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A review by edgeworth
Modern Classics Science Fiction Omnibus by Brian Aldiss
3.0
As near as I can tell Brian Aldiss published and revised a number of these collections, this being the most recent edition, put out in 2007. Apart from half a dozen more contemporary pieces injected into the mix, itâs mostly the same collection of early sci-fi stories from the 1950s and â60s that I remember reading as a battered old paperback when I was a young teenager â possibly, I think, the first short stories Iâd ever read.
Many of these donât hold up, coming as they do from the golly-gee-whiz era of science fiction. (And some of the modern insertions, like Kim Stanley Robinsonâs thoughtful Notes on Sexual Dimorphism, stand out against them like a sore thumb.) But highlights include:
Lot by Ward Moore, about a father packing his family into the car and onto a jam-packed highway to try to escape whatâs implied to be a nuclear attack on Los Angeles; I must have remembered the tone and urgency of this story, since itâs subconsciously reflected in my own short story West Gate, but as a teenager I missed Mooreâs subtle use of the father as an unreliable narrator, a bitter and hen-pecked man who secretly resents his family and fantasises that the collapse of society will finally usher in his time to shine;
The Liberation of Earth by William Tenn, a satirical story about Earth finding itself a battlefield between two opposing alien militaries, constantly taken and retaken and declared âliberatedâ each time while billions die and entire continents are vapourised;
An Alien Agony by Harry Harrison, about a human missionary arriving on a planet populated by peaceful and very literal-minded aliens;
The Store of the Worlds by Robert Sheckley, in which a man approaches a trader who has developed a drug that allows one to see their heartâs truest desire;
Night Watch by James Inglis, following the journey of a space probe launched off into the galaxy;
Great Work of Time by John Crowley, an 80-page novella capping off the anthology, which is one of the most thoughtful and literary time travel stories Iâve ever read, about a secret society which attempts to alter history to preserve the British Empire and the complications which arise from that. Crowleyâs fantasy novel Little, Big is one of the few books Iâve ever given up on shortly after starting it, finding it not to be to my taste, but on the strength of this novella alone Iâll definitely be taking another look at Crowleyâs work.
Many of these donât hold up, coming as they do from the golly-gee-whiz era of science fiction. (And some of the modern insertions, like Kim Stanley Robinsonâs thoughtful Notes on Sexual Dimorphism, stand out against them like a sore thumb.) But highlights include:
Lot by Ward Moore, about a father packing his family into the car and onto a jam-packed highway to try to escape whatâs implied to be a nuclear attack on Los Angeles; I must have remembered the tone and urgency of this story, since itâs subconsciously reflected in my own short story West Gate, but as a teenager I missed Mooreâs subtle use of the father as an unreliable narrator, a bitter and hen-pecked man who secretly resents his family and fantasises that the collapse of society will finally usher in his time to shine;
The Liberation of Earth by William Tenn, a satirical story about Earth finding itself a battlefield between two opposing alien militaries, constantly taken and retaken and declared âliberatedâ each time while billions die and entire continents are vapourised;
An Alien Agony by Harry Harrison, about a human missionary arriving on a planet populated by peaceful and very literal-minded aliens;
The Store of the Worlds by Robert Sheckley, in which a man approaches a trader who has developed a drug that allows one to see their heartâs truest desire;
Night Watch by James Inglis, following the journey of a space probe launched off into the galaxy;
Great Work of Time by John Crowley, an 80-page novella capping off the anthology, which is one of the most thoughtful and literary time travel stories Iâve ever read, about a secret society which attempts to alter history to preserve the British Empire and the complications which arise from that. Crowleyâs fantasy novel Little, Big is one of the few books Iâve ever given up on shortly after starting it, finding it not to be to my taste, but on the strength of this novella alone Iâll definitely be taking another look at Crowleyâs work.