Wondrous Beginnings

Rating:
Summary: Nice overview
Review: I bought this for the Bujold, but worth the read for all the other stories. Interesting to see how the genre has changed over the decades.

Rating:
Summary: Nice overview
Review: I bought this for the Bujold, but worth the read for all the other stories. Interesting to see how the genre has changed over the decades.

Rating:
Summary: Good Start
Review: This is a particularly strong collection. Particularly when they are self-limiting to the first commercial published work of an author. After all, how many people write something really great the first time.

However the majority of these stories are quite good, the worst story would be merely lightweight but fun. Spanning almost 80 years of SF it also gives a very wide view of the field. From the early, joyously simplistic stories that were driven by the nifty idea to the more character driven stories of today.

Most of the authors are familiar names to everyone interested in the field, however there were some new names to me, and some I had heard of but not read. I'm sure that you'll find a new name in either the older or newer authors represented to discover.

Other than the superlative Ender's Game, the stories are reasonably short, making them well suited to brief periods when you have a little time to read.

The quality of the stories, the breadth of history displayed and the wide range of authors make this a fine collection. One of the best I've read recently.

Rating:
Summary: interesting anthology
Review: This seventeen-story anthology displays the opening or a very early entry of some of the great speculative fiction authors of the twentieth century. Each tale contains an introduction written by the author or posthumously by someone close to the writer. Using the perfection of hindsight, readers will quickly understand why writers like de Camp. Clarke, McCaffrey, etc. became household names at least in those homes that relish a delightful science fiction anthology. Each tale is well written, but also intriguing is the intro. Genre fans will gain immense pleasure from seeing the WONDROUS BEGINNINGS of a virtual who's who, but newcomers will relish this book also because the collection provides an overture to some of the superstars of the genre.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: interesting anthology
Review: This seventeen-story anthology displays the opening or a very early entry of some of the great speculative fiction authors of the twentieth century. Each tale contains an introduction written by the author or posthumously by someone close to the writer. Using the perfection of hindsight, readers will quickly understand why writers like de Camp. Clarke, McCaffrey, etc. became household names at least in those homes that relish a delightful science fiction anthology. Each tale is well written, but also intriguing is the intro. Genre fans will gain immense pleasure from seeing the WONDROUS BEGINNINGS of a virtual who's who, but newcomers will relish this book also because the collection provides an overture to some of the superstars of the genre.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Read!
Review: Wondrous Beginnings is a collection of short stories that help start the careers of such great science fiction authors as Arthur C. Clark, Hal Clement, and Murray Leinster.

The first story in the collection called "The Runaway Skyscraper" by Murray Leinster. First copyrighted in 1919 it is the story of a Manhattan skyscraper that slips though an mysteries anomaly and is transported back in time. As the sun races across the sky the buildings below appear to be deconstructing before the eyes of the main character Arthur Chamberlain. Faster and faster the passage through time increases until finally they stop thousands of years before Europeans discover the new world. Amazingly a huge skyscraper and its 2000 occupants are transported back thousands of years.

Since all these stories were written during the golden age of science fiction you get a sense of mistrust of technology. Amazing after all the time that has passed since these stories were published they still have to power to entertain.

I would highly recommend this book to any aspiring science fiction writers as well as any fan of science fiction. All of these short stories are highly entertaining but you can tell they were written during another time. It is easy for aspiring writers to easily become intimidated by the complex stories of modern science fiction. The easy to follow stories and developed but simple characters make ideal models for the early stories of beginning science fiction writers.

Aspiring writer or not, this book is worth your time.