''The Explorers'' is a collection of
science fiction stories by American writer
C. M. Kornbluth
Cyril M. Kornbluth (July 2, 1923 – March 21, 1958) was an American science fiction author and a member of the Futurians. He used a variety of pen-names, including Cecil Corwin, S. D. Gottesman, Edward J. Bellin, Kenneth Falconer, W ...
, originally published in paperback by
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...
in 1954. Ballantine reissued the collection, which was Kornbluth's first, in 1963. While no further editions of the collection were published, six of its nine stories were included in Ballantine's 1977 ''
The Best of C. M. Kornbluth
''The Best of C. M. Kornbluth'' is a collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories by American author C. M. Kornbluth, edited by Frederik Pohl. It was first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in October 1976 and in paperback b ...
'', and all the stories are contained in
NESFA
The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to ''do'' things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non-p ...
's 1997 ''His Share of Glory: The Complete Short Science Fiction of C. M. Kornbluth''.
Contents
* "Foreword" (
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satelli ...
)
* "Gomez" (original)
* "The Mindworm" (''
Worlds Beyond '' 1950)
* "The Rocket of 1955" (''
Stirring Science Stories
Stir, STIR, stirred, or stirrer may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* Stir (band), a music group from 1994-2005
* ''Stir'' (film), a 1980 Australian film directed by Stephen Wallace
* ''Stir'' (TV series)
* "Stirred", a ''West Wing'' episode
Bu ...
'' 1941)
* "The Altar at Midnight" (''
Galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
'' 1952)
* "Thirteen O’Clock" (''Stirring Science Stories'' 1941)
* "The Goodly Creatures" (''
F&SF'' 1952)
*
Friend to Man (''
Ten Story Fantasy'' 1951)
* "With These Hands" (''Galaxy'' 1951)
* "That Share of Glory" (''
Astounding'' 1952)
* "The Explorers" (afterword, Kornbluth)
"Thirteen O'Clock" was originally published under the Cecil Corwin byline. "The Rocket of 1955" first appeared in 1939 in ''Escape'', an amateur magazine published by one of Kornbluth's friends.
Reception
Writing in ''
The New York Times Book Review''.
J. Francis McComas
Jesse Francis McComas (June 9, 1911 – April 19, 1978) was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe.
He entered publishing in 1941 as a sale ...
said "I know of no better introduction to
ornbluth'sremarkable work than this collection of his more recent short stories". He praised Kornbluth's "gift with language" and "his future worlds postulated with an ironic appreciation of human frailty
ndhis deadpan extension of ridiculous present-day institutions to their ultimate idiocy".
Anthony Boucher declared that "Kornbluth's sharp observation is everywhere present, and in most of the stories his bitter insight into the hearts and souls of future men (and by implication, into our own)".
Damon Knight noted that all the stories were "written with distinction" and that even though several stories "explore a dangerous dead end in science fiction", each "represents the triumph of a master technician over an inappropriate form".
Groff Conklin concluded that "Kornbluth's first short story collection is a distinguished one throughout".
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 ...
recommended the collection, singling out "With These Hands" for "projecting the plight of the creative artist in a wholly mechanized world".
["The Reference Library", '']Astounding Stories
''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Cl ...
'', March 1955, p. 160
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Explorers
1954 short story collections
Short stories by Cyril M. Kornbluth
Science fiction short story collections