The Space Willies / Six Worlds Yonder (Classic Ace Double D-315)

Pretty much adolescent silliness... from the 1950s, when many readers and the field of SF itself were at an adolescent stage of development. Most are kinda funny stories of (male) scouts who have to both clever and a bit nuts to endure the isolation on their long missions. Sexist (in the naive teen male sense, almost forgivable). Not particularly thought-provoking. Enough 'what if' so that this rabid reader doesn't regret the few hours spent, but no 'sense of wonder' to prompt a recommendation.

Probably the most famous short story by Russell, "Into Your Tent I'll Creep," is a bit more serious. The idea explored is likely to set the reader back on her heels and is memorable. I hope you can find a copy of it, it's well enough written, and show more concise enough, to be worth reading in its entirety. (But if you can't, you can look behind the spoiler tag in the comments.)

"Tieline" is even shorter. Not all that well done, but a nice attempt at poignancy.

Despite all that, I've enjoyed Russell in the past and will likely in the future. But I'm probably one of the few readers left who can say that. show less

My own comment when I first read "The Space Willies" in 1964 was "ridiculously funny." I now have all three versions, and my comment still stands.
The original is "Plus-X", the cover story of Astounding, April 1956 (and the cover is great). At 21,000 words, it was expanded to 41,000 words in 1958 as "The Space Willies," for this Ace Double. The added words basically detail how our fearless hero, a deep space scout, got into his predicament, and the original story fills out the final chapters. Finally, in 1959, Russell enlarged it again, to 48,000 words as the solo novel "Next of Kin." The extra words only affect the first 5 chapters, and don't materially affect the book. Perhaps the publisher needed something closer to 50,000 words.
The show more other half of this Ace Double, "Six Worlds Yonder," contains six mostly unrelated stories about deep space scouts. One vaguely related story is "The Waitabits," a less-funny bit of insanity, which has the same-named assignment officer. The best of the six is "Top Secret," which is as insane as "The Space Willies." Almost worth the cost of the whole book (if you can still get one for 35 cents!) show less

F/SF