There aren’t that many short stories that stick with me over decades, but for some reason “Descending” by Thomas M. Disch is one of them. Here is the opening of the Wikipedia article on Thomas M. Disch: Thomas Michael Disch (February 2, 1940 – July 4, 2008) was an American science fiction writer and poet. … Continue reading Descending
Fiction
The Tell-Tale Heart
If there is one Edgar Allen Poe story that I think every American child encounters sometime during their journey through school, it must be “The Tell-Tale Heart”. It’s my favorite of the Poe tales, short and very much to the point. On the latest episode of the Scriptnotes podcast, John August interviews Robert Eggers, the … Continue reading The Tell-Tale Heart
The Caves of Steel
So the word is coming down that there might be a movie version of Isaac Asimov’s novel The Caves of Steel. I would probably have been excited to hear that, say, oh, maybe 40 years ago, when there was a chance, a slim one, but still a chance, that there might be a reasonably faithful adaptation … Continue reading The Caves of Steel
Winthrop Was Stubborn
Philip Klass, who wrote under the pseudonym William Tenn, was never one of the leading lights in science fiction world, but he penned a few dozen shorter tales in the 50s and 60s plus one novel. He was a keen observer of the zeitgeist and tended to extrapolate current trends into his satirical fiction. Sometimes … Continue reading Winthrop Was Stubborn
The Case of the Waylaid Wolf
My traversal of the the Perry Mason TV series has continued very slowly. I’m still in season four. When I saw that the next episode was based directly on a book by Erle Stanley Gardner, I decided to read, or in this case re-read, the novel before watching the TV adaptation. I recall reading The Case … Continue reading The Case of the Waylaid Wolf
A Common Enemy
In 1959 a story was published that described three mysterious stores that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, in Tokyo, Paris, and New York City. The shops called themselves Martian Shops and displayed technology that was far in advance of anything heretofore known on earth. The stores were staffed by salespeople wearing skin-tight face masks and … Continue reading A Common Enemy