''Shards of Space'' is a collection of
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 unive ...
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by American writer
Robert Sheckley
Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical.
...
. It was first published in 1962 by
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
.
Contents
The collection includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses):
*
Prospector's Special (
''Galaxy'', December 1959)
* "The Girls and Nugent Miller" (''
The Magazine of Fantasy & 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 a ...
'', March 1960)
* "Meeting of the Minds" (''Galaxy'', February 1960)
* "Potential" (
''Astounding SF'', November 1953)
* "Fool's Mate" (''Astounding SF'', March 1953)
*
Subsistence Level (''Galaxy'', August 1954, under the pseudonym Finn O'Donnevan)
* "The Slow Season" (''F&SF'', October 1954)
* "Alone at Last" (''
Infinity Science Fiction
''Infinity Science Fiction'' was an American science fiction magazine, edited by Larry T. Shaw, and published by Royal Publications. The first issue, which appeared in November 1955, included Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star", a story about a pla ...
'', February 1957)
*
Forever (''Galaxy'', February 1959, under the pseudonym Ned Lang)
*
The Sweeper of Loray (''Galaxy'', April 1959)
* "The Special Exhibit" (
''Esquire'', October 1953)
Reception
The ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' reviewed the collection favorably, describing Sheckley as "one of the best in the science-fantasy field."
[Irving Kravsow, "Pick of the Pockets", ''Hartford Courant'', July 15, 1962, p.14F]
References
External links
*
1962 short story collections
Short story collections by Robert Sheckley
American short story collections
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