Customer Reviews

Between Time and Terror

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the perfect book for science fiction lovers who can't seem to find the time to finish an intricate novel. "Between Time and Terror" supplies small doses of beautifully written science fiction and horror. These short stories are just involved enough to give even hardcore science fiction fans a thrill. This is especially true in Arthur C. Clarke's tale "A Walk in the Dark" and Dan Simmons' "Metastasis." The rest of these seventeen tales will captivate your senses and leave you screaming for more.

Most of the stories that were chosen for this anthology were masterpieces of horror and wonder, such as "Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft, or "Orange is For Anguish, Blue For Insanity" by David Morrell, and so I must give high praise for this terrifying collection of horror's finest. But there are also some exceptionally bad stories that were included for reasons unknown, like the preposterous "The Man With a Thousand Legs," by Frank Belknap Long, and a so-called Sci-fi story that excludes any real science called "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," by Clark Ashton Smith. The inclusion of these two leaves me no choice but to deduct a star from what would otherwise have been a perfect rating. Four Stars. A must read, nonetheless.

"Between Time And Terror" presents 15 tales from such stellar talents as Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, Dean Koontz and Clark Ashton Smith, all of them inhabiting the rich area of works that could be classed as both Horror and Science Fiction, with some of them leaning more heavily towards one side of the spectrum or another. Not a weak story in the bunch, with several major highlights, including "Born Of Man And Woman" by Richard Matheson, "Orange Is For Anguish, Blue Is For Insanity" by David Morrell and one of the best Really short short stories ever published (all of 2 pages!), Asimov's chilling "Hell-Fire".

Another massive standout is "In The Vaults Of Yoh-Vombis" by Clark Ashton Smith, a writer from the "Weird Tales" era (20s-30s), who epitomizes the ability to blend Horror, Fantasy and early Science Fiction, and who deserves to be remembered with as much acclaim as Lovecraft and Robert Howard, but sadly isn't. This story takes place on an inhabited Mars, where a joint team of human astronauts and Martians (members of a civilization that was apparantly once much more flourishing than it is when the story takes place) exploring mysterious ancient ruins on the red planet.

Dan Simmons's "Metastasis" uncovers the shocking truth of what Really causes cancer; in one scene that's particularly effective for setting up to make the revelations believable, the man who's come up with the central theory argues against a psychiatrist's more rational explanations with an observation about what is supposed to cause cancer, saying something to the effect of 'have you seen the Medical Associaton's list of what causes cancer? It's Everything we eat, breathe, drink, touch or do to have fun. That's just the same as saying they don't know.' This and other arguements the story's protagonist presents make it eerily believable that there are more malign forces at work, at least in the context of the story.

Like stated above, not a bad story in here, one of the alltime best anthologies and an essential compilation for anyone into either Horror or Science Fiction (or both, of course). Other writers in the book are Frank Belknap Long, John Shirley, John W. Campbell (with "Who Goes There?", the basis for the movie "The Thing From Outer Space" and its remake "The Thing"), F. Paul Wilson, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Phillip K. Dick, Robert Bloch and Arthur C. Clarke, all of whom contribute works I think you'll be glad to have in your collection.

Most of the stories in this collection of hybrid science fiction/horror are good, with a few standouts. "The Colour out of Space" by H. P. Lovecraft is tough to get through but has some of the most genuinely creepy moments in the book. "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (the basis for the two movies titled "The Thing" -- the creature is even referred to as "the Thing" in the story) is good but the science occasionally lost me; and at fifty-seven pages I would have liked a little more character development. (I could hardly tell one person from another.) "They" by Robert Heinlein, about a man who imagines everyone is out to get him, is intriguing. "A Walk in the Dark" by Arthur C. Clarke explores the idea that humanity will never entirely forget the fear of darkness, and is very good. "The Father-Thing" by Philip K. Dick is a scary one.

"Born of Man and Woman" by Richard Matheson didn't work for me; it's only four pages long and I spent the entire time trying to get used to the unconventional style. (It's written in a simplistic, childlike fashion that fits the subject but is still awkward.) The short-short story "Hell-Fire" by Isaac Asimov is hardly more than one page but still throws an interesting idea at you. David Morell's "Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" is very good but strangely feels as though it could have been even better. It's about a painter who loses a friend to the study of a mad artist and wants to learn why. And finally, "The Age of Desire" by Clive Barker is truly disturbing. It mixes gore and sexuality in a way that I won't be forgetting any time soon.

