powerful alien children are responsible for Earth's medieval wars while adhering strictly to gender roles. Really. Wasn't this a Star Trek episode?
The Last Castle by Jack Vance - winner Nebula for best Novela - Manages this neat trick of having the main characters be utterly despicable yet you're still rooting for them. Sorta. Enough to keep reading. Mankind has become a hideously exploitative, corrupt slave-owning race, where picking up a tool is beneath 'gentlemanly' standards. (And gender roles are super super conformed to in a medieval way because even with all this technology and no work to do women apparently can't do anything but host parties. cough.) I really liked the description of the alien race, the Meks. They were super cool.
Day Million by Frederick Pohl - I'd read before, and it's a bit slight and flippant, but it is notable for having a transgender main character in a romantic role. In 1966. Go Fred.
When I Was Miss Dow by Sonya Dorman - the preface to this story insultingly reads "all of the capable female writers of science fiction can be counted on one truncated hand". *teeth gnashing* This story is quite complicated and involves a sexless alien race who can transform into humans and who seem to mostly pick human female forms so that they may infiltrate human society via flirting. Despite being written by a woman our alien can't help but fall in love with her human contact. It gets confusing, but in the end I guess it's all just about aliens being alien, yo.
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson - Nebula winner for best Novellete - There's a female character at the beginning just to fall in the hero's arms and beg him not to risk his life for the next 80 pages, even if it IS his job and the universe is depending on him. There follows a very cowboy-feeling story of a far future in which Earth is a sort of humanitarium/ nature preserve, where humanity is free to live as the 1800s intended. It's gritty and tough and there's a bar fight and a hard lesson for a man to learn from another man and aw okay I really liked it.
In the Imagicon by George Henry Smith - manages to be the most offensive portrayal of women in the whole book! Well done, Smith. Saw the twist a mile away, not to spoil it for you - okay I'll spoil it - it's "Mudd's Women" done in reverse. Subservient, servile sex kittens are just sooo boring if you don't have an artificially created shrew wife to escape to now and then.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale - by Philip K. Dick - the classic story "Total Recall" was based on. Only this Douglas Quail is a mild-mannered clerk to start, and after the whole 'what do you mean I'm really a secret agent?' there's a second 'what do you mean I'm really?' Oh, and what problem DOES Dick have with wives? I swear every Dick story I read has the same wife who is portrayed unsympathetically and then leaves. Though unlike in the movie versions, our hero doesn't get a compensatory girlfriend. (Favorite Outdated Gender Norms Moment: hero thinking about how his wife has never done a thing for him as she is putting away the groceries she just bought. and is putting away. prior to cooking. for him. Get it?)
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss - aaaaw this one gets women right. Way to go, Aldi! His female MC has a rich inner life, yearns for physical intimacy with her husband, and suffers lots of misogynistic asides from this creep doctor. And for once I get the feeling the author knows the creep is being a creep and wants us to think so, too. Unlike other stories where being a creep was, you know 'being the hero'. The SF premise is a bit janky, but I like how he explores it - her husband, having been the first man to return from Mars, finds himself exactly 3.077 minutes off from the rest of time. He sees and hears everything before it happens. Conversations are difficult.
Still, these are the names I grew up reading, and it felt a bit like returning to old friends. I got a little choked up when the last story, by editor Brian W. Aldiss, is prefaced with a note that the rest of the editorial staff snuck it in behind his back. OMG BESTIES ALL THE FEELS
ahem. Now let's talk about the stories themselves:
The Secret Place by Richard McKenna - 1966 Nebula for short story - as a Geology major its dense passages of Geologic jargon appealed, though those of other persuasions may find their eyes glazing over. Ostensibly a romance, the manic pixie dream girl heroine (an early prototype thereof) has so little agency and the author so little appreciation for her inner life that it feels like she could have been replaced with a lamp, or I suppose a journal the main character could refer to and carry around. He's downright rapey toward her and her response is to fall madly into his arms. Gripe.
Oh, and, like, she can see the landscape as it was a geologic age ago while in some trance state but he really loves her when she doesn't know where she is or who he is... and she dutifully has a son and it is the narrator's concern for how this affects his male offspring that bookends the story. Comma patriarchy.
