SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

What are your favorite fix-up novels and collections of related stories? I've been a fan of that conceit since reading The Illustrated Man and the Martian Chronicles as a child. I read Clifford Simak's City last week and absolutely loved it. Gene Wolfe's The Fifth Head of Cerberus is another great example, with three connected novellas. Or I, Robot.

Which others did you love? Anybody have a good modern example? The only recent ones I've read are non-genre, such as Olive Kittridge or A Visit From the Goon Squad.

To answer my own question, I did find an excellent modern SF example - I read The Carpet Makers this weekend.

I love Mike Resnick's Kirinyaga stories.

How about Cloud Atlas? Does that count? I would only call two of the stories science fiction, though.

Pilgrimage: The Book of the People andThe People: No Different Flesh are both excellent! Don't miss them!

Oh, Cloud Atlas is a cool example. I forgot about that one. I don't know a lot of these others. I'll have to check them out.

Jaq wrote: "Illustrated Man was my first scifi ever, so I have a fond association with that one.

The Theives World collection from Robert Aspirin (and several other well-known scifi/fantasy authors) has alway..."

These two are among my favorites, too.

Mary JL wrote: "Pilgrimage: The Book of the People andThe People: No Different Flesh are both excellent! Don't miss them!"
Absolutely agree! Such a coherent set of shorts within one world, so neatly tied together is a rare gem. I first came across them as one isolated story in an anthology. Finding out a couple of years later (we are talking late 1960s here!) that there was a whole world of these was an absolute delight.

Alan

Alan: Just out of curiosity, was the isolated story "Gilead" in the Tomorrow's Children anthology? IIRC that's where I first ran across it.

Margaret wrote: "Alan: [ ] was [it] "Gilead" "

Oh, you do set some awkward questions! I had to go find a very old paperback and look it up! The story was 'Ararat', from the start of "Pilgrimage". As to what collection it was in . . . you missed a point - we really are talking 1960s - I think I was about 16? Now I am retired. It was a long time ago! Very likely one of Gollancz's big yellow anthologies - someone was doing a 'Year's Best' series about then, and my local library had most of them.

Alan

Far from a modern example but light hearted fun is Tales From The White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke. A collection of tall tales told over a pint of warm beer in a very British pub in the late 50's. All connected, bit quaint and a little dated now, full of pipe smoking British Boffins but good fun and interesting none the less.

Richard wrote: " tall tales told over a pint of warm beer "
Your "warm beer" comment suggests you are American and have not experienced the actual product - you don't know what you have missed! Yes, that was a great collection, though I admit I haven't read them for many years.
I visited the White Hart once, in the late 1960s (or maybe very early 70s - long time back! I was relatively young and more than a little drunk at the time). The great Arthur Clarke was there, along with Jim Blish and Michael Moorcock and a few lesser names (maybe Bob Shaw? its all too long ago!). Those were the days! Don't ask me if there is anything comparable today, apart from the big conventions - I am out of touch, I couldn't even find the White Hart now! Its all too long ago.

Alan

Alan wrote: "Richard wrote: " tall tales told over a pint of warm beer "
Your "warm beer" comment suggests you are American and have not experienced the actual product - you don't know what you have missed! Ye..."

Yikes, I've obviously spent too much time in the States. Home is God's own county of Shropshire. Ashamed to admit that pre 1990's I was a cider drinker, but after an extended work placement in Texas I became a committed lager lout. Most of my local pubs are CAMRA strongholds, but you're quite right to assume I'm not a connoisseur of the hoppy brew.
How fantastic it must have been to be in the White Hart, and have to describe Bob Shaw as a lesser name. I'd be surprised if it even existed anymore, but it's a nice thought it could be still there down some hidden alleyway, maybe with the likes of China Mieville discussing Socialism and language and thaumaturgy, over a pint of not ice cold beer.

Deeply jealous of you Alan.

Richard wrote: "could be still there down some hidden alleyway"

I hope so too - but as I said, it was a long time ago! Back in the early 70s I was part of the Convention scene, and Birmingham SF group (still going, and a major fan organisation) but I had to move on due to work committments. That night at the White Hart I was simply blown away, sitting there open-mouthed in awe at being in the presence of God (Arthur Clarke). Later, I met many others at cons - authors are good people, SF authors in particular!
Now I live 300 miles from London, so I am not going to go looking for the White Hart - but I hope it, or something similar, still exists somewhere. Does anybody know?

