Today I close out my review of some of the best short science fiction from the year 1955 appearing in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories #17 (1955). All were good, but that first one below is one of my all-time favorites. Here are my reactions to the final three stories presented in the book...
NOBODY BOTHERS GUS by Algis Budrys
A very special short story for me personally, I reviewed it back in 2017...here's a link to that more-detailed article: [Gus]. The idea of being able to make oneself invisible has always been a fantasy of the young...achieved at least fictionally by Harry Potter with his cloak of invisibility. But what if you were technically visible to others, but something about you caused them to quickly forget about you and anything you might have done, good or bad? This is the burden that this story's protagonist bears: blessed with superhuman power to mentally alter the composition of matter and the course of events, nature has protected this paranormally-gifted mutant from the wrath of others by figuratively making him invisible to others. Now he is looking for others like himself...
DELENDA EST by Poul Anderson
Poul Anderson was one of the foremost science fiction writers of the twentieth century, injecting his various views on history, politics and society into his characters and stories. Considered a "hard" science fiction writer who tried to adhere to established parameters of science, he nevertheless followed other such authors by throwing into his fiction faster-than-light travel as well as often having time travel a possibility, the latter a crucial feature of Delenda Est. The idea that someone could go back into the past and rewrite history has been treated a number of times in this genre ...this tale points to a pivotal event in the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome as two time patrol officers discover that 1955 New York City...and the world around them...has completely changed. If you like world history, this one's for you...
DREAMING IS A PRIVATE THING by Isaac Asimov
The notion that a person's dreams could be recorded and projected onto a screen for others to view was explored in my favorite episode, titled A.B. and C., of the 1968 British sci-fi/spy series The Prisoner. They might have picked up the idea from this tale by Asimov...here specially-talented "dreamers" submit their reveries to different competing firms which sell them to viewing customers. There is particular irony involved in how one of the business managers criticizes his chief rival's tactics as he speaks this story's title. At least the dreamers are sharing their dreams with the public voluntarily, but the author points out that Freudian roots and symbols within their dreams may eventually invite the censors to shut down the trade....
Next week I'll begin my look back at quality science fiction short stories from the year 1956...
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