This week I begin my reactions to 1982 science fiction short stories as they appeared in the anthology The 1983 Annual World's Best SF, featuring editor Donald A. Wollheim's picks from the year before. In 1982 I was single, living in an apartment in the southwest corner of town, across from a big, empty field which in just a handful of years would be converted into shopping center ringed by shops and restaurants...I had originally moved out there because it was quieter. Now it's by far the most congested part of Gainesville! Here are my reviews of the first three stories in the anthology...
THE SCOURGE by James White
A human couple has been sent to a remote planet to see if its intelligent inhabitants qualify for admission into the Galactic Federation. This world is plagued by incessant meteorites showering down on the land, caused by the breakup of one of its moons over a thousand years before...the cause of that breakup is important. Martin lands on the planet's surface and soon meets Teldin, a high-ranking slave who reveals the regimented master-slave social structure there. How can Martin communicate the Federation's agenda if they won't speak with him directly, since as a subordinate in his own job he is regarded as a "slave"? Interesting scenario and story, with some lessons for us today in our real world...
A LETTER FROM THE CLEARYS by Connie Willis
After a nuclear apocalypse a family in rural Colorado struggles to make ends meet while watching out for dangerous survivors roaming the area. The daughter goes out to the post office to pick up the mail and discovers a letter from a family back east that was to visit them just before everything went down. Her family's reactions when she reads it aloud reveal the whole dismal situation. For such a brief story, the author did a fantastic job of gradually unraveling their plight to its greatest effect. This story reminded me of the 1980s TV movie The Day After...
FARMER ON THE DOLE by Frederick Pohl
On a depopulated Earth, due probably to the worsening environment, robots comprise the vast majority of the remaining "population" with humans disguised among them...but with clear social and legal advantages. But a movement is growing, that of "robot rights", and robot Zeb, abruptly displaced from his farmer role and reprogrammed as a mugger (of other robots) is caught up in the middle of it. I think Pohl was definitely striking up an analogy to today's world with its underclasses and ruling elites...lots of satire here...
Next week I continue my look at the year 1982 in short science fiction...
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