''The Marching Morons (and Other Famous Science Fiction Stories)'' is a collection of stories by
Cyril M. Kornbluth, originally published in paperback by
Ballantine Books in 1959. Ballantine reissued the collection in 1963. A Spanish translation, ''Desfile de Cretines'', appeared in 1964. In 1972, the novella from which the collection takes its name was selected by
SFWA members as one of the ten best novellas published in the genre before 1966.
Contents
* "
The Marching Morons
"The Marching Morons" is a science fiction story by American writer Cyril M. Kornbluth, originally published in '' Galaxy'' in April 1951. It was included in ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two'' after being voted one of the best nov ...
" (''
Galaxy'' 1951)
* "Dominoes" (''
Star Science Fiction Stories No.1'' 1953)
* "The Luckiest Man in Denv" (''
Galaxy'' 1952)
* "The Silly Season" (''
F&SF
''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 ...
'' 1950)
* "MS. Found in a Chinese Fortune Cookie" (''F&SF'' 1957)
* "The Only Thing We Learn" (''
Startling Stories'' 1949)
* "The Cosmic Charge Account" (''F&SF'' 1956)
* "I Never Ast No Favors" (''F&SF'' 1954)
* "The Remorseful" (''
Star Science Fiction Stories No.2'' 1953)
"The Luckiest Man in Denv" was originally published under Kornbluth's "Simon Eisner" pseudonym.
Reception
''
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 ...
'' reviewer S. E. Cotts found the stories "uniformly excellent", saying that Kornbluth "had an uncanny aim in his satire and social criticism; yet his writing was never blunt or obvious. He had a low-key way of presenting the consequences of rapid technological advance which was no less gripping for all its subtlety."
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 ...
described the stories as "a prime sample of how science fiction can probe and tease at the innards of our society, and reveal the benign and malignant growths that we pretend aren't there".
Hans Stefan Santesson
Hans Stefan Santesson (July 8, 1914, Paris – February 18, 1975, Edgewater, New Jersey)[Fantastic Universe
''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishin ...]
, saying Kornbluth "was witty and he was satirical".
Frederik Pohl also reviewed the book favorably, saying "What is most notable about a Kornbluth story is that his characters are always perfectly at ease in their surroundings".
["Worlds of If", '' If'', September 1959, p.98]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marching Morons Collection
1959 short story collections
Science fiction short story collections
Short stories by Cyril M. Kornbluth