Groff Conklin (ed)'s "Six Great Short Science Fiction Novels" (anthology): Annotated table of contents & review

Going by what I've read so far, there is less emphasis on entertainment value here & more on stories with cool ideas.

List below is in order of my preference - best first, unread last. Links on author, publisher, or year fetch more matching fiction.

1. [novelette] Isaac Asimov's "Galley Slave" (A); Galaxy, December 1957: How to make a 3-laws obeying robot harm a human...
2. [novella]  Damon Knight's "Rule Golden" (A); Science Fiction Adventures, May 1954: What if we had an additional empathy sense? 
3. [novelette] Algis Budrys' "Chain Reaction" (as by John A Sentry) (B): You're free, but live my way!
4. [novella] Judith Merril's "Project Nursemaid" (B); F&SF, October 1955: Government's difficulties recruiting unwanted babies... 
5. [novelette] Clifford D Simak's "Final Gentleman" (B); F&SF, January 1960: Which of the 2 realities he experienced is real?
6. [novelette] Katherine MacLean's "Incommunicado" (B); Astounding, June 1950: Creating Homo Superior by rewiring part of human brain that processes auditory inputs...

First published: 1960.
Related: Anthologies, collections, magazines.

Judith Merril's "Project Nursemaid" (novella): Government's difficulties enrolling unwanted babies

I cannot point to any clear flaws in the story, but I kept putting it down frequently. Took me over a dozen sittings to finish it.

Story summary.

Set up is: For space exploration, babies raised in special low gravity environments are necessary, low-gravity environments not being very conducive for ordinary earth-raised adults.

So government has a program where it creates orphans to raise (on moon)! Because of moral issues involved, the program is a secret one.

So a certain military camp in the US has certain targets: so many babies to deliver (means recruiting young mothers of unwanted pregnancies), & so many "foster parents" to deliver (older women to nurse the babies).

Story is from the point of view of Colonel Edgerly whose job it is recruit both babies & their nursemaids.

Collected in.

1. Groff Conklin (ed)'s "Six Great Short Science Fiction Novels".

Fact sheet.

First published: F&SF, October 1955.
Rating: B. 
Related: Stories of Judith Merril.

Judith Merril's "Exile from Space" (novelette, first contact, free): Human girl, raised by aliens, returns home

A very well done story, though with a familiar trope: lone, nearly human looking, alien stranded on earth. One of the better known stories of the kind is Murray Leinster's "The Strange Case of John Kingman".

Story summary.

Strictly speaking, it's not a first contact story; it's about the adventures of a human girl who's returned to earth for the first time since she was taken away by aliens as a baby. And raised lovingly by them. Aliens who'd accidentally killed her parents.

It's also commentary on our society - by using the device of seeing it through the girl with alien outlook. Sometimes quite humorous.

And there is a love story too. She falling in love with a normal man here, & their ambiguous happy ending.

Quotes.

1. On typical drivers on a crowded road: "You'd think anybody who could build an automobile—let alone an atom bomb--could drive one easily enough. Especially with a lifetime to learn in. Maybe they just like to live dangerously."
2. "a true metropolitan area" "means--on Earth--that it is dirtier, more crowded, far less pleasant to look at or live in, and a great deal more convenient and efficient to do business in."
3. "when dealing with humans, one must always allow for waste time."
4. Her problem with contraceptives: "The idea of pursuing a course of action whose sole motivation was the procreative urge, and simultaneously to decide by an act of will to refuse to procreate."

Fact sheet.

First published: Fantastic Universe, November 1956.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedbooks.
Rating: A.
Related: Stories of Judith Merril; First contact fiction; Fiction from 1950s.

** Judith Merril's "That Only a Mother" (short story, science fiction)

Moving story of a post nuclear apocalypse where normal child births are very rare; nearly all children born are grossly deformed. Story tracks a woman's pregnancy, birth of a daughter, & first few years (or months?) of the daughter. Mother so badly wants her child to be normal that she hasn't even noticed that her daughter lacks all limbs - even several years after birth!!

See also.

1. Wilmar H Shiras' "In Hiding": Another story that features a very fearful maternal grandmother. Her daughter & son-in-law died in the after effects of nuclear accident, & their surviving baby is might be a mutant.
   

Collected in.