Alan

Richard wrote: "Far from a modern example but light hearted fun is Tales From The White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke. A collection of tall tales told over a pint of warm beer in a very British pub in the late 50's. Al..."

A similar, but even punnier collection set in the US can be found at Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

J.D. wrote: "A similar, but even punnier collection set in the US can be found at Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. ..."

I've not heard of that one, though I do recognise the name Spider Robinson.
It sounds like good fun, a SciFi 'Cheers'. Might even have a look to see if there's a cheap ebook version out there somewhere. Thanks J.D.

Richard wrote:I've not heard of that one, though I do recognise the name Spider Robinson.
It sounds like good fun, a SciFi 'Cheers'. Might even have a look to see if there's a cheap ebook version out there somewhere. Thanks J.D.

The e-book is 6.99 and available at Amazon and B&N.

Spider's family has been ravaged by cancer over the past few years - I'm sure he appreciates every sale.

I'm a little surprised to be the first to mention Asimov. Foundation and its immediate sequels were the books that made me love science fiction.

The most recent book of this sort I've enjoyed was Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. It's four novellas of roughly equal length, with time jumps between them, which Kress uses to create a sort of thematic loop.

I've also got Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald and Orsinian Tales by Ursula Le Guin sitting on the shelf, but I haven't started either one.

Dylan wrote: "I'm a little surprised to be the first to mention Asimov. Foundation and its immediate sequels were the books that made me love science fiction.

The most recent book of this sort I've enjoyed was ..."

I wouldn't have thought of classifying the Foundation books as linked short stories. The Robot stories are another matter, though, and a great example.

Now that Dyan has mentioned Ursula K. Le Guin, I wonder if her book Changing Planes fits the bill for this thread?

I was just adding Pavane by Kieth Roberts to my bookshelves when I realised it deserved a mention in this thread. Way back when it was first published (mid 1960s) it was a definitive "alternative History" set of stories, with just a little bit of strangeness (the People of the Heath might be fairies) and everyone I spoke to, if they read F/SF at all, reckoned this as one of the True Greats. I have a paper copy on my bookshelves, but I haven't seen another copy anywhere for several decades. Has anyone else out there read this? And if so, what do you think of it?

PS - just checked - it is on Amazon, for Kindle

Alan wrote: "I was just adding Pavane by Kieth Roberts to my bookshelves when I realised it deserved a mention in this thread. Way back when it was first published (mid 1960s) it was a definitive "alternative ..."

Pavane is one of my favourites also Alan. For some reason it didn't come to mind as a fix up, but now you mention it I guess it was a group of connected stories.
I just love the slightly twisty philosophical ending, that suddenly makes you question your assumptions about the story. I'm always trying to encourage others to read it, so very glad you mentioned it.

Richard wrote: "Now that Dyan has mentioned Ursula K. Le Guin, I wonder if her book Changing Planes fits the bill for this thread?"

The places visited are all vastly different, but they are held together by a loose framework. Tales from Earthsea is also a collection of sort of linked stories.

I guess George RR Martin's Dunk & Egg stories would fit the bill as well? I don't believe they're collected anywhere though (I'd love to be wrong about this, because I've only read one of them).

You can hardly fail with THE JUNGLE BOOK, which is certainly fantasy (with all those talking animals).

And are we counting shared-world books like THIEVES' WORLD?

I liked JF Perkins's Renewal 1 - A Foot in the Door series quite alot.

Isaac Asimov's original Foundation trilogy began as a sequence of short stories in Astounding Magazine in the 1940s. In my opinion, they are the best science fiction ever written.

Brenda wrote: "[ ]And are we counting shared-world books like THIEVES' WORLD?"

Sorry to have taken so long to catch up with this thread - it has been a bit of a summer!
Yes, I think things like the Thieves World series should be included here - though it is a long time since I read them! I seem to remember the first two (three?) books were quite impressive - but after that the quality dropped off rapidly. Now is that a function of it being a 'Linked Short Story' environment, or a multi-author environment - or just one of those things? (Or even my memory going dodgy? It was some time ago!)

Proposing those last set of options reminded me of another set worthy of consideration here. Larry Niven wrote a number of full-length stories in his "Known Space" universe, and quite a number of related shorts - but after he hit a block he opened this particular playground to author friends of his. The results were generally not full length - but were generally very good, though not quite up to Niven's own standard. Anyone else want to comment?

