One classic and three others
The Martian Way and Other Stories — Isaac Asimov
1955’s The Martian Way and Other Stories is a collection of four short works by Isaac Asimov, one of which is, I think, rather well known. The three others? Not so much. Still, this was one of my go-to books as a teen. I just didn’t (and still don’t) think the other three stories had the same oomph as The Martian Way.
So how well did this classic stand up, you ask?
The Big Picture
The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two — Isaac Asimov
This week’s Because My Tears are Delicious to You review will cover 1972’s The Hugo Winners, Volume One and Two . For one trivial reason (the book is shelved just at eye height in my path from office to front door) and one literary reason (award winning fiction has been on my mind of late). Just how good—or bad—were the older Hugo winners?
This volume combined two earlier collections, 1961’s The Hugo Winners (later re-titled The Hugo Winners, Volume One ) and 1971’s The Hugo Winners, Volume Two . The whole volume thus includes the Hugo winning novellas and short stories of the 1950s and 1960s .
Incidentally, my copy is the Science Fiction Book Club edition. Older fen will remember that edition from the insert ads that used to grace SF paperbacks 1. What wonders that insert promised! And what structural damage it inflicted on the book binding!
In addition to enjoying many of the stories, I found the book a fascinating testament to the evolution of science fiction, 1950–1970.
Against irrational exuberance the fans themselves contend in vain
The Gods Themselves — Isaac Asimov
Following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik in 1957, Russian-born American author Isaac Asimov turned his energies to educating the American public. By the time of his death he had produced non-fiction books in every category of the Dewey Decimal system save the 100s. This came at the expense of his science fiction. Between 1959 and 1972, he published only one novel (a movie tie-in) and a comparative handful of short stories.
Asimov’s 1972 novel The Gods Themselves, his first in thirteen years, must therefore have seemed to many science fiction fans as the return of a giant. But not to me, because I was an eleven-year-old still reading through his entire back list to date; from my point of view there was no hiatus at all. Given the context, I can see why Asimov’s fans went gaga over this novel. I am not entirely certain what I was thinking beyond “yay, another Asimov!”
Asimov’s return to novel-length SF was an ambitious one….
Back to Asimov
Nightfall and Other Stories — Isaac Asimov
Blame my fondness for old timey radio for this review. I was re-listening to my archive of X Minus One (a 1955–1958 radio program featuring SF content) and was suddenly overcome by an urge to re-read this Asimov collection, an old favourite, after listening to their adaptation of Hostess.
“Because my tears are delicious to you” does not earn its title
The Planet That Wasn’t — Isaac Asimov
