Star Science Fiction 5
Reviewed date: 2024 Aug 30
159 pages
This is an overall weak collection of stories. I enjoyed about half of Hair-raising Adventure. Beyond that, the Silverberg and the Galouye stories were mildly interesting. The others had major problems or angered me in some way.
The Trouble With Treaties
by Katherine MacLean and Tom Condit
When a spaceship of humans has a chance encounter with aliens harboring imperial ambitions, they bluff them by pretending to be part of a powerful Federation spanning dozens of worlds and myriad species. The role of Federation overlord is played convincingly by the ship's pet cat.
A Touch of Grapefruit
by Richard Matheson
The city of Los Angeles spreads like a plague and consumes the entire United States, the continent of North America, and beyond. This is absurdist humor that drags on far too long and has no satisfying conclusion. There’s nothing remotely science fiction about it either, and I’m disappointed that Pohl included it here.
Company Store
Robert Silverberg
Roy Wingert, advanced colonist on the new planet Quellac, is dismayed to find out that the Company’s promise to send all the “necessities of life” free of charge through a matter-transmitter are a sham: the Company decides what is a necessity (almost nothing) and what is a luxury for which he will be wildly overcharged. Worse, he’s accosted by a pushy robot salesman from Densobol II who has some genuinely good products, but the Company contract forbids him to buy from anyone else. Now if only he can play the robot and the Company against each other!
Adrift on the Policy Level
Chan Davis
A tedious story about navigating the bureaucracy to present an important idea to the Regional Director.
Sparkie's Fall
Gavin Hyde
This story is not entirely comprehensible. An explorer named Sparkson is held captive in his spaceship by a couple of large whale-like aliens. Sparkson is mad at them for calling him Sparkie, and I think he blows himself and them up with nukes in revenge.
Star Descending
Algis Budrys
Another incomprehensible story. Henry Walters has invented a kind of spy ray, which he has built a tidy little consulting business around. His competition tries to buy him out, and the story descends into bizarre talk of ruling the world, of playing God and of being Lucifer.
Diplomatic Coop
Daniel F. Galouye
Representatives from Solcensir (Sol, Centauri, and Sirius) petition the Galactic Federation for membership. They are dismayed to hear of the costs of membership—tariffs, forced labor, military draft, ceding of landmasses—that they quickly back out and retreat back to Earth. This story is not half bad.
The Scene Shifter
Arthur Sellings
Alfred Stephens has the ability to alter a movie just by thinking—much to the amusement and dismay of other cinema-goers, and to the horror of film studios trying to make a buck and censors trying to protect the innocent public. The story is mildly amusing but there isn't any science fiction element, which upsets me. The collection is called Star Science Fiction 5. Science fiction!
Hair-raising Adventure
Rosel George Brown
I enjoyed this one. I laughed several times. Sam loves epigraphy, that is, studying ancient writing scripts. He spends his life trying to decipher ancient Scythian script, much to the dismay of his wife Ruth who wishes he’d find a better-paying job. Things come to a head when Sam translates an ancient recipe for hair growth potion, and is poised to give it away for free to an opportunistic salesman who feigns an interest in epigraphy.