A Martian Odyssey (original 1974; edition 1977)

Not sure if you can call it a Best of without the Brink Of Infinity and Dawn Of Flame, really.

You can find all these online, too, if interested.

Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : A Martian Odyssey - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Valley of Dreams - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : The Adaptive Ultimate - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Parasite Planet - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Pygmalion's Spectacles - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Shifting Seas - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : The Worlds of If - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : The Mad Moon - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Redemption Cairn - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : The Ideal - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : The Lotus Eaters - Stanley G. Weinbaum
Best of Stanley G Weinbaum : Proteus Island - Stanley G. Weinbaum

Interplanetary interpersonal communication.

4 out of 5

Mars out of power.

3 out of 5

A scientist thinks he has uncovered the secrets to the adaptative powers of the animal kingdom, via the pineal gland. Tests on guinea pigs etc., go well. Their lab can't afford an ape, so decides on a human test.
A woman dying of turberculosis disagrees. It gives her amazing abilities, but, basically she immediately turns supervillain, killing someone for money straight away, and getting off in court by completely changing her appearance.
The bewitched, bewildered and disturbed scientists eventually decide they must stop her.

3.5 out of 5

Venus is not a nice place, and it tastes bad.

3 out of 5

Liquid story.

3 out of 5

You quaking poms aren't special.

3 out of 5

Subjunctivisor pursuit.

3 out of 5

Loony girl hallucination romance.

3 out of 5

Golden Flash Yellow Jack rocket team-up.

3.5 out of 5

Idealizatoring, girl.

3 out of 5

Nightside Of Venus chat.

3 out of 5

Got us some mutants, here.

3.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/11/best-of-stanley-g-weinbaum-stanley-g.html ( )

I hadn't been familiar with Weinbaum before picking up this collection. After reading it I would say that Weinbaum is an author that deserves much wider recognition than he gets, at least among younger scifi fans, today.

I'll start with what I didn't like about these stories: they are very sexist in a way which is typical of "golden age" scifi. With one notable exception, the female characters in these stories exist to be beautiful and spunky-yet-ultimately-needy-of-a-strong-man-by-whom-to-be-rescued-when-the-going-gets-really-tough. The exception is Kyra Zelas in "The Adaptive Ultimate," a woman who is given an experimental treatment that allows her to evolve instantaneously to meet whatever threats the world throws at her; her resulting abilities will soon make her empress of the world if our plucky scientists don't figure out a way to stop her. Also, these aren't the kind of stories one should come to looking for profound insight into the human characters' souls.

Fortunately, there are plenty of things to like. The most obvious are the alien creatures who populate several of these stories, all set in a consistent vision of the planets of our local solar system. Weinbaum was the author who created aliens that were neither bug-eyed monsters nor personifications of human good and evil. These aliens are the logical products of their imagined environments. Some are dangerous; some are amusing; some are brilliant--all of them are intriguing. "A Martian Odyssey" is clearly Weinbaum's most famous story, but I found it a much bettor story in the context of all of his near space stories than as a stand-alone.

Having said that, I found the earthbound stories more compelling than the space-going ones. In “Pygmalion’s Spectacles,” Weinbaum gives us a “virtual reality” story published 16 years before “The Veldt,” which Wikipedia says “may be the first fictional work to fully describe the concept.” Similarly, in “The Worlds of If” he gives us an “every historical event spawns a new universe for every possible outcome” story published six years before Borges’ "The Garden of Forking Paths,” which Wikipedia credits as the first story of this ilk.

This is science fiction with empathy, in a way that forshadows the great stories that Theodore Sturgeon would start writing a few years later. In his introduction to this collection, Isaac Asimov says that, had Weinbaum (who died of throat cancer only 18 months after the publication of his first scifi story) lived, he “would surely be in first place in the list of all-time favorite science-fiction authors.” Strong praise indeed, but based on these twelve stories, Asimov may well have been right. ( )