A Science Fiction Omnibus
Edited by Brian Aldiss

Science-fiction grew as a genre via the medium of the short story as the pulps of the 1930's and later exploded in popularity. The longer form of the novel started replacing these as paperbacks became a cheap reading option, especially by the 1950's. All the well known "classic" science-fiction authors like Asimov, Clarke, Vance, van Vogt, Pohl, Dick and others began their career selling short stories. This means there are a fantastic number of these in existence and some are very good indeed. Sometimes the author expands or coalesces one or more short stories into a novel (for instance, Asimov's Foundation series); sometimes the shorter version is the superior version. A novel composed of shorts stitched together is often called a "fix-up" (such as Keith Roberts' Pavane).

I have quite a few SF short story anthologies, many being Nebula or Hugo award winner books of the year. There are some highly rated among them and it was past time I read some. Brian Aldiss has good taste so I decided to pick up an anthology edited by him: A Science Fiction Omnibus, published by Penguin in 2007 (but with a history going back to the early 1960's).

I've previous read two stories from this collection, both memorable: Swarm by Bruce Sterling and Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

Swarm is a story of humans discovering that intelligence is not always required for survival, and if it is needed, can be "spun up". The humans here, members of his "shaper" faction, bite off a bit more than they expect when infiltrating and attempting to exploit a huge, insectoid-like alien world. I enjoyed it again.

People might know the Chiang story Story of Your Life from the 2016 film Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve (the book has none of the exciting pyrotechnics in the film). It centers on language and the alien-ness of not just the visitors but the way they communicate. It's quite cerebral and hard to understand on occasion but this doesn't detract from the interesting premise and the writing is good.

The A.E. van Vogt story Fulfilment was quite relevant to today's concerns about "AI" and the march towards a conscious and intelligent computer. I haven't read much van Vogt but his clipped and direct style is something I grew to like. This is the tale of a "brain" (i.e. an AI) that is trying to subvert or combat another, similar "brain" it comes across. Humans might get in the way.

The last story was slightly longer and by an author I haven't read before, John Crowley. This is the "time travel" tale Great Work of Time, and concerns the difficulties keeping the world straight, even with the utmost caution, when attempting to change things to prevent "bad" outcomes. It's a very well written story with a melancholic air about it. The concept of "time travel" is full of possibilities and I doubt will be exhausted soon. I will look to read more Crowley.

I was surprised to find a story by John Steinbeck, author of The Grapes of Wrath. The short tale called The Short Short Story of Mankind is a jokey take on the very rough nature of human existence from the cave onwards, perhaps towards some sort of civilisation. It's very sardonic and we might laugh at the ignorance and dysfunction but also recognise how thin the ice is to a decent life.

I was less impressed with some of the tales, perhaps the Asimov (Nightfall, Jokester), which I thought mediocre. James Tiptree, Jr was an author I've been looking forward to reading but thought And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hillside a bit disappointing. However, it is a story where thought is required: that with alien contact, humans could become merely "groupies", obsessed with chasing alien attention. I'll need to read more Tiptree, Jr to decide if I like her writing. Sometimes you need to take some time to consider what is being said: they're not always direct. Like the Tiptree, Jr., the Damon Knight story The Country of the Kind is another story I had some difficulty with; that is, understanding the point. But as James Wallace Harris discusses on his (excellent) Classics of Science Fiction blog, it is a famous and very well respected story that needs a bit of thought in order to work out meaning.

It was a great refresher to read a set of curated short stories for a change, and a wide set of authors. Yes, "entertainment" is great but that does not mean "easy" or trite; sometimes you have to be challenged as well. Science Fiction is often a very good way to do that.