Customer Reviews

The Compleat Boucher: The Complete Short Science Fiction and Fantasy of Anthony Boucher

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

 

 

Some of these stories are dated, but some are very powerful. I particularly recommend "We Print the Truth," a long story about the corruptive nature of power.

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William Anthony Parker White (1911-1968) is perhaps best knownas one of the founding editors of the Magazine of Fantasy and ScienceFiction. He was a distinguished book reviewer (for the NewYork Times and Herald-Tribune) and did much to raise literary standards for SF, both as an editor and critic, and as the author of the wry, literate, understated and still very readable stories collected here: 43 sf/f/h shorts (plus a 'poem' and a recipe), mostly written between 1940 and 1952.

This is a collection to be read a story or two at a time, or at least that's how I read it. Boucher's best stories -- "The Quest for St. Aquin", "The Compleat Werewolf", "Snulbug", "They Bite", "The Star Dummy" -- have entered the permanent sf/f/h repertoire and will be familiar to most, umm, 'mature' readers. I would urge younger readers, who could hardly be expected to drop 25 bucks on a collection of half-century old stories by someone they've barely heard of, to borrow the collection from your public library, and try (at least) the stories listed above. As in any complete collection, there are minor works, though I found everything here at least readable. A sample:

I am the very model of a modern s f editor.
My publisher is happy, as is each and every creditor.
I know the market trends and how to please the newsstand
purchaser;
With agents and name authors my relations can't be courteouser.
.
.
.
In short, in manners monetary, social, and promotional,
I am the very model of a pro s f devotional.

(copyright 1953, 1999 W.A.P. White estate)


As always, NESFA books are a pleasure to read & hold: smooth, creamy paper, solid, full-cloth bindings, and a fine period cover of "Wolfie" by Jane Dennis. I do wish that editor Mann would have included a bit more biographical information about the author -- a page and a half seems skimpy.

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman

Tony Boucher was one of the great editors of SF. He was the editor of the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 1950's, when the magazine was first finding its way. To this day, it still retains some of the glory and sparkle that he put there.

Before he was a great editor, he was a great writer. This book contains his short stories.

It is good that the NESFA keeps the names of Anthony Boucher, C.M. Kornbluth, Cordwainer Smith and other writers of the past alive. Their stories should be read and re-read even today.

One of the best books to come out from the NESFA press in recent times. This book contains many forgotten jewels of Science Fiction, Horror, Humour, and cross-genre novellas & short stories. The contents (produced below) should suffice to entice any lover of stories belonging to the above-mentioned genres (any one of them, and if you like them mixed, then gallop towards nearest physical/virtual outlet that may provide you with a copy of this: -

*Editor's Introduction (James A. Mann )
*The Quest for Saint Aquin
*The Compleat Werewolf
*Elsewhen
*The Pink Caterpillar
*The Chronokinesis of Jonathan Hull
*Gandolphus
*Sriberdegibit
*The Ambassadors
*QUR
*Robinc
*Nine-Finger Jack
*Barrier
*Pelagic Spark
*The Other Inauguration
*One-Way Trip
*Man's Reach
*Mr. Lupescu
*Balaam
*The Anomaly of the Empty Man
*The Ghost of Me
*Snulbug
*Sanctuary
*Transfer Point
*Conquest
*The First
*The Greatest Tertian
*Expedition
*The Public Eye
*The Secret of the House
*The Scrawny One
*Star Bride
*The Way I Heard It
*The Star Dummy
*Review Copy
*A Kind of Madness
*Nellthu
*Rappaccini's Other Daughter
*Khartoum
*A Shape in Time
*A Summer's Cloud
*The Tenderizers
*They Bite
*The Model of a Science Fiction Editor
*We Print the Truth
*Mary Celestial (co-authored by Miriam Allen De Ford)
*Recipe for Curry De Luxe

Whole-heartedly recommended.

I collect and read classic SF...
I could not read this book.
It's not SF.
It's really closer to detective fiction, horror or humor than it is SF.

There are some stories about religious themes with priests and rabbis struggling with their issues.

There are some about detectives solving time travel crimes, which is great if you're a mystery fan.

There are some ironic horror tales sans horror. Predictable, stale and hackneyed.

The tone seems to be tongue in cheek, humorous or at least attempted humor.
The writing is chatty, clever (I guess) and long winded.

If you enjoy Boucher, great, but don't assume you will enjoy his writing just because you read and enjoy the stories of his contemporaries. You may not.

Ordered for xmas as a gift. Was not expecting until a couple of days after Xmas. Was very surprised and pleased that I got It before Xmas. Service was excellent...