Strangers From Earth [Mass Market Paperback]

Poul Anderson (Author), Vincent di Fate (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 217 pages
• Publisher: Baen Books; 1st edition (March 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671656279
• ISBN-13: 978-0671656270
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,938,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, solid, old-fashioned SF, October 22, 2003

By 

Mona Albano "Documentation Consultant" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strangers From Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

Short stories of science fiction. This book includes

- "Earthman, Beware." A man realizes that he's not human and tries to call his people from the stars.
- "Quixote and the Windmill." The problem of leisure: what if machines do all the work?
- "Gypsy." A nice story about those who don't want to settle down, with a fairly subtle twist at the end.
- "For the Duration." A hero fights against dictatorship.
- "Duel on Syrtis." Martians were a protected species, but a rich man wanted one for a trophy.
- "The Star Beast." A man wants to be a tiger--and in the far future, it's possible. (This story has no relation to Robert Heinlein's book of the same name.) It reminds me, rather, of Andre Norton.
- "The Disintegrating Sky." One of those ironic stories.
- "Among Thieves." Interstellar warfare--well done.

4.0 out of 5 stars Robots, Martians, Tigers and Gypsys, October 14, 2010

By 

Paul Camp (Chattanooga, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strangers from Earth (Paperback)

_Strangers From Earth_ (1961) is an early collection of eight Poul Anderson stories. They are mostly downbeat, though not in a way that makes them predictable or repetitious. None are badly written, but a few are decidedly minor. The stories are: "Earthman, Beware" (_Super Science Stories_, 1951), "Quioxte and the Windmill" (_Astounding_, 1950), "Gypsy" (_Astounding_, 1950), "For the Duration" (_Venture_, 1957), "Duel on Syrtis" (_Planet_, 1951), "The Star Beast" (_Super Science Stories_, 1950), "The Disintegrating Sky" (_Fantastic Universe_, 1953), and "Among Thieves" (_Astounding_, 1957).

I have mentioned elsewhere that Anderson is a multisensory writer who deliberately appeals to more than one sense in his descriptive or action passages. When he is at his best, his prose touches upon the poetic. Here he is in "Quioxte and the Windmill":

The first robot in the world came walking over green hills with sunlight aflash off his polished metal hide. He walked with a rippling grace that was almost feline, and his tread fell noiselessly-- but you could feel the ground vibrate ever so faintly under that terrific mass, and the air held the subliminal quiver from the great engine that pulsed within him. (26)

And here he is again in "Gypsy":

I remembered the way she had looked on Hralfar, the first time I kissed her. We had wandered a ways from the camp of the detail exploring that frosty little world and negotiating with its natives for supplies. The sky had been dark overhead, with a shrunken sun casting its thin pale light on the blue-shadowed snow. It was quiet, breathlessly quiet, the air was like sharp fire in our nostrils and her hair, the only color on that white horizon, seemed to crackle with frost. That was quite a long time ago, but nothing had changed between us since. (44)

"Gypsy" and "Quioxte" are the best stories in the book, for their poetry and their subtlety of character. "The Star Beast" is a little more roughly told, but it is still a good story. It is a retelling of Frank Stockton's "The Lady or the Tiger?", but it is much more ingenious than the original. Also good is "Among Thieves," a tale of interplanetary war and diplomacy. It reminded me a bit of another Anderson story, "The Helping Hand".

Passable but slightly predictable "twist ending" tales are "Earthman, Beware" and "Duel on Syrtis". The first is a superman among the Earthmen yarn, and the second recounts a battle between a millionaire and a Martian. On rereading "The Disintegrating Sky," one line caught my fancy: "Across the room, Frans Hals' sardonic jester leered at a recent Dali" (113). This end of the world story was written when Salvadore Dali was still alive and painting. Now Dali is gone, and the world is still with us... at least for now. But the story itself is a minor piece, as is the dystopian "For the Duration".

Perhaps the tone of this collection would have been improved with one or two lighter pieces. A little irony can go a long way. But this is a minor quibble. On the whole, this is an excellent collection. If you can, get the Ballantine edition with the wonderful Richard Powers cover.