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sjstuart's review
4.0
This is a short but really high quality collection of vintage British sci-fi from 1964. All of the stories are solid and well written. Most are clever and entertaining. Two are outstanding enough I'm surprised they're not better known. "Hell-Planet" by [a:John Rackham|476730|John Rackham|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] packs in layers of alien society, psychology, and plot, all tied together with strong writing. [a:Colin Kapp|44805|Colin Kapp|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg]'s "The Night-Flame" is a dark, enigmatic, and compact story that does a far better job than history books could ever do at conveying the impact that WWII and the cold war had to people for whom the memories were still fresh.
The technology is out of date in all of these stories, but the writing holds up just fine in most cases. If you can get past the vacuum tubes and phosphor screens, the stories are better than what passes for standard fare nearly 50 years later.
The technology is out of date in all of these stories, but the writing holds up just fine in most cases. If you can get past the vacuum tubes and phosphor screens, the stories are better than what passes for standard fare nearly 50 years later.
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