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw - this one stood the test of time in all but one minor aspect. It's SF conceit is charming: "Slow Glass" which slows the passage of light so that a pane can be set up in a field for ten years and then for the ten years after put in a city apartment to show the very real view of that field for the next ten years. (The story does not go into the recycling industry with pane after pane of ugly alleyway views overlooking Loch Lomond.) The tech story is perfectly meshed with a very touching human story - the inevitable passage of time and taking ones family for granted. It's a little corny, but I was in just the right mood to get all sniffly for it.
Now here's the part that doesn't stand the test of time. It involves gender roles. Surprised?
The main tension in the story is between the main character and his wife. They have just learned that she is pregnant and now they are under financial strain because she MUST LOSE HER JOB, and as he is a poet, she was the primary breadwinner. Yeah. You have a hovercar, dude, and slow glass - I think we can invent stay-at-home dads now.
Who Needs Insurance? By Robin S. Scott - a military adventure that starts with bombing runs over Romania that land in Benghazi and then skips to Vietnam, it set my dramatic-irony-time-awareness tingling. Especially ironic when there is a time-traveler in the story, who is a guardian angel for the main character, guiding his unlikely survival. Scott did guess right that we'd slang the heck out of our to be verbs, I guess. Some amusingly odd details, lots of smoking, computers that think things through just by having them typed in (another prototype cliche!) and a computer-gal who is smoking hot, young, and shockingly single. (Manic Pixie Dream Girl number two and it's only story number three!) Yeah, she's only plot significant because she has a womb.
Among the Hairy Earthmen by R. A. Lafferty - Super powerful alien children are responsible for Earth's medieval wars while adhering strictly to gender roles. Really. Wasn't this a Star Trek episode?
The Last Castle by Jack Vance - winner Nebula for best Novela - Manages this neat trick of having the main characters be utterly despicable yet you're still rooting for them. Sorta. Enough to keep reading. Mankind has become a hideously exploitative, corrupt slave-owning race, where picking up a tool is beneath 'gentlemanly' standards. (And gender roles are super super conformed to in a medieval way because even with all this technology and no work to do women apparently can't do anything but host parties. cough.) I really liked the description of the alien race, the Meks. They were super cool.
Day Million by Frederick Pohl - I'd read before, and it's a bit slight and flippant, but it is notable for having a transgender main character in a romantic role. In 1966. Go Fred.
When I Was Miss Dow by Sonya Dorman - the preface to this story insultingly reads "all of the capable female writers of science fiction can be counted on one truncated hand". *teeth gnashing* This story is quite complicated and involves a sexless alien race who can transform into humans and who seem to mostly pick human female forms so that they may infiltrate human society via flirting. Despite being written by a woman our alien can't help but fall in love with her human contact. It gets confusing, but in the end I guess it's all just about aliens being alien, yo.
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson - Nebula winner for best Novellete - There's a female character at the beginning just to fall in the hero's arms and beg him not to risk his life for the next 80 pages, even if it IS his job and the universe is depending on him. There follows a very cowboy-feeling story of a far future in which Earth is a sort of humanitarium/ nature preserve, where humanity is free to live as the 1800s intended. It's gritty and tough and there's a bar fight and a hard lesson for a man to learn from another man and aw okay I really liked it.
In the Imagicon by George Henry Smith - manages to be the most offensive portrayal of women in the whole book! Well done, Smith. Saw the twist a mile away, not to spoil it for you - okay I'll spoil it - it's "Mudd's Women" done in reverse. Subservient, servile sex kittens are just sooo boring if you don't have an artificially created shrew wife to escape to now and then.
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale - by Philip K. Dick - the classic story "Total Recall" was based on. Only this Douglas Quail is a mild-mannered clerk to start, and after the whole 'what do you mean I'm really a secret agent?' there's a second 'what do you mean I'm really?' Oh, and what problem DOES Dick have with wives? I swear every Dick story I read has the same wife who is portrayed unsympathetically and then leaves. Though unlike in the movie versions, our hero doesn't get a compensatory girlfriend. (Favorite Outdated Gender Norms Moment: hero thinking about how his wife has never done a thing for him as she is putting away the groceries she just bought. and is putting away. prior to cooking. for him. Get it?)
