Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “Time Waits for Winthrop” by William Tenn #16 of 20 (Read) Virgil Finlay usually created drawings and paintings that featured beautiful or fantastic subjects, but the interior illustration for “Time Waits for Winthrop” is hideous to see. But then, the 25th-century future William Tenn describes is supposed to be hideous to people from the 20th century, and the title character’s personality is downright hideous too, so Finlay does an excellent job preparing us for the story. “Time Waits for Winthrop” is a plodding piece of fiction tha ..read more

Rereading “Flight to Forever” made me realize something about the core of my personality. There are a limited number of science fictional ideas that I resonate with that I like to regularly recall. I consider “The Time Machine” the epitome of science fiction because it explored so many new science fiction themes. New to me at age twelve, and maybe new to the world in 1895. Poul Anderson’s “Flight to Forever” recalls many of those same ideas. “Flight to Forever” was first published in Super Science Stories, the November 1950 issue. You can read it here, or listen here. I first read it in Year ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “Small World” by William F. Nolan #15 of 20 (Read, Listen) I’ve always loved post-apocalyptic novels about the last man on Earth, or at least, the last few people on Earth. I’m not saying I want everyone else to die, but if flying saucers hauled y’all all away, I wouldn’t complain. Ever since I was a kid, the thought of being the only kid in a deserted city was a fun fantasy for fueling daydreaming. The idea that I could roam around and survive by plundering anything I needed from abandoned stores and houses was deliciously app ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “The Men Return” by Jack Vance #12 of 20 (Read, Listen) My initial reaction to “The Men Return” was “WTF! Far Out!” It’s not a great SF story, but Vance does produce a different idea. I’ve often wondered why SF/F writers don’t imagine more far out possibilities when writing fantasy and science fiction because those genres allow for imagining anything. Well, Jack Vance does just that in “The Men Return.” We are told early in the story: This reminds me of Poul Anderson’s Brain Wave, where our solar system moves into an area of t ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “Profession” by Isaac Asimov #11 of 20 (Read, Listen) “Profession” isn’t one of Asimov’s well-known stories. It’s not a Foundation or Robot story. The setting is Earth. “Profession” is an SF idea story, and unfortunately, not a particularly exciting one. The idea of writing knowledge directly to the brain is interesting, but how and why it’s used in “Profession” isn’t believable. Asimov usually wrote idea stories. He seldom developed stories with drama or humor or even satire. I seldom felt anything for most of his characters ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “The Education of Tigress Macardle” by C. M. Kornbluth #10 of 20 (Read, Listen) C. M. Kornbluth came out with four short stories in 1957 – “MS. Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie,” “The Education of Tigress Macardle,” “The Slave,” and “The Last Man Left in the Bar.” None of them stood out as an obvious favorite among readers, with each story having its fans. Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg couldn’t decide between “The Education of Tigress Macardle” and “The Last Man Left in the Bar” so they published both in The Great SF St ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “The Fly” by George Langelaan #09 of 20 (Read, Listen) “The Fly” by George Langelaan is far more famous as a horror movie than as a science fiction story, but it’s a novelette about a mishap with a matter transmitter, obviously putting it into the territory of science fiction. Judith Merril did include it in her collection of the best SF of 1957, but it’s mostly remembered in horror story anthologies. I rewatched the original 1958 version of The Fly about a year ago, so it was reasonably fresh in my mind. While reading “The Fly” tod ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “Let’s Be Frank” by Brian W. Aldiss #08 of 20 (Read) Fantasy and science fiction are two genres where writers can imagine anything, but strangely we seldom see stories with first-of-their-kind concepts. As The Bible says, there’s nothing new under the sun. However, I think Brian Aldiss has produced a unique idea in “Let’s Be Frank.” If I’m wrong, I’d love to read other takes on this concept. I’m never sure how much of a story I should give away. “Let’s Be Frank” isn’t an all-time top short story, or even a best of the year story. Th ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “The Cage” by A. Bertram Chandler #07 of 20 (Read, Listen) “The Cage” is a fun story, although I’m not sure I would have included it in a best-of-the-year anthology. It’s a puzzle story. Bertram Chandler had a theoretical problem he wanted to present fictionally. How does one intelligent species recognize another intelligent species? It’s a reasonable question, but how do you propose it in a story? Chandler had to spend most of the short story setting up the problem. If humans arrived on another planet, we’d assume any intelligent a ..read more

Group Read 72: The Best Science Fiction Stories of 1957 “You Know Willie” by Theodore R. Cogswell #05 of 20 (Read) I was disappointed that “You Know Willie” is not science fiction. It’s a story about racism that uses fantasy to make a surprise ending. The story isn’t bad. Both Merril and Asimov/Greenberg included it in their anthologies covering 1957. I remember the racism of the 1950s, and it horrified me as a kid, and I’m white. I remember visiting Mississippi in 1960 and being frightened by the violent emotions of the racists. Such people were sadly all too common. So, I can understand why ..read more