That's an incredible Channel, thanks for the amazing talk

I hope you don't mind a pretty late comment! Based on your first Poul Anderson short story video, I tracked down the hardcover book club edition of Twilight World you showed. I finished that book this morning. I was going to wait until you finished the book, but the novella that takes up most of the book wasn't released until 1961. Not sure if I'll be around when you get there, so here is a comment. I agree with your assessment of the first two stories, and feel that most of what you said will apply to the whole book. Very good story, excellent prose style. Some of the descriptions are beautiful. I'm guessing all of the science is dated, but I'm no scientist, so that's just a guess. I don't really read SF for science facts, esp. old SF, and this book came out 63 years ago. I had fun reading Twilight World. The old-fashioned-ness was a big part of the fun. It was SF that came across as "almost" frontier fiction. Three good, long stories. None of them are really great, but I would say worth reading for those who are interested in good early-ish SF - or in the work of Mr. Anderson.. Thanks for doing what you're doing!

"If you want to believe in true diversity, you have to believe in being able to be all encompassing, all inclusivity---including for the straight white man". Thank you Emily. Both of you make many good points in this one. As a male, I actually do read constantly, but it's generally either older books or indie publishers, just as Greg mentioned. The big mainstream publishers don't publish many books that interest me these days.

Great review! I just read it a couple of weeks ago and i can't stop thinking about it. I was born in the 90s and still found myself relating to it. I personally enjoyed it more than To Kill a Mockingbird. Having said that, I need to read something wicked this way comes!

Sounds interesting, might give it a try some time as space opera is my favourite sub-genre.

I love "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream" - it's by far my favorite story in the collection. Jalbert, the KBI investigator, is frightening because he could totally exist in real life - he's not supernatural. He's consumed by this one idea and he has nothing else to live for. I'd love to see a movie version with William Fichtner playing that character. You asked about previously published stories - "The Fifth Step" appeared in Harper's Magazine in March 2020. I was able to print a copy for free without having to register or anything. And I think "Willie the Weirdo" may have been published first in French? Hope this helps!

I have not read that story but I will look for it.

Really enjoyed the book,danny in my mind looked like josh brolin in no country,the girl cop emily blunt in sicario and the male cop the gay detective from Ozark.very good book with amazing characters

I really enjoyed this video. I will check out more of your discussions. You gave very good background info on this story. I read it a long time ago (maybe in the 1980's) and remembered that it showed remarkable foreshadowing of what could happen to the future of the U.S. I hope that I can find the original serialised version online... I've now found PDF versions at Internet Archive. This looks like a pretty neat resource. I'll have to explore...

Loved reading “How does it feel”! And enjoyed your review! Was just about to start reading “What did you do?” And found your review. Look forward to hearing what you thought of it!

"Gyeongseong Creature" also has similarities to Vogt's Coeurl since "Alien"(1979) turned Vogt's cat creature into a skeleton snake creature.

Thuss IS SUCH_Strange but 💯% Amazing 📚 Book But She is WRONG In That he Would Always Feel small His ♥️Lady in Res💃🏽 would have Guided Him!! Right👍🏽& then 🅱️rittan Toward 😇⚖️🇺🇳

"Laurie" is a short story by Stephen King, first published as a free download on his website on May 17, 2018. It was collected in King's 2024 book, You Like It Darker.

This was a fantastic story, I stayed up late last night to finish it. I can see it being made into a movie ala the Different Seasons novellas. Thank you for your review, I enjoyed it

Definitely getting it when I am out and about today. Thank you for this review! David Coughlins story stands out the most to me from what I’ve seen on the webs.

Lovely poem and reading! Would love you to read any poem from Wiesława Szymborska, but I guess they aren't public domain.

Thanks to this book, I have developed an obsession for Cozy Fantasy. I now have over a dozen in my shelves

That and “Rattlesnakes” were probably my favorites from this collection. Great stuff!

A friend sent me ELDRITCH TALES for X-mas, and I just stumbled upon 'OBLIVIONE' a few weeks ago. Brief but stunning. Definitely a 'Top Tale'!

Just have Greg do the reviews

Thank you!

This short story had already been published in Harper's Magazine back in March 2020.

