The Fantastic Universe Omnibus [Mass Market Paperback]

Hans Stefan Santesson (Editor), Lester Del Rey (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1968

Stories from the magazine, including "First Law" (1956) by Isaac Asimov; She Only Goes Out at Night (1956) by William Tenn ; The Pacifist (1956) by Arthur C. Clarke; The Bounty Hunter (1958) by Avram Davidson; The Muted Horn (1957) by Dorothy Salisbury Davis; A Way of Life (1956) by Robert Bloch; In Lonely Lands (1959) by Harlan Ellison; Fall of Knight (1958) by A. Bertram Chandler; Sit by the Fire (1958) by Myrle Benedict ; A Thing of Custom (1957) by L. Sprague de Camp; Exile from Space (1956) by Judith Merril; Mex (1957) by Larry M. Harris; The Amazing Mrs. Mimms (1958) by David C. Knight; My Father, the Cat (1957) by Henry Slesar; Title Fight (1956) by William Campbell Gault; The Golden Pyramid (1956) by Sam Moskowitz; The Robot Who Wanted to Know (1958) by Felix Boyd; Road to Nightfall (1958) by Robert Silverberg; The Velvet Glove (1956) by Harry Harrison.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Paperback Library; First Thus edition (February 1, 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0610546333
• ISBN-13: 978-0610546334
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,456,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Vampires and Saucers and Martian Pyramids, March 10, 2008

By 

Paul Camp (Chattanooga, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

When I was in high school, I once picked up a back issue of the March, 1960 issue of _Fantastic Universe_. It had a flamboyant cover by Ed Emshwiller in which a tall, red-suited alien from a flying saucer confronts a pair of humans in a wintry, arctic setting. There were short stories by Wenzell Brown, Robert F. Young, Jorge Luis Borges, George O. Smith, and Robert Bloch. There were articles by Lester del Rey (on atomic energy) and Ivan T. Sanderson (on the abomidable snowman). There was the first installment of Fredric Brown's novel, _The Mind Thing_. Future stories by Zenna Henderson and Robert Silverberg were announced.

I looked for issues containing the later installment of Brown's serial. It was not until many years later that I discovered the truth: there were no more installments. The March, 1960 issue was the very last issue of the magazine. Sadly, _FU_ folded at precisely the time that _The Fantastic Universe Omnibus_ (1960) was published.

As I have collected more back issues of the magazine, I have developed a fondness for it. The _Encyclopedia of Science Fiction_ (1995) accurately describes it as "the poor man's _Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_". But it was an alternative voice of sorts, a home for that ill-defined genre of "science fantasy". I was sorry to see it fail to survive further into the sixties.

Well, let us start with the obvious limitations of this anthology. There are no classics here. And for the most part, the stories don't represent the authors at their best. Some have not stood the test of time very well, and it's not hard to spot flaws. Larry M. Harris' "Mex" is a minor piece of trickery. Mryle Benedict's "Sit by the Fire" is loaded with absolutely awful Appalachian dialect. Isaac Asimov's "First Law" is one of his weakest robot tales.

On the other hand, there are a cluster of stories that strike me as better-than-you-might-expect pieces: "The Amazing Mrs. Mims" by David C. Knight, "My Father the Cat" by Henry Slesar, "Title Fight" by William Campbell Gault, and "The Golden Pyramid" by Sam Moskowitz. I especially liked the Knight (about a time-traveling babysitter) and the Moskowitz (about crap).

There were a fair number of stories in a humorous vein. A. Bertram Chandler's "Fall of Knight" is the ultimate shaggy dog story, and Robert Bloch's "A Way of Life" is a piece of elaborate inside jokery. Yet they do what they do very well. Other stories of a comical nature are William Tenn's "She only Goes out at Night," Arthur C. Clarke's "The Pacifist," and L. Sprague de Camp's "A Thing of Custom". The Tenn is a bit predictable, but it is so smoothly told and amiable that you won't care. The Clarke is the Harry Purvis yarn about the computer that makes monkeys of Army brass. And the de Camp is about some friends, neighbors, and company that we could all do without. All are quite good.

On a more somber note are two robot stories by Harry Harrison: "The Robot Who Wanted to Know" and "The Velvet Glove". Also on the serious side are "The Bounty Hunter" by Avram Davidson and "Road to Nightfall" by Robert Silverberg. The Harrison stories are fairly clumsy pieces. The Davidson is skillfully done, but it relies on a gimmick for its effect. Silverberg's portrait of a future world descending into a state of cannibalism may be a bit rough around the edges. But it is honest and stark. It makes its points fairly. It stays with you.

There remain three different stories that have something of an emotional payoff. The first is "The Muted Horn" by Dorothy Salisbury Davis. Like Myrle Benedict, Davis draws upon a small-town setting. But her story is as literate and honest as Benedict's is clumsy and phony. The second story is one of Harlan Ellison's early pieces, "In Lonely Lands"-- quietly and effectively haunting. And finally, there is Judith Merril's "Exile From Space". Some critics see red over what they regard as Merril's sentimentality. Sentiment this story has, but it is certainly not overly mawkish.

So if you have a taste for stories about vampires in flying saucers... or werewolves prowling about under the moons of Mars... or sorcerers hired as astrogators by starship soldiers...or people in suspended animation on generation spaceships who dream of unicorns... Then you might just enjoy this anthology. You might also give some attention to another anthology edited by Hans Sanderson, _Rulers of Men_ (1967). It is in theory a theme anthology, but it contains a hefty number of entries from _Fantastic Universe_.