Review of The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories ed. by Tom Shippey

What if you were handed the following task: survey the whole spectrum of science fiction short stories, and from that select the most representative stories (“representative” in the standard sense, not the politically correct sense) such as to create an anthology of reasonable length. Such was the task handed to Tom Shippey by Oxford Press in 1992. Undoubtedly your list would be different than Shippey's given the thousands of stories that must be boiled down to a couple dozen, but is his representative? Let's take a look at The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories.

I ordinarily do not comment on anthology introductions, but Shippey does an excellent job positioning sf in literature, culture, and society. There is no hyperbole, nor is there a condescending view—something quite easy given the baby steps sf once needed taking. He also offers a few nice tidbits for thought, something that this jaded sf reader still found interesting after a decade+ of ingesting innumerable such tidbits. (For example, Shippey avers that short fiction is the most natural form of science fiction.) And perhaps most importantly, he goes about positioning each of the stories—indirectly explaining why each was selected for the anthology.

Kicking the anthology off is one of the grandfather's of science fiction, H.G. Wells, and his short “The Land ironclads”. A story that in a lot of, ahem, more “entertainment based” fiction would end entirely differently, Wells instead chooses to take his army A vs army B in a different direction, allowing technological advantage to support broader, socio-political commentary. One of the first tales of apocalypse, “Finis” by Frank Pollock begins normally but quickly escalates into the explosive—literally and figuratively. I assume Shippey includes this story for science fiction's posterity, as otherwise it's a brief cataclysm.

Rudyard Kipling is not a name that one quickly associates with science fiction, yet in “As Easy as ABC” the reader finds a futuristic society with advanced weapons and new social norms. But it is the political norms where the story finds it's place. Democracy considered blasé, Kipling juxtaposes his Britain of the early 20th century with the libertarian government of his story. The title hints at robots, but the reality is something else; “The Metal Man” by Jack Williamson is the history of a museum piece—the titular man, and how he became as such exploring the unexplored depths of South America's jungles. 'There's a great, big world out there waiting to be discovered' at the story's core, Williamson draws the reader on with a good balance of imagery and wonder. As if a high-schooler took over the typewriter, “A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum tells of one intrepid explorer's encounter with a friendly Martian, and the 'amazing' things they discover en route back to base. I fully understand the story was included in this anthology for its innocent sense of wonder, and the manner in which it represents stories of the pulp/golden age. Beyond that, there is little to recommend here.

An alien encounter without aliens, “Night” by John W. Campbell expresses a nicely balanced sense of optimism vs entropy as one man explores what appear to be far future, alien remains. Campbell's wordsmithing could have done more to squeeze wonder from the idea, but what exists gets the point home. “Desertion” by Clifford Simak is one of the stories that would later be compiled in City, his 'novel' about humanity's future, including uplifted dogs. This story fell flat reading the novel, and it fell flat reading it here. I guess I was spoiled by Stapledon's Sirius... One of my pet peeves in science fiction is telepathy. And yet there was a period in the genre when such stories were all the rave, an example being “The Piper's Son” by Lewis Padgett. While 'Padgett' does try to keep things human in this story of a telepath navigating the labyrinth of society when others know he has such powers, it's not enough. Thoughts the utmost secret place a person has for refuge, the story does not do that reality justice.

A.E. Van Vogt is one of the sharpest voices in sf, and in “The Monster” he puts the reader in the shoes of a tentacled alien, and has them frankenstein another alien to life. Said alien tricky-tricky, 'monster' becomes a subjective term. This story could use a lot more alienness, i.e. making the reader truly feel like they are in the tentacles of another alien. As it stands, indeed they are just brown loafers . The less said about “The Second Night of Summer” by James H. Schmitz perhaps the better, suffice to say it is space western, complete with cacklin' granny and a talking pony. When people laugh at sf, it's at stories like Schmitz's. A complex tale for the alienness of multiple alien race, “Second Dawn” by Arthur C. Clarke looks at the fundamentals of human existence in the most indirect manner possible. “Who Can Replace a Man?” by Brian W. Aldiss is a delicately satirical tale of post-apocalyptic “human” existence. The quotation marks best left for the reader to discover, Aldiss does a good job knocking the piss out of our hubris, while also having a laugh at the notion of robotic sentience.

One of Ballard’s best known shorts, “Billenium” tells of a world populated by dozens of billions of people, and does so by focusing on trends in London housing, particularly the ever-decreasing size of legal, inhabitable spaces. Featuring a normal Joe, when he and a friend discover a “massive” apartment, their hopes for living skyrocket. Time, however, and the human condition, have a different fate in store for their dreams. Almost Steinbeckian, “Crucifixus Etiam” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. tells of a work crew on the starved surface of Mars. Installing infrastructure, they learn the cruel truth of their purpose at the end. A story set in her planet of Rocannon, “Semley's Necklace” by Ursula K. Le Guin is the fable-esque story of one young woman's quest to fulfill her family's legacy. Harsh realities await. A story in his 334 NYC setting, “Problems of Creativeness” by Thomas M. Disch is the near-future tale of a mentally limited young man, and his ultimate place in society. Something of a soft science fiction Forrest Gump, young Birdie tries to do what he thinks is right in a world that doesn't really have a place for him—except one, resulting in strong commentary on the Vietnam War.

