''Time and Stars'' 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 uni ...
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
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...
, published in 1964.
Contents
Source
Review
Paul Camp, Amazon.com, 25 February 2010
* " No Truce with Kings": A war story set on a future, semi-primitive Earth with aliens
** Original Appearance: ''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 ...
'', June 1963
* "The Critique of Impure Reason": A robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...
will not work because it is infatuated with modern literature and literary criticism. (Not to be confused with the ''Critique of Impure Reason
''Critique of Impure Reason: Horizons of Possibility and Meaning'' is a book by American philosopher Steven James Bartlett. A study of the limits of knowledge, reference, epistemic possibility, and meaning (philosophy), meaning, it is the most ex ...
'', a book in philosophy by Steven James Bartlett.)
** Original Appearance: '' If'', November 1962
* "Escape from Orbit": Astronauts stranded in orbit around the moon
** Original Appearance: ''Amazing Stories
''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...
'', October 1962
*
Eve Times Four
: Space traveler Lothario is stranded on a planet with three beautiful women
** Original Appearance: '' Fantastic Science Fiction Stories'', April 1960
* "Turning Point": A first contact story that gives a haunting portrait of the price of giftedness and the loss of innocence
** Original Appearance: '' If'', May 1963
* "Epilogue": A crew of humans return to Earth after a long absence, finding it has been taken over by a kind of transistor-based ecology of machines; a lack of understanding between the robots and the humans leads to tragedy
** Original Appearance: ''Analog
Analog or analogue may refer to:
Computing and electronics
* Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable
** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals
*** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...
'', March 1962
Reception
Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), Jo ...
in the February 1965 issue of ''Galaxy Science Fiction
''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...
'' said that "what Anderson needed in ''Time and Stars'' was an editor". He disliked "Eve Times Four" and "No Truce With Kings" but liked the others, calling "Escape From Orbit" "a beautifully done piece of work like nothing I have seen in the field before".
References
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External links
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{{Poul Anderson
1964 short story collections
Science fiction short stories
Short story collections by Poul Anderson
Doubleday (publisher) books