Classic Science Fiction Stories, edited by Adam Roberts, was an eye-opening collection of 14 short stories. Having read very little science fiction, I had believed that science fiction was more of a modern phenomena. I was surprised to note that as early as the 18th century, authors were writing about subjects that we might find incredible even today.

Except for HG Wells, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Ambrose Bierce, most of the authors were new to me. Of these four, Poe was the only author whose short stories I had read before.

The Star by HG Wells: A star suddenly becomes visible close to Neptune, becoming brighter by the day. The event is interpreted through various perspectives, including science, religion etc. As it hurtles towards earth, it causes cataclysmic changes on our planet, making large swathes uninhabitable. But the Martians are completely unfazed. The author ends the story with a hard-hitting line which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles. I found it fascinating, this ability on the part of Wells, to pass judgement on the pettiness of human nature against the backdrop of cosmic wonder.

Seen from today’s perspective, the author comes across as judgmental and derogatory towards women. He says, “Pretty women… feigned an intelligent interest they did not feel.”

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley Weinbaum describes the experience of a human, Dick Jarvist, a chemist on the Ares expedition to planet Mars, and a Martian. Tweel’s appearance, behaviour and characteristics are a marvel of the imagination, considering that the story was published in July 1934.

When a shuttle from the craft falls on Mars, Jarvis finds himself stranded on the planet. He has an interesting encounter with a Martian who he names Tweel, because of the high-pitched sounds the latter makes.

There is humour in the manner in which Tweel drinks water. The Martian sucks it into his beak, then carefully squirts it back into the cup. By the end of the story, I, like Jarvis, had developed a fondness for Tweel.

But Tweel isn’t the only marvel on the Red Planet. There is a creature, the Pyramid Monster, that gives out silica bricks, and another, the DreamBeast, which draws living creatures to their death.

Once again, I saw instances of the same negative attitude, racist in this case. At one point, Jarvis likens the sounds made by Tweel to the “primitive speech of some earth people… like the Negritoes, for instance, who haven’t any generic words.”

In The Diamond Lens by FitzJames O’Brien, published in the 1850s, the narrator, a microscopist named Linley, is besotted by the power of the microscope and becomes convinced that there is much to be discovered, and that he is called to discover great things. He is so much in thrall of his dream that he actually does the unthinkable to achieve this dream.

The story managed to combine elements of the occult with scientific endeavour. It becomes a tale of deceit, betrayal and murder. The following quote expresses the rationale of Linley: Every great genius is mad upon the subject in which he is the greatest.

Micromegas by Voltaire, written in the 18th century, is a comically wonderful tale of two giants, from the planet Sirius, in another galaxy, and from Planet Saturn, in our own solar system, who set out on an extraordinary interstellar voyage and land on planet Earth, where they encounter infinitesimally tiny beings, namely, us.

The two giants discover that humans, “infinitely small had, it seemed, an almost infinitely large pride.”

One of the giants asks a human, “if they had always been in this miserable state so near nothingness, what they were doing on a globe that appeared to belong to whales.” The story mocks scientists of the time who believed that earth alone supported life and philosophers of the time who adhered to philosophies that contradicted each other and served no purpose.

The Mortal Immortal by Mary Shelley, commissioned in 1833, tells the story of a young man called Winzy, who drinks a potion made by an alchemist and is cursed with near-immortality and eternal youth, while his wife, the love of his youth, grows visibly older.

A Tale of the Ragged Mountains by Edgar Allan Poe is hard for me to describe. While out for a walk in the mountains, a man sees strange sights of another place and another time. Whether this was a description of telepathy or wild imagination is unclear.

The Automaton Ear by Florence McLandburgh: A professor invents an automaton ear which can reproduce every beautiful sound ever heard on the planet, whether that sound be natural or humanmade.

This story reminded me of the power of Artificial Intelligence. The prose was beautiful.

The Tachypomp by Edward Page Mitchell sees a mathematics tutor expound a wild theory to prove that vehicles could theoretically travel 60 miles a minute.

Both The Automaton Ear and The Tachypomp use sound scientific principles of the time to explore the frontiers of possibility. Both end on an anti-climactic note.

The Colour Out of Space by HP Lovecraft, the longest story in the collection, saw science fiction mixed with Gothic elements, even horror. This one was my favourite.

Aspiring authors are told to avoid info dumps, but here the story literally starts with long-winded description that goes on for around three pages, and yet I read this description more than once. Each word was so evocative.

This story isn’t about anything paranormal, but very soon we are overtaken by a sense of horror and dread. My heart went out to Nahum Gardner and his family. Their lives begin to disintegrate when a meterorite lands on their property.

