2008-11-16 Classic science fiction with a psychological twist

Although he is best known for his incisive short stories - such as the 18 in this collection - Christopher Anvil was one of the most exciting and amusing SF authors of the Golden Age. Among other famous writers, perhaps Colin Kapp, Eric Frank Russell and Robert Sheckley come closest to his style, which subverts the usual distinction between "hard" and "soft" SF. While most of his stories focus on thoughts and emotions, they are the thoughts and emotions of spacemen and aliens, not of everyday civilians. To those who know him, the prospect of a new Christopher Anvil story promises intense mental stimulation and usually a wry smile, if not outright laughter.

This book is the fourth of five volumes in Baen Books' reissue of Anvil's work. Its main focus is on "the War with the Outs", a dangerous alien race with telepathic abilities, but there are also a number of other stories on diverse subjects. The jewel in the crown is "Foghead", one of the very best SF stories ever written. If you haven't read this, you are in for a treat - it would be well worth buying the book just for "Foghead". Anvil tunes his secret recipe to perfection, in a characteristic tale of humans and their alien allies struggling to steal a march on the Outs, only to discover that the supposedly innocuous planet they have been told to occupy is a death trap. The classic quote from the general in charge (from the safety of HQ) is: "Actually, the dangerous part will be getting there. Once you're there, everything should be comparatively simple". Definitely one for the Department of Famous Last Words!

Another memorable story is "Symbols", in which Anvil manages to combine a fascinating plot with one of the most lucid warnings about the limitations of abstraction ever written.