ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes discussion

This is a thread to discuss any SFF story You've read and liked enough to share.

In this first post, I plan to list the mentioned stories and links to them

Well, one of my favorite classic stories is “Microcosmic God” by Theodore Sturgeon. It’s a famous story and was included in the The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964, where I read it. (Originally published in Astounding in 1941.) It seems to have been an obvious model for the famous George R.R. Martin story from the ‘70s, “Sandkings”, which is more of a science fiction horror story. However I like the Sturgeon story better. I see it’s included in Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 3, which is one of the volumes in the series I have, as well. Having mentioned the story here I think I’ll get it out and reread it again.

A somewhat more obscure story that I think of as a favorite is “All Pieces of a River Shore” by R.A. Lafferty, which was originally published in 1971 in Orbit 8. I had an SFBC copy of that anthology, which I allowed my family to dispose of back in the late ‘80s along with a bunch of other books I hadn’t taken with me when I left home for good. I bought a used paperback copy of the anthology a few years ago and reread it. It’s a good anthology which includes several other excellent stories as well. “All Pieces of a River Shore” was omitted from the recent collection The Best of R.A. Lafferty for some reason. What I like about it is the central conception, a sort of artifact the idea of which I really like. (I won’t describe it here.) The story itself has a kind of shaggy dog twist that to my mind was a mistake. I like Lafferty; he wrote some very good short fiction. There’s another interesting one in Orbit 8, “Interurban Queen”.

I have always loved all of "The People" stories, one of which we will read in 1959 (I think). Ingathering: The Complete People Stories collects all of the stories and they are really best all read together, though I must say, they put some little "framing" stories around the stories to introduce and tie them together, which I think actually take away from the experience. Still, the whole thing is wonderful, not just "Captivity," the Hugo nominee.

Also, here's another. "Or all the Seas with Oysters." I won't tell you anything about it, because it spoils it.

I searched for it for years, and the search was not assisted by the fact that it was looking for a Simak story when it was written by Avram Davidson

The book containing it is only Audible or paperback according to Amazon. Boo!

But I found it online here https://www.leprecon.org/w62/OrAllThe...

Go, go, quick! Before somebody claiming they have the rights to it (looking at you, Amazon) makes them take it down.

The first SF short story that impressed me was Бацила карбоната (Bacillus carbonatus) by Микола Дашкієв, Ukrainian author first published around 1950. It is nothing too great, but in an early age it impressed me. I guess it has never been translated but the idea: a man discovers a bacteria that can turn coal into much more valuable oil. then WW2 starts and he goes to war, his discovery disappears and now after the war he intends to find it again

Kateblue wrote: "Also, here's another. "Or all the Seas with Oysters." I won't tell you anything about it, because it spoils it.

I searched for it for years, and the search was not assisted by the fact that it wa..."

It is in The Fifth Science Fiction Megapack, at least in Canada.

The second story that impressed me was Stanisław Lem Czy pan istnieje, Mr. Johns? (Engl. "Are You There, Mr. Jones?") that can be found in Vision of Tomorrow 1 or here https://archive.org/details/Vision_of... (there is also epub there but instead of formatting as a play, it is one big paragraph)

this is fun

i should read more Lem.

Stephen wrote: "i should read more Lem."

Note that he is quite different. From more or less in line with western Golden age The Invincible to humorous The Cyberiad to quite serious Solaris

I have read a strange mixture of his work over many years.

Hospital of the Transfiguration
Eden
Solaris
The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy

and a few short pieces.

Looking at the group bookshelf as populated by Allan, I noticed the collection of early stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind's Twelve Quarters. I had a copy of this in the 70s and somehow lost it, and then bought a new copy of the same edition a few years ago. There are a number of memorable stories in it, some of them related to her early novels. For some reason the story I always think of in relation to this collection is a very early one, perhaps her first to be professionally published, April in Paris. It would probably be considered a minor story. I really like the atmosphere and mood it creates. It stuck in mind and was the one I most wanted to reread when I got my second copy of the book.

The 3rd story that impressed me as a teen was "Frost and Fire" by Ray Bradbury. The setup was what captured me: It's set on Mercury, where the sun is scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night. The humans there have extremely short lifespans—only eight days—due to the harsh conditions and the intense radiation. The very idea of the whole life is just a week astonished me

One larger than a short story but still below novel in length - Bruce Sterling novelette Swarm - its idea is that (view spoiler)[conscience and even thinking is not necessary for space-faring species. (hide spoiler)]

Oleksandr wrote: "The 3rd story that impressed me as a teen was "Frost and Fire" by Ray Bradbury. The setup was what captured me: It's set on Mercury, where the sun is scorching hot during the day and freezing cold ..."

“Frost and Fire” is in Classic Stories 1: The Golden Apples of the Sun/R is for Rocket, which I picked up recently. It’s in print in Canada in an inexpensive mass market paperback edition; Bradbury is still popular it seems. I’ll check out Frost and Fire.

Also my dad, who isn't really into SF, liked the first three stories that later made the first chapters of The Martian Chronicles, about how human expeditions came to fail.

The one that always comes first to my mind is another Bradbury, All Summer in a Day, about kids on Venus who live in nearly constant rainy conditions. It's a heartbreaker.

Bradbury, Simak, and Asimov have indeed been my favorites. I particularly enjoyed Asimov's Robot Stories. When I was growing up feminism was still novel enough that Susan Calvin served as an inspirational role model (though now some see her as problematic). And of course I got a kick out of how the Three Laws had kinda/sorta loopholes/exceptions.

Cheryl wrote: "The one that always comes first to my mind is another Bradbury, All Summer in a Day, about kids on Venus who live in nearly constant rainy conditions. It's a heartbreaker. "

I probably read it but I cannot recall details now. I got a bunch of his short stories on audio recently and plan to 'read' them soon.

I also love 'classic' SF writers, but more a general mood say of I robot stories, not a story in particular

I should put one of my favorites of all time here, "Tieline," by Eric Frank Russell. (which I said somewhere else). I found out it was written under a pen name, Duncan H. Munro.

I just found a copy of The Golden Apples of the Sun, although it’s a 1970 edition, before it was combined into Classics 1. It doesn’t have “Frost & Fire” but it looks like a great collection.

Really? 😂
I could totally fill this if i found a way to just list out my shelves!
So many, but just to throw a newer one: "A story, with beans" by Steven Gould
Can be found in several Best of Anthologies, as well as Forever Magazine, Issue 11, December 2015

Andrew wrote: " "A story, with beans" by Steven Gould."

I've never read the author. I will definitely check it, thanks!

I’ll read it as well if I can find it. According to Wikipedia it was included in Dozois’s 27th annual volume.

Andrew wrote: "Really? 😂
a newer one: "A story, with beans" by Steven Gould"

I've read it yesterday. An interesting setting, are there more stories set in there? I am interested in both how the 'plague' was started and how it was contained (porcelain walls is the answer, but how they managed to build them)

Meanwhile, after seeing the review here - https://sciencefictionruminations.com... of Alice Eleanor Jones’ “Created He Them” (1955) and there is the link to the scanned story, so I read (and liked it). It has a very 'Cold War' vibe with US characteristcs so to speak

Oleksandr wrote: "Also my dad, who isn't really into SF, liked the first three stories that later made the first chapters of The Martian Chronicles, about how human expeditions came to fail."

Bradbury is one of the authors that encouraged my love of Science Fiction, especially The Martian Chronicles.