50 Short Science Fiction Tales [Paperback]

Isaac Asimov (Author), Groff Conklin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

You visit a world where Robots strain to remember the existence of the Men who created them; hear the tantalizingly brief report of a man who returns from a trip to the future; see the snake-armed Thing that emerges from the minds of the people who conjure it. You meet a souvenir hunter in the Thirtieth Century and a schoolgirl who tries to cope with the teaching methods of the Twenty-second Century. You share the terror of an astronaut in a "haunted" space suit and the dilemma of a wife whose husband knows a common chemical formula for destroying the earth. In short, you feel the impact, the originality, and the uncanny atmosphere created by these science fiction experts not once-- but 50 times. 50 Short Science Fiction Tales have been selected for their concise writing, and for punch lines that leave the reader "surprised, shocked, and delighted at the final sentence." According to the editors, another important aspect of this literary form is "evocation of a background differing from our own." Consequently, though some of the stories are just a page long, the reading experience is always excitingly unique. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684842963
• ISBN-13: 978-0684842967
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, July 11, 2005

By 

Joel Saxton (Venice, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 50 Short Science Fiction Tales (Paperback)

If you enjoy SciFi then this one's for you. These are obviously very short stories since 50 of 'em are crammed into such a small book - but many of them have a hidden depth that transcends their brevity. Some are deeply philosophical, and many contain clever Rod-Serling-esque twists at the end. Very highly recommended. Turn off the TV and read this instead.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best SciFi collection ever, May 1, 2005

By 

Daemous Riel "daemous" (Flemington, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 50 Short Science Fiction Tales (Paperback)

This book was my first scifi short story collection. I was given it when I twelve by my great aunt. It is so incredibly classic and so powerful, it probably slanted me toward sciences even more than I had been.

If you enjoy Gardner Dozois (editor) anthologies, you'll love this. If you think Dozois' anthologies are sometimes weak, well... you've got Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, and Leiber to name a few in this 1963 packed paperback. The only regret you will have is that there are only 287 pages.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some treats from the past., February 2, 2000

By 

John Peter O'connor - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 50 Short Science Fiction Tales (Paperback)

If you like really short SF stories then you should read this book. It contains a lot of them and they are good. They are also short. The book packs fifty stories plus introductions etc into less than 300 pages.

The collection was first issued in the early sixties and the stories themselves come from the forties and fifties. SF is a rapidly changing medium and, with an average age of half a century, many of these stories now show their age. But that does not really detract from their quality. After all, this collection features the greatest SF talents of the era.

If forced to pick a favourite from the collection, I'd choose "The Available Data on the Worp Reaction" by Lion Miller but there are so many good tales in here that naming one alone is an injustice to the others.