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Brian W. Aldiss

Modern Classics Science Fiction Omnibus (Penguin Modern Classics) Paperback – International Edition, December 11, 2007

by Brian Aldiss (Author)

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This new edition of Brian Aldiss’s classic anthology brings together a diverse selection of science fiction spanning over sixty years, from Isaac Asimov’s ‘Nightfall’, first published in 1941, to the 2006 story ‘Friends in Need’ by Eliza Blair. Including authors such as Clifford Simak, Harry Harrison, Bruce Sterling, A. E. Van Vogt and Brian Aldiss himself, these stories portray struggles against machines, epic journeys, genetic experiments, time travellers and alien races. From stories set on Earth, to uncanny far distant worlds and ancient burnt-out suns, the one constant is humanity itself, compelled by an often fatal curiosity to explore the boundless frontiers of time, space and probability.

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Classic
Publication date

December 11, 2007
Dimensions

5.01 x 1.05 x 7.76 inches
ISBN-10

0141188928
ISBN-13

978-0141188928
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Poet, playwright, critic, fiction and science-fiction writer Brian Aldiss was born in 1925 in Dereham, Norfolk, and is the author of more than seventy-five books. He lives in Oxford and was awarded an OBE in 2005 for Services to Literature.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classic (December 11, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0141188928
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0141188928
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.3 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.01 x 1.05 x 7.76 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,055,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,716 in Exploration Science Fiction

Customer Reviews:
36 ratings

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1 star		7%

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Jonathan Palfrey

This anthology is an old favourite of mine

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2016

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This anthology is an old favourite of mine; I first bought it long ago. Unfortunately, it's no longer the same anthology!

For this new edition, Aldiss has deleted fifteen stories that the old edition contained (including at least five that I'm fond of), and inserted ten newer stories in their place. This is not what I wanted when I bought the Kindle edition: I wanted a Kindle version of my old favourite. So far, I don't consider the new stories adequate compensation for the lost ones.

How could he delete the wonderful 'Build up logically' and the memorable 'Pyramid' from this collection?

Furthermore, I've noticed at least one serious fault in the Kindle edition: in the story 'Fulfilment', someone turned two pages instead of one when scanning the book, so exactly two pages of text are missing, after the sentence, "I open it and gaze at the human male who stands on the threshold." I can deduce from this that the scanned edition of the book was the same 1973 paperback edition that I have.

I give this disappointing volume as many as three stars because there are still some good stories left in it. But it's not what it was.

8 people found this helpful

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Richard Johnston

Classic anthology

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2011

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This is a major anthology of science fiction. I have the old PB edition and I think that this updated ebook volume is worth every penny. The collection, edited by Brian Aldiss ranges from the great "Golden Age" authors such as Asimov, Simak and A.E.Van Vogt to contemporary writers. I think it is comparable in quality to the great Golden Age anthology, "Adventures in Time and Space" edited by Healy and McComas. No science fiction fan should be without either of these books.

4 people found this helpful

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MW

contains the extraordinary short story "Protected Species" H. B. Fyfe

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2011

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This volume also contains the extraordinary short story "Protected Species" H. B. Fyfe. Totally mind boggling!

I have been trying to find this story again for decades. I read it in a Science Fiction Book Club edition from the 1960's of this great anthology and found it here!

4 people found this helpful

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Brian

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015

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Excellent read

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Planxty

A valuable but imperfect collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 22, 2021

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An interesting sample of SF short across the genre. However it's chronologically unbalanced and has some important short story writers missing like Ellison and Delaney.

northener

Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2019

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It's a bbok what more can one say

One person found this helpful

Lazaros K.

A superb collection !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2016

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A superb collection.Every true science fiction fan should have it in his bookselves !

R. Palmer

For what it is, this is worthwhile.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2010

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This anthology is an update of the now classic survey of the SF field published originally in 1973 (there were 3 books that made that version up published 1961, 3 and 4). Obviously there has been a *lot* of SF published in the intervening years, so, necessarily, the contents of this book have been updated. Naturally, however, it's hardly definitive, however, I think that it does a reasonable job of showing where SF came from and where it's going.

