Deep Space: 2

Even though this was published in the 1970s, the stories collected here are all from a couple of decades before. There's some really good stuff, provided you forgive the period - almost every story has the heroes puffing away at well-packed pipes and rolling along like John Wayne - and it holds together well. The theme of “deep space” is a little vague, but you get what you expect: no stories about the future of Earth here.

The opener is by Chad Oliver, called Blood's a River, and is prefaced by a note about his professorship in anthropology. Makes sense; it's a very anthropological story. It's pretty good, too.

The stand-out story for me was Noise by Jack Vance, a lovely little atmospheric piece which reminded me of William Hope Hodgeson - or perhaps even a bit of Poe.

Damon Knight has an excellent story in Ticket to Anywhere. Gordon R. Dickson, with Lulungomeena set in the Dorsai universe, has another.

There's a Harlan Ellison story in here, too, Life Hutch. It reads a bit more like an episode of Outer Limits than a self-contained story, and the ending is a little weak.

What most of these stories have in common is that they're atomic-age one-trickers. They tend to be set-up slowly only to have their endings rushed, and to our modern minds they're not at all capable of surprising us. But if you like the genre - and I do, oh I do - this is a very pleasing collection indeed.