Customer Reviews

Microcosmic Tales

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You've got five minutes on a checkout line, or ten minutes at a train station and want something to read that won't take long, maybe something surreal or futuristic, or just plain wacky? You've come to the right place!

Microcosmic tales is a book jam-packed with short-short stories, ranging from the span of a single paragraph to about four or five pages at most. Isaac Asimov, the esteemed editor of this anthology has likened reading good science fiction "to scuba-diving of the mind", a trip away from the world you know into another universe of the familiar. Then these on hundred story gems are his idea of a "quick dip" into this genre. These short-shorts come from all walks of the science fiction universe, from the patently absurd, to the darkly funny, to the thought-provoking and profound. They're short, they're fun-they're like potato chips! Read one and you'll find yourself going back for more!

Contributors include SF masters such as Isaac Asimov himself, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison and James Tiptree, Jr. to name just a few. Collected and reprinted from various sources, these stories-many from the golden age of SF-take the reader on journeys to other planets, future societies and altered perspectives. This anthology was first published in 1980, and while some of the stories may be a bit dated on the surface because of this, the ideas and excitement are timeless. There's some goofiness in here, and some punning-no, not every story is a classic work of staggering genius! For chuckles Arthur C. Clarke's "The Other Tiger" and Asimov's "Buy Jupiter" come to mind. For profound there's "That Strain Again" by Charles Sheffield and "The Old Man" by Henry Slesar. Just to provide a few examples.

The entire anthology is set up so that each piece includes a title, and a quote in bold lettering that sometimes gives a hint about the story or uses wordplay and humor to comment on the tale. It's a delightful way to tie all these disparate pieces together in one volume. Of course, this isn't the book you're after if you want complex character development and serious exploration of science fiction themes. These stories are quick images and one-trick ponies-delightful in a short run, but taken any further would destroy the pithy humor and observation. While not every story in this anthology will be to the taste of the readers, there is ample variety to appeal to a wide range. And it will give you to sample a range of classic SF writers and perhaps find a few you wish to explore in more depth and do some serious "scuba-diving of the mind."

Happy Reading! ^_^ shanshad

Though it's out of stock, I recommend trying to find a copy. For those of you who are just starting to read science fiction or even die hard fans, this book is a great one. It doesn't have a single bad story.

I actually discovered this little gem in a local used book store. It's exactly what I was looking for. I've just finished reading the second Harry Potter book to my son at night and wasn't looking forward to starting another huge tome and reading half-chapters each night. Also, my son has gotten to the age where he's curious about everything, asking all kinds of unanswerable questions and wildly speculating about everything he can imagine.

I figured the time was right to start exposing him to some science fiction. So I started looking at my old books - I figured Ray Bradbury short story collections would be a good place to start and I couldn't find any good short sci-fi collections for kids. But then I came across this book and the stories are the perfect length - some as short as one page, to hold a boy's attention. And they all have a subtle twist or humor or small experience in them that keeps them accessible and understandable. I love the look on my son's face when he figures out the twist or joke in each one.

So far I've read it to my boys at bedtime, while waiting for food in a restaurant, waiting while their mother pumped gas in the car, etc. Perfect little bite-sized sci-fi from some of the best old writers in the business. I just wish I could find a book like this that collects stories like these from the past 30 years (this book was published in 1980, but most of the stories are pretty timeless).