I really enjoyed Salsa Nocturna

Seeing the love for Thieves' World makes me happy - they were one of my earliest favorites when I discovered the fantasy genre. I don't recall the quality dropping off until toward the end, but it did seem that a few writers had, for better or worse, seized control of the main story. My favorites were the stories written by Andrew Offutt and CJ Cherryh.

CJ Cherryh went on to do a similar series of her own, Merovingen Nights. I spent a lot of time tracking down the out-of-print paperbacks, then never read past the first one. I still have them - maybe I should try again.

Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson. His and Gordon R. Dickson's Hokas books also. (Though there are two difference compendiums; both have two books, but which stories go in which differ slightly.)

One of the best short story I have ever read is "I have no mouth and I must scream". I am sure you can find the full version of it by just googling it.

It is a Sci Fi short story, and it's by far the most depressing (and grim) one I've ever read, and that's really what hit me about it: it's COMPLETELY hopeless. But I don't want to spoil anything for you, so give it a shot ;)

Robert Heinlein has written a number of short stories that are actually part of a larger future history, and they've been collected as such. (Too early in the morning for me to remember the title, alas.) Another great AH series is the Lord Darcy books by Randall Garrett -- many short pieces set in a quite consistent alternate universe.

Going back to the notion of a fix-up novel-slash-story collection, Larry Niven has been doing this with his stories for quite some time. The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton and A World Out of Time were the first ones he did (I think), but more recently he's done books like Crashlander and Flatlander, where he's added interstitial stories or connecting bits to make them all fit together.

I read somewhere that Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus started this way. Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang is one famous example. Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin is a good one.

One of my all-time favorites is More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.

For that matter the classic CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ is three novellas glued together to form a novel.

Ray Bradbury had two collections of linked short stories, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man. The story goes that Bradbury went to a publisher with a collection of short stories. The publisher told him that they were not accepting short story collections. He went away and linked the stories on a single theme and tried again. That is how The Martian Chronicles got into print.

The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

I, Robot - Isaac Asimov

The Worthing Saga - Orson Scott Card

The Carpet Makers - Andreas Eschbach (thanks, SFFBC!)

Cyberabad Days - Ian McDonald

Five Ways to Forgiveness (nee Four Ways to Forgiveness) my favorite! - Ursula K. LeGuin

Thanks for the bump... this thread needs some serious love. There are so many that haven't been listed but I can't seem to think of them atm. And I am a fan, too.

Limbus, Inc.
Limbus, Inc.: Book II
Limbus, Inc. - Book III

Evilynn wrote: "I guess George RR Martin's Dunk & Egg stories would fit the bill as well? I don't believe they're collected anywhere though (I'd love to be wrong about this, because I've only read one of them)."

Now they are!
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

I even have a little review for that one:

Four stars for the three stories about hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk) and his squire Prince Aegon (Egg), plus one for the illustrations.
Entertaining and the delightful illustrations seem straight out of Charles Dickens.

Callahan’s Chronicles by Spider Robinson. Or any of the story collections associated with Callahan’s.

Richard wrote: "Now that Dyan has mentioned Ursula K. Le Guin, I wonder if her book Changing Planes fits the bill for this thread?"

I read that recently and liked the collection. When I went to document it for the Short Fiction Challenge, I noticed that maybe half of the stories were written "only" for the book, if that is important to folks in this thread.

Brenda wrote: "Robert Heinlein has written a number of short stories that are actually part of a larger future history, and they've been collected as such. (Too early in the morning for me to remember the title, ..."

The Past Through Tomorrow

The review blurb claims "...all 21 of the stories, novellas and novels making up Heinlein's famous Future History..." -- which is, I think, inaccurate. First, I don't think any of the included works were actually novel length; second, he continued with novels in the same universe for several years thereafter; finally, those later novels pull in ("retcon") Orphans in the Sky, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, The Rolling Stones, I Will Fear No Evil, Stranger in a Strange Land, and even enough of The Number of the Beast to count.

Last item... Larry Niven for Known Space, including the patch-ups Flatlander and Crashlander.

Aannnddddd, although not quite a patch-up, Niven also ended his Flight of the Horse time-travel stories with the novel Rainbow Mars, where he manages to drag several otherauthor's brands of Martians into the mix -- Wells, Burroughs, Arnold, Bradbury, Lewis, and Heinlein, at least!