Alpha 5. edited by Robert Silverberg. 1974

Alpha 5 is rated 78%.

AVERAGE STORY: 3.44

6 good / 2 average / 1 poor.

Read your own copy. Buy from this link and support the blog.

This anthology came as part of an eBay lot purchased to acquire other volumes. I hadn’t heard of this Robert-Silverberg-edited series. A collection of reprints originally published between 1943 and 1972, there is no overarching theme; although the introduction references “science fiction registers changes” and recent American politics.

The best story is the oldest one, “As Never Was” by P Schuyler Miller. A classic time travel paradox. I also highly recommend “The Star Pit” and “The Skills of Xanadu.” The two are wildly different from each other in style and tone, but both seem on the cusp of greatness. “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” is also quite good, but anthologized in so very many places

All in all, a brief (267pages) anthology worth picking up if you can find it.

Alpha 5 is rated 78%.

6 good / 2 average / 1 poor.

How do I arrive at a rating?

1. The Star Pit by Samuel R. Delany. 1966

   Good. A densely written and plotted novella that just misses greatness for me. A normal man works as a mechanic at the edge of the galaxy and is haunted by the fact that he cannot go farther into space without going mad. Feels like this should have been expanded into a short novel.

2. Baby, You Were Great by Kate Wilhelm. 1967

   Good. Relationship drama for a couple where the wife’s experiences are broadcasted to the world. Interesting parallels with today’s “Influencer” culture.

3. Live, From Berchtesgaden by Geo. Alec Effinger. 1972

   Poor. A badly written tale of a girl flitting between the present and nazi Germany.

4. As Never Was by P. Schuyler Miller. 1943

   Great. A time traveling archeologist brings a unique blade from the future and his successors try to determine its origin.

5. We Can Remember It For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick. 1966

   Good. The clever story of false memories that lead to the movie “Total Recall.”

6. Yesterday’s House by Fritz Leiber. 1952

   Good. On an island, a young woman seems to be living the life of 20 years previous.

7. A Man Must Die by John Clute. 1966

   Average. A man trains his body and mind to meet Father and discover if his purpose is more than the Oxen that surround him.

8. The Skills of Xanadu by Theodore Sturgeon. 1956

   Good. An authoritarian man arrives on a simple peaceful planet whose guileless natives offer quite a bit of culture shock - and maybe much more.

9. A Special Kind of Morning by Gardner R Dozois. 1971

   Average. Very tough to review this. The opening reads like bad fantasy monologging and I almost DNFed it. But the middle is a breath-taking imposing tale of future war fought with both city-destroying weaponry and the banal brutality of normal soldiers.

If you enjoyed this review, please use this Amazon link to support the blog.