Customer Reviews

The Good Old Stuff: Adventure Sf in the Grand Tradition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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I just finished reading this book, and there's not a bad story in the bunch! I also was unfamiliar with all of these stories, although I had read works by some of the authors previously. Recommended to anyone who loves SF, and even as an entryway for those who are unfamiliar with the genre.

_The Good Old Stuff_ (1998) is an anthology edited by Gardner Dozois. It consists of adventure science fiction stories from the 1940s through the 1960s. When it was first published, it received a rather stern review by Norman Spinrad, and I must acknowledge that there is some justice to Spinrad's position. By my own count, out of the sixteen stories in this anthology, only five stories represent the author at the top of his form: James Schmitz's "The Second Night of Summer," Murray Leinster's "Exploration Team," Brian W. Aldiss's "A Kind of Artistry," H. Beam Piper's "Gunpowder God," and Roger Zelazny's "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth." And out of those, I would rank only the Aldiss and the Zelazny as clear classics.

But Dozois, after all, was not trying to assemble a "best of all time" sf anthology. As he makes clear in his introductory material, he was motivated partly because he saw that many top-notch science fiction writers were going out of print at an alarming rate, along with some of their adventure tales. His anthology is a means of keeping some of those tales (and some of those authors!) alive. Dozois includes an excellent index of anthologies containing old adventure science fiction, and there is a beautiful cover by Ed Emshwiller (a reprint of his 1959 cover for Andre Norton's _Galactic Derelict_).

The remaining stories are: A.E. van Vogt's "The Rull," L. Sprague de Camp's "The Galton Whistle," Jack Vance's "The New Prime," C.M. Kornbluth's "That Share of Glory," Leigh Brackett's The Last Days of Shandakor," Poul Anderson's "The Sky People," Gordon R. Dickson's "The Man in the Mailbag," Cordwainer Smith's "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons," Ursula K. Le Guin's "Semley's Necklace," Fritz Leiber's "Moon Duel," and James Tiptree, Jr.'s "Mother in the Sky, with Diamonds." Some (like the de Camp, the Kornbluth, the Brackett, and the Dickson) are amiable pieces of entertainment. Others (like the Anderson, the Smith, and the Tiptree) aim at something more ambitious.

If, as I do, you have many of the magazines in which these stories originally appeared, you will welcome this anthology. If not... it is all the more reason for you to snap it up. Keep some of these authors from slipsliding away.

Highly recommend, especially for folks new to SF. As old as
these stories from the Golden Age of Space Opera are, they
stand the test of time exceedingly well. The various authors
are/ were first and foremost good writers spinning captivating
tales. I have the follow-up anthology, The Good New Stuff,
and am very much looking forward to reading it.

Good assortment of science fiction topics. Was especially useful exposure to some the giants in the field, who's work is well worth reading, but who aren't currently popular. Also interesting to read earlier treatments of sci-fi topics - alternate history, alien encounters, collapse of civilization. Agree with other reviewers that the stories have a strong literary bent, but not excessive.

The back cover led me to expect a lot of golden age sf, but a good amount of this stuff is probably recent enough (1970) to qualify as good *new* stuff. (Although some of it is embarassingly fascinated with things like hypnosis and the Campbellian dogma of America/Earth's eventual superiority over all other alien races.) Dozois seems to have gone to some trouble to dig up some solid stories from lesser-known writers, some almost totally out of print (C. M. Kornbluth, Murray Leinster, Leigh Brackett, H. Beam Piper). I also appreciate that he's knowledgeable enough about his field to ensure a fair representation of women writers without his needing to visibly lower the bar to let them in.

Trust Gardner Dozois to throw the dart into the board and pick some outstanding SF works.THAT SHARE OF GLORY by C.M. Kornbluth is worth the price of admission. GUNPOWDER GOD continues H. Beam Piper's "Verkan Vall" character adventuring in the levels of Earth (sideways in time). Included are Gordon R. Dickson's delightful THE MAN IN THE MAILBAG, and Jack Vances weird THE NEW PRIME. Don't skip a word or a story. Get close to the roots of this genre.