Following the Soviet launch of Sputnik, Russian-born American Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992) turned from focusing on fiction to a lengthy and extremely diverse series of non-fiction works. To quote Wikipedia, “Asimov’s books span all major categories of the Dewey Decimal Classification except for category 100, philosophy and psychology” (and he had essays and introductions that ventured into category 100).
Review Categories
- Rediscovery Tuesday (42)
- Translation (124)
- Because My Tears Are Delicious To You (202)
- 50 Nortons in 50 Weeks (50)
- The Great Heinlein Juveniles (Plus The Other Two) Reread (14)
- KW Science Fiction and Fantasy (3)
- Special Requests (192)
- Miscellaneous Reviews (206)
- Women of Wonder (6)
- Leigh Brackett's Solar System (7)
- Military Speculative Fiction That Doesn't Suck (32)
- Graveyard Orbits (4)
- James Tiptree, Jr. Award (9)
- A Year of Tanith Lee (61)
- Not Actually A Review (1)
- Space Opera That Doesn't Suck (10)
- A Year of Waterloo Region Speculative Fiction (49)
- The 2017 Prometheus Award Finalists (4)
- Reds Under The Bed (5)
- Twelve by Diana Wynne Jones (4)
- A Dozen by Tchaikovsky (4)
- A Bunch of Bujolds (4)
- A Variety of Vaughns (3)
- An Expanse of Coreys (1)
By Author/Editor
- Aaronovitch, Ben (1)
- Abbas, Ibraheem (1)
- Abrahams, Kyria (1)
- Achebe, Chinua (1)
- Addison, Katherine (1)
- Aldiss, Brian (1)
- Amano, Kozue (14)
- Anderson, Chester (1)
- Anderson, Poul (6)
- Anderson, R. J. (2)
- Andrews, Ilona (1)
- Anthony, Patricia (1)
- Anthony, Piers (2)
- Arakawa, Hiromu (4)
- Archer, Katrina (1)
- Arnason, Eleanor (1)
- Ashby, Madeline (2)
- Ashinano, Hitoshi (20)
- Ashwin, Kate (2)
- Asimov, Isaac (5)
- Atwood, Margaret (1)
- Bahjatt, Yasser (1)
- Bailey, Charles W. (1)
- Bailley, Samantha (1)
- Baker, Mishell (1)
- Banks, Iain M. (1)
- Barnes, Steven (3)
- Barnett, Lisa A. (1)
- Bayley, Barrington J. (1)
- Bear, Elizabeth (1)
- Benford, Gregory (2)
- Bester, Alfred (1)
- Beukes, Lauren (1)
- Binder, Eando (1)
- Blair, Kate (1)
- Blish, James (1)
- Bobet, Leah (1)
- Bois, Jon (1)
- Boucher, Anthony (1)
- Bova, Ben (1)
- Bow, Erin (2)
- Bow, James (2)
- Brackett, Leigh (9)
- Bradbury, Ray (1)
- Bray, Libba (1)
- Brennan, Marie (1)
- Brennan, Sarah Ree (1)
- Bretnor, Reginald (1)
- Brissett, Jennifer Marie (1)
- Broaddus, Maurice (1)
- Brookmyre, Christopher (1)
- Brown, Rosel George (1)
- Brunner, John (5)
- Brust, Steven (2)
- Buckell, Tobias (2)
- Buckley, Bob (1)
- Bujold, Lois McMaster (5)
- Burgess, Anthony (1)
- Busby, F. M. (2)
- Butler, Octavia E. (7)
- Campbell, John W. (1)
- Čapek, Karel (1)
- Capon, Paul (1)
- Card, Melanie (1)
- Card, Orson Scott (1)
- Carey, Jacqueline (2)
- Carr, John F. (1)
- Carter, Raphael (1)
- Castellucci, Cecil (1)
- Chambers, Becky (2)
- Chandler, A. Bertram (1)
- Charnas, Suzy McKee (1)
- Chen, Curtis C. (1)
- Cherryh, C.J. (7)
- Cho, Zen (4)
- Christie, Agatha (1)
- Chu, Wesley (1)
- Church, Suzanne (2)
- Clarke, Arthur C. (2)
- Clarke, Cassandra Rose (1)
- Clarke, Neil (1)
- Clayton, Jo (5)
- Clee, Mona (1)
- Clement, Hal (1)
- Clement, Jermaine (1)
- Cole, Dandridge M. (1)
- Comité Colbert (1)
- Coney, Michael G. (1)
- Connolly, Harry (3)
- Consell, Ryan (1)
- Cook, Glen (1)
- Corey, James S. A. (1)
- Cox, Donald W (1)
- Crain William (1)
- Crewe, Megan (1)
- Ctein (1)
- Czerneda, Julia E. (2)
- Daniel, Tony (1)
- Daniels, April (2)
- Darnay, Arsen (1)
- Daven, Kit (2)