What stands out for me is how the sleeper was totally appalled at the Christianity he witnessed ..."Prosperity! blessings! big business! Best Bishops tonite!...that's exactly how present day Christianity is this very day. Thanks for the review.

This novel was mentioned in Omni magazine as a new pictorial novel in July 1979. It gives a synopsis of it with a 7 pages. There's even a picture of a well built full figured woman holding a weapon with a giant lobster next to her. 😅

It has been many decades since I read _Dangerous Visions,_ so I didn't remember this story. My time is already spread thin, so I don't plan on reading DV any time soon. Still, I enjoyed your discussion of "Eversong" (listened to at a playback speed of 1.25).

I've been a Bester fan for about half a century, and I have (among numerous other books) his short story collection Virtual Unrealities... but I can't locate 'The Broken Axiom' either in print or online. I thought it should be easy, but perhaps the Bester estate is a bit protective. Can you suggest where it might be found?

I also had the SFBC editions of _Dangerous Visions_ and _Again Dangerous Visions_ as well. I enjoyed the anthologies. Harlan didn't include all submissions, though. Some things were just too far "out there", such as a rejected Barry Weismann story about a snot vampire. Good luck on the series -- I have subscribed in order to watch it.

Thanks for putting the DV series on my radar!!!

I enjoyed your reading and thoughts on the poem. Love the beginning and title, but I wish it were longer (the poem).

Another Sturgeon short story! Re-read this one (from 1939) thanks to this video surfacing it amid the world's fleeting churn. "The Other Cheek" has that lighthearted Sturgeon charm -- the narrator's casual tone, the fun little twist at the end -- a welcome contrast to the usual competition among authors as to who can be the most gloom and doom, "serious," emo, Young Werther. But within Sturgeon's charm there's also more psychological observation than in (as I recall) stalwart bigger name authors (esp. of the Golden Age) such as Arthur C. Clarke. Sturgeon describes how the cuff links were given to the protagonist by a woman whom he lost, and the links were his reminder of her, until he lost them too, "like losing her all over again." And then near the end, to deal with his outsize anger, the protagonist "hurried down the highway, walking that poison out of his heart." Here's hoping your videos help even more people appreciate and benefit from such thoughtful writings.

I thought you would read it to us. Bummer.

Emily and Greg, thanks for reading the "Naked Lunch" so I don't have to! 😁

Great video! Loved your views on the Romantasy genre!

Just checked Gutenberg and got the story bc of this video. I've never heard of this author before but found the story to be a cute, funny thing - and perfect length for it. The idea that it could be the first matter transmission story and that it comes off as an old timey humorous KZbin short is....Wow! Early scifi was a TRIP. :D

This reminds me of the original Zeitgeist film on Christian origins related to astrology.

Your summary of this story was very accurate. While it was an immature work and had some rough edges, the idea was interesting and the writing style showed promise. I think Larry Niven may turn out to have a bright future in SF!😁 Thanks for the recommendation.

John Varley is my favourite sci-fi author. I think the first stories of his that I read were those in "In the hall of the Martian kings" (US title "The persistence of vision") in about 1980. I soon found "Titan", "Wizard" and "The Ophiuchi hotline" and I was hooked! I think my favourite of his books is "Rolling Thunder" and my favourite short story is "Picnic on Nearside".

slipstick libby

I'm sorry, I have to comment. Most of this book is philosophical. The chewing of the glass is essentially what the Beats were doing throughout the 40's---not the 50s, it was written in 1945. They were disillusioned about the world around them and were searching for meaning, basically breaking down every concept they had been exposed to and were facing after WWII, and being taught at Columbia University, down to its basic elements--like breaking glass down into its beginnings of starting as a grain of sand. This is showing how the concepts and theories of the Beats came into to being. Jack Kerouac tried to get the book published later in life, and Burroughs took him to court to stop him. The afterword was written by Burroughs's executor to his estate. Lucien Carr asked him not to have it published until he died, because his co-workers that he'd worked with for 30 years did not know about this event and he didn't want it to change their opinion of him. You can also see clearly the difference in the writing styles of Burroughs and Kerouac as they...and you didn't mention this--it is VERY important to point out...as they alternate writing chapters. The Dennison chapters are written by Burroughs, the Ryko chapters written by Kerouac. The "dry straightforward" writing is Burroughs style. The chapters by Kerouac have a more intimate, vividly colorful, and more setting and observations of the people around them. They did change quite a few elements, so the book was not a re-telling of the Kammerer murder, but a fictional representation. But very little about the murder is in the book. This is about three young men who were discovering a "new vision"...again, in real life, there were four. Allen Ginsberg was left out of the book purposefully. This too was my first exposure to all of these writers, and my first real look into the Beat Generation. I highly recommend this book! But also, look into the Beat Generation, explore the videos on youtube, and the audio files out there. This is a really interesting look into how these two famous authors wrote before they perfected their craft, and who their influences were! ***Check out Allen Ginsberg's journals, and his book, "Bloodsong," that gives the first hand--and most intimate and accurate account of the murder--that Columbia University would not allow him to publish--it's included in the journal publication, "The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice: First Journals and Poems 1937-1952" by Allen Ginsberg, published in 2006, by "First Da Capo Press." THANK YOU FOR INCLUDING THIS BOOK, even if some of your facts were off. Great Job!

