The World Turned Upside Down. edited by David Drake, Jim Baen, and Eric Flint. 2005
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN
RATED 90% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.14 OF 5
29 STORIES : 11 GREAT / 13 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
It has a confusing title, a bad cover, and a weird premise. Don’t let that keep you away from this very fun anthology. Drake, Baen, and Flint assembled a collection of stories that had meaning to them in their youth. In a sense, this is an autobiography told through science fiction short stories from the late 1930s through to the 1960s.
But let’s not overthink this. What makes The World Turned Upside Down great is the youthful exuberance here. There’s a whiz-bang, gee-whiz nature to the good stories and the classic Sense of Wonder in the great ones. There are some of the greatest classics in the genre’s history and many superb stories that were new to me.
11 Stories from this Anthology join My All-Time Great List. That’s more great stories in this one book than the entire contents of many anthologies. I’ll highlight five stories that were new to me.
A Gun for Dinosaur • [Reginald Rivers] • (1956) • novelette by L. Sprague de Camp. Superb ‘colonialist-styled’ tale of a dinosaur hunting expedition gone wrong. Told in a strong technical voice to an off-screen character who is two small and weak to hold a dinosaur hunting gun. The narrator drills into the scientific and culture impetus for Dino-hunting, paints a picture of the rich dinosaur world, and then focuses on the timeless problem of rich assholes. Love dinosaurs and love this story.
Goblin Night • [Telzey Amberdon] • (1965) • novelette by James H. Schmitz. Exciting Young Adult action story. Fifteen-year-old girl with PSI-powers is camping with friends and a powerful alien ‘dog’ on an alien nature preserve and senses a crippled man living on the edge of the park. When she goes to visit him, she ends up in a “most dangerous game.”
Omnilingual • [Federation • 1] • (1957) • novelette by H. Beam Piper. Archeologists sift through the remnants of a 50,000 year old Martian city. Our protagonist is preserving the writing in the hope that one day she’ll be able to read Martian. The other scientists around her are certain it is impossible since there is no one-to-one text that can be used in the way that ancient human languages were translated.
Spawn • (1939) • novelette by P. Schuyler Miller. A sprawling tale of three powerful beings: a God of Gold in South America, a amorphous monster of the sea that menaces Brazil, and a resurrected assassinated politician in Europe whose body is a living, intelligent, decaying corpse. Miller writes a firehose of description, action, and madness that sweeps the reader away. I loved this crazy torrent.
Thunder and Roses • (1947) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon. A bleak and disturbing story of a USA devastated by nuclear war. The characters are severely broken, suicidal, and cling to the tiniest hint of humanity. This is includes a musical performance by a woman, but tonight after singing she has something difficult to say. “We have the power to retaliate and destroy our enemy, but we must choose not to!”
THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN IS RATED 90% POSITIVE
29 STORIES : 11 GREAT / 13 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 1 DNF
Rescue Party • (1946) • novelette by Arthur C. Clarke
Average. As the earth’s sun is going nova, aliens arrived to help rescue humanity. Except, there is no humanity on the planet to rescue. A rather plodding mystery with a nice whip crack of a final paragraph.
The Menace from Earth • [Future History] • (1974) • novelette by Robert A. Heinlein
Good. A bit of Heinlein Young Adult fiction. A young female spaceship design prodigy on the moon accidentally connects an attractive tourist woman with her business partner and discovers that she has feelings for him. Actually more intersting that that sounds because it is full of fun Heinleinian language “people from Earth are groundhogs” and most of the story takes place in a very fun indoor flying room that takes advantage of the moon’s low gravity.
Code Three • [Code Three] • (1963) • novella by Rick Raphael
Good. A modern scifi superhighway crosses the USA and this long novella tells multiple adventures of the men and women who police it in their supercharged racetank. This was a fun adventure "high speed' read with a mostly likable cast and excellent clarity of prose. Acceptable level of speculation. Some attitudes on race and gender that would get Rick Raphael canceled so fast if the current tastemakers of SF knew he existed.
Hunting Problem • (1955) • short story by Robert Sheckley
Good. Fun old-timey story about an alien who must hunt a human and bring back its ‘pelt’ for achieve the next level of its status. However, it completely doesn’t understand humanity and the cat-and-mouse game is quite amusing.
Black Destroyer • [Space Beagle] • (1939) • novelette by A. E. van Vogt
Great. A masterpiece of a thriller told in alternating viewpoints. An intelligent cat-like monster stalks a spaceship full of explorers who arrive to investigate a dead civilization. Suspenseful, smart, violent, and propulsive.
A Pail of Air • (1951) • short story by Fritz Leiber
Good. The earth is icy cold after the earth was ripped away from the Sun by a passing rogue star. One family tries to survive in a world of literally frozen air and believes themselves the last humans on earth.
Thy Rocks and Rills • (1953) • novelette by Robert E. Gilbert [as by Robert Ernest Gilbert]
Good. It’s a future Tennessee of “The Manly Age” where hypermasculinity is prized and gun duels are everywhere. Plus intelligent mutated cows! The story rambles a bit, but the last third is brutal, intense, and awesome.