The oldest story in it is Asimov's 1941 story, Nightfall and the most recent stories from Gary Kilworth and Eliza Blair. Something that I did notice reading through it is that while, obviously, the immediate concerns of the stories changed, a lot of the earlier short stories seemed to be concerned with building to a pay-off of some kind (if you know Nightfall, or Fred Pohl's The Tunnel Under the World you'll know what I mean) while some of the later stories seem less concerned with this. I suspect that this has something to do with the market that they were writing for in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

It seems, therefore, churlish to criticise the earlier stories for being concerned with politics we don't consider relevant, or to be in some way "one-dimensional" (and, I think, some are) this book does what it sets out to do very well. The other thing that I've found is that, perhaps, some of the stories have been over-anthologised (for example, I think I've seen the Ted Chiang story in several: it is superb and deserves to be there, but if you read a lot of SF anthologies, you may well come accross it a lot - similarly for some of the older ones, the Asimov and Pohl stories have shown up a lot). I suppose, though, that demonstrates that there is, generally, a high standard of quality amongst this stuff.

If you like SF and want as decent a survey of the genre as you're likely to find in one volume, this is well worth a try. If you want up to the minute or more innovative stuff, I'd try elsewhere, though. I think that it would probably suit anybody not too familiar with the genre who wanted a decent in - if that's you, you could add an extra star! Furthermore, a couple of the stories should be an in to some excellent longer fiction (for example, Blood Music which became an superb full length novel: Blood Music (Gollancz S.F.) )

Sole Solution - Eric Frank Russell (1956)
Lot - Ward Moore (1953)
Skirmish - Clifford Simak (1950)
And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's Side - James Tiptree, Jr (1971)
Poor Little Warrior! - Brian Aldiss (1958)
Grandpa - James H. Schmitz (1955)
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov (1941)
The Snowball Effect - Katherine MacLean (1952)
Swarm - Bruce Sterling (1982)
Blood Music - Greg Bear (1983)
Answer - Frederic Brown (1964)
The Liberation of Earth - William Tenn (1953)
An Alien Agony - Harry Harrison (1962)
Track 12 - J.G. Ballard (1958)
Sexual Dimorphism - Kim Stanley Robinson (1999)
The Tunnel Under the World - Frederick Pohl (1954)
Friends in Need - Eliza Blair (2006)
The Store of the Worlds - Robert Sheckley (1959)
Jokester - Isaac Asimov (1956)
The Short-Short Story of Mankind - John Steinbeck (1958)
Night Watch - James Inglis (1964)
Ted Chiang - Story of Your Life (1998)
Protected Species - H. B. Fyfe (1951)
The Rescuer - Arthur Porges (1962)
I Made You - Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1954)
The Country of the Kind - Damon Knight (1956)
The Cage - Bertram Chandler (1957)
Fulfilment - A. E. van Vogt (1952)
Common Time - James Blish (1960)
Alien Embassy - Garry Kilworth (2006)
Great Work of Time - John Crowley (1989)

42 people found this helpful

Perceptive Reader

Not Recommended

Reviewed in India on October 14, 2017

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Editing is a much more difficult job than writing, especially when it comes to authors. Almost all the famous authors are notorious for choosing inferior to bad stories, whenever they are given an opportunity to make a "best of" selection from their works. It proves, that making a selection requires an altogether different perspective, and a connect with the hoi-polloi readers, which most of our authors lack. A classic example would be this book, as well.
This selection, widely respected by critics, turned out to be a disappointingly depressing one, where the author has selected stories that might be elevating, from a philosophical point of view, but are dashed poor reads. Also, his selections seem to be influenced by a Biblical worldview, which is NOT shared by readers like me.
I had read a majority of these stories in different collections, and while several of them have had a lasting impact, the others were soporific and simply boring. To such pile, Aldiss had added several more dark, drab, dull stories, which the critics would lap-up. As far as I'm concerned, they only succeeded in souring the day.
There are MUCH MUCH better anthologies available. The modern selections made by Paula Guran, while the older classic anthologies edited by Asimov et.al. are books that you might actually enjoy, and treasure.

4 people found this helpful

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