To Herman Stoffkraft, PhD, a Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley) by James Clark Maxwell: Maxwell was a Scottish scientist who was responsible for the biggest advances in physics since Newton. This story is actually a “paradoxical ode” styled “after Shelley.”

The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle: An aeronaut, Joyce Armstrong, comes to know of a number of accidents afflicting aeronauts flying into the higher reaches of the atmosphere. Intent on solving the mystery, he takes a dangerous flight to find out the nature of the danger that confronted them. He finds answers but pays for his life.

Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain: It is hard to imagine a writer writing in a language that isn’t her first language, and writing so well. That too, a female writer writing at a time when very few Indian women got an education. This feminist utopian story is decades ahead of its time.

The story, written in 1905, is set in a utopia where the word, mannish, means being timid and shy. The story provokes thought: Why should women be confined indoors to keep them safe? Why not confine the men who carry mischief in their hearts?

A Psychological Shipwreck by Ambrose Bierce: A man’s dream of a shipwreck comes true.

The Door in the Wall by HG Wells: A promising young politician with a great career ahead of him is haunted by a door that suddenly appeared in a wall. The door led to a garden where he spent the happiest moments in his childhood. The door and the garden appear at the strangest times and places. The man feels haunted by the sight of that door.

The last two stories didn’t quite fit the science fiction genre. But overall, I enjoyed this selection. I look forward to reading more science fiction from now on.

I looked forward to readig this anthology of classic science stories but ended up vaguely disappointed.
The simple truth is that science fiction, with the exceptions of many timeless masterpieces, moves on. More recent stories, for example the contemporary Three Body Game by Liu Cixin or going back to the eighties the science based imagination of William Gibson is much more compeling reading. I was brought up on Astounding and Analog magazines which created a lifelong interest in the genre, but it seems to me that science fiction can date more than any other form of literature. Broadly speaking it needs to be contemporaneous if not cutting edge. The book was interesting walk down memory lane but not gripping.

Considering the name recognition amongst the authors selected for this edition, and knowing that many of these authors laid the foundations for every sci-fi story I've ever loved, I was expecting to be blown away by the stories. Though they're still worth reading, unfortunately many of them don't stand the test of time. I'll put aside the outdated science and the jarring treatment of social issues (race, gender, etc) because these stories are products of their time and should be read with their social context in mind. It was the writing itself which influenced my star rating: in many of the stories, the writing style or pacing wasn't able to keep my interest.

Here are some brief thoughts on my favourites from the collection:

A Martian Odyssey
I've always loved stories set on Mars (Ray Bradbury being one of my ultimate favourites) and this one didn't disappoint. I loved the description of the setting and terrain. It's pretty cool to read how authors without the benefit of Mars Rover pictures imagined Mars.

The Mortal Immortal
The more I read by and about Mary Shelley the more I love her. I really enjoyed this story!

A Tale of the Ragged Mountains
This was unexpected and quite a departure from Poe's typical work which is normally gothic and grisly. If you like Poe's other, more well-known stories you might be surprised to find him using ideas of time travel in a story. I like the fact that this one didn't end in a clear-cut way. The reader is left with questions, just as the character is. It's not his finest story but definitely worth a read.

Ones I really didn't enjoy:

The Colour Out of Space
This just reconfirmed that Lovecraft is not for me. I haven't enjoyed any of the work I've read by him so I think this will be my last attempt to understand why his writing is so beloved.

The Tachypomp
This was a serious let down. I don't think I've ever actually read a published story with the much dreaded 'It was all a dream' trope before now... I thought it was a myth. It isn't.

(This is a Netgalley review.)

This collection of science fiction short stories would best be described as “fine”. The selections for what was included didn’t blow me away as many of them just didn’t work for me, and not because of their plausibility (I am more than willing to suspend my disbelief) but because they simply were not very interesting. Perhaps that is an issue of audience--what was enough to fascinate an audience when these stories were originally published are simply not enough now.

Before I get into my main issue with this collection which ultimately led to me choosing to give it a two star rating (the lack of social context and discussion of racism, gender, and other bigotries), I want to briefly go over the short stories included in the collection and my thoughts on them. Additionally, to be clear, the star rating given is not necessarily reflective of how I would rate the short stories themselves as individual pieces of art, but rather a reflection of my thoughts on them as a collection and the collection's ability to preface, discuss, and present these short stories as a whole. (Indeed, had the commentary not been so shallow, this collection would have been a solid three stars.)

