Six stories and a poem by Gregory Benford. There’s also a 1986 article by Brian W. Aldiss called “What Should An SF Novel Be About?” That is an interesting piece with his take on the state of SF. In part of it he bemoans the fact that Joe Haldeman reduced himself to writing Star Trek novels and says Robert A.Heinlein and Isaac Asimov seemed to churn out nothing special thanks to their best seller successes. In the introduction, George Zebrowski says the success of Star Wars was good in the sense that it made SF more popular but bad that it stopped advances being made in the field as most authors tries to sell adventure stories and nothing else..
The stories: “Jewels In An Angel’s Wing” – Ian Watson – Konrad and Isbeth don’t know where they are. Are they underwater, in a starship or maybe they’re just computer simulations and not even real.
**”Signals” – Charles L.Harness – On Pluto signals are picked up in the sub-ether from alien ships. A Senator thinks it’s all a hoax. As the messages are translated they discover four alien ships are lost. They have to send a signal back home. That may mean the end of mankind.
**”Veritas” -James Morrow – You have to tell the truth. It’s the law. If you’re selling an inferior product you can’t lie. When children reach age eight they’re brain burned so they’ll always tell the truth. One man finds the truth behind the law.
**”My Life As A Born-Again Pig” – Frederick Pohl – Denny Treadaway is a rich man. He dies in a car accident. When he wakes up he discovers that his brain has been put into a baby’s head. Now he has to start all over again. His wife is taking care of him and giving him every convenience to keep the bucks rolling in.
“Madonna Of The Red Sun” -W.Warren Wager – It’s the end. The sun is going nova. All that’s left on Earth are twelve children and their teacher.
**”Inside Out” – Rudy Rucker – A man and wife are taken over by aliens. He has a female, she a male. He’s a failed operator of a store that sells magic tricks. One of them reverses everything. Lose a left hand glove and this trick will replace it by putting a right hand glove inside it.He gets the idea to make it for real. The alien helps him while the other alien helps himself to his wife. She eventually helps herself to anyone who cares to drop by. Funny stuff.
** Favorites.
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