Anthology ID Question
Jul. 1st, 2005 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
major_clangerI've just been emailed, in my SF Foundation capacity, a query by someone trying to identify an anthology he once read. His summary follows; does anyone recognize the collection of the stories involved?
Sci-Fi Anthology UK approx date 1970/71? Hard Cover with a B&W ‘Bridget Riley’ style cover (composed of ‘o’s) *with the exception of the first, stories not in order.
*First story :( set in America in the 1950’s?)
A man stops his car near a bridge (causeway) at night. He sees a silver cylinder awash and investigates; he attempts to secure the cylinder. In the end a space ship arrives which starts to raise the cylinder with a tractor beam; the man decides to hang on to the cylinder and go along for the ride.
"Awareness" in the shape of an island in the Pacific Ocean is "awakened" by hydrogen bomb tests after the war. Eventually "it" comes to full consciousness,- that it is a mine planted on this planet during a long forgotten, (pre-human), alien space war. The atom tests trigger a threat alarm; the mine explodes itself (and the earth). "Because robot atomic bombs cannot think"!
On a neutral asteroid in an arena two individual champions from two species fight to the death for supremacy, Oblivion is the fate of the vanquished. Each warrior is separated from the other by a transparent barrier, eventually, after several attempts on both sides the human realises that in order to destroy his opponent he must make himself unconscious to pass the barrier, and wake up in time to combat his alien opponent, The human succeeds, and wins. The arena the planet and even consciousness of the contest is wiped out, only the result stands
In a night city on an alien world lives the (human) girl cursed with “forever eyes”. All races and species are compellingly attracted to her to act out their most perverted sex fantasies. She can read their warped thoughts. She contrives to pass the eyes onto an eager alien and, though blind, she is at last free of the curse. The alien is left with the terrible realisation of what possession of the “forever eyes” really means.
In the grounds of a beautiful park, an ancient classical house, manicured lawns, an elegantly dressed man moves past the edge of the grounds to a point where he observers a rag tag dishevelled horde en route to cross his boundary. He approaches them; they glare with envy and rage at him avid to possess overwhelm and destroy everything he holds dear - calm, peace, order, the delicate beauty of the park, the house, his loved ones.
The rabble, though restless and straining are, however, held in check by some powerful force, so that though the man can approach and observe them they cannot move forward, nor can the wild stormy weather that accompanies them affect the tranquillity of the estate.
In the gardens grow the remnants of a stand of elegant glasslike flowers (tulips?) the man makes his way to these flowers, he sees that there is just one flower left intact, as he observes this flower he hears the dull but increasingly restless roar of the mob; he moves forward and plucks the last flower, the mob roar ceases, the rabble are now frozen, completely motionless, the flowers stop time. The man turns and makes his way toward the house for the last time.
There are other stories.
MC
Sci-Fi Anthology UK approx date 1970/71? Hard Cover with a B&W ‘Bridget Riley’ style cover (composed of ‘o’s) *with the exception of the first, stories not in order.
*First story :( set in America in the 1950’s?)
A man stops his car near a bridge (causeway) at night. He sees a silver cylinder awash and investigates; he attempts to secure the cylinder. In the end a space ship arrives which starts to raise the cylinder with a tractor beam; the man decides to hang on to the cylinder and go along for the ride.
"Awareness" in the shape of an island in the Pacific Ocean is "awakened" by hydrogen bomb tests after the war. Eventually "it" comes to full consciousness,- that it is a mine planted on this planet during a long forgotten, (pre-human), alien space war. The atom tests trigger a threat alarm; the mine explodes itself (and the earth). "Because robot atomic bombs cannot think"!
On a neutral asteroid in an arena two individual champions from two species fight to the death for supremacy, Oblivion is the fate of the vanquished. Each warrior is separated from the other by a transparent barrier, eventually, after several attempts on both sides the human realises that in order to destroy his opponent he must make himself unconscious to pass the barrier, and wake up in time to combat his alien opponent, The human succeeds, and wins. The arena the planet and even consciousness of the contest is wiped out, only the result stands
In a night city on an alien world lives the (human) girl cursed with “forever eyes”. All races and species are compellingly attracted to her to act out their most perverted sex fantasies. She can read their warped thoughts. She contrives to pass the eyes onto an eager alien and, though blind, she is at last free of the curse. The alien is left with the terrible realisation of what possession of the “forever eyes” really means.
In the grounds of a beautiful park, an ancient classical house, manicured lawns, an elegantly dressed man moves past the edge of the grounds to a point where he observers a rag tag dishevelled horde en route to cross his boundary. He approaches them; they glare with envy and rage at him avid to possess overwhelm and destroy everything he holds dear - calm, peace, order, the delicate beauty of the park, the house, his loved ones.
The rabble, though restless and straining are, however, held in check by some powerful force, so that though the man can approach and observe them they cannot move forward, nor can the wild stormy weather that accompanies them affect the tranquillity of the estate.
In the gardens grow the remnants of a stand of elegant glasslike flowers (tulips?) the man makes his way to these flowers, he sees that there is just one flower left intact, as he observes this flower he hears the dull but increasingly restless roar of the mob; he moves forward and plucks the last flower, the mob roar ceases, the rabble are now frozen, completely motionless, the flowers stop time. The man turns and makes his way toward the house for the last time.
There are other stories.
MC
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oooh
Date: 2005-07-01 08:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-01 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-01 09:28 pm (UTC)Still a good read. I may be some time...
no subject
Date: 2005-07-01 09:30 pm (UTC)Glancing over the pre-1973 anthologies containing this story in ISFDB, the best candidate for the anthology I could find is _Introducing Science Fiction_, edited by Brian Aldiss, from 1964. "Edge of the Sea" by Budrys matches the first story described above, based on a synopsis at http://www.bestsf.net/reviews/decade50s.html , and Ballard's "The Garden of Time" matches the final story described.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-02 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-02 06:53 am (UTC)MC