Customer Reviews

Invaders of Earth

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Another of Groff Conklin's anthologies published originally in 1952. This one is the second of two where he picked a specific theme for the entire anthology. The first was "Possible Worlds of Science Fiction", where humanity travels to other places, while this one deals with aliens coming to Earth. This one contains 22 works of short fiction, none of which had appeared in any of his previous anthologies. All but three of these works are from the 40's and early 50's. Of the three, two are from 1938, and one is from 1907.

After so many anthologies, one might suspect that the material would be running a bit thin, but that really isn't the case. Mr. Conklin does a fine job of maintaining the quality of this anthology, and cleverly pulls from a couple of untapped areas as well. The 1907 story "Enemies in Space" by Karl Grunert is a translation (Willy Ley) of a work previously published only in German. He also includes Howard Koch's script for the Orson Welles radio adaptation of H. G. Wells "War of the Worlds".

Mr. Conklin manages to find a few gems from the traditional areas as well. A few that come to mind are William F. Temple's "A Date to Remember", Theodore Sturgeon's "Tiny and the Monster", and Fredric Brown's "The Waveries". The last of which was nominated for the 1996 Retro Hugo for short stories for the year 1945. He finishes off the anthology with a never before published humorous very short story by Anthony Boucher titled "The Greatest Tertian".

While I do not believe this to be as good as "A Treasury of Science Fiction", or "The Best of Science Fiction", it is still a very good anthology of golden age science fiction. It is a shame that these anthologies remain out of print, and surprising that a publisher has not decided to take advantage of that fact and bringing them back into print for a new generation.

15 stories of alien invasion, from the past, the near future and the far future. Some of the authors you will know, like William Tenn, Theodore Sturgeon, and Howard Koch. Others you will not know, like Katherine MacLean, but all the stories are worth reading. Tiny and the Monster, The Discord Makers and Minister Without Portfolio are great short stories that need to be kept alive. READ THEM!

Contents Include:

This Star Shall Be Free (Leinster)
Impulse (Russell)
Top Secret (Grinnell)
An Eel by the Tail (Lang)
Storm Warning (Wollheim)
Tiny and the Monster (Sturgeon)
Discord Makers (Reynolds)
Pen Pal (Lesser)
Invasion from Mars (Koch)
Minister w/o Portfolio (Clingerman)
Crisis (Grendon)
Angel's Eggs (Pangborn)
Will You Walk a little Faster (Tenn)
Picture don't Lie (MacLean)