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Available
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Library's review
Indeholder "The Monsters", "Cost of living", "The Altar", "Shape", "The impacted man", "Untouched by human hands", "The King's wishes", "Warm", "The Demons", "Specialist", "Seventh victim", "Ritual", "Besides still waters".
"The Monsters" handler om det moralske i at begrænse
"Cost of living" handler om at leve på kredit.
"The Altar" handler om at være et offer for sin nysgerrighed.
"Shape" handler om at frihed er et stærkt forsvar.
"The impacted man" handler om en entreprenørs besværligheder med at få sin betaling.
"Untouched by human hands" handler om at sulte ihjel omgivet af mad og ikke-mad.
"The King's wishes" handler om en tidsrejsende ånd med hang til køleskabe.
"Warm" handler om at høre stemmer.
"The Demons" handler om at blive fanget af Nelsebub og skulle skaffe 5 tons drast.
"Specialist" handler om at skulle bevæge sig og andre.
"Seventh victim" handler om at være morder og offer på skift.
"Ritual" handler om at blive misforstået.
"Besides still waters" handler om en talende robot.
Titelnovellen er vildt skæg. Alle drikker Voozy. Yeah, right. Specialist er også en exceptionel god historie og resten af novellerne er også underholdende.
"The Monsters" handler om det moralske i at begrænse
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fødselsoverskuddet."Cost of living" handler om at leve på kredit.
"The Altar" handler om at være et offer for sin nysgerrighed.
"Shape" handler om at frihed er et stærkt forsvar.
"The impacted man" handler om en entreprenørs besværligheder med at få sin betaling.
"Untouched by human hands" handler om at sulte ihjel omgivet af mad og ikke-mad.
"The King's wishes" handler om en tidsrejsende ånd med hang til køleskabe.
"Warm" handler om at høre stemmer.
"The Demons" handler om at blive fanget af Nelsebub og skulle skaffe 5 tons drast.
"Specialist" handler om at skulle bevæge sig og andre.
"Seventh victim" handler om at være morder og offer på skift.
"Ritual" handler om at blive misforstået.
"Besides still waters" handler om en talende robot.
Titelnovellen er vildt skæg. Alle drikker Voozy. Yeah, right. Specialist er også en exceptionel god historie og resten af novellerne er også underholdende.
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Collection
Publication
Ballantine (1960), Mass Market Paperback
Description
People hunt and kill one another as public entertainment and to win prizes in "Seventh Victim," the short version of Sheckley's novel The 10th Victim, which was made into a movie. The twelve other stories in this collection are "The Monsters," "Cost of Living," "The Altar," "Shape," "The Impacted Man," "Untouched by Human Hands," "The King's Wishes," "Warm," "The Demons," "Specialist," "Ritual," and "Beside Still Waters." From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was "a precursor to Douglas Adams."… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
Some of the best speculative fiction I have ever read. This is what it should be about. Philosophically grounded in real-world issues, doesn't take itself too seriously or try to be a boring sage of the future, alternative POVs in a fun and engaging manner. Ultimately this is a humanist book, such
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a relief from neo-fascist drek that makes up so much of this genre particularly from this period. Sheckley himself said that he was in effect writing "a commentary on science fiction", in other words anti-science fiction and that's what makes it so great, sets it above. Sheckley deals with issue of post-colonialism quite well, turning the tables on the colonizer and colonized. Also the condition of modernity, "Cost of Living" it's even more relevant today in this age of eternal debt. The last story, "Beside Still Waters", is beautiful. Show Less
LibraryThing member clong
This is a collection of thirteen Sheckley stories that were originally published in 1952 and 1953. Nine of these were new to me. Sheckley's writing from this period is great fun: quick moving, witty and humorous, with touches of farce and no pretensions whatsover (except perhaps "Beside Still
The best of the lot is is the well known "Seventh Victim," but none of them were bad.
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Waters" a story which tries to go beyond this, and carries it off reasonably well).The best of the lot is is the well known "Seventh Victim," but none of them were bad.
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LibraryThing member mrgan
Very readable classic sci-fi, structured in the Twilight Zone tradition. Often funny, always concise.
LibraryThing member ikeman100
Good short story collection. This is where Sheckley excels.
LibraryThing member RobertDay
A vintage paperback, collecting ten stories (in the UK edition) from the early to mid-1950s. Indeed, reading a slender A-format paperback (only 125 pages) was a pleasure in itself when compared with the somewhat inflated B-format books now so commonplace. I read through this in three sittings in
Sheckley was a master of the short form; I visualised some of these stories as Twilight Zone episodes, and indeed The Altar almost played itself out for me in black-and-white! Cost of Living has a timely warning on consumer debt.
A couple of the stories betray their age in their attitudes to women, but even then Sheckley undermines even a modern reader's expectations by giving female characters agency in sometimes surprising ways.
The title story is a classic where two spaceship pilots running short of supplies find themselves stranded in an alien warehouse full of food they cannot eat, with labels like "VIGROOM - FILLS ALL YOUR STOMACHS AND FILLS THEM RIGHT!" and "VORMITASH - AS GOOD AS IT SOUNDS!".
Perhaps the stand-out story for me was Watchbird, where robot birds are deployed to predict murderous intent and prevent the crimes happening (a theme familiar from the "Precrime" in Philip Dick's 1956 novella - and [much] later film - Minority Report). But the robot birds have "learning circuits" and begin to learn human behaviour too well. This story could be almost contemporary - change some of the vocabulary to include the words "AI", "algorithm" and "drone", and a modern reader wouldn't turn a hair.
The collection ends with another classic, The Seventh Victim.
Many of the best of these stories have been reprinted since in other collections. but this is worth acquiring if you see a copy. And frankly, any Robert Sheckley is worth acquiring.
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the course of one day.Sheckley was a master of the short form; I visualised some of these stories as Twilight Zone episodes, and indeed The Altar almost played itself out for me in black-and-white! Cost of Living has a timely warning on consumer debt.
A couple of the stories betray their age in their attitudes to women, but even then Sheckley undermines even a modern reader's expectations by giving female characters agency in sometimes surprising ways.
The title story is a classic where two spaceship pilots running short of supplies find themselves stranded in an alien warehouse full of food they cannot eat, with labels like "VIGROOM - FILLS ALL YOUR STOMACHS AND FILLS THEM RIGHT!" and "VORMITASH - AS GOOD AS IT SOUNDS!".
Perhaps the stand-out story for me was Watchbird, where robot birds are deployed to predict murderous intent and prevent the crimes happening (a theme familiar from the "Precrime" in Philip Dick's 1956 novella - and [much] later film - Minority Report). But the robot birds have "learning circuits" and begin to learn human behaviour too well. This story could be almost contemporary - change some of the vocabulary to include the words "AI", "algorithm" and "drone", and a modern reader wouldn't turn a hair.
The collection ends with another classic, The Seventh Victim.
Many of the best of these stories have been reprinted since in other collections. but this is worth acquiring if you see a copy. And frankly, any Robert Sheckley is worth acquiring.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1954-03
Physical description
169 p.; 18 cm
Local notes
Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser en drage, der svæver over nogle raketter, der står på jorden
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Omslaget viser en drage, der svæver over nogle raketter, der står på jorden
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi
Other editions
Uberørt af menneskehånd by Robert Sheckley (Paperback)
Similar in this library
Pages
169
DDC/MDS
| 813.54 |