James Nicoll Reviews

George R. R. Martin’s 1977 New Voices: The Campbell Award Nominees is the first in a series of anthologies that assemble stories by Campbell Award (now the Astounding) nominees. That it was the first is made clearer on the Jove/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich¹ mass market paperback, whose title was changed to New Voices I: The Campbell Award Nominees.

But first, context.

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Christopher Anvil’s 1980 The Steel, the Mist, and the Blazing Sun is (almost) a stand-alone post-apocalyptic proto-military SF novel.

The atomic unpleasantness left half of North America as slag lands¹, and left Europe untouched but a Russ dependency. The Russ even established colonies on the North American east coast. It seemed unlikely that the invaders would ever be forced to leave. After all, the Russ have (dwindling) stores of Old Stuff, whereas the descendants of American and Canadian survivors make do with far more primitive equipment.

Recent events proved that the Russ were curiously vulnerable. Under Arakal, King of the Wesdem O’Cracys², the North American savages somehow overcame their technological and ideological impediments, outmaneuvered their enemy, and drove the Russ high command from North America.

What next?

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William Sloane’s 1937 To Walk the Night¹ is a stand-alone cosmic horror novel.

Berkeley ​“Bark” Jones visits Dr. Lister, the man who was effectively Bark’s father. Bark has two grim tasks: to deliver to Lister the ashes of Lister’s son Jerry, and to explain to the doctor the events leading up to Jerry’s suicide.

It began with a burning astronomer.

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H. M. Hoover’s 1977 The Delikon is a stand-alone young adult science fiction novel.

Humanity ventured to the stars in quest of what they assumed to be their great destiny. The alien Delikon, having taken humanity’s measure, swiftly conquered the short-lived upstarts¹. As humans were clearly incapable of moderating their own behavior, the Delikon constructed a capital city on Earth, Kalidor, from which they set about shaping humans to conform to civilized standards.

A very long time later, the rigid caste system appears eternal.

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Poul Anderson’s 1975 Homeward and Beyond collects nine science fiction stories.

This book was at one time one of my favourite Anderson collections. Alas, what motivates me to review this today are not those fond memories, but pure spite… spite not directed at Anderson.

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Glen Cook’s 1972 The Heirs of Babylon is a stand-alone post-holocaust novel.

Two centuries earlier, Germany was reduced from one hundred million people to one hundred thousand. The survivors’ descendants are concentrated in the Baltic Littoral. Germany and the neighbouring nations were lucky. Some nations, such as China, were extirpated¹.

The Baltic Littoral’s people live hand-to-mouth. Little can be spared to rebuild. Blame the perfidious Australians.

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Wilson Tucker’s The Long Loud Silence (1952, 1954) is a stand-alone post-apocalyptic novel.

The enemy struck without warning. Major cities like Chicago were incinerated with atomic bombs. Lesser cities and towns did not rate atomic weapons. Instead, bombs delivered weaponized diseases.

Millions died… east of the Mississippi. The enemy’s weapons could not reach the west. Therefore, those twenty-two states were spared.

Good news for Corporal Russell Gary, who wakes from a bender to discover that he is one of the survivors. Bad news for Gary, who wakes from a bender to discover that he is one of the survivors… on the wrong side of the Mississippi.

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Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a science fiction novel.

Fireman Guy Montag and his wife Millie live comfortable, middle-class lives. Millie finds purpose in an endless stream of television entertainment. Guy burns books.

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William Pène du Bois’ 1947 novel The Twenty-One Balloons is a Newbery-award-winning juvenile comedy adventure.

How did Professor William Waterman Sherman, late of San Francisco, end up floating in the North Atlantic on a raft composed of the wreckage of a flotilla of balloons? The question holds 1893 America¹ in thrall!

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L. Sprague de Camp’s 1953 The Continent Makers is a collection of his early Viagens Interplanetarias stories.

In the wake of World War Three, Brazil became Earth’s foremost power¹. Thus, it fell to Brazil to deliver relativistic star flight. First contact with the surprisingly large number of alien civilizations in neighboring star systems was followed by the formation of the Interplanetary Council.

Why was the Interplanetary Council needed, when contact, being sublight, was a matter of years and decades? In part, so that technologically backward, aggressive cultures do not get their hands on starships and nuclear weapons. However, there is another consideration.

Let us discuss Planets of Hats.

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