Customer Reviews

The Heart of the Serpent: Soviet Science Fiction

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

 

 

Science fiction does not tend to age well, but these five Soviet era authors wrote stories in 1958 and 1959 that are fun and shockingly relevant to today. Easy and fun to read.

In this collection of Soviet Science Fiction Short Stories, the main story, Heart of Serpent describes an alien First Contact. The two spaceship crews meet and speculations about the motives are in turmoil. Is the other party hostile? Should the destroy all space charts to prevent invading the home planet? In the end harmony is found and information exchange can be initiated.

The other stories deal with lots of paleontology and speculation of earth being visited some 70 million years ago, when the distance to the core of milky way was at the closest. A dead dinosaur's bone sliced to pretty pieces and an artifact, holographic face figure frozen in crystal alloy seems to indicate that way.

One (1) star. These short stories are product of their time. Mysteries of times long bygone and the distant future. The reader can almost touch the archaic and nostalgic science from the sentences and stories that remind about Buck Rogers (an important part of American pop culture of the 1930's). In contrast, the soviet version here is rooted in solid science. One can admire the spirit of these pioneers, but it needs a hobbyist to appreciate these dusted SF wheels.