- Davin, Eric Leif (1)
- de Bodard, Aliette (7)
- de Camp, L. Sprague (2)
- Dean, Paul (1)
- Deighton, Len (1)
- Delany, Samuel R. (4)
- Dentinger, Jane (1)
- Dickson, Gordon R. (1)
- Dillon, Diane (1)
- Dillon, Leo (1)
- Doctorow, Corey (1)
- Downum, Amanda (1)
- Doyle, Debra (1)
- Drake, David (1)
- Draper, Terry (1)
- Drye, Paul (1)
- Duane, Diane (1)
- Due, Tananarive (1)
- Dumas, Alexandre (1)
- Dunlop, Eileen (1)
- Dunyach, Jean-Claude (1)
- Duyvis, Corinne (1)
- Dyson, George (1)
- Editor, A.N. (1)
- Edmondson, G.C. (2)
- Eisenstein, Phyllis (2)
- Elliott, Kate (1)
- Engdahl, Sylvia Louise (1)
- Engel, Marian (1)
- Ernst, Paul (1)
- Estes, Eleanor (1)
- Fakhouri, Anne (1)
- Faust, Minister (1)
- Ford, John M. (2)
- Forstchen, William R. (1)
- Foster, Alan Dean (2)
- Foster, M.A. (1)
- Frank, Pat (1)
- Frankel, Jen (1)
- Frey, J. M. (2)
- Frezza, Robert (1)
- Fujii, Taiyo (2)
- Gardner, James Alan (2)
- Gentle, Mary (2)
- Gerrold, David (3)
- Gilliland, Alexis A. (1)
- Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (1)
- Gilman, Felix (1)
- Gilman, Laura Anne (1)
- Gladstone, Max (4)
- Goldenberg, Alisse Lee (1)
- Gorodischer, Angélica (1)
- Goto, Hiromi (1)
- Gould, Steven (2)
- Graham, Jo (5)
- Grant, Mira (1)
- Greenberg, Martin H. (1)
- Griffin, Kate (1)
- Griffith, Nicola (5)
- Grossman, Austin (1)
- Ha, Il-Kwon (1)
- Haldeman, Joe (2)
- Hamilton, Virginia (2)
- Hansen, Karl (1)
- Hardinge, Frances (1)
- Harris, Geraldine (1)
- Hawkins, Scott (1)
- Healy, Raymond J. (1)
- Heinlein, Robert A. (20)
- Helgadóttir, Margrét (1)
- Henderson, Zenna (1)
- Heppenheimer, T. A. (1)
- Herbert, Frank (1)
- Hernandez, Jaime (2)
- Hewitt, John (1)
- Heydt, Dorothy (1)
- Higgins, C.A. (1)
- Hiroe, Rei (1)
- Hogan, James P. (1)
- Hogarth, M. C. A. (1)
- Holmqvist, Ninni (1)
- Hoover, H.M. (1)
- Hopkinson, Nalo (1)
- Höst, Andrea K. (1)
- Howard, Kat (1)
- Howe, Grant (1)
- Hoyle, Fred (1)
- Hoyt, Richard (1)
- Huang, S.L. (4)
- Huff, Tanya (2)
- Hughes, Matthew (5)
- Hughes, Monica (1)
- Humphrey, Claire (1)
- Hurley, Kameron (2)
- Ibuse, Masuji (1)
- Ing, Dean (2)
- Ishiguro, Kazuo (1)
- Itäranta, Emmi (1)
- Jablokov, Alexander (1)
- Jackson, Shirley (2)
- Jacobs, Jane (1)
- Jacques, Jeph (1)
- Jemisin, N. K. (5)
- Johnson, Alaya Dawn (3)
- Johnson, Annabel (1)
- Johnson, Edgar (1)
- Johnson, Kij (1)
- Jones, Diana Wynne (2)
- Jones, Gwyneth (1)
- Jones, Heather Rose (2)
- Jones, Raymond F. (1)
- Juster, Norton (1)
- K.B. Wagers (1)
- Kahn, Herman (1)
- Kahn, Sherman (1)
- Kamachi, Kazuma (1)
- Kaplan, Fred (1)
- Kawahara, Reki (1)
- Kerr, Katharine (1)
- Key, Alexander (1)
- Keyes, Daniel (1)
- Khaw, Cassandra (1)
- Kidd, Virginia (1)
- Kiernan, Denise (1)
- Killough, Lee (3)
- King, Jasper MacDonald (1)
- King, Stephen (1)
- Kingfisher, T. (3)
- Kingsbury, Donald (1)
- Kinzie, Becka (2)
- Kirstein, Rosemary (4)
- Kishi, Yusuke (3)
- Knebel, Fletcher (1)
- Kohli, Armon Kishen (1)
- Kooiker, Leonie (1)
- Kornbluth, Cyril (2)
- Kotlan, C. M. (1)
- Krasnostein, Alisa (1)
- Kreider, Anna (2)
- Kuhn, Sarah (2)
- Kurland, Michael (1)
- Kushner, Ellen (1)
- L'Engle, Madeleine (1)
- Lafferty, Mur (1)
- Lagerlöf, Selma (1)
- Lake, David J. (1)
- Larbalestier, Justine (1)
- Laumer, Keith (2)
