Margaret St. Clair

"The Age of Prophecy " © Future, Mar 1951 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool apocalyptic sf story "The Altruists" © F&SF, Nov 1953 Change the Sky, 1974 "Asking" © F&SF, Nov 1955 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool sf story "Beaulieu" © F&SF, Jan 1966 Change The Sky, 1974 --/ cool f story --/ wonder award "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes" © McLeans, 1950 "Change the Sky" © F&SF, Mar 1955 Change the Sky & Oth. Stories, 1974 --/ fourth place sf story --/ idea award --/ wonder award --/ emotion award --/ rare find "Change the Sky" (coll) © Ace Books, 1974 --/ cool sf collection ---------------------------------------------- "Consumership" © Science Fiction Stories, Sep 1956 --/ cool sf story --/ emotion award The story was translated in Russian as "Potrebiteli", and it is no wonder that communist publishers liked this biting satire against consumerism. In this story, a future society demands that people buy, spend and consume more and more products. If you don't, you face the consequences of being thrown down the social ladder. This is one of the rarest treatments of this subject, all the more so because it was not ever reprinted in any English-language anthology. review: 01-Aug-06 (read in 1984) ---------------------------------------------- "The Counter Charm" © Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Aug 1949 Androids, Time Machines and Blue Giraffes, 1973 --/ third place sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea: life inside sf pulp drawing --/ humour award --/ style award --/ rare find "The Death of Each Day" © F&SF, Apr 1958 Change the Sky, 1974 "The Death Wish" © 1956, Fantastic Universe --/ cool sf story "Discipline" © IF, Feb 1959 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award --/ rare find "An Egg A Month From All Over" (as by Idris Seabright) © F&SF, Oct 1952 Change the Sky and Other Stories, 1974 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award "Fort Iron" © Science Fiction Quarterly, Nov 1955 Change the Sky, 1974 "The Goddess on the Street Corner" © Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Sep 1953 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool f story "Graveyard Shift" © F&SF, Feb 1959 Change the Sky, 1974 ---------------------------------------------- "The Hierophants" © 1949, Thrilling Wonder Stories, April The Hole In The Moon, 2019 --/ THIRD place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award --/ idea award --/ style award --/ romance award --/ emotion award --/ rare find Quite a magical space adventure tale, such a shame that it was only reprinted once, in 2019! I found quite a few parallels with a similarly enchanting short story (much later) by Roger Zelazny "The Man Who Loved The Faioli" (1967). ---------------------------------------------- "Horrer Hawce" © Galaxy, Jul 1956 The Best of Margaret St.Clair, 1988 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award An amazingly effective haunted house/multiple dimensions story; I loved the atmosphere and fast-paced writing. A certain winner, with many Lovecraftian overtones. review: 07-Jul-06 (read in 1989) ---------------------------------------------- "Lazarus" © Startling Stories, Fall 1955 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award --/ shock value --/ rare find "The Listening Child" (as Idris Seabright