A story I didn't think James Blish was capable of writing given my experience with two of his novels, “How Beautiful with Banners” is a short but well-written tale of one intelligent young woman's journey to Jupiter. Becoming more than she thought, Blish subtly and nicely unpacks an extended scene. Critical of American culture, particularly competition and greed, ”A Thing of Beauty” by Norman Spinrad portrays a USA practically decimated by the effects of corporate competition and rampant consumerism. Not an environmental piece, instead Spinrad has an important, Japanese businessman visit the remnants of the NYC, and there meet a grifter, a 'salesman' looking to earn money selling things like the Statue of Liberty, Yankee Stadium, and other landmarks. The businessman wiser than the grifter thinks, the trick is not the sale, but the after-sale.

In perhaps what is James Tiptree Jr.’s most famous story, “The Screwfly Solution,” an entomologist researches eliminating a particularly pesky insect by creating a pesticide that wipes out its females. In his life outside the lab, the entomologist has fantasies of murdering his wife while a strange cult, the Cult of Adam, sweeps the land, killing all women. A darkly disturbing but considered tale. “The Tunnel under the World” by Frederik Pohl is at heart a mystery. Guy Burkhardt wakes up one morning having had terrible nightmares of a huge explosion. And as his day begins, he notices little differences to his normal, everyday life. The man who normally sells him cigarettes is different; advertisements for products he’s never heard appear on the airwaves; and his colleagues seem to have forgotten certain important work matters. Things eventually escalate into what has become a typical sci-fi story—but at least a well written story. Certainly one of Bruce Sterling’s initial forays into the Shaper/Mechanist universe if not the first, “Swarm” is poorly written (it has almost a cartoon presentation), but does a solid (if overt) job of delineating the differences between Shapers and Mechanists. Plot-wise, it is the tale of two people trapped inside an asteroid filled with Investor youth and their plans for genetic modification.

A short but sharp dissection of the subjectivity of law and the value of family, “A Criminal Act” by Harry Harrison tells of an over-populated world where limitations on family-size bring about legal assassinations to cull the population. The scene close and personal, Harrison indeed shows how fickle civilization's laws and how enduring family can be. A story highlighting the true 'humanity' of religion, “The Way of Cross and Dragon” by George R. R. Martin sees a galactic Catholic empire come into conflict with a spin-off sect. But rather than a war of turbolasers and plasma bombs, the conflict is local and ideological, the sum total something very dark but also very human.

While its title appears fantasy, and indeed the first 75% feels like fantasy, “Karl and the Ogre” eventually reveals itself to indeed be sf. A bit overhanded in its morals, I suppose like a lot of sf and is therefore representative for it, the grand reveal nevertheless discusses the complexity of human hierarchies. A story that I am ever-so-curious how it would be received were it published in 2021, “Piecework” by David Brin portrays an over-populated world where women's wombs have become a commodity producing, not more consumers, rather the biological “critters” that help humanity produce what it needs to survive.

In the end, The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories offers a strong tour of the mainstream of science fiction over the past century+. Needed to be approached as such—a tour, a retrospective of representative stories, a museum lineup—looking to this anthology as a 'best of' would be a mistake. While there are many quality stories scattered throughout, the main thrust is nevertheless an overview to the evolution of science fiction, pulp to literary, and everything that branched off. The only shame is that it was published in 1992, and in the thirty years that have passed, we see nothing. Nevertheless, for someone looking for such an overview

The following are the contents of The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories:

Introduction by Tom Shippey

The Land Ironclads by H. G. Wells

Finis by Frank L. Pollack

As Easy as ABC by Rudyard Kipling

The Metal Man by Jack Williamson

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum

Night by John W. Campbell, Jr.

Desertion by Clifford D. Simak

The Piper's Son by Lewis Padgett

The Monster by A. E. van Vogt

The Second Night of Summer by James H. Schmitz

Second Dawn by Arthur C. Clarke

Crucifixus Etiam by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

The Tunnel Under the World by Frederik Pohl

Who Can Replace a Man? by Brian W. Aldiss

Billennium by J. G. Ballard

The Ballad of Lost C'mell by Cordwainer Smith

Semley's Necklace by Ursula K. Le Guin

How Beautiful with Banners by James Blish

Problems of Creativeness by Thomas M. Disch

How the Whip Came Back by Gene Wolfe

A Criminal Act by Harry Harrison

Cloak of Anarchy by Larry Niven

A Thing of Beauty Norman Spinrad

The Screwfly Solution by James Tiptree, Jr.

The Way of Cross and Dragon by George R. R. Martin

Swarm by Bruce Sterling

Burning Chrome by William Gibson

Silicon Muse by Hilbert Schenck

Karl and the Ogre by Paul J. McAuley

Piecework by David Brin