All the short stories in this volume range over time, from the sixties through the seventies. Many of them are still timely, and some are hard to read. Seeing the predictions come true is sad, and I'd rather that they were less likely to continue on.

Some of the tech is terribly dated, of course. Predictions on overpopulation, and the results, are not.

Of all the stories that disturbed me, "Brave Newer World" holds first place. Seeing the results in China (where young men far outnumber young women), of parents just preferring boy babies, I cannot imagine where the future will take us.

I still miss you, Harry. You told the truth, always. ( )

Harry Harrison is a successful and popular writer of SF, but I've not been particularly keen on much of his work. This collection of short stories shows his range in a way that was more readable for me. Nonetheless it wasn't all enjoyable. I would put them into three categories: good ideas that are well executed, good ideas that are let down by the execution, and ones that fail on every level for me. Yet the ones that fall into the last category seem to include some of his most feted stories, so it's clearly a matter of taste.

The following short summaries of the stories contain no spoilers and are as much to jog my memory as anything else.

The Streets of Ashkelon - Religion's ability to corrupt the pure on an alien planet

Captain Honario Harpplayer - reviewed elsewhere

The Rescue - Similar theme to above, but without the satire. An alien lands in rural Yugoslavia. It doesn't turn out well.

At Last, The True Story of Frankenstein - A short-short. It seems Dr Frankenstein didn't so much re-animate dead bodies as do something else with living ones.

I Always Do What Teddy Says - A future world where children's early education is handled by AI Teddys which impose a moral code. Except one had his tampered with - just in case.

Portrait of the Artist - The industrial revolution now threatens to make cartoonists redundant as well. The last one just can't take it.

Mute Milton - A moralistic tale to show the effects of racism in the American South. In this case, they kill an engineer-Einstein without even realising it.

A Criminal Act - An overpopulation story. Extreme consequences for those who have more than two children. They become hunted, but they can fight back.

Waiting Place - Extreme criminal transportation, one-way via matter transmitter. Our protaganist believes he's the victim of a mistake.

If - Time travel. A future race returns to the present day to ensure that they're going to exist. You just know these things always have a twist, and this one does.

I Have My Vigil - A robot keeps going when interstellar travel proves too much for the humans aboard. Or is it that simple?

From Fanaticism or For Reward - A futuristic hired assassin is pursued relentlessly.

By The Falls - There's another world above the waterfall, unknowable and unreachable. Stuff comes from it. We find out where it's from.

The Ever-Branching Tree - Lessons about evolution in the future involve going to see it for real. Kids still don't appreciate it.

Brave Newer World - A mixed-up story about future longevity, reproductive selection and racial discrimination.

The Wicked Flee - A time travel and alternate world story, in which the time travel causes the alternate world to come into being - or to go away. In one of them, the Catholic Church has been unopposed for centuries. ( )