Forrest J Ackerman (1916–2008)

I have always enjoyed short story collections, especially science fiction or fantasy. This collection is interesting in that I had not heard of many of the included writers. Forest J Ackerman selected stories from the first ten years of his love of science fiction (1926-1936). These pieces were not always the best known and in some cases have never been reprinted after being in the old pulp magazines. It has definitely turned me on to some authors that I hope to read more of.

I really liked these stories. I've seen most of the movies made from them, and as is usually the case, the stories are better than the movies. Since they were written mid-twentieth century, of course you have the annoying curse of the authors calling women "girls." And women are of course mostly window-dressing. Here's an especially sickening scene in "Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny, the only movie preferred to its story:

"He bent toward her, and she began to rub his shoulders. Her hands show more were quick and strong. "You do that good, girl." "Thanks." He straightened up, leaned back. Then he reached out, took the flask and had another drink. She took a small sip when he passed it to her. The furies rode about them, but the bridge above stood The siege. Tanner turned off the lights. "Let's make it," he said, and he seized her and Drew her to him. She did not resist him, and he found her belt buckle and unfastened it. Then he started on the buttons. After a while, he reclined her seat. "Will you keep me?" She asked him. "Sure." "I'll help you. I'll do anything you say to get you through." "Great." "After all, if Boston goes, then we go, too." "You bet." Then they didn't say much more. show less

Fantastic volume relating Forry's involvement in the magazine and horror/sci-fi fandom in general.

Honestly, few of these are actually, objectively, all that good. One has to be a fan of very old pulp short-shorts. I did really like [a:Shirley Parenteau|672884|Shirley Parenteau|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1392957019p2/672884.jpg]'s "Eye of the Beholder" and hope to find more by her.* [b:If This Goes On|5985495|If This Goes On|Charles Nuetzel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1352756226s/5985495.jpg|6159211] is an anthology I'd like to find.

And this line from a secondhand show more comment, referring to a story about a phone call across the time zones, "the late afternoon New York traffic vibrated weirdly in the stillness of the London night," is haunting, and I'd like to read the story from which it was remembered.

*Oh! I just found out that OpenLibrary has [b:Jelly and the Spaceboat|2229542|Jelly and the Spaceboat|Shirley Parenteau|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|2235341], which is a children's book that I've been wanting to read, which is by her! show less