Science Fiction Bus
Forty-odd years ago, my uncle gave me a science fiction anthology, a thick red hardcover that I read from cover to cover. He inspired a lifelong love of the genre. The stories in that book made me think outside the box. They filled me with awe at the imagination it took to write them, and at times scared the hell out of me. That book remained in my collection for many years. At some point it disappeared, but not from my memory. Recently I had the desire to read it again and thanks to Alibris.com I was able to buy a used copy.
The title is SCIENCE FICTION BUS, edited by Groff Conklin, a well-known and prolific editor of the genre. It was published in 1952, the golden age of science fiction. It is a heavy tome, 562 pages, with 43 stories divided into sections related to a common theme. Some stories are funny, some are thought-provoking, and some are adventurous. I love you all.
Part I. Wonders of the Earth and of Man
Katherine MacLean’s “And be Merry” originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in February 1950. When her husband embarks on an archeology trip, a biologist performs rejuvenation experiments on herself. Believing that she will be immortal if she can avoid accidental death, she is afraid to live. Her husband realizes that he must convince her that she is dying for her to live again, and tells him that she has a slow-growing tumor that cannot be operated on.
Other stories in this section are:
“John Thomas’s Bucket” by John Leimert
“Hyperpillosity” by L. Sprague de Camp
“The Thing in the Woods” by Fletcher Pratt and BF Ruby
“The Bees of Borneo” by Will H. Gray
“The Rag Thing” by David Grinnell
“The Conqueror” by Mark Clifton
Part II. Dangerous and other inventions
The intriguing short story, “A Subway Named Mobius,” by AJ Deutsch, was published in Astounding Science Fiction in December 1950. The Boston Subway Authority builds an extension to the subway system and a train with three hundred passengers disappears. The closed system became so interconnected and complex that it became a Möbius strip, that one-sided continuous loop made famous by MC Escher.
Other stories in this section are:
“Never Underestimate…” by Theodore Sturgeon
“The Doorbell” by David H. Keller
Ross Rocklynne Backfire
“The Box” by James Blish
“Zeritsky’s Law” by Ann Griffith
“The Fourth Dynasty” by R. R. Winterbotham
Part III. From outer space
In “The Color Out of Space” by HP Lovecraft, a surveyor discovers an abandoned farmhouse with an old well in the center. The land is devoid of life and asks for the name: the accursed heath. An old hermit tells him the story. In the 1880s the farm was productive until a meteorite of indescribable color crashed next to the well. After hearing the dire circumstances that befell the farmer and his family, the surveyor ends up saying that he will not come back and that he would not recommend drinking the water.
Other stories in this section are:
“The Headhunters” by Ralph Williams
“The Star Doll” by Anthony Boucher
“Catch That Martian” by Damon Knight
Shipshape Home by Richard Matheson
“Homo Sol” by Isaac Asimov
Part IV. distant travels
Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope” is a harrowing story of astronauts drifting through space after their ship is destroyed. They have contact with each other but no hope of being rescued. A man laments the fact that he has not accomplished anything worthwhile, but when his life ends, he becomes a shooting star visible to a child on earth.
Other stories in this section are:
“Alexander the Bait” by William Tenn
“Nothing Happens on the Moon” by Paul Ernst
Wyman Guin’s Trigger Tide
“Plague” by Murray Leinster
“The winner loses everything” by Jack Vance
“Test Piece” by Eric Frank Russell
“Environment” by Chester S. Geier
Part V. Adventures in Dimension
John D. MacDonald’s “Spectator Sport” was first published in Thrilling Wonder Stories in February 1950. A man travels into the future and finds that nothing much has changed. Shortly after his departure, someone invented virtual reality and the entire population is permanently connected to it.
Other stories in this section are:
“High Threshold” by Alan E. Nourse
A.E. van Vogt’s “Recruiting Station”
“A Stone and a Spear” by Raymond F. Jones
“What You Need” by Lewis Padgett
“The Choice” by W. Hilton-Young
Part VI. worlds of tomorrow
Arthur C. Clarke’s “History Lesson” was first published in 1949. A final ice age looms in the future. A tribe of nomadic humans travels towards the equator but gets trapped between two advancing glaciers. They hide some 21st century relics in a cairn. Five thousand years later, reptilian Venusians travel to Earth and retrieve the relics. They try to learn about life on the Third Planet by analyzing a reel of cartoon film.
Other stories in this section are:
“The War Against the Moon” by André Maurois
“Pleasant Dreams” by Ralph Robin
“Manners of the Age” by H. B. Fyfe
“The Gun” by Fredric Brown
“The Scarlet Plague” by Jack London
“Heritage” by Robert Abernathy
“Instinct” by Lester del Rey
“Countercharm” by Peter Phillips
science fiction bus
Groff Conklin
Publisher: Crown Publishers 1952
Pages: 562
ASIN: B000NZ56FQ