Customer Reviews

A Star Above It and Other Stories (Nesfa's Choice)

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I can't believe there aren't more reviews for this book on Amazon. If you are a fan of classic SF from the '40s, '50s, and '60s--in other words, in the era when SF wasn't all hung up on "character development" or on high literary concepts, but instead concentrated on telling fascinating, thought provoking stories filled with wonder, adventure and humor, this is the book for you. I happen to favor the short story idiom for SF--tasty little morsels which go down easily yet leave a lasting impression. I have been reading short form SF (and the longer works too) for about 40 years, and Oliver's short SF is among the very best I have ever read--by anyone, in any genre.

I can't thank NESFA enough for bringing Chad Oliver (and other great classic SF authors!!) back into print. I have a number of other NESFA volumes: Chad Oliver, William Tenn, Robert Sheckley, Murray Leinster, A.E. Van Vogt, Eric Frank Russell, and C.M. Kornbluth--those volumes are just the tip of the NESFA iceberg. They are all of the highest quality, hardbound books printed on acid free paper--books which will endure and be the pride of your collection. Check them out--if you like this style of SF, I am sure you will be very pleased.

Fans of the old-time author Chad Oliver who have scoured shelves in search of his stories in past will be delighted with this issue of two separate volumes of his selected stories. A Star Above It offers twenty stories ranging from the title presentation to Old Four-Eyes and Land of Lost Content. Other worlds, unrealities, and struggles abound in these.

I only heard of Oliver recently. An odd thing considering he is one of the best. But maybe not so odd, considering a recurring theme in his work: that the men of conscience, the men of truth and wisdom are often ignored or even pariahs in a culture based on lies.

Oliver was an anthropologist and he writes about what he knows---Man. His writing is some of the most intelligent in the genre and yet it's about characters who are as likable as any in fiction. It's not romance. It's about how men of character, intellect and moral strength deal with a brutal real world and do the right thing, even when 'winning' is not an option.

Oliver's writing is good for you, but it's more like eating cake than spinach. He ranks right up there with the best writers of SF ever to write involving, fascinating, enthralling stories. My SF classic story collection includes all the greats---Chad Oliver belongs among them.

I've been reading Chad Oliver's work since the mid-1960s, but there were many pieces I didn't have. This volume is helping to remedy that state of affairs. I had the good fortune of attending one of Professor Oliver's lectures at the University of Texas during one of the semesters that he wasn't doing field work. He was a very engaging speaker.

Back in the day, I don't recall anybody writing anything similar to his work. His characters tended to be more thinkers than doers, and that appealed to me. His work reminds me a lot of Clifford Simak's stories, another of my favorites.

Kudos to NESFA for bringing these back into print. It would have been nice if they had paid a bit more attention to proofing the volume, though. It seems to have more than its share of typos. A simple spell-check would have caught most of the ones I saw.