This isn't really a book. It's more like a booklet, just over 30 pages, in which a couple of John D. MacDonald's characters have a discussion about man's survival over the centuries. Well, it's not really a discussion, either. The two characters are Meyer and McGee, and it's more of a lecture by Meyer. It was published in 1987 and was one of the last things MacDonald wrote before his death.
And it could have been written yesterday. In the last few pages Meyer (and MacDonald) really take a hammer to any number of topics that are in the headlines all the time right now, and it's a fine rant, indeed, mainly because I'm on Meyer's side all the way. Others might find it uncomfortable and even blasphemous. So you've been warned.
This isn't to say there aren't a few missteps along the way. Meyer seems to believe an easily unproven (in this Internet age) explanation about the origin of a comment by Jesus to a rich young ruler, but I can overlook a few things like that.
There are a couple of brief, illuminating afterwords, as well. Worth reading if you ever come across a copy.
Here's a bit of nostalgia for you. Imagine that you're a kid in the mid-1950s and that you've fallen in love with SF. And that you see the ad to the left on the back cover of a magazine you've just bought. That's what happened to me, and the ad is why I joined the Science Fiction Book Club. I bought the three books at the top of the circle, and I still have them.
My favorite of the three was Groff Conklin's Omnibus of Science Fiction. A look at the table of contents below should give you a clue as to why. First of all, it was a huge book, over 550 pages. And secondly, the stories are all great. Okay, maybe not now, maybe not to you, but they were to me way back then. And the price was right, a mere 33-1/3 cents per book. Plus postage, of course, but postage back in those days wasn't like postage is now. It was cheap. You could mail a letter for 3 cents of a postcard for a penny.
I've never forgotten some of the stories. "Spectator Sport" was my first encounter (and certainly not my last) with John D. MacDonald. I still think this is one of the best VR stories ever written. Maybe the first one, too. A definite classic in my book. I thought then and think now that Arthur C. Clarke's "History Lesson" was a great commentary on our society. Ray Bradbury's "Kaliedoscope" really touched me then, and still does. (I'm a sentimental guy.) Fredric Brown's "The Weapon" is also a great commentary. I'm sure it had a lot to do with some of my current thinking on similar topics, and I know it did back then. "The Rag Thing" by David Grinnell (Donald A. Wollheim) I found creepy and scary, and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" was even creepier. Richard Matheson's "Shipshape Home," too, even with the punny title.
Inexpensive copies of this book abound on the Internet. If you like the good old stuff, here it is, in plenty. A wonderful book, at least to me, and one that almost certainly contributed a lot to whatever my reading tastes are even now.
Table of Contents
vii · Introduction · Groff Conklin · in
· Part I: Wonders of Earth and of Man
3 · John Thomas’s Cube · John Leimert · ss Atlantic Monthly Aug ’45
10 · Hyperpilosity · L. Sprague de Camp · ss Astounding Apr ’38
18 · The Thing in the Woods · Fletcher Pratt & B. F. Ruby · ss Amazing Feb ’35
29 · And Be Merry... · Katherine MacLean · ss Astounding Feb ’50
45 · The Bees from Borneo · Will H. Gray · ss Amazing Feb ’31
55 · The Rag Thing · David Grinnell · ss F&SF Oct ’51
58 · The Conqueror · Mark Clifton · ss Astounding Aug ’52
· Part II: Inventions, Dangerous and Otherwise
65 · Never Underestimate... · Theodore Sturgeon · ss If Mar ’52
78 · The Doorbell · David H. Keller · ss Wonder Stories Jun ’34