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss - aaaaw this one gets women right. Way to go, Aldi! His female MC has a rich inner life, yearns for physical intimacy with her husband, and suffers lots of misogynistic asides from this creep doctor. And for once I get the feeling the author knows the creep is being a creep and wants us to think so, too. Unlike other stories where being a creep was, you know 'being the hero'. The SF premise is a bit janky, but I like how he explores it - her husband, having been the first man to return from Mars, finds himself exactly 3.077 minutes off from the rest of time. He sees and hears everything before it happens. Conversations are difficult.
June 23, 2017
Ich habe dieses Buch von Reinhold geschenkt bekommen (vielen Dank noch mal!) und zwar in einer gebundenen deutschen Ausgabe, einer Art Silberband, im Rahmen einer von Wolfganag Jeschke herausgegebenen Reihe. Das Buch enthält Nebula Stories von 1966 und Jeschke hat noch ein kurzes Vorwort geschrieben. Zur Einordnung: 1966 erhielten zwei Romane punktgleich den Nebula und zwar "Flowers for Algernon" von Daniel Keyes (das ich sehr gut finde) und "Babel-17" von Delany (das ich noch lesen muss).
Die bekannteste Geschichte ist sicher Philip K. Dicks "Rekal, Inc" ("Total Recall"), das durch die Verfilmung mit Arnie bekannt sein dürfte und mit echten und unechten Erinnerungen spielt, so dass der Protagonist, der eigentlich nur eine Erinnerung an einen Marsurlaub bestellt hat, bald nicht mehr weiß, wer er wirklich ist.
R.A. Lafferty's "Mitleid? Mit Menschen?" ist eine böse Satire auf eine paar außerirdische Kinder, die sich einige Jahrhunderte auf der Erde herumtreiben (dies ist für sie nur ein Nachmittag) und dabei für die ganzen Kriege und Verwicklungen des 15. - 17. Jahrhunderts verantwortlich sind.
Gordon R. Dickson's "Sie nennen ihn Lord" fand ich schwächer: Dem verwöhnten Kaisersöhnchen eines zukünftigen menschlichen galaktischen Imperiums wird eine Erde gezeigt, die auf ein mittelalterliches Zivilisationsniveau zurückgefallen ist. Es wird ohne sich dessen bewusst zu sein, auf seine Eignung als Kaiser getestet. Jeschke nennt die Geschichte "... vom Gehalt her ein typisch amerikanisches Produkt". Ich fand die Pointe nicht überzeugend, aber überraschend.
Frederik Pohl's "Der Tag Million" ist eine Aufzählung von Änderungen, die die Zukunft bringen kann und gerichtet an phantasielose nicht SF Leser.
"Mein Leben als Miss Dow" von Sonya Dornam schildert aus der Sicht einen Außerirdischen das Leben auf einem von Menschen besiedelten Planeten, wobei die Menschen überhaupt nicht kapieren, dass die Ausserirdischen längst unter ihnen leben.
"Das tiefe Land" von Richard McKenna fand ich eigentlich am schwächsten.
Der Kurzroman "Die letzte Burg" von Jack Vance schildert eine Erde in einigen Tausend Jahren, auf der in Burgen eine Gruppe hochnäsiger, arroganter Menschen lebt ("Gentlemen" nennen sie sich), die sich verschieden Rassen als Sklaven halten und sich eines Tages völlig überrascht einer Revolte gegenübersehen. Einige originelle Ideen (schwatzende Vögel, die Streitwagen durch die Lüfte ziehen) und Verweise auf größere Zusammenhänge in Nebensätzen machten für mich den größten Lesespass aus, die Gentlemen haben mich in ihrer Überheblichkeit genervt, aber dies war auch Absicht.
Ich habe lange zwischen drei und vier Sternen geschwankt, es sind knappe vier geworden.