Worldcon is like the World Series, all American. The name is more like a guideline. Or an aspiration.

It's interesting to see two authors start with the same basic concepts and develop them in different ways. Another example is Isaac Asimov's robots versus Jack Williamson's humanoids. I read the three Psychotechnic League volumes many years ago and enjoyed them, though I haven't read "Genius." I'll have to look for it. The Polesotechnic League stories, the Flandry stories, and Tau Zero, which I discovered in my junior high school library in the 1970s, are also very good. Recently I have been reading a lot of Alastair Reynolds books.

I have always maintained that there are three great vampire novels. The first two obviously are Bram Stoker's "Dracula" and Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire." The third is "Salem's Lot."

Northwest Smith is the perfect name for a Sci-Fi swashbuckler. That Shambleau could ensnare him showed the power that she had. When I saw mentioned in Larry Niven's "Ringworld" series that there were people who defanged the evolved vampires and kept them for the pheromonal stimulation, I immediately thought of Moore's "Shambleau." In a different manner, it reminds me of the tragic and sad tale of an innocent, unlike the character here, in one of my favourite Sci-Fi short stories Leigh Brackett's "Mars Minus Bisha." That last tale has always stuck in my mind.

Very good story. The 'hard science' aspect reminds me a little of an Andy Weir-style story - although it should be Weir reminds me of Clement since Trojan Fall is now 80 years old. I didn't see the end coming, certainly not a formulaic conclusion. Thanks for the recommendation, certainly worth my reading time.

I enjoyed your talk about rereading. I rarely reread books, but never regretted it yet. Also... pls more Emily content!

Hi Greg, you mentioned that this story is available as a pdf but I've been unable to find it. Are you able to point me to a website, please? Thanks for the great channel and all the work you put into it.

Sounds like a good quick story, I've recently read "The Star Fox" by Poul Anderson which I thought was an enjoyable tale as well, part of the early Gollancz best novels series. Except for the collections you've mentioned, I've seen on the website of the Internet SF database that "Genius" was also part of the Groff Conklin collection "Giants Unleashed" that collected a number of stories by SF greatest authors.

Outstanding Retrospect TTB! & you are correct, one could do an entire Seminar on 'Evil Children in Sci/Fi-Horror'! (in fact... I think you've just given me my next Topic!) Question: Would you consider there to be a distinction between Evil Children (IE 'Children of the Corn') & simply Feral Children (as in 'The Girl With All the Gifts')??? Unrelated Question... Wasn't the a Horror Novel from the 70's called 'Suffer The Children'???

I’m thrilled that the Blessed Algorithm saw fit to suggest your Tube. I’m a huge fan too and I’m looking forward to combing through your archive and future productions. Poul Anderson was the first SF author I read as a wee lad in 1973. The Guardians of Time collection have influence me since then.

This story reminds me of another Anderson short story, "The Problem of Pain". Evidentally, he had read the book by C.S. Lewis with the same name, and decided to write a counterargument, based on an alien avian species who conceived of their God as a predator animal. So a pair of human missionaries were on this planet trying to convert the bird species, and the wife was dying of a disease. The husband was planning to drug his wife so she wouldn't suffer at her death, but he was called away by an urgent matter. He left her with the birds; but their view of God was that He preys on us and we show our devotion to Him by fighting to the end, despite the pain.