SCIENCE FICTION TERROR TALES

I finished reading SCIENCE FICTION TERROR TALES (1969) this morning. It's the third Groff Conklin edited science fiction anthology I've read recently and as usual, it's a mixed bag of stories. I was familiar with almost all of the authors here but I had not read any of these stories before. There are fifteen stories which divide neatly into three categories: the very good, the average and the didn't-work-for-me.

The very good stories include ARENA by Fredric Brown. It's easy to see why this one is widely regarded as a science fiction classic. It was adapted in an issue of Marvel Comics' WORLDS UNKNOWN comic book series back in the '70s and was, of course, loosely adapted by Brown himself for a first season episode of STAR TREK (by coincidence, the first episode of the original series I ever saw.) The other very good stories are THE LEECH by Robert Scheckley, MICROSCOPIC GIANTS by Paul Ernst, IMPOSTER by Philip K. Dick (a surprise because I have not liked any of the PKD novels I've read) and LET ME LIVE IN A HOUSE by Chad Oliver, who, in addition to being a very good science fiction writer represented by none other than Forrest J. Ackerman, also taught anthropology at the University of Texas right here in Austin.

The five good stories are PUNISHMENT WITHOUT CRIME by Ray Bradbury, THROUGH CHANNELS by Richard Matheson, LOST MEMORY by Peter Philips, NIGHTMARE BROTHER by Alan Nourse and PIPELINE TO PLUTO by Murray Leinster.

Finally, the didn't-work-for-me stories: MEMORIAL by Theodore Sturgeon, PROTT by Margaret St. Clair, FLIES by Isaac Asimov, THE OTHER INAUGURATION by Anthony Boucher and THEY by Robert A. Heinlein.

As you can see, lots of big name authors represented here and, as always, your mileage may vary.

Thumbs up.