The rest of the stories are decent but I'm less familiar with the authors. One side note: all of the writers featured here, as well as all of the main characters, are men. Overall I recommend this collection to both science fiction and horror fans.

Some of the short stories in this collection are very good. "Soft" by F. Paul Wilson and "Metastasis" by Dan Simmons are excellent examples. Others like "The Vaults of Yoh Vombis" and "The man with a thousand legs" (sorry last reviewer) are exceedingly bad. My advice: if you find it on sale or used, pick it up and read a story or two in your spare time between novels.

I just got done reviewing the "Sceince Fiction Hall of Fame" which I think is the first best anthology of all time. But this even though it's quite a bit newer is a close second. Don't Listen to the first reviwer "man with a thousand legs" was a great storey and "vault of Yoh Vombis" was even better. Most of the stories in this anthology are spectacular including "Hell-fire" which in my opinion is one of the best short fiction storey's I have ever ever ever read. "Nightmare Gang" was another great storey especially since I have NO respect for Koontz but with this storey credit and quite a lot is due to him, a very good piece.

Definitly a must buy!!!

I loved the book, 2 stories stick out and not the obvious ones (I think)
1. "they" is by far the most interesting.
2. "a walk in the dark" should be made into a movie one day.

the rest are good, some boring but I got around the book.
good reading if u wanna spices it up but nothing there is really scary.

enjoy
danny

It took almost a mounth to get, but I'm pretty happy to get the book. Thank you very much.

There are some great, rather unknown stories to be found in this collection, as well as a couple that are well known within the genre, such as H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour out of Space" and Richard Matheson's "Born of Man and Woman".
Dan Simmons' "Metastasis" takes the old vampire lore and gives it a great, icky twist (and kudos to Simmons for writing the most unsexy, revolting "love" scene ever put to paper), and features enough grotesque, memorable imagery to make it a winning, if not at least memorable, entry.
Dean Koontz's "Nightmare Gang" is probably one of his very few short stories ever published, and let me say it's a damn fine one, about a gang controlled by a telopathic madman. There's violence aplenty and unlike most of Koontz's work, the ending is anything but happy.
"Asleep in Armageddon" is one of Ray Bradbury's creepier tales, about an astronaut stranded on a deceptively harmless planet with more than a few ghosts in its rocks.
Clark Ashton Smith's "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" is a sinister, gothic science-fiction piece about a haunted tomb and the terrible things living within its walls. While the atmosphere Smith conveys is strong, it was a little too slow to do anything for me.
Goosebumps-style kiddie horror is to be found in Philip K. Dick's "The Father-Thing", about an alien taking over a young boy's father. This story is humorous but the ending feels abrupt and unfinished, and the story leaves no real lasting impression.
F. Paul Wilson's "Soft" tells the disturbing story of a nasty pathogen with some even nastier side-effects, and some of the imagery in the story will certainly stay with you for a while, as will the uncertain ending. Nice work.
David Morrell is an author I am not familiar with but his story "Orange is For Anguish, Blue for Insanity" is one of the best ones here, telling the tale of an art student and his descent into madness as he tries to divulge the mystery behind some very sinister paintings. The extra-terrestrial twist near the end is quite a surprise.
Clive Barker's "The Age of Desire" is easily the most twisted tale here, about an experimental drug and its effect on one man's libido. Truly revolting images come in spades in this well-written, humorously dark tale.
Isaac Asimov's "Hell-Fire" is a weak piece, blatantly anti-nuclear war and at all of a page-and-a-half in length, wasn't really necessary. Decidely well-intended but preachy.
While it inspired one of my favorite films of all time (John Carpenter's "The Thing") I can say quite honestly that Jown W. Campbell Jr.'s "Who Goes There?" is an over-long bore, lacking character and any sense of involvement. There is some rather interesting science on display involving the creature itself but on the whole this tale is an unremarkable one.
My favorite story here is unquestionably Robert Bloch's novella "It Happened Tomorrow". This impressive, inspried apocalyptic tale may not offer anytihng new as far as the plot is concerned--basically, it is about robots over-throwing humanity, not at all a new science fiction concept--but Bloch's writing is solid yet ambiguous, the way the tale unfolds can be quite gripping, the main character is likeable, and the ending is both sad, poetic, and triumphant. This is easily one of the best stories of its type.
There are other tales on display worth mentioning, but I think you get the jist of things. Not every story was exceptional but the ones thar are make this anthology a must for horror/sci-fi fans!