Die bekannteste Geschichte ist sicher Philip K. Dicks "Rekal, Inc" ("Total Recall"), das durch die Verfilmung mit Arnie bekannt sein dürfte und mit echten und unechten Erinnerungen spielt, so dass der Protagonist, der eigentlich nur eine Erinnerung an einen Marsurlaub bestellt hat, bald nicht mehr weiß, wer er wirklich ist.
R.A. Lafferty's "Mitleid? Mit Menschen?" ist eine böse Satire auf eine paar außerirdische Kinder, die sich einige Jahrhunderte auf der Erde herumtreiben (dies ist für sie nur ein Nachmittag) und dabei für die ganzen Kriege und Verwicklungen des 15. - 17. Jahrhunderts verantwortlich sind.
Gordon R. Dickson's "Sie nennen ihn Lord" fand ich schwächer: Dem verwöhnten Kaisersöhnchen eines zukünftigen menschlichen galaktischen Imperiums wird eine Erde gezeigt, die auf ein mittelalterliches Zivilisationsniveau zurückgefallen ist. Es wird ohne sich dessen bewusst zu sein, auf seine Eignung als Kaiser getestet. Jeschke nennt die Geschichte "... vom Gehalt her ein typisch amerikanisches Produkt". Ich fand die Pointe nicht überzeugend, aber überraschend.
Frederik Pohl's "Der Tag Million" ist eine Aufzählung von Änderungen, die die Zukunft bringen kann und gerichtet an phantasielose nicht SF Leser.
"Mein Leben als Miss Dow" von Sonya Dornam schildert aus der Sicht einen Außerirdischen das Leben auf einem von Menschen besiedelten Planeten, wobei die Menschen überhaupt nicht kapieren, dass die Ausserirdischen längst unter ihnen leben.
"Das tiefe Land" von Richard McKenna fand ich eigentlich am schwächsten.
Der Kurzroman "Die letzte Burg" von Jack Vance schildert eine Erde in einigen Tausend Jahren, auf der in Burgen eine Gruppe hochnäsiger, arroganter Menschen lebt ("Gentlemen" nennen sie sich), die sich verschieden Rassen als Sklaven halten und sich eines Tages völlig überrascht einer Revolte gegenübersehen. Einige originelle Ideen (schwatzende Vögel, die Streitwagen durch die Lüfte ziehen) und Verweise auf größere Zusammenhänge in Nebensätzen machten für mich den größten Lesespass aus, die Gentlemen haben mich in ihrer Überheblichkeit genervt, aber dies war auch Absicht.
Ich habe lange zwischen drei und vier Sternen geschwankt, es sind knappe vier geworden.
didnotfinish
January 30, 2018One of my goals going forward is to be more liberal about allowing myself to dnf books if I'm truly not enjoying them. Here's a prime example. I started reading it at work at least a month ago, thinking that at just over 200 pages, it would be easy to get off my bookshelf. I read the first several stories, and although they were all technically fine, I found very little in any of them to actually enjoy. I intended to keep reading regardless, because I'm stubborn like that, but I found myself making excuses to not read on lunch because I just didn't want to read this book. I think I actually worked through a couple lunches, just to avoid this book. Today, I picked it up for one last attempt, and thought that maybe if I just skipped to the next story, I would be able to make progress. Instead, I read a page, and put it back down. So, I'm done. This one is not for me. Onward!
May 4, 2019
Mindwebs audiobook ##2 of 135, 1st of 2 very short stories is "In The Imagicon" by George H. Smith (aka M J Deer, Jan Hudson,
Jerry Jason, Hal Stryker). 2nd is Corrida by Roger Zelazny.
It’s a story based on the premise that our brains require contrasting sensations in order to fully appreciate feelings. Our “poor” protagonist has to suffer artificially generated sensations in order to prevent boredom and cope with his nightmare reality. Quite amusing...
I'm not entirely convinced that this is completely true as my partner often offers to stamp on my toe whenever I complain of toothache! I'm sure it would work, I would no longer notice the tooth as there appears to be a limit on the amount of data the brain can process whether it is interpreted as pain or pleasure. But would torture be more effective if prisoners were allowed Sundays off ? Should beggars be ignored as making them temporarily better off would result in their normal state of bankruptcy being felt all the more keenly ?