A Gun for Dinosaur • [Reginald Rivers] • (1956) • novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
Great. Superb ‘colonialist-styled’ tale of a dinosaur hunting expedition gone wrong. Told in a strong technical voice to an off-screen character who is two small and weak to hold a dinosaur hunting gun. The narrator drills into the scientific and culture impetus for Dino-hunting, paints a picture of the rich dinosaur world, and then focuses on the timeless problem of rich assholes. Love dinosaurs and love this story.
Goblin Night • [Telzey Amberdon] • (1965) • novelette by James H. Schmitz
Great. Exciting Young Adult action story. Fifteen-year-old girl with PSI-powers is camping with friends and a powerful alien ‘dog’ on an alien nature preserve and senses a crippled man living on the edge of the park. When she goes to visit him, she ends up in a “most dangerous game.”
The Only Thing We Learn • (1949) • short story by C. M. Kornbluth
Good. A professor speaks of the falsity of literary stories of military victory, intercut with a glimpse at the reality of being overthrown by rebels.
Trigger Tide • (1950) • short story by Wyman Guin
Average. An assassin is on a mission to a planet with multiple moons and strong tidal forces affecting people and also triggering bombs.
The Aliens • (1959) • novelette by Murray Leinster
Good. A smart, solid tale of First Contact that doesn’t hold a candle to Leinster’s other classic. A silly idea of intentionally including a racist for ‘better understanding alien bigots.” And some unnecessary cheesy romance. But some good ideas at the core.
All the Way Back • (1952) • short story by Michael Shaara
Good. A fun story of planetary discovery told from both human and alien perspectives. Wicked little twist, but a bit obvious
The Last Command • [Bolo] • (1967) • short story by Keith Laumer
Great. A great story of a decommissioned war machine that suddenly reboots and menaces the now-peaceful city. I liked the way it showed how war is never over for veterans but some are better able to adjust. Also a cautionary tale about autonomous war machines.
Who Goes There? • [Who Goes There?] • (1966) • novella by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by John W. Campbell]
Great. An arctic scientific expedition discovers some THING from another world. When it thaws, the team much find a way to destroy it before it absorbs all life on earth.
Quietus • (1940) • short story by Ross Rocklynne
Good. Bird-aliens land on a volcanically destroyed earth with disastrous results for the last man and woman.
Answer • (1954) • short story by Fredric Brown
Great. An iconic short-short about the creation of a super computer and the important question that human ask of it.
The Last Question • [Multivac] • (1956) • short story by Isaac Asimov
Great. Classic story of a giant computer which tries to discover how entropy might be reversed.
The Cold Equations • (1954) • novelette by Tom Godwin
Great. To understand this story is to understand the scientific worldview. It is one of the most important works of SF. A stowaway who is just trying to see her brother crashed upon the brutal mathematical precision of space travel. Reality doesn’t care about your feelings.
Shambleau • [Northwest Smith] • (1933) • novelette by C. L. Moore
Average. A man protects a strange alien girl from being killed by a crowd, but begins to regret it when her true alien nature is revealed.
Turning Point • (1963) • short story by Poul Anderson
Average. Humans encounter a superior, but primitive, race. Pleasant, but forgettable.
Heavy Planet • (1939) • short story by Milton A. Rothman [as by Lee Gregor]
Good. Awesome and action-packed story. On Heavyplanet, one man tries to salvage a ship that crashed into the ocean. It might hold secrets for flight and even space travel if it isn’t destroyed by a competing country.
Omnilingual • [Federation • 1] • (1957) • novelette by H. Beam Piper
Great. Archeologists sift through the remnants of a 50,000 year old Martian city. Our protagonist is preserving the writing in the hope that one day she’ll be able to read Martian. The other scientists around her are certain it is impossible since there is no one-to-one text that can be used in the way that ancient human languages were translated.
The Gentle Earth • (1957) • novella by Christopher Anvil
Good. I liked this a great deal despite my objective brain telling me that this wasn't a truly superb story. Enjoyed the story of aliens invading but running into the complex "unknown unknowns" of planet earth. Read the whole story with a smile on my face.
Environment • (1944) • short story by Chester S. Geier
Good. Two astronauts arrive on a planet to discover what happened to previous explorers. They discover a city that draws them in with a crystalline mystery that they are compelled to investigate.
Liane the Wayfarer • [Dying Earth] • (1950) • short story by Jack Vance
Good. A douchey dude agrees to steal a tapestry to gain the ‘love’ of a beautiful witch in this Dying Earth fantasy-inflected story.
Spawn • (1939) • novelette by P. Schuyler Miller
Great. A sprawling tale of three powerful beings: a God of Gold in South America, a amorphous monster of the sea that menaces Brazil, and a resurrected assassinated politician in Europe whose body is a living, intelligent, decaying corpse. Miller writes a firehose of description, action, and madness that sweeps the reader away. I loved this crazy torrent.
St. Dragon and the George • [The Dragon and the George] • (1957) • novelette by Gordon R. Dickson
DNF. A man and his girlfriend are transported to an alternate universe where she is captured by a dragon and he becomes one. Stopped this at about 1/3 for annoying characters and layers of tropey fantasy cheese.
Thunder and Roses • (1947) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
Great. A bleak and disturbing story of a USA devastated by nuclear war. The characters are severely broken, suicidal, and cling to the tiniest hint of humanity. This is includes a musical performance by a woman, but tonight after singing she has something difficult to say. “We have the power to retaliate and destroy our enemy, but we must choose not to!”
