This book was gifted to me by a friend in need of some shelf space, so obviously I was happy to help out. Even more happily, it brought me closer to fulfilling some ongoing projects. First and foremost, I keep meaning to read more short stories, but never seem to find anthologies that appeal to me. Secondly, being published in the seventies, Science Fiction Stories helps fill in a decade where my reading is a little more sparse. Everyone is a winner.

As it turns out, although the book was published in 1979, it’s mostly gathering stories from the fifties and sixties, with a few being earlier than that. This puts it firmly in the Golden Age of SF, and even a relative newcomer to the genre will recognise a name or two. At the same time, there are some authors in here that I was totally unfamiliar with.

There are only two stories in here that I was already familiar with. The first is ‘The Fun They Had’ by Isaac Asimov. While its computers are outdated now, the visual of children learning through customised computers and not knowing what books are is a timeless one, and Asimov’s idea-driven snapshot of a story remains eminently readable. Besides, is it really a Golden Age anthology if there isn’t an Asimov? The other familiar tale is ‘Allamagoosa’ by Eric Frank Russell. This comedic piece about spacers trying to identify a missing piece of equipment is one I absolutely adore, and was more than happy to reread it. For sure, it’s up there with my favourite short fiction ever.

Alongside these were an H. G. Wells story (‘The Abyss’ with which I was unfamiliar, and recognisable names such as James White, Fredric Brown, Brian Aldiss, and Cyril Kornbluth. There’s also Harry Harrison’s original ‘Stainless Steel Rat’ which is one of the best things he’s written. Despite the quality of the authors involved, however, I did find myself generally un-awed by the stories themselves. There’s nothing particularly bad in here, but aside from Russell, only two really stood out.

The first of these is ‘The Astronaut’ by Valentina Zhuravleva. It’s always refreshing to get a non-US perspective on the Golden Age, and this story of cosmonautic heroics is certainly that. It fits in nicely alongside the others due to an uncredited translator, but also lifts its head above them in terms of my own interest. The second story, and the second-best in the collection behind ‘Allamagoosa’ is ‘It Could Be You’ by Frank Roberts. Feeling like something out of the Twilight Zone, this dark little story features a TV sow narrowing down the public until only one person remains. You can probably guess what happens to them, but that doesn’t make the story any less thrilling.

There are some dark stories in here, and the odd reference to dirty jokes or alien reproduction, but by and large I think this would be a great book for early teenagers who show an interest in science fiction. It’s a little older than some other starting points I could suggest, but as a snapshot of the Golden Age, I can’t think of a better place to start. Whether it was originally intended for children, I can’t say. But I will note that each story comes with a full page black-and-white illustration that complements the written word very nicely. Conveniently, ‘It could Be You’ has one of the best illustrations.

Child or not, if there is someone in your life who wants to see a showcase of what the Golden Age of SF had to offer, then this is the book to give them.

Book Stats

• Illustrated by David Mitchell, Paul Desmond, and Graham Townsend
• Contains 23 Short stories
• First Published 1979
• 350 Pages