With this article I conclude my look at short science fiction from the year 1963 as it appeared in the anthology Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 25 (1963). It's also the last one of this 25-volume series that began with stories from 1939. I plan to continue with the year-by-year reviews by using other sources, primarily Donald Wollheim's "year's best" series that picks up where Asimov left off and goes through 1989. Also, from time to time I'll take a break and review certain collections of specific authors...
BERNIE THE FAUST by William Tenn
Bernie is a minor trader in surplus and used items, with a small office in New York City. One day a disheveled looking man walks into his office and offers him a $20 bill in exchange for $5...Bernie is immediately suspicious, thinking that this is some kind of con job. But he's intrigued and can't leave it alone, even after he eventually decides to go through with the deal. More ludicrous lop-sided sales ensue between the two, and then Bernie realizes he may have gone too far. The story's funny ending demonstrates that maybe the easiest person to con is a con himself...
A ROSE FOR ECCLESIASTES by Roger Zelazny
Written in the first person in the not-so-distant future, a world-renowned poet and linguist is given an opportunity to visit the very reclusive Martians in their isolated, enclosed home compound and investigate their extensive archives...first he must learn their very difficult language as of yet unmastered by any human. Ultimately his mission becomes much more enlarged in scope, with the future of an entire planet at stake. With this story's interesting ending comes a more immediate question affecting our "real" present lives here on planet Earth: how much of what we do...even the impulsive, heroic or rebellious kind of stuff...is allotted for within a society, even expected? Even Orwell's totalitarian 1984 state figured this into their rigid structure...are we the players or the pawns?
IF THERE WERE NO BENNY CEMOLI by Philip K. Dick
It is a decade following a devastating nuclear war, presumably far enough into the future that not only the nearby planets have been settled but also our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri. Earth is trying to pick up the pieces, with some help from the Martians, but suddenly the Alpha Centauri authorities arrive in full force to work at resurrecting life and the economy...while investigating and trying to prosecute those they find were responsible for the holocaust. One of them discovers that the New York Times still has its core memory and function...it was buried deep beneath the rubble. The "paper" with its more advanced technology can report instantly on any ongoing stories and seems to be covering an insurgent populist movement headed by a Benny Cemoli, but his activities don't seem to correspond in any way to the ongoing reality. It's a great mystery about this elusive character, and the Alpha Centaurans find themselves diverted from their investigations to solve it. The story's ending says it all, especially about our instinctive human aversive to outside meddling, no matter how well intentioned, and the need to avoid responsibility for our actions...
Next week I begin my look at science fiction short stories from the year 1964...
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