''A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales'' is a short story collection by American
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
author
L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by
Doubleday in 1963, and in paperback by
Curtis Books
The Curtis Publishing Company, founded in 1891 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, became one of the largest and most influential publishers in the United States during the early 20th century. The company's publications included the '' Ladies' Home Jou ...
in 1969. The first British edition was issued by Remploy in 1974.
It has also been translated into German.
Contents
*"
A Gun for Dinosaur
"A Gun for Dinosaur" is a classic time travel science fiction storyMiller, P. Schuyler. "The Reference Library", in ''Analog Science Fact - Science Fiction'', v. 71, no. 5, July 1963, p. 90.D'Ammassa, Don. "de CAMP, L. Sprague", in ''Twentieth-Ce ...
"
*"
Aristotle and the Gun
"Aristotle and the Gun" is a time travel and alternate history science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp.
Publication history
The story was first published in the magazine '' Astounding Science-Fiction'' for February, 1958,Laug ...
"
*"
The Guided Man
"The Guided Man" is a classic science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine ''Startling Stories'' for October, 1952. It first appeared in book form in the collection '' A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imagin ...
"
*"
Internal Combustion
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combust ...
"
*"
Cornzan the Mighty"
*"
Throwback"
*"
Judgment Day"
*"Gratitude"
*"A Thing of Custom"
*"
The Egg"
*"
Let's Have Fun"
*"Impractical Joke"
*"
In-Group
In sociology and social psychology, an in-group is a social group to which a person psychologically identifies as being a member. By contrast, an out-group is a social group with which an individual does not identify. People may for example ide ...
"
*"New Arcadia"
Reception
''
Kirkus Reviews'' called the collection "a generous collection" by "
established entertainer" with "a variety, inventivity and humor which gives this a definite superiority in the genre.
P. Schuyler Miller
Peter Schuyler Miller (February 21, 1912 – October 13, 1974) was an American science fiction writer and critic.
Life
Miller was raised in New York's Mohawk Valley, which led to a lifelong interest in the Iroquois Indians. He pursued this as ...
felt it "must represent just about the last grain spirits to be distilled from the de Campian mash" with "
ost of the ... stories ... also distinctly late-model de Camp, commenting on the current scene--and especially the suburban, or more properly ''exurban'' scene--by projecting it into the future, where its 'things of custom' appear in all their incongruity. As the plot grows simpler and simpler, the settings and commentary carry more and more of the load, in the manner of an off-Broadway play. And there will be those who say the author has written himself into most of his rather put-upon heroes-in-spite-of-themselves." Miller singles out the title story as "one of ''the'' classic time-travel stories," and "Aristotle and the Gun" as "even better," but deems "Internal Combustion" "
e of the best stories in the lot--because it is so unlike the rest."
S. E. Cotts calls the book "a well-deserved tribute to one of science fiction's steadiest and most well-rounded contributors," and the title story "one of my favorites," noting that "
s subject, about a safari into the past, has been successfully tackled by other writers, but this version has solid merit."
Avram Davidson
Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
found the collection "a great disappointment," saying he could no longer enjoy de Camp's shorter work because the author "
me after time ... gets hold of a great idea--and throws it away in playing for laughs of the feeblest conceivable sort." He deems "Judgment Day" the "sole exception ... it is so authentic-sounding that one could scream."
[Davidson, Avram. "Books" in '']The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...
'', v. 25, no. 4, October 1963, pp.20-21
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales, A
1963 short story collections
Science fiction short story collections by L. Sprague de Camp
Doubleday (publisher) books