9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More fantasy stories than SF, but still entertaining, January 24, 2004
This review is from: More Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (Paperback)
I must admit that I didn't enjoy this anthology as much as its 1974 predecessor, "Wandering Stars." Maybe that's because I read "Wandering Stars" way back in the 70s, when I was like a thirsty man in the desert, delighted to find anything F&SF with a Jewish theme. "More Wandering Stars" I just read for the first time this weekend, (somehow I missed it in 1981), and my expectations are now higher. Hence the four star rating -- it's a good read, but not as good as its predecessor.
There is very little science fiction here -- most of the pieces are more like fantasy, and some would be difficult to distinguish from ordinary Jewish folklore. I.B. Singer's "The Last Demon" is one of these, as is "The Celestial Orchestra" by Howard Schwartz, which is really a re-telling of a classic tale by the 18th-century Hasidic Rebbe, Nachman of Breslov.
Don't get me wrong -- there is some good speculative fiction included. I especially liked "Phyllis Gotlieb's "Tauf Aleph" (named after the last and first letters of the Hebrew alphabet), about a robot programmed with the entire corpus of Jewish knowledge and sent to the planet of the last Jew in the universe. (That one is definitely SF). In "Dress Rehearsal" by Harvey Jacobs, a group of aliens are learning English from a Jewish actor -- with humorous results, but you need to know some Yiddish to get the jokes. The same is true of Isaac Asimov's intro, where he slips into the Yinglish patois of his Jewish upbringing, to give us a tongue-in-cheek SF analysis of the Bible.
On the more serious side, there's "Warm Dark Places" by Horace L. Gold, which is a sort of sequel to his "Trouble With Water" in the previous "Stars" anthology. But, whereas "Trouble" is rather humorous, "Dark Places" is a creepy little tale. Then there's "Camps" by Jack ("Yankele") Dann, where a hospital patient keeps having nightmares about life in a concentration camp -- a place where he has never been, in this life at least... (Readers of my own books on cases of reincarnation from the Holocaust should note that Dann's story was published in 1979, only three years before my first case in 1981. I find that rather eerie.)
Quite a few of these stories require a modicum (or more) of knowledge about Jewish history and culture in order to understand the themes or, in some cases, the satire. "Leviticus: in the Ark" is one such, where a man is chosen each year to be locked in the Ark at the front of the synagogue where the Torah scrolls are kept. No, folks, there is NO such a ritual in Judaism, and never has been. The tale is an allegory for loss of faith. Ditto for "The Pagan Rabbi." In the case of "Forcing the End" by Hugh Nissenson, it helps to know the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai -- which Jack Dann has thoughtfully provided in his intro to the tale.
As for the rest of the stories, most of them didn't do it for me. Harlan Ellison's "Mom" was a hackneyed disappointment, because the "Jewish Mother" stereotype is so outdated and overworked. Then again, it was written in 1976. I find myself wondering what kind of stories today's Jewish SF writers might write. Maybe someday we'll see a third anthology, "Yet More Wandering Stars?"
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fun sci-fi story collection, March 29, 2000
This review is from: More Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (Paperback)
I enjoy science fiction short stories and I enjoy stories with a Jewish view, so this seemed like a perfect collection for me. It was. I found it interesting to see what these different writers, from Woody Allen to Isac Bashevis Singer and Harlan Ellison, came up with for a Jewish sci-fi story. As with any story collection some are better than others. Some basic knowledge of Judaism and Jewish history helps to understand some of the stories.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
extremely uneven, February 22, 2011
This review is from: More Wandering Stars: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories of Jewish Fantasy and Science Fiction (Paperback)
I haven't read _Wandering Stars_, but having found this sequel at the library I was excited to read it. As other reviewers noted, it's heavier on fantasy than on sci-fi. The intro by Isaac Asimov is hilarious. Some of the stories in the collection (those by Phyllis Gotlieb, Jack Dann, Isaac Beshevis Singer, and Harold Schwartz) are charmers. I'm not sure that I'd call Joe Haldeman's "The Mazel Tov Revolution" "Jewish" sci-fi. Only the name of one of the characters and a couple Yiddish words really seem Jewish at all. However, it too is entertaining.
The balance of the stories are either not Jewish, anti-religious, or simply not that good. One story actually suggests that the perfect mate for a Jewish man is the ghost of Joan of Arc. Like we need more Jewish men to marry outside the faith? So desperately that they need to marry a ghost rather than a nice, living Jewish girl? The same story describes all the Jewish female characters extremely negatively (like nagging Jewish mothers in training with thick ankles--yes, it actually says that!). Highly offensive material.
Of course, this is only my opinion.
Due to the extreme disrespect for Judaism and actual feeding of Jewish (incorrect) stereotypes in a couple cases, I cannot recommend this book. I say this sadly, because there really is too little Jewish sci-fi and fantasy.
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