Category: Science Fiction Books

If you have enjoyed the writings of Robert Silverberg, as I have, and if you still occasionally (or more often!) enjoy some of the early action based science fiction, then this book is for you. It’s a collection of 16 short stories by Silverberg from the 1950s, with introductions and commentary.

I really enjoyed this collection. It doesn’t strain one’s mental capacity, but it is exceptionally entertaining. You have to do some additional “suspension of disbelief” when the topic is alien beings from various planets of this solar system (we have folks from Mercury, Venus, Mars, and even Pluto).

I heartily recommend this one for some fine entertainment, light reading, and a little bit of not-too-obtrusive history.

Alan Dean Foster has always provided me with interesting science fiction that was easy to read. It’s the sort of stuff that I read when I don’t want to get too serious, but at the same time my brain is still functioning. Thus far, he has never disappointed me in that. Sometimes lighter fiction is a bit incoherent, the characters less than logical, and the world less than consistent. Foster manages to write consistent worlds, interesting and coherent characters, and still make it just plain fun to read.

I just re-read Drowning World, and I enjoyed visiting with the characters again, and running my imagination through the world of Fluva that he designed here. You won’t get that much time with the Thranx, and really very little time with humans, but the Sakuntala and Deyzara that populate the world and are the key characters are worth spending some time with.

The story is set in the Humanx Commonwealth, though we are not given precise times, and we get to see how the commonwealth deals with primitive worlds and undeveloped species.

Grab a copy from your bookstore or library and enjoy!