- Le Guin, Ursula K. (3)
- Leckie, Ann (1)
- Lee, Fonda (1)
- Lee, Sharon (2)
- Lee, Tanith (61)
- Lee, Yoon Ha (2)
- Leiber, Fritz (3)
- Lepore, Jill (1)
- Liang, William Tham Wai (1)
- Lindqvist, John Ajvide (1)
- Liu, Cixin (2)
- Liu, Ken (1)
- Llewellyn, Edward (1)
- Locke, M. J (1)
- Long, Dee (1)
- Lord, Karen (1)
- Lumpkin, John J. (1)
- Lynn, Elizabeth A. (3)
- MacAvoy, R.A. (1)
- MacDonald, James D. (1)
- MacDonald, John D. (1)
- MacGregor, Blair (1)
- MacLean, Katherine (2)
- MacLeod, Ken (1)
- Mahr, Kurt (1)
- Malan, Violette (1)
- Mamatas, Nick (1)
- Mandel, Emily St. John (1)
- Mankell, Henning (1)
- Mardoll, Ana (1)
- Marks, Laurie J (3)
- Martin, George R.R. (1)
- Martinson, Harry (1)
- Matronic, Ana (1)
- Mauméjean, Xavier (1)
- McCaffrey, Anne (1)
- McComas, J. Francis (1)
- McDonald, Ian (1)
- McDuffie, Dwayne (1)
- McGuire, Seanan (1)
- McHugh, Maureen F. (1)
- McIntyre, Vonda N. (3)
- McKillip, Patricia A. (2)
- McLachlan, J. A. (1)
- McMullen, Sean (1)
- McPhee, John (1)
- Meredith, Richard C. (1)
- Merle, Robert (1)
- Merril, Judith (2)
- Mighton, John (1)
- Miller, Mark (1)
- Miller, Steve (2)
- Miller, Walter M., Jr. (1)
- Mitchison, Naomi (1)
- Miyabe, Miyuki (1)
- Moffitt, Donald (1)
- Mohanraj, Mary Anne (1)
- Moon, Elizabeth (1)
- Moorcock, Michael (1)
- Moore, C.L. (5)
- Moore, Moira J (1)
- Moran, Daniel Keyes (3)
- Moreno-Garcia, Silvia (5)
- Morganfield, T.L. (1)
- Mori, Kaoru (5)
- Morinaga, Milk (1)
- Morressy, John (1)
- Mulholland, Tony (1)
- Murphy, Pat (2)
- Nagata, Linda (7)
- Nakazato, Yuka (1)
- Nakazawa, Keiji (1)
- Narita, Ryogho (1)
- Neil Randall (1)
- Newhall, Scott (1)
- Newman, Emma (4)
- Nicholson, Sam (1)
- Nickle, David (1)
- Niven, Larry (8)
- North, Claire (1)
- Norton, Andre (50)
- Nourse, Alan E. (1)
- Novik, Naomi (1)
- O'Donnell, Kevin (1)
- O'Malley, Daniel (1)
- O'Neal, Kathleen M. (1)
- Ogawa, Yoko (1)
- Ohno, Kaoru (1)
- Okorafor, Nnedi (2)
- Ōkouchi, Ichirō (1)
- Ono, Fuyumi (2)
- Ore, Rebecca (1)
- Orwell, George (1)
- Otsuichi (1)
- Palwick, Susan (2)
- Pangborn, Edgar (1)
- Panshin, Alexei (1)
- Paquet, Olivier (1)
- Parker, K.J. (4)
- Patel, Carrie (1)
- Penn, Richard (2)
- Pérez-Reverte, Arturo (1)
- Perrin, Steve (1)
- Phillips, Julie (1)
- Phondke, Bal (1)
- Pierce, Alexandra (1)
- Piper, H. Beam (4)
- Piserchia, Doris (1)
- Pohl-Weary, Emily (1)
- Pohl, Carol (1)
- Pohl, Frederik (5)
- Posey, Jay (1)
- Pournelle, Jerry (4)
- Powers, Tim (1)
- Rakunas, Adam (2)
- Rasmussen, Alis A. (1)
- Rey, Alain (1)
- Reynolds, Alastair (2)
- Rhodes, Richard (1)
- Ricci-Thode, Vanessa (1)
- Rivas, Roque (1)
- Roberts, Adam (1)
- Robinett, Stephen (1)
- Robinson, Frank M. (1)
- Robinson, Kim Stanley (1)
- Rowland, Diana (6)
- Ruff, Matt (1)
- Russ, Joanna (1)
- Russell, Eric Frank (2)
- Ryan, Thomas J. (1)
- Sagan, Carl (1)
- Saito, Chiho (2)
- Sakai, Stan (2)
- Sakuraba, Kazuki (2)
- Samatar, Sofia (1)
- Sanders, B.R. (1)
- Sandford, John (1)
- Sargent, Pamela (9)
- Satifka, Erika L. (1)
- Saunders, Charles R. (1)
- Saunders, Graydon (3)
- Sawyer, Robert J. (1)
- Scalzi, John (3)
- Schoen, Lawrence M. (1)
- Scortia, Thomas N. (1)
- Scott, Melissa (11)
- Shaw, Bob (2)
- Shawl, Nisi (1)
- Sheckley, Robert (1)
- Sheffield, Charles (1)