"The Star" by H.G. Wells - A poor start to the collection. I only found this interesting because I could see its influence on other science fiction stories; other than that, I found it terribly boring (save for the brief section describing individual people's responses to the star). Of course, this is a consistant issue I find I have with Well's cosmic sci-fi (I also disliked "War of the Worlds"), so it may be a matter of personal taste.

"A Martian Odyssey" by Stanley Weinbaum - I enjoyed this one much more than "The Star," and to be honest, I would have almost preferred the collection to open with this story. It's far more interesting to a modern audience because it has specific characters, has a far more interesting premise and plot, and the exploration of Mars' surface and the descriptions of the alien life found are fun.

"The Diamond Lens" by Fitz-James O'Brien - It was hard to enjoy this one. The beginning dragged a bit and the ending was a bit boring as well. This short story also contained the first instance of a protagonist dramatically leaving a performance because the performer was ugly compared to all the beautiful science he'd seen. If I had a nickle for every time that happened in this collection, I would have two nickles, which isn't a lot but it's funny that it happened twice.

"Micromegas" by Voltaire - This really did not age well, especially for an audience with a basic understanding of physics and such.

"The Mortal Immortal" by Mary Shelley - Hell yeah, Mary Shelley. I certainly see why this work of hers is not as popular as "Frankenstein" but it was interesting.

"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" by Edgar Allan Poe - This is one of Poe's I had never read before and was pleasently surprised. It contained time-travel weirdness.

"The Automaton Ear" by Florence McLandburgh - I have no notes down for this one and, to be honest, can't remember many of my thoughts on it besides it being slow and not terribly gripping, though the concept was interesting.

"The Tachypomp" by Edward Page Mitchell - This short story is a textbook math problem. I thought it couldn't get worse until the main character fell into a giant hole and woke up to realize it was just a dream all along. I struggle between finding it unbearable boring and unintentionally absolutely hilarious. The final two lines are "Still I can see no reason why the Tachypomp should not have succeeded. Can you?" You know what buddy? Sure. Why not. I believe in your horrible train monstrocity with all my heart.

"The Colour Out of Space" by H.P. Lovecraft - Not a Lovecraft fan, though I enjoyed this one fairly well enough. Probably because it wasn't quite as aggressively racist as some of his other work I've read, though it contained, of course, a sprinkling of xenophobia, which the editor was kind enough to footnote, though he provided no footnotes on any of the previous examples of xenophobia and/or racism present in the earlier short stories.

"To Hermann Stoffkraft, Ph. D., A Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley)" by James Clerk Maxwell - It's a poem about science. I thought it was cool although I found it to be a strange decision to include in this collection. After all, it is a poem and this is a collection of short stories not short-form work in general.

"The Horror of the Heights" by Arthur Conan Doyle - I am not a fan of Doyle's Sherlock work and was surprised to find I actually enjoyed this story. Not much to say.

"Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain - I appreciated the inclusion of Hossain's work. I found it very interesting and would like to read more of her work in the future.

"A Psychological Shipwreck" by Ambrose Bierce - This story has a similar premise to "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains", with strange time/space shenanigans and a person being displaced in them, seeing and participating in events they should not be able to. This one hides that twist until the end. I enjoyed it.

"The Door in the Wall" by H.G. Wells - Another Wells short story. I understand why Wells is a requirement for pretty much every science fiction collection, but the choices for his works were rather poor. "The Door in the Wall" doesn't really seem like it would be sci-fi to me; where, after all, is the science? I am no expert, of course, but it reads more like magical realism or fantasy to me. It is certainly a weak, disappointing end to the collection. (Not because the short story is bad--I enjoyed it--but because it really does not read as sci-fi at all, especially following three short stories which dealt very explicitly with scientific fiction--flight, utopia based upon solar and weather inventions, and the displacement of the psyche/soul (as well as the concept similar to that of of alternate timelines).

Overall this collection was a letdown. I love classics, especially short stories, but this is one short story collection I wouldn't want to keep on my shelf. My disappointment with this collection began, however, with the forward, a terribly important thing for any short story collection but especially so for any collection of classics. The forward/introduction should provide context and guidence for the reader, and while I appreciated the due credit this introduction gave to the importance of the short story in the formation of science fiction as a genre, the introduction lacked any substantial discussion of the sociological contexts and issues.

