Is there a sci-fi short story that really hit you? Something that struck a chord? Short stories are different from novels – they’re a snapshot of a character incident, usually punchy, usually with a twist line at the end.
I tend not to agree with ‘best of’ lists; everything has its merits and a lot rests on the way the story is received by the reader; one person’s gem might be another’s rubbish. But here are a few that impressed me – there are more, of course. Murray Leinster’s The Aliens; Asimov’s Nightfall. John Campbell’s haunting Who Goes There. The list also includes just about everything Arthur C. Clarke ever wrote. Anyhow:
Arthur Porges – The Ruum (1953)
A dramatic exploration of the psychology of being hunted and of the survival instinct; one man in the Canadian wilds tries to stay alive in the face of a remorseless alien machine.
Cyril M. Kornbluth - The Marching Morons (1951)
A biting satire on post-WW2 American values and the way power corrupts individuals. Still strikes chords today.
Arthur C. Clarke – The Nine Billion Names Of God (1953)
Still the best ever last line of any short story, ever – SF or otherwise.
Isaac Asimov – The Last Question (1956)
Vies with Clarke for best last line; and a provocative take on religion.
Paul Ernst – Nothing Ever Happens On The Moon (1939)
At a time when a lot of SF tended to veer towards spectacle, this tale explored the psychology of isolation.
All of them were old-ish when I first read them – yet they remain timeless. Why? Because each, in their own way, has captured some aspect of the human condition – which remains true for us today.
Has anyone else read these? What do you think of them? And – more to the point – what’s your pick? Do share!
Copyright © Matthew Wright 2012
For some reason I’ve never been a big fan of short stories, which may be why I’ve never written many. “Nine Billion Names of God” and “Who Goes There” are perennial favorites. “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison surfaces; and I thought quite well of R.A. Lafferty when I was younger (“Frog On the Mountain”) — which made me look him up on Wikipedia, and remember reading his anthology Nine Hundred Grandmothers. (If you haven’t read his take-off on the Odyssey, titled Space Chantey, it’s a hoot!)(“The tale of Road-Storm, from the ancient chronicles / We give you here, good spheres and cool-boy conicles…”)
Ray Bradbury’s “Mars Is Heaven” was pretty interesting. He wrote a story about a garbageman that was pretty good, too; damned if I can find it, don’t even know what anthology it might be in, but the basic idea is that the guy likes his job until one day they tell him what he’s going to have to do about picking up bodies following a nuclear strike. Extraordinary poignancy: “I used to like this job, you know?” he tells his wife.
Thank you for your thoughts – sounds like we have had very similar reading in many ways. I remember reading ‘Mars is Heaven’ – it made a huge impression on me. When I read ‘Who Goes There’ I remember thinking ‘what’s so SF about an Antarctic station’? By then NZ had been running Scott Base for overr a decade. But, of course, Campbell wrote that tale way earlier…
Raymond F. Jones – Noise Level (1952)
A spirit of invention at its best. Also probably the greatest Sci-Fi hoax. Cynical. Brilliant.
I must confess I’ve never read that one – I’ll look out for it.
I’m afraid it’s a must.
The names that stick with me, even after so many years have passed are, Ursula LeGuin and Asimov. I know there were others but those are the ones that linger. Such excellent work. I really should read them again.
Asimov was amazing. On a bad day, he was merely brilliant.