Spectrum. edited by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest. 1963-Berkley Edition
SPECTRUM IS RATED 100%.
AVERAGE STORY: 4.57
7 STORIES: 4 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
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Note: The anthology that I read and reviewed in the 1963 Berkley Paperback which only contains 7 of the 10 stories that were in the hardcover edition. It also has the Sheckley story mislabeled as “Pilgrimage to Death” in the table of contents.
In the great Judith Merrill anthology “5th Annual Best” 93%, she spends a great deal of time criticizing Kingsley Amis for his opinions on Science Fiction. So when I found an anthology edited by Amis, I jumped on it and was rewarded with the first anthology that I reviewed 100% positive.
Every single story in this good and readable with four of the seven tales exceptional great works:
“The Midas Plague” by Frederik Pohl. 1951. The widespread use of robots in manufacturing has created a world of overabundance and an obligation to consume your ration. The plight of the poor is one of needing to consume far more than they desire, while the rich live in controlled limitation. Pohl does a masterful job constructing this world and putting a believable man within in.
“Null-P” by William Tenn. 1951. The discovery of a perfectly average man leads to the creation of non-Platonic politics. The world is changed into a society where the rewards go to the most average person with the ‘best’ and the ‘worst’ seen as equally aberrant.
“Pilgrimage to Earth” by Robert Sheckley. 1956. A young man from an agricultural planet is fascinated by the love songs and stories coming from Earth. He is unprepared for the reality of Earth culture; a culture of True Love and True War.
“By His Bootstraps” by Robert A. Heinlein. 1941. I have no desire to spoil one of the greatest Time Travel tales ever written. A man writing a paper on time travel comes face to face with a traveler who wants him to enter a time portal. And the wild loopy adventure begins.
SPECTRUM IS RATED 100%.
7 STORIES: 4 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
“The Midas Plague” by Frederik Pohl. 1951
Great. In the future where the poor are forced into extreme consumption, one man finds an ingenious way out.
“Limiting Factor” by Clifford D. Simak. 1949
Good. Astronauts find a metallic planet that appears to have a calculating purpose.
“The Executioner” by Algis Budrys. 1955
Good. A Chief Judge and Executioner in a independent New York country preserves the genetic status quo through strange Trials, but becomes unsettled when one Trial challenges his preconceptions.
“Null-P” by William Tenn. 1951
Great. After the 2nd Atomic War, a perfectly average man becomes President and fundamentally changes the future and nature of humanity.
“Inanimate Objection” by H. Chandler Elliott. 1954.
Good. What if the inanimate objects around you were fighting a war you didn’t even know was being waged?
“Pilgrimage to Earth” by Robert Sheckley. 1956
Great. A young man from an agricultural planet seeks True Love in the only play where it still exists - Earth.
“By His Bootstraps” by Robert A. Heinlein. 1941
Great. One of the greatest Time Loop stories ever written.