- Shelby, L. (3)
- Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (1)
- Shinkai, Makoto (1)
- Shiras, Wilmar H. (1)
- Shirow, Masamune (2)
- Shriver, Lionel (1)
- Shunn, William (1)
- Shusterman, Neal (1)
- Shute, Nevil (1)
- Silverberg, Robert (1)
- Simak, Clifford D. (2)
- Simukka, Salla (3)
- Sinisalo, Johanna (1)
- Slonczewski, Joan (1)
- Smith, E.E. (1)
- Smith, Evelyn E. (1)
- Smith, George O. (1)
- Smith, Kristine (3)
- Smith, L. Neil (3)
- Smith, Sherwood (2)
- Smith, Thorne (1)
- Snyder, Zilpha Keatley (1)
- Solnit, Rebecca (1)
- Spangler, K.B. (6)
- Spencer, Wen (2)
- Spinrad, Norman (1)
- Sprange, Matthew (1)
- Springer, Nancy (1)
- St. Clair, Margaret (2)
- Steinmetz, Ferrett (3)
- Stephenson, Neal (1)
- Sterzinger, Ann (1)
- Stiles, Paula R. (1)
- Stine, G. Harry (1)
- Strugatsky, Arkady (2)
- Strugatsky, Boris (2)
- Sucharitkul, Somtow (1)
- Sullivan, Tricia (2)
- Sutcliff, Rosemary (1)
- Tan, Charles (1)
- Tanaka, Yoshiki (3)
- Tanigawa, Nagaru (3)
- Taniguchi, Gorō (1)
- Tanzer, Molly (1)
- Tarr, Judith (1)
- Tchaikovsky, Adrian (1)
- Teitel, Amy Shira (1)
- Tepper, Sheri S. (1)
- Thomas, Jo (1)
- Thomas, Sheree R. (1)
- Thompson, Tade (1)
- Tiptree, James (3)
- Tolmie, Sarah (3)
- Touno, Mamare (1)
- Trowbridge, Dave (1)
- Turner, Megan Whalen (5)
- Turney, Ray (1)
- Valentine, Genevieve (1)
- van de Wetering, Janwillem (1)
- Varley, John (2)
- Vaughn, Carrie (2)
- Vinge, Joan D. (5)
- Vinge, Vernor (1)
- Volsky, Paula (3)
- Vonarburg, Élisabeth (1)
- Wachowski, Andy (1)
- Wachowski, Lana (1)
- Wagers, K. B. (1)
- Waititi, Taika (1)
- Waldrop, Howard (1)
- Wallis, James (1)
- Walton, Jo (1)
- Warren, Adam (1)
- Washington, Masumi (1)
- Watkins, Peter (1)
- Wayne, Jeff (1)
- Weir, Andy (1)
- Wells, Alex (1)
- Wells, Jeffrey (1)
- Wells, Martha (9)
- White, James (4)
- Wilde, Fran (1)
- Wilhelm, Kate (1)
- Williams, Kass (1)
- Williams, Liz (2)
- Williams, Walter Jon (1)
- Williamson, Jack (2)
- Willis. Connie (1)
- Wilson, F. Paul (1)
- WIlson, Kai Ashante (2)
- Wintrebert, Joëlle (1)
- Wolfrom, Regan (1)
- Wollheim, Donald A. (1)
- Woloschuk, John (1)
- Wren, M.K. (3)
- Yakimura, Makoto (1)
- Yang, JY (3)
- Yatsuhashi, Keith (1)
- Yoshiura, Yasuhiro (1)
- Yuki, Hiroshi (1)
- Zelazny, Roger (3)
Reviews by Date
2018
- April 2018 (19)
- March 2018 (21)
- February 2018 (20)
- January 2018 (23)
2017
- December 2017 (21)
- November 2017 (22)
- October 2017 (22)
- September 2017 (22)
- August 2017 (23)
- July 2017 (21)
- June 2017 (21)
- May 2017 (22)
- April 2017 (21)
- March 2017 (21)
- February 2017 (19)
- January 2017 (23)
2016
- December 2016 (21)
- November 2016 (21)
- October 2016 (22)
- September 2016 (22)
- August 2016 (22)
- July 2016 (22)
- June 2016 (20)
- May 2016 (23)
- April 2016 (21)
- March 2016 (21)
- February 2016 (18)
- January 2016 (22)
2015
- December 2015 (28)
- November 2015 (29)
- October 2015 (29)
- September 2015 (29)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (28)
- June 2015 (28)
- May 2015 (28)
- April 2015 (26)
- March 2015 (29)
- February 2015 (24)
- January 2015 (25)
2014
- December 2014 (25)
- November 2014 (26)
- October 2014 (27)
- September 2014 (24)
- August 2014 (23)
- July 2014 (11)
- June 2014 (8)
- May 2014 (4)
- April 2014 (2)