1. Robert Silverberg (Ed)'s "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964".
   

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, June 1948.
Rating: A

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Fukushima Masami's "The Flower's Life Is Short" (short story, fantasy)

In an age where normal life expectancy is beyond 100, A 68-year old woman is feeling lonely & regretting the decision of avoiding permanent matrimony in her younger years.

Collected in.

1. Gene van Troyer & Grania Davis (Ed)'s "Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy".
   

Fact sheet.

First published: Hayakawa SF Magazine, October 1967; translated by Judith Merril & Yano Tetsu.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

Gene van Troyer & Grania Davis (Ed)'s "Speculative Japan: Outstanding Tales of Japanese Science Fiction and Fantasy": Annotated table of contents

ToC below lists only stories included in the anthology (source: this Kurodahan Press's page dedicated to this book); I don't include editorial entries.

If the 4 stories the publishers have kindly made available online are any indication, the anthology is heavily tilted towards fantasy.

Stories themselves are rather old, but appear to have been recently translated to English.

List below is ordered by how much I like a story - best first. Unread stories come at end, in order they appear in the book. "download" link will fetch you the full text of the story. I provide a short description of the story; link on story title jumps to more detailed notes on the story - in case I've posted some.

My rating is in brackets (ABC: A = worth your time; C = don't bother). Just remember I prefer science fiction to fantasy; someone with opposite inclinations will likely rate them very differently.

Table of contents (15 stories, best first).

1. [ss] Hirai Kazumasa's "A Time for Revolution" (B); Hayakawa SF Magazine, January 1963; translated by David Aylward; science fiction: Humans from far future dystopia telepathically & parasitically control those from a much earlier era - in an effort to change history & avoid this dystopia!
2. [ss] Fukushima Masami's "The Flower's Life Is Short" (B); download; Hayakawa SF Magazine, October 1967; translated by Judith Merril & Yano Tetsu; fantasy: In an age where normal life expectancy is beyond 100, A 68-year old woman is feeling lonely & regretting the decision of avoiding permanent matrimony in her younger years.
3. [ss] Kono Tensei's "Hikari" (C); download; Shukan Shosetsu, 3 May 1976; translated by Dana Lewis; fantasy: Normal humans being overrun by "luminous folks"!
   A strange family - man, woman, & their three kids - are moving through the countryside. They are "not human... I don't even think they're alive... They don't sleep... They don't eat... They don't even sweat. They don't get angry. They don't argue. All they do is smile." When a blade cuts their skin, no blood pours out - there are no innards inside - only strange light shines out! Title is apparently the Japanese word for light.
   Whichever town they land in soon ends up getting converted to their own kind - light folks. Rest of the people end up abandoning the town. So humanity is sort of getting divided into two - normal flesh-and-blood people, & light folks. Former are getting to be a minority, & they're afraid.
4. [novelette] Yamano Koichi's "Where Do the Birds Fly Now" (C); download; Hayakawa SF Magazine, February 1971; translated by Dana Lewis; fantasy: Somewhere during their evolution, birds had figured out a way of traveling in 3 dimensions, unlike mammals. Now they've gone a step beyond - they can now fly in forth dimension too!!! In a story involving alternate universes, huge 4D flying predators seem to be overrunning humanity one alternate world at a time!
5. Komatsu Sakyo's "The Savage Mouth"; translated by Judith Merril: Not read.
6. Mayumura Taku's "I'll Get Rid of Your Discontent"; translated by Hattori M & Grania Davis: Not read.
7. Ishikawa Takashi's "The Road to the Sea"; translated by Judith Merril & Yano Tetsu: Not read.
8. Toyota Aritsune's "Another 'Prince of Wales'"; translated by David Aylward: Not read.
9. Ohara Mariko's "Girl"; translated by Alfred Birnbaum: Not read.
10. Tsutsui Yasutaka's "Standing Woman"; translated by Dana Lewis: Not read.
11. Hanmura Ryo's "Cardboard Box"; translated by Dana Lewis: Not read.
12. Yano Tetsu's "The Legend of the Paper Spaceship"; translated by Gene van Troyer: Not read.
13. Kajio Shinji's "Reiko's Universe Box"; translated by Toyoda T: Not read.
14. Kawakami Hiromi's "Mogera Wogura"; translated by Michael Emmerich: Not read.
15. Yoshimasu Gozo's "Adrenalin"; translated by the author & Marilyn Chin: Not read.
    

First published: 2007