02 Mindwebs-761008_InTheImagicon.mp3/ Corrida George H. Smith / Roger Zelazny
This review only for above story, although I've read several of the others which are excellent I especially loved Slow Glass.
Jerry Jason, Hal Stryker). 2nd is Corrida by Roger Zelazny.
It’s a story based on the premise that our brains require contrasting sensations in order to fully appreciate feelings. Our “poor” protagonist has to suffer artificially generated sensations in order to prevent boredom and cope with his nightmare reality. Quite amusing...
I'm not entirely convinced that this is completely true as my partner often offers to stamp on my toe whenever I complain of toothache! I'm sure it would work, I would no longer notice the tooth as there appears to be a limit on the amount of data the brain can process whether it is interpreted as pain or pleasure. But would torture be more effective if prisoners were allowed Sundays off ? Should beggars be ignored as making them temporarily better off would result in their normal state of bankruptcy being felt all the more keenly ?
02 Mindwebs-761008_InTheImagicon.mp3/ Corrida George H. Smith / Roger Zelazny
This review only for above story, although I've read several of the others which are excellent I especially loved Slow Glass.
February 8, 2024
The Secret Place by Richard McKenna - 3/5
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw - 5/5
Who Needs Insurance? by Robin S. Scott - 4/5
Among the Hairy Earthmen by R.A. Lafferty - 5/5
The Last Castle by Jack Vance - 2.5/5
Day Million by Frederik Pohl - 4/5
When I Was Miss Dow by Sonya Dorman - 4/5
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson - 5/5
In the Imagicon by George Henry Smith - 3/5
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick - 5/5
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss - 2.5/5
Light of Other Days by Bob Shaw - 5/5
Who Needs Insurance? by Robin S. Scott - 4/5
Among the Hairy Earthmen by R.A. Lafferty - 5/5
The Last Castle by Jack Vance - 2.5/5
Day Million by Frederik Pohl - 4/5
When I Was Miss Dow by Sonya Dorman - 4/5
Call Him Lord by Gordon R. Dickson - 5/5
In the Imagicon by George Henry Smith - 3/5
We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick - 5/5
Man In His Time by Brian W. Aldiss - 2.5/5
January 14, 2024
Ranked - -
1. Light of other days
2. Call him lord
3. We can remember it for you wholesale
4. Who needs insurance?
5. When I was miss dow
6. The secret place
7. The last castle
8. Man in his time
9. In the imagicon
10. Among the hairy earthmen
11. Day million
1. Light of other days
2. Call him lord
3. We can remember it for you wholesale
4. Who needs insurance?
5. When I was miss dow
6. The secret place
7. The last castle
8. Man in his time
9. In the imagicon
10. Among the hairy earthmen
11. Day million
March 7, 2023
A reread of a classic on my shelf for more than 50 years. The stories hold up maybe because my tastes in SF were formed at that time.
