Classic Science Fiction Stories, edited by Adam Roberts, was an eye-opening collection of 14 short stories.
Having read very little science fiction, I had believed that science fiction
was more of a modern phenomena. I was surprised to note that as early as the 18th
century, authors were writing about subjects that we might find incredible even
today.
Except
for HG Wells, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ambrose
Bierce, most of the authors were new to me. Of these four, Poe was the only
author whose short stories I had read before.
The Star by HG Wells: A star
suddenly becomes visible close to Neptune, becoming brighter by the day. The
event is interpreted through various perspectives, including science, religion
etc. As it hurtles towards earth, it causes cataclysmic changes on our planet,
making large swathes uninhabitable. But the Martians are completely unfazed.
The author ends the story with a hard-hitting line which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem,
at a distance of a few million miles. I found it fascinating, this ability on the part of Wells, to pass
judgement on the pettiness of human nature against the backdrop of cosmic
wonder.
Seen from
today’s perspective, the author comes across as judgmental and derogatory
towards women. He says, “Pretty women… feigned an intelligent interest they did
not feel.”
A Martian Odyssey by
Stanley Weinbaum describes the experience of a human, Dick Jarvist, a chemist
on the Ares expedition to planet Mars, and a Martian. Tweel’s appearance,
behaviour and characteristics are a marvel of the imagination, considering that
the story was published in July 1934.
When a
shuttle from the craft falls on Mars, Jarvis finds himself stranded on the
planet. He has an interesting encounter with a Martian who he names Tweel,
because of the high-pitched sounds the latter makes.
There is
humour in the manner in which Tweel drinks water. The Martian sucks it into his
beak, then carefully squirts it back into the cup. By the end of the story, I,
like Jarvis, had developed a fondness for Tweel.
But Tweel
isn’t the only marvel on the Red Planet. There is a creature, the Pyramid
Monster, that gives out silica bricks, and another, the DreamBeast, which draws
living creatures to their death.
Once
again, I saw instances of the same negative attitude, racist in this
case. At one point, Jarvis likens the sounds made by Tweel to the
“primitive speech of some earth people… like the Negritoes, for instance, who
haven’t any generic words.”
In The
Diamond Lens by FitzJames O’Brien, published in the 1850s, the narrator, a
microscopist named Linley, is besotted by the power of the microscope and
becomes convinced that there is much to be discovered, and that he is called to
discover great things. He is so much in thrall of his dream that he actually
does the unthinkable to achieve this dream.
The story
managed to combine elements of the occult with scientific endeavour. It becomes
a tale of deceit, betrayal and murder. The following quote expresses the
rationale of Linley: Every
great genius is mad upon the subject in which he is the greatest.
Micromegas by
Voltaire, written in the 18th century, is a comically wonderful tale
of two giants, from the planet Sirius, in another galaxy, and from Planet
Saturn, in our own solar system, who set out on an extraordinary interstellar
voyage and land on planet Earth, where they encounter infinitesimally tiny
beings, namely, us.
The two
giants discover that humans, “infinitely small had, it seemed, an almost
infinitely large pride.”
One of
the giants asks a human, “if they had always been in this miserable state so
near nothingness, what they were doing on a globe that appeared to belong to
whales.” The story mocks scientists of the time who believed that earth alone
supported life and philosophers of the time who adhered to philosophies that
contradicted each other and served no purpose.
The Mortal Immortal by Mary
Shelley, commissioned in 1833, tells the story of a young man called Winzy, who
drinks a potion made by an alchemist and is cursed with near-immortality and
eternal youth, while his wife, the love of his youth, grows visibly older.
A Tale of the Ragged Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe is hard for me to describe. While out for a walk in
the mountains, a man sees strange sights of another place and another time.
Whether this was a description of telepathy or wild imagination is unclear.
The Automaton Ear by
Florence McLandburgh: A professor invents an automaton ear which can reproduce every
beautiful sound ever heard on the planet, whether that sound be natural or
humanmade.
This
story reminded me of the power of Artificial Intelligence. The prose was
beautiful.
The Tachypomp by
Edward Page Mitchell sees a mathematics tutor expound a wild theory to prove
that vehicles could theoretically travel 60 miles a minute.
Both The
Automaton Ear and The Tachypomp use sound scientific principles of
the time to explore the frontiers of possibility. Both end on an anti-climactic
note.
The Colour Out of Space by HP
Lovecraft, the longest story in the collection, saw science fiction mixed with
Gothic elements, even horror. This one was my favourite.
Aspiring
authors are told to avoid info dumps, but here the story literally starts with
long-winded description that goes on for around three pages, and yet I read this
description more than once. Each word was so evocative.
This story
isn’t about anything paranormal, but very soon we are overtaken by a sense of
horror and dread. My heart went out to Nahum Gardner and his family. Their
lives begin to disintegrate when a meterorite lands on their property.
To Herman Stoffkraft, PhD, a Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley) by James Clark Maxwell: Maxwell was a Scottish scientist who was
responsible for the biggest advances in physics since Newton. This story is
actually a “paradoxical ode” styled “after Shelley.”
The Horror of the Heights by Arthur
Conan Doyle: An aeronaut, Joyce Armstrong, comes to know of a number of
accidents afflicting aeronauts flying into the higher reaches of the atmosphere.
Intent on solving the mystery, he takes a dangerous flight to find out the
nature of the danger that confronted them. He finds answers but pays for his
life.
Sultana’s Dream by
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: It is hard to imagine a writer writing in a language
that isn’t her first language, and writing so well. That too, a female writer
writing at a time when very few Indian women got an education. This feminist
utopian story is decades ahead of its time.
The story,
written in 1905, is set in a utopia where the word, mannish, means being timid
and shy. The story provokes thought: Why should women be confined indoors to
keep them safe? Why not confine the men who carry mischief in their hearts?
A Psychological Shipwreck by Ambrose
Bierce: A man’s dream of a shipwreck comes true.
The Door in the Wall by HG
Wells: A promising young politician with a great career ahead of him is haunted
by a door that suddenly appeared in a wall. The door led to a garden where he
spent the happiest moments in his childhood. The door and the garden appear at
the strangest times and places. The man feels haunted by the sight of that
door.
The last
two stories didn’t quite fit the science fiction genre. But overall, I enjoyed
this selection. I look forward to reading more science fiction from now on.
(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)
