reading (50 Short Science Fiction Tales)

I finished rereading "Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales" this morning. If my memory serves me I first read this book around 1981, maybe earlier. It was my brother's book. When he left it at home I claimed it and took it with me when I left. That copy became so polluted by our downstairs neighbor's greasy cooking I couldn't read it and I gave it up in the late 90's. I have been keeping my eye out for a copy every since. I was very surprised to see it on the shelf in a bookstore a few weeks ago and didn't hesitate to grab it.

The stories in this collection range from pretty damn short to very, very short. They pack it in and often have the trademark last line kicker popular in very short fiction. The science in this collection runs the gamut. Psychological and sociological are represented well beside the space ships and high technology. The themes run from horror to humor to social commentary.

I read a lot and honestly I forget a lot of what I read, but I remember some of the stories in this book from the first time I read them. The editors did a wonderful job of selection and created a collection that easily stands the test of time and repeated reads. If you see a copy of this book on a shelf in some used bookstore don't pass it by. Possibly one of my ten favorite books. If not, definitely in the top fifty.

77. "Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales" ed. by Isaac Asimov and Groff Conklin