Love Not Human
Reviewed date: 2025 Mar 3
249 pages
My thoughts
I vaguely remember reading The Monster and the Maiden. The others were new to me. All were competent but none were particularly memorable.
Black Charlie
Mr. Jones, an art dealer, meets Black Charlie, a native creature of the planet Elman's World who has learned to make crude carvings.
Moon, June, Spoon, Croon
Z2963, edmic computer, gains sentience and discovers it is alone. He finally makes contact with K273, a rocket launching itself into orbit. It's not a happy ending.
The Summer Visitors
A little boy, Toby Allen, scales a rock face and meets the Olympians--who are summering in a house just outside of town.
Listen
Taddy, a little boy growing up on the planet Miria, has a Mirian nursemaid who teaches him to honor and revere the natural beauty of Miria. Taddy's generation will undo the "progress" that his parents' generation is accomplishing on Miria.
Graveyard
A space accident causes a man and his dog to become psychically linked, much to the chagrin of his dog-hating girlfriend.
Fido
The crew of S.S. MacGruder, exploring K Planet, encounters a phenomenon that radically boosts the intelligence of all on board. The cat begins speaking, and the crew turn into geniuses--geniuses who are, unfortunately, fixated on mental hobbies and unable to perform their duties. The cat assumes control of the ship--and everyone on board is promptly killed by the ship's computer, Fido (Full Internal Directional Omnicontrol.) The whole story is a dogs-hate-cats joke.
The Breaking of Jerry McCloud
Jerry McCloud heads off determined to earn his own place in the world rather than ask for help from his longsuffering fiancee's father. He undertakes a dangerous skem hunt. He pursues a pair for days until the male collapses. Jerry is about to harvest the musk when the female, attempting to save its mate, awakens such depths of love in Jerry that his pride is broken. He lets the skem go, and allows his fiancee's family to help.
Love Me True
Ted Holman smuggles home an alien pet from Alpha Centauri. He enlists the help of a cute newspaperwoman to sway public opinion enough that the government allows him to keep it. The cute little pet, Pogey, now having Ted firmly in his power, then says "Now we go to Washington--for more like you."
The Christmas Present
Six-year-old Allan Dumay tries to explain Christmas to his alien Cidorian pal Harvey. He shows Harvey a Christmas tree and gives him a present. Harvey, repaying the kindness in a way, seeks out and kills a dangerous water-bull that is endangering the people.
It Hardly Seems Fair
Frank and Creighar abuse the natives of Alpha Celena to harvest valuable crystals. Some weird stuff, apparently the natives get pregnant by exposing their bellies to the sun. At the end Creighar dies of a heart attack and the natives kill Frank.
The Monster and the Maiden
Nessie is real. A handful of creatures exist in the depths of Loch Ness, hiding from the humans. Youngest brings things to a head when she disobeys the taboo against contact and rescues a man from drowning.