Today I begin looking at 1954's short science fiction, as published in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 16 (1954).
THE TEST by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson wrote a few of the old Twilight Zone episodes and this tale reminds me a bit of them. It's in the future...not too far off...and the law decrees that old people, every few years, undergo tests to ascertain their viability in society. And if they don't pass they're killed...sounds like a terrible fate, yet in more primitive cultures the elderly...especially women...were often abandoned to death because their role as contributors fell behind their dependency. In a family where the aging father has one of these tests looming ahead to decide whether he lives or not, his son sees...as he coaches him through practice sessions...that he'll probably fail. A warning tale...to those reading it...not to let our own "real" society to debase itself to this level...
ANACHRON by Damon Knight
Two eccentric brothers live on an obscure island off the coast of Italy. One collects art and the other tinkers with technology. The latter accidentally creates a portal in time through a bubble...and so the time travel paradoxes ensue to the point where the author's narrative and all the various "rules" he espouses confused me to the point where at times I lost his train of reasoning. I was able to follow the story's general parameters, though...but I'm getting pretty weary about this time travel subgenre of sci-fi stories...
BLACK CHARLIE by Gordon R. Dickson
In the future during a time when interstellar travel and settlement takes place, an art trader and assessor is given a tip that a great treasure exists on an obscure planet. Going there he finds the place inhospitable and swampy...a man presents him a small box and the sculpture inside looks like anything but art. Surprised and saddened by the trader's rejection, the man leads him through the swamp to the piece's creator, which turns out to be an intelligent, indigenous being...jet-black and resembling an otter. The creature learns that his art needs improvement and...why not read the rest of the story for yourself. I think that the message of this story is that art comes from the inner self and for one to truly appreciate it he or she needs to understand the perspective of the artist and not simply judge the work on its external merits according to a set of rules. A story about prejudgment and enlightenment...
DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN by William Tenn
Our Solar System...and hence the Earth...is being threatened by an alien race of insect-like invaders...the intense war has been going on for years and battle lines fluctuate between Jupiter and Saturn. The human population has been so depleted by the conflict that a method of recycling and constructing whole, living bodies from the protoplasm of killed soldiers has been devised, creating in essence a "zombie" armed forces. A human commander is set to meet a group of these new soldiers that will be working under him and suddenly has to revise his notions of who is accorded the designation...and dignity...of being regarded as truly human. A very allegorical tale, another one about prejudice...
Next week: more 1954 science fiction short stories...
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