Very similar to reading Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick - fun short stories, often predictable. I enjoyed the layout of this edition with introductions by Harry Harrison himself, separating the stories into different genres, and giving an incite into the mind of the author. I appreciated his acknowledgement of Capek inventing the term Robot. Initially I wanted to read Make Room! Make Room! as mentioned in Y The Last Man series, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed. I wish the stories had their original publication dates listed, but that's easily found elsewhere. Harrison's anti-military attitude was evident in some of the stories, Mau Mau being a particularly nasty military leader in American Dead; The Day After the End of the World ironically describes the last man and woman deciding they would teach their children peace and love on earth to all men, but only after they themselves retaliate by killing all the green men and blow their planet up! I was surprised how accurately Harrison described the shop clerk/shop assistant's encounters with the public in A Civil Service Servant - anyone who works for the public will empathise with that story. ( )

Harrison writes stories that make you think but also entertain...[in progress] ( )

When I saw this book I thought "I didn't know that Harry Harrision wrote short stories" although most of this generation of writers began here. then when I opened the book and began to read it was like returning to old favourites, so many of these stories have I read and loved before.
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The streets of ashkelon - where a priest arrives on a world that had never been exposed to religion of any kind

Rescue operation - where an alien is rescues from the sea only to die because of the primitive conditions

the repairman - ahh, a favourite - a large beacon has become a religious temple and a man has to repair it

welcoming committee - this one was new to me

heavy duty - another new one

a criminal act - about a world where the population is very controled and to have a child you must reduce the population

roommates - apparetnly they made a film of this called solient green - a world where everything is rationed due to overpopulation

the pliable animal - you should remember to be diplomatic and not cross the main beliefs of were you are currently living
after the storm

this does not give a good indication of the stories, lets fact it the thing with short stories is that they are crafted to use a minimum of words so shortening them will not make sense. ( )