When I looked at the list of what was in this book I thought hmm.. Now that I have read the stories I hadn't seen before, how's that go?

Right, right he's bloody well right.

Yeah, he's bloody well right, he most definitely does have a right to say this is the good old stuff.

In fact with a story average just over 4.00, this is definitely a Super Editor at work, not a Supertramp.

Probably the only story I think doesn't particularly qualify is the Le Guin, but I am presuming he wanted her in to have some well known female writers from the period - and he has chosen his period for the book as post world war two up until the sixties.

Otherwise, a very impressive anthology, and even though old the only what you might call really cheesy story in that sense is the de Camp tale.

Dozois says this is partly an exercise in nostalgia, but these are all worthy of reading, so the publisher should be commended as well for putting out such a cool book.

On top of the great fiction the editor introduces each story in depth, talking about the writer and how they relate to adventure stories, not just giving a quick publication list, there is some analysis here, which is all pretty interesting. Along with recommendations, as well. Although given this is 10 years old the advice to 'check used bookshops' when trying to find some of the titles seems funny after a while, given abe and ebay etc. now.

Also at the end (and I wish I saw this a while ago) he gives a fairly extensive list of anthologies that are relevant as he sees it, a top notch finishing touch.


Good Old Stuff : The Rull - A. E. van Vogt
Good Old Stuff : Second Night of Summer - James H. Schmitz
Good Old Stuff : The Galton Whistle - L. Sprague de Camp
Good Old Stuff : The New Prime - Jack Vance
Good Old Stuff : That Share of Glory - C. M. Kornbluth
Good Old Stuff : The Last Days of Shandakor - Leigh Brackett
Good Old Stuff : Exploration Team - Murray Leinster
Good Old Stuff : The Sky People - Poul Anderson
Good Old Stuff : The Man in the Mailbag - Gordon R. Dickson
Good Old Stuff : Mother Hittons Littul Kittons - Cordwainer Smith
Good Old Stuff : A Kind of Artistry - Brian W. Aldiss
Good Old Stuff : Gunpowder God - H. Beam Piper
Good Old Stuff : Semleys Necklace - Ursula K. Le Guin
Good Old Stuff : Moon Duel - Fritz Leiber
Good Old Stuff : The Doors of His Face the Lamps of His Mouth - Roger Zelazny
Good Old Stuff : Mother in the Sky with Diamonds - James Tiptree Jr.


One-on-one conditioning for galactic diplomacy.

4 out of 5


Grandma has a pony. All the better to help her defeat alien invasions.

4 out of 5


All that fighting just to rescue a virgin priestess who wants to remain so. I'm off for some skiing, I think, instead.

3.5 out of 5


Overlords should be nicer.

4 out of 5


Night court terminated for metal war avoidance gem deal.

4.5 out of 5


Ancient illusions and hokey philosophies are no match for a barbarian horde at the gate, kid.

4.5 out of 5


Robots bearly make a difference when the lifeforms are inimical, and me a criminal!

4 out of 5


Kiwi nouse beats parachute people, but no respect from Stone Age Zorro Romeos.

4 out of 5


Shortie people got no reason, Half Pint.

4 out of 5


Old North Australia's mutant mad mink secret defense doesn't pussyfoot around with thieves and murderers. Or, Stop, You'll Eat Yourself.

5 out of 5


Cliff cell notes momma's boy takes the plunge.

3.5 out of 5


Corporal's Paratime promotion weapon-racket busting military upgrade plan.

4.5 out of 5


Dowry delay death.

3 out of 5


Crusoe conflict communication orbital oops kill.

4 out of 5


Big fish, or cut bait bloke.

3.5 out of 5


Old phagers.

4 out of 5

The cover for this book was originally for a full-length SF-Adventure novel by Andre Norton called Galactic Derelict. It was published in the '60s, and not included in the collection.