Man in His Time

Britain's most versatile and durable and consistently most interesting science-fiction writer presents his own personal "best of": 22 splendid tales, 1955-86 (and a companion "best fantasy" is promised). To Aldiss, the human dimension has always been more important than hardware or fireworks - which is why his best stories have a timeless quality weaving intelligence, emotion, and inventiveness. To note some of the more famous tales here: "The Failed Men" concerns far-future human descendants whose demoralization proves contagious; the best robot short-story ever written, "Who Can Replace a Man'?"; the magnificent H.G. Wells pastiche of alien invaders, "The Saliva Tree"; the brilliant title piece, a casually terrifying story about the wife of a space traveller who, returning to Earth from Mars, finds himself marooned 3.3077 minutes in the future; "Heresies of the Huge God," a damning satire involving a colossal piece of space garbage; and, of more recent origin, the chilling "Infestation" (maggot-like aliens tunnelling through hyperspace, taking over human bodies), and a fine Martian odyssey, "The Difficulties Involved in Photographing Nix Olympica." While inarguably the grandmaster of British sf, Aldiss is oddly underrated here; perhaps this sparkling retrospective will gain him the attention he richly deserves. (Kirkus Reviews)