88 · A Subway Named Mobius · A. J. Deutsch · ss Astounding Dec ’50
100 · Backfire · Ross Rocklynne · nv Astounding Jan ’43
117 · The Box · James Blish · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Apr ’49
132 · Zeritsky’s Law · Ann Griffith · ss Galaxy Nov ’51
137 · The Fourth Dynasty · R. R. Winterbotham · ss Astounding Dec ’36
· Part III: From Outer Space
146 · The Colour Out of Space · H. P. Lovecraft · nv Amazing Sep ’27
167 · The Head Hunters · Ralph Williams · ss Astounding Oct ’51
178 · The Star Dummy · Anthony Boucher · ss Fantastic Fll ’52
189 · Catch That Martian · Damon Knight · ss Galaxy Mar ’52
199 · Shipshape Home · Richard Matheson · ss Galaxy Jul ’52
214 · Homo Sol [Tan Porus] · Isaac Asimov · ss Astounding Sep ’40
· Part IV: Far Traveling
230 · Alexander the Bait · William Tenn · ss Astounding May ’46
241 · Kaleidoscope · Ray Bradbury · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Oct ’49
249 · “Nothing Happens on the Moon” · Paul Ernst · ss Astounding Feb ’39
263 · Trigger Tide · Wyman Guin · ss Astounding Oct ’50
273 · Plague · Murray Leinster · nv Astounding Feb ’44
302 · Winner Lose All · Jack Vance · ss Galaxy Dec ’51
313 · Test Piece · Eric Frank Russell · ss Other Worlds Mar ’51
327 · Environment · Chester S. Geier · ss Astounding May ’44
· Part V: Adventures in Dimension
341 · High Threshold [Dr. McEvoy] · Alan E. Nourse · ss Astounding Mar ’51
350 · Spectator Sport · John D. MacDonald · ss Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb ’50
355 · Recruiting Station · A. E. van Vogt · na Astounding Mar ’42
420 · A Stone and a Spear · Raymond F. Jones · nv Galaxy Dec ’50
436 · What You Need · Lewis Padgett · ss Astounding Oct ’45
449 · The Choice · W. Hilton-Young · vi Punch Mar 19 ’52
· Part VI: Worlds of Tomorrow
450 · The War Against the Moon · André Maurois · ss The Forum Jul ’27; F&SF Sum ’50
464 · Pleasant Dreams · Ralph Robin · ss Galaxy Oct ’51
472 · Manners of the Age · H. B. Fyfe · ss Galaxy Mar ’52
484 · The Weapon · Fredric Brown · ss Astounding Apr ’51
486 · The Scarlet Plague · Jack London · nv The London Magazine Jun ’12
524 · Heritage · Robert Abernathy · nv Astounding Jun ’42
545 · History Lesson · Arthur C. Clarke · ss Startling Stories May ’49
551 · Instinct · Lester del Rey · ss Astounding Jan ’52
562 · Counter Charm · Peter Phillips · vi Slant Spr ’51
Toc Source: Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections, Combined Edition
Schaffner Press: Upcoming Releases Archives: "BLOODSHOT RAINBOW: The Life and Work of John D. MacDonaldJames WallingFall '09Trade PaperbackJohn D. MacDonald, the hugely prolific bestselling writer of crime novels whose iconic hero Travis McGee became the template for dozens of contemporary mystery writers has until this book largely escaped biographical scrutiny and literary appraisal. With researchranging from literary archives and correspondence and information gleaned from as yet unpublished military records, author James Walling will retrace Macdonald's footsteps from his years in Burma with the OSS in WWII to his single titles bestsellers, (one of which, THE EXECUTIONERS, was the basis for the movie CAPE FEAR), to the immortal Travis McGee series and the twenty-one books in which the legendary protagonist starred, as well as the final uncompleted ' Black Book' which supposedly featured McGee's demise. In examining not only the mysteries and crime novels, longer works of fiction such as CONDOMINIUM, and even MacDonald's forays into sci-fi (THE GIRL, THE GOLD WATCH AND EVERYTHING) this book will firmly establish MacDonald in the firmament of quintessentially American literary figures, sadly underappreciated due to the commercial genres in which he chose to ply his trade."
Hat tip to The Bunburyist.
