Science fiction and humor don't often go together very well, but here are forty-one delightful short stories from one of the genre's great humorists.
The stories are mainly from the 1950s, but they hold up very well. There was only one story in the book that felt at all dated; that's "Holdout," one of those late-50s stories about how awful racism is, but even here, Sheckley finds a novel twist on the theme.
That's one of his strengths throughout the collection. Familiar ideas pop up -- genies and wishes ("Something for Nothing"), manipulation of timelines ("The Deaths of Ben Baxter"), first contact ("All the Things You Are"), time travel paradoxes ("A Thief in Time") -- but Sheckley's treatment of them is always interesting, and still feels fresh fifty years later.
We get several of Sheckley's stories about the AAA Ace Planetary Decontamination Service, about a team of explorers who will -- for a fee -- rid your planet of whatever pest might be bothering it. This sort of puzzle story can easily fall into a rut, as the author simply writes one variation after another on the same basic puzzle, but Sheckley shines just as brightly here as in the rest of the book. His puzzles are diverse enough that after reading half-a-dozen AAA Ace stories in a row, I wanted more.
This is a well-chosen selection of Sheckley's work, and I was entertained all the way through.
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