Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction

A couple of stories are quite funny, but most of them resort to worn-out stereotypes (especially the smothering Jewish mother) and/or weirdness just for the sake of being weird. And I know exile and persecution are part of the Jewish story, if I wanted to read about so many characters being abused, tortured or oppressed, I would have picked up a history book instead of a sci-fi anthology. The editor also stuffed all sorts of metaphors into his notes before each story -- maybe trying to imitate the style of Ray Bradbury, but unfortunately without the sense.

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Not really very satisfied with this collection of "Jewish sf" stories. Perhaps I am over-sensititve to ethnic stereotypes, even by the ostensibly stereotyped, as a result of too much exposure to paddywhackery myself. It may seem an odd criticism, but I found it much more ethnocentric than I had expected: despite a recurrent theme of various non-human creatures claiming to be Jewish, in fact most of the stories totally play to stereotypes based on the mid-twentieth century Jewish experience in the United States, rather than on any broader exploration of Jewish identity or history. I'd be surprised if a European or Israeli Jew felt there was a lot here they could identify with. There is a truly awful show more story by George Alec Effinger. Rather disappointing. show less

Good short stories.

Collection of Jewish science fiction.

ISFDB 257782. OCLC 2530243.