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Spectrum #1
Spectrum I: A Science Fiction Anthology
A superlative collection of the finest SF short stories from recent years.
Ten astounding writers explore one whole hemisphere of the imagination, providing an outlet, both refreshing and necessary, for modern man's sense of wonder.
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Introduction (Spectrum) � essay by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest
The Midas Plague � (1954) � novella by Frederik Pohl
Limiting Factor � (1949) � shortstory by Clifford D. Simak
The Executioner � (1956) � novelette by Algis Budrys
Null-P � (1951) � shortstory by William Tenn
The Homing Instinct of Joe Vargo � (1959) � novelette by Stephen Barr
Special Flight � (1939) � novelette by John Berryman
Inanimate Objection � (1954) � novelette by H. Chandler Elliott
Pilgrimage to Earth � (1956) � shortstory by Robert Sheckley
Unhuman Sacrifice � (1958) � novelette by Katherine MacLean
By His Bootstraps � (1941) � novella by Robert A. Heinlein
Ten astounding writers explore one whole hemisphere of the imagination, providing an outlet, both refreshing and necessary, for modern man's sense of wonder.
-------------------------------------------------
Introduction (Spectrum) � essay by Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest
The Midas Plague � (1954) � novella by Frederik Pohl
Limiting Factor � (1949) � shortstory by Clifford D. Simak
The Executioner � (1956) � novelette by Algis Budrys
Null-P � (1951) � shortstory by William Tenn
The Homing Instinct of Joe Vargo � (1959) � novelette by Stephen Barr
Special Flight � (1939) � novelette by John Berryman
Inanimate Objection � (1954) � novelette by H. Chandler Elliott
Pilgrimage to Earth � (1956) � shortstory by Robert Sheckley
Unhuman Sacrifice � (1958) � novelette by Katherine MacLean
By His Bootstraps � (1941) � novella by Robert A. Heinlein
Paperback
First published January 1, 1961
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About the author
Kingsley Amis
172Ìýbooks526ÌýfollowersBest known novels of British writer Sir Kingsley William Amis include
Lucky Jim
(1954) and
The Old Devils
(1986).
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
This English poet, critic, and teacher composed more than twenty-three collections, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered Martin Amis.
William Robert Amis, a clerk of a mustard manufacturer, fathered him. He began his education at the city of London school, and went up to college of Saint John, Oxford, in April 1941 to read English; he met Philip Larkin and formed the most important friendship of his life. After only a year, the Army called him for service in July 1942. After serving as a lieutenant in the royal corps of signals in the Second World War, Amis returned to Oxford in October 1945 to complete his degree. He worked hard and got a first in English in 1947, and then decided to devote much of his time.
Pen names: [authorRobert Markham|553548] and William Bill Tanner
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 12, 2022
Kingsley Amis was a well-respected figure in British literature, and his survey of modern science fiction, New Maps of Hell, was something of a cause celebre within the genre when it appeared in 1960: serious academic attention at last! It was followed by this anthology the following year, and he went on to edit five volumes in the series in collaboration with Robert Conquest. There are ten stories included, all but one of which had first appeared in genre pulp or digest magazines. (Robert Sheckley's Pilgrimage to Earth was published in Playboy in 1956 under a different title.) Good stories from Algis Budrys, William Tenn, Clifford D. Simak, and Katherine MacLean, as well as two classics, The Midas Plague by Frederik Pohl, and Robert A. Heinlein's By His Bootstraps.
October 18, 2014
The first in the Spectrum series of SF anthologies. There's some good stuff in here, including Null-P by William Tenn, and Inanimate Objection by H. Chandler Elliott, but also some stories that really drag for modern audiences, at least this audience. This includes Heinlein's story to end the collection, a very long time-travel story called "By His Bootstraps," which was completely predictable from beginning to end and might have been OK in a much shorter version.
July 5, 2015
A wonderful old paperback marked at 50 cents, full of classic Science Fiction author short stories. I found this beauty in the back of a musty used bookstore in San Francisco. It was the kind of moment one dreams of when entering the portal of such a place - that hope you'll stumble across something really special.
April 12, 2023
A pretty decent entry in the Spectrum series. Some the stories are meh, some are good, one at least is very good. The good ones: Fred Pohl's "The Midas Plague" is about a future in which the poorer people are, the more they are FORCED to consume products. And the richer they are, the less they must consume. "Inanimate Objection," by H. Chandler Eliot (a writer with whom I am unfamiliar), is a humorous exploration of the perversity of inanimate objects -- that is, why the LAST bolt is the hardest to turn, why the most out-of-the-way bulb is the one that blows, and so on. "Pilgrimage to Death," by Robert Sheckley, is a story that Ted Sturgeon might well have written, because it is about love -- a particular kind. The clear winner here, for me, is Robert Heinlein's "By His Bootstraps," one of the best time-travel tales to come out of the pulp era. (I happen to be particularly fond of that story because I illustrated it fr the MidAmericon (1776 World SF Convention) program book.
March 14, 2021
SPECTRUM IS RATED 100%.
7 STORIES: 4 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
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.
7 STORIES: 4 GREAT / 3 GOOD / 0 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
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.
May 5, 2012
Loved the whole series of Spectrum. Has pride of place in my SF anthologies with the Brian Aldiss anthologies.
October 16, 2023
A really nice collection of sci-fi short stories, circa early 60s. A bit of everything from a dystopian future (full of overconsumption and robots) to a time travelling puzzle.
January 4, 2016
Since pulp days, the primary publishing organ for SF ahd been the monthly magazines: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Astounding / Analog, Galaxy, New Worlds, Worlds of If. By the 1950s, the SF genre was in the throes of change, authors were starting to land publishing deals that took them outside the orbit of the SF magazines. Not everyone could land deals, such as , but publishers like Ace Books (once the biggest US paperback publisher for SF) offered outlets for new novels to the likes of and . Clearly the market was growing. What of the authors who neither wrote novels nor had a publishing deal?
, a respected historian, and , an English novelist & critic - both championed SF. Together they edited Spectrum I and its sister collections, five volumes in all. These illustrated the diversity in SF short stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s, and demonstrated that the genre didn't necessarily need to stick slavishly to the literary rule book to achieve its effect. Many of these stories are worth a read (or reread).
The above is adapted from my review of the series as a whole in an obituary for .
, a respected historian, and , an English novelist & critic - both championed SF. Together they edited Spectrum I and its sister collections, five volumes in all. These illustrated the diversity in SF short stories from the 40s, 50s and 60s, and demonstrated that the genre didn't necessarily need to stick slavishly to the literary rule book to achieve its effect. Many of these stories are worth a read (or reread).
The above is adapted from my review of the series as a whole in an obituary for .
August 28, 2016
I'm a fan of classic science fiction but I really didn't like any of the stories in this anthology.
May 9, 2013
a solid collection of "classic" style SF,
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