This was especially strange because science fiction is a genre which often comments on or reflects upon social issues and prejudices, especially those considering race and gender. Why not include a discussion in the introduction which acknowledges the ways sci-fi both criticizes and perpetuates these social issues? The collection really suffered for lack of a nuanced discussion of prejudice, racism, and gender; the only nods to this were in relation to Lovecraft, who was referred to as having "very different sensibilities" and got a footnote in "The Colour Out of Space" discussing why the editor chose not to remove or change Lovecraft's use of the word foreigners, a note I was surprised to see considering far more blatantly racist and anti-Semetic writing in earlier stories had gone entirely unremarked upon. This included use in several stories of an antiquated, offensive term for black people and blatant anti-Semitism in "The Diamond Lens", among others.

The issue of lack of nuance and care directed towards acknowledging the presence of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia in science fiction also showed itself in the failure to include all that many stories which actually did examine and/or criticize these issues. The diversity of included authors (with only three of the twelve authors being woman and [as far as I know] only one of the twelve being an author of colour) is another symptom of this problem. Why were none of the classic foundational black authors writing Afrofuturism and speculative fiction not included (especially considering the huge success of 'Black Panther' in 2018)? Why isn't there a discussion of science fiction as protest literature or its connections with and use in social movements such as feminism, civil rights, and queer expression? The only discussion of this is really done regarding Hossain's work and is *specifically* about her work, rather than connecting her work with a larger movement and context one can trace to the modern day.

The introduction for "Classic Science Fiction Stories" states the goal of the collection is to not only show how the form of the short story specifically influences contemporary Sci-Fi but also to "give insight into the roots... of science fiction." Yet this collection, for the reasons outlined above, does a spectacularly poor job at actually giving any insight. The roots of science fiction, particularly science fiction short stories, are wonderful. They gave rise to amazing stories filled with imaginative, weird, and strange worlds which provided sanctuary to many who needed it. Yet those roots were steeped in racism, misogyny, homophobia, gender essentialism, xenophobia, and myriad other forms of bigotry. Sometimes science fiction questioned those things or directly fought against them, as in "Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain which imagines a peaceful matriarchal utopia which can produce wonderful inventions which run from sunlight and rainwater. Sometimes science fiction actively perpetuated or thoughtlessly reflected those issues, such as in the work of H.P. Lovecraft and H.G Wells. Therefore, when examining and presenting the roots of science fiction, one should not ignore the social contexts and issues.

The introduction for this collection argues the roots of science fiction deserve to be celebrated. I agree. But that cannot be done without acknowledging both the deeply ingrained bigotry <i>and</i> uplifting extraordinarily talented marginalized authors who used science fiction to explore race, gender, and sexuality.

It was a very interesting read, a sort of historical excursus of what can be considered sci-fi.
I discovered some gems I never read before and some new authors.
It's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I am a huge fan of science fiction and so it was with interest that I picked up this book. The collection spans from early iterations of Sci-Fi right up to the present encompassing established greats and some lesser known authors. I was pleaseantly surprised to find inclusion of works by female authors who are often overlooked/forgotten (whichever you prefer) when detailing works of science fiction unless they are named Mary Shelley - although Shelley does feature with The Mortal Immortal.

A great collection of short stories a must for any sci-fi reader and a good place to start if you're just getting into reading science fiction.

Classic Science Fiction Stories presents a selection of stories that helped create this hugely popular genre, sketching its development from authors as early as Voltaire to the late nineteenth century with Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. Some of them were penned by authors famous to this day, but Roberts also added some lesser-known names into the mix that nonetheless were seminal in furthering the development of the genre.
In themselves, few of the stories would seem very exciting to the jaded 21st century afficionado, although several are entertaining and even funny in their own right.
Instead, their appeal lies in tracing how this wildly popular genre evolved from quite humble beginnings, and seeing who first dared to think those thoughts that today are such well-loved hallmarks of the genre.

Notable is the inclusion of not just several female authors, but also Rokeya Sakkhawat Hossain, a female 19th century author from Bangladesh.

The stories included are:

H.G. Wells, The Star.
Stanley Weinbaum, A Martian Odyssey.
Fitz-James O'Brien, The Diamond Lens.
Voltaire, Micromégas.
Mary Shelley, The Mortal Immortal.
Florence McLandburgh, The Automaton Ear.
Edward Page Mitchell, The Tachypomp.
H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour out of Space.
James Clerk Maxwell, A Paradoxical Ode.
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Horror of the Heights.
Rokeya Sakkhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream.
Ambrose Bierce, A Psychological Shipwreck.
H.G. Wells, The Door in the Wall.

I want to thank Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Very interesting collection of stories, trying to cover science fiction from the past ( such as Voltaire, a surprisingly excellent story) to the present, and including several authors i don't usually come across in anthologies, which i really appreciate.

