Return
to Articles
Short Recommendations
By: Eric Anderson
Many people are out and about and don't have time to sit down and read novels. The best thing to do then is to take a chance on short stories. Here some that will keep you entertained.
The Comedian
By: Timothy Robert Sullivan
This short tale tells a story of child kidnapper Chris Reilly who is being haunted by images of comics through time from Jack Benny, the Three Stooges, to Robin Williams as Mork form Ork and the reasons why they are telling him to kidnap these children. The story keeps you in an uneasy interest in why he is doing this and having you wonder if this might be a story that places you inside a unstable pycotic, but this is science fiction after all and stories can take interesting twists.
The Comedian can be found in The 1983 Annual World's Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha from DAW Books, Inc..
The Last Question
Dr. Isaac Asimov
'The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on may 21, 2061...' is how this short story starts which happened to be Asimov's personal favorite. It also has the effect on readers to never forget the story, only the name. When two attendants to a super computer named Multivac ask it a question about forever, it triggers events that last over the course of millions, if not billions of years.
The Last Question was first published in 1956 in Science Fiction Quarterly and included in 'The Best of Isaac Asimov' (ISBN: 0-449-23653-6) by Fawcett Crest Books in 1973.
Mind-Sifter
Shirley S. Maiewski
Yes, I must recommend a Star Trek story, especially a story from a time when Star Trek gave you some of the most thought provoking fiction before being turned into a studio money machine and home of hack writers. In the void between the original series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture authors and fans came forward with some of the best stories the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise ever had. One such short story is 'Mind-Sifter'. This story borrows from 'City on the Edge of Forever' with the Guardian of Forever and 'Errand of Mercy' with the mentioned but never seen Mind-Sifter and Klingon Commander Kor.
Captain Kirk is lost, and presumed dead for a year and Spock has become captain of the Enterprise. The stress between McCoy and Spock is so high that McCoy is planning to transfer. But Spock believes that Kirk is alive somewhere, and somewhen, and somehow it involves Commander Kor of the Klingon Empire.
Mind-Sifter'is the final story in 'Star Trek: The New Voyages' (ISBN: 0-553-24636-4) from Bantam Books and features an introduction by William Shatner and edited by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath. I only wish Star Trek stories today where half as good.
Deep Range
Arthur C. Clarke
When this story was first published in 1954 by Star Science Fiction Stories #3, cowboys and cattle herds where very popular to the U.S. public. The open range and freedom was the romance that every kid seemed to want as they played "Cowboys and Indians". Arthur C. Clarke gave people this concept a new twist as we follow Don Burley as he watches over his herd whales with the help of his porpoises Benj and Susan acting as sheep dogs of the deep as they face a killer attacking his whales.
This story was reprinted in 'Minds Unleashed' (ISBN: 0-448-05361-095) first published as Giants Unleashed from Tempo Books and edited by Groff Conklin.
Please, enjoy.
Copyright 2000 by Eric Anderson