The Saliva Tree

"Magic!" Thrash said. "Beastly magic, you symmetrical super-sausage!"

With prose like this, what is not to enjoy? Despite the seriously unprepossessing title of this elderly book of short stories, I'm reading it as part of my 'history of s.f.' program, it's mostly fun. Indeed there is a precious naivete to many of the stories - precious in that there is still that 'anything could be possible' wonderment in many of them - which the advancements in our understanding of the cosmos and its physical laws and likelihoods have rendered silliness, ultimately. The title story was creepy indeed, about invisible aliens taking over a farm, but it's set in the late 19th century with that sensibility - the protagonist writes to H.G. Wells about what show more is happening.... The funniest story 'Legends of Smith's Burst' dumps a swindler/adventurer on a planet with three suns - one of them a 'black sun' made of antimatter that eats all the light...... and the planet itself is composed of matter and anti-matter with a third force called 'Nogox' - the space between matter and anti-matter that serves as the 'glue' for this bizarre planet. Anyhow our hero survives on his wits, escapes all his predicaments using various jokes and strategems.... The final story is a sweet meditation on the pointlessness of writing science fiction when there is the Now all around in all its wonder.... There was also a strange, non sf story about the Turkish invasion of Eastern Europe, no idea why it was included. And yes there are the usual shortcomings of this generation of sf writers which I have come to expect, but can't quite get over how angry it makes me ever time - these men who are unable to imagine women as anything but convenient for sex or for putting together picnic hampers. That attitude, more than the science, dates it irretrievably. Only worth reading if you are into studying the genre and its development over time. I rate it ***1/2 because - well - because it is written with such verve. show less

A brilliant collection so far- read the first 4 stories. The title story is an excellent piece of Steampunk laced with humour.

A collection of Short Stories, including one published in "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine", from the pen of the younger Aldiss. The Title novella deals with an interesting alien invasion.

http://nhw.livejournal.com/314018.html

Actually a collection, including the title story which shared a Nebula with Zelazny's "He Who Shapes" (later expanded to The Dream Master). Several of the stories are non-sf - two about serial killers, which slightly surprised me, and one about the death of the medieval Serbian ruler Vukasin Mrnjavcevic. All exceedingly good stuff if you like your Aldiss, which I do.

Galardonada con el Premio Nebula al mejor relato en 1965, «El árbol de saliva» sentido homenaje a H.G. Wells, es sin duda la más célebre y apreciada novela breve de Brian Aldiss, un auténtico maestro del género. Lo que en principio parece una bendición caída del cielo en la granja de los Grendon no tarda en revelarse como una inagotable fuente de problemas, y el joven Gregory Rolles pronto intuye que algo raro está sucediendo e inicia una investigación cargada de tensión. Junto a este magnífico cuento aparecen en este volumen otros nueve espléndidos relatos, que muestran la versatilidad y la brillante capacidad imaginativa de Aldiss, como el asfixiante «Peligro: religión» el divertidísimo «La joven y el robot con show more flores» o el intenso y un tanto macabro «Un hábito solitario». show less

Indeholder "Salivatræet", "Advarsel! Religion!", "Kilden", "Den ensomme vane", "Delt glæde", "En velbehagelig rolle", "Dommens dag", "Faderlig omsorg", "Pigen og robotten med blomster".

"Salivatræet" handler om ???
"Advarsel! Religion!" handler om ???
"Kilden" handler om Kervis, der er uddannet som Søger og som sammen med et hold af ligesindede søger efter menneskehedens største bedrift. Det viser sig at være at opfylde sit formål, men de andre forstår det ikke og tager videre uden Kervis.
"Den ensomme vane" handler om ???
"Delt glæde" handler om ???
"En velbehagelig rolle" handler om ???
"Dommens dag" handler om den serbiske konge Vukasan, der bliver hårdt såret i et slag mod de "mugbugede" muselmænd. Han bliver plejet og show more forbundet og begiver sig videre med sin general Jovann for at rejse en ny hær. Han søger hjælp i et kloster og en vismand fortæller ham det bedste der kan ske og det værste. Desværre for serberne er både Vukasan og Johann lidt for fodslæbende og de forspilder chancen for at slå tyrken.
"Faderlig omsorg" handler om en student, der betragter en kvinde og et barn, men bliver jaget væk af en soldat i et vagttårn. Soldaten ser ud til at være far til barnet.
"Pigen og robotten med blomster" handler om forfatteren, der har en historie i hovedet om robotter og krig mellem jorden og en fjendtlig planet, men hellere vil skrive om skovtur og kolde øller og sin smukke kone.

Der mangler en novelle i forhold til den engelske version. show less

Indeholder "The Saliva Tree", "Danger: Religion!", "The Source", "The Lonely Habit", "A Pleasure Shared", "One Role with Relish", "Legends of Smith's Burst", "The Day of the Doomed King", "Paternal Care", "The Girl and the Robot with Flowers".

"The Saliva Tree" handler om ???
"Danger: Religion!" handler om ???
"The Source" handler om ???
"The Lonely Habit" handler om ???
"A Pleasure Shared" handler om ???
"One Role with Relish" handler om ???
"Legends of Smith's Burst" handler om ???
"The Day of the Doomed King" handler om den serbiske konge Vukasan, der bliver hårdt såret i et slag mod de "mugbugede" muselmænd. Han bliver plejet og forbundet og begiver sig videre med sin general Jovann for at rejse en ny hær. Han søger hjælp i et kloster show more og en vismand fortæller ham det bedste der kan ske og det værste. Desværre for serberne er både Vukasan og Johann lidt for fodslæbende og de forspilder chancen for at slå tyrken.
"Paternal Care" handler om ???
"The Girl and the Robot with Flowers" handler om ???

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