There are few stranger experiences than seeing the future imagined from the perspective of the distant past. All the stories included here which include examples from the distinguished likes of HG Wells and HP Lovecraft do just that, shedding light on the times in which they were written just as much they explore ideas about alien worlds, space travel and the future.

The collection "Classic Science Fiction Stories" introduced me to some authors and stories I've never heard of before, but I didn't really enjoy a lot of them.

I generally don't really like short stories, and the ones included in this collection didn't really change my mind.

The stories I enjoyed the most were "Sultana's Dream" and "A Martian Odyssey".

I came at this book not as a fan of science fiction, which I rarely read, but as someone who loves short stories and has an interest in classics. This collection did not disappoint! I thoroughly enjoyed it. As with any short story collection, I liked some stories more than others, but overall I would say the stories in this volume are well selected. The stories were published between the 1750s and the early twentieth century. The book begins with an introduction which provides a bit of the history of the genre, as well as placing the stories within other genres where appropriate (Poe's Gothic sci fi, for example).

Roberts also points out how the works were influenced by the knowledge available at the time they were written. This was one of the things I quite liked about the book--how the authors described what people thought of the world back then and where they thought it was going. In one story, published in 1905, the author anticipated solar ovens.

In the introduction, the writer claims that much of the best science fiction writing is in the form of short stories. It was because this book is a collection of short stories that I wanted to read it and I am very glad I did!

Thus was an interesting collection, a bit hit and miss on which stories I liked, I must admit, but an era of writing and some authors I already love so nice to delve into some of their shorter works!

A wonderful and comprehensive collection of science fiction stories, it is a gem for any science fiction lover. All the stories are mind blowing and interesting and I loved them all!

Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library series, this volume presents science fiction from before the 'golden age' and is a very respectable selection, bookended by stories from the great H G Wells. I had previously read 4 stories in this collection but they are good ones so I didn't mind re-reading. My favourite of those I hadn't read before turned out to be Arthur Conan Doyle's, which surprised me as I've never enjoyed his detective stories. There is a detailed introduction which discusses the history of early science fiction and each piece has a very short introduction too.

I felt that Lovecraft's story was kind of spoilt by a footnote from the editor which tells us that Lovecraft was a notorious racist. He was singled out, as two or three of the other stories contained racist references and were not given footnotes. Most authors of 'classic' works would have held views considered unacceptable today and if we are to continue enjoying these works, we need to separate the art from the artist. These authors lived a long time ago, those were the views they would have held, please allow us to enjoy their work.

Here are the stories included in the book:

'The Star' by H G Wells is a stunning and terrifying story - one of his best - about a new star threatening to collide with the Earth.

'A Martian Odyssey' by Stanley Weinbaum is an adventurous and action-packed story of alien encounters on Mars.

'The Diamond Lens' by FitzJames O'Brien is a strange obsessive tale of microbiology and spiritualism, from an author I hadn't heard of before.

'Micromégas' by Voltaire is a philosophical journey, which I appreciated rather than enjoyed.

'The Mortal Immortal' by Mary Shelley is a sorrowful story of alchemy and immortality with tones of her novel The Last Man.

'A Tale of the Rugged Mountains' by Edgar Allan Poe is a story of psychics and time travel, quite frightening as you'd expect from Poe.

'The Automaton Ear' by Florence McLandburgh is a very unusual and dark story of scientific obsession and mental illness, from another author I hadn't heard of before.

'The Tachypomp' by Edward Page Mitchell is a mathematics themed story which I didn't enjoy, although it does have an amusing tone.

'The Colour Out of Space' by H P Lovecraft is one of his most disturbing tales, although not one of my favourites, as it becomes repetitive towards the end.

'To Hermann Stoffkraft, Ph.D., A Paradoxical Ode (After Shelley)' by James Clerk Maxwell is a poem, which I didn't really get and wasn't sure why it was included, as the only poem in a collection of 'stories'.

'The Horror of the Heights' by Arthur Conan Doyle is an exciting and sinister tale about what awaits aviators who fly too high.

'Sultana's Dream' by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain is an early feminist utopian story which has interesting ideas but not much plot.

'A Psychological Shipwreck' by Ambrose Bierce is more supernatural than sci-fi and I didn't have much opinion on it.

'The Door in the Wall' by H G Wells is a cleverly symbolic story which will make you think.

[Review will be on my blog, 15th June]

I whizzed through this collection really wuick. All the stories were well written with compelling stories, well developed characters and everything about clssic sci fi fiction that makes it so great. I loved that some of the greats were included such as Lovecraft but also that there were some that I have never read before and now want to look further into. I can't wait to get a physical copy