September 4, 2021
I’m now turning my attention to the short sf of 1966 in the leadup to a podcast episode later this year. This is the first of the anthologies that I’ll be tackling to get an adequate view of the field in that year (the Niven collection, NEUTRON STAR, fits into this as well). I’m not, at this time intending to dig as deeply into 1966 as I did for 1965 in an article I wrote for THE ALIEN REVIEW 2, but I do need to read the winners and nominees and some others as well. The best of the stories here are by Jack Vance (see below for that novella), Bob Shaw, R. A. Lafferty, Gordon R. Dickson, Philip K. Dick and Brian Aldiss. Only one woman represented which is very disappointing. Other than that this is a good sampling of that year. R: 3.8/5.0
Want to Read
February 12, 2025(3/11 read)
11 stories:
The Secret Place (1966) • Richard McKenna
Light of Other Days (1966) • Bob Shaw
Who Needs Insurance? (1966) • Robin Scott Wilson
Among the Hairy Earthmen (1966) • R. A. Lafferty
**** The Last Castle (1966) • Jack Vance
*** Day Million (1966) • Frederik Pohl
When I Was Miss Dow (1966) • Sonya Dorman
Call Him Lord (1966) • Gordon R. Dickson
In the Imagicon (1966) • George H. Smith
**** We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966) • Philip K. Dick
Man in His Time (1965) • Brian W. Aldiss
11 stories:
The Secret Place (1966) • Richard McKenna
Light of Other Days (1966) • Bob Shaw
Who Needs Insurance? (1966) • Robin Scott Wilson
Among the Hairy Earthmen (1966) • R. A. Lafferty
**** The Last Castle (1966) • Jack Vance
*** Day Million (1966) • Frederik Pohl
When I Was Miss Dow (1966) • Sonya Dorman
Call Him Lord (1966) • Gordon R. Dickson
In the Imagicon (1966) • George H. Smith
**** We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966) • Philip K. Dick
Man in His Time (1965) • Brian W. Aldiss
Want to Read
February 13, 2025(3/11 read)
11 stories:
The Secret Place (1966) • Richard McKenna
Light of Other Days (1966) • Bob Shaw
Who Needs Insurance? (1966) • Robin Scott Wilson
Among the Hairy Earthmen (1966) • R. A. Lafferty
**** The Last Castle (1966) • Jack Vance
*** Day Million (1966) • Frederik Pohl
When I Was Miss Dow (1966) • Sonya Dorman
Call Him Lord (1966) • Gordon R. Dickson
In the Imagicon (1966) • George H. Smith
**** We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966) • Philip K. Dick
Man in His Time (1965) • Brian W. Aldiss
11 stories:
The Secret Place (1966) • Richard McKenna
Light of Other Days (1966) • Bob Shaw
Who Needs Insurance? (1966) • Robin Scott Wilson
Among the Hairy Earthmen (1966) • R. A. Lafferty
**** The Last Castle (1966) • Jack Vance
*** Day Million (1966) • Frederik Pohl
When I Was Miss Dow (1966) • Sonya Dorman
Call Him Lord (1966) • Gordon R. Dickson
In the Imagicon (1966) • George H. Smith
**** We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966) • Philip K. Dick
Man in His Time (1965) • Brian W. Aldiss
didnt-finish
February 18, 2012This book has been mia for a while so taking it off the currently teading list. Sigh. Dont know what happened to it. I was hoping to love it and it just wasnt amazeballs.
October 2, 2015
Meaty, satisfying sci-fi stories from the masters (and one mistress) of the genre of the 1960s.
April 22, 2017
It may be my own bias toward Zelazny, but the second Nebula Award Stories 2 left me less satisfied than the first Nebula Awards anthology.
This may in part be due to the fact that the concepts in some of these stories have been re-done many time since the 1960s by modern imitators.
I'll also admit that 1960s attitudes toward women shine through her - boy, do they. I'm not sure how Zelazny avoided those attitudes so well, given how thoroughly they show up here.
Still, it was full of interesting jaunts and probably the original versions of some now-familiar concepts. There were a few gems here:
"When I was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman is perhaps one of the most elegant dramatic studies incorporating neuroscience that I've ever seen.
"Day Million" by Frederick Pohl is a hilarious and refreshing narrative. No description I could writer would do it justice.
"In the Imagicon" by George Henry Smith ended up being a surprisingly insightful story, even if its female characters were gratingly - well, I can't really finish that thought without spoiling the story. But you'll see what I mean.
This may in part be due to the fact that the concepts in some of these stories have been re-done many time since the 1960s by modern imitators.
I'll also admit that 1960s attitudes toward women shine through her - boy, do they. I'm not sure how Zelazny avoided those attitudes so well, given how thoroughly they show up here.
Still, it was full of interesting jaunts and probably the original versions of some now-familiar concepts. There were a few gems here:
"When I was Miss Dow" by Sonya Dorman is perhaps one of the most elegant dramatic studies incorporating neuroscience that I've ever seen.
"Day Million" by Frederick Pohl is a hilarious and refreshing narrative. No description I could writer would do it justice.
"In the Imagicon" by George Henry Smith ended up being a surprisingly insightful story, even if its female characters were gratingly - well, I can't really finish that thought without spoiling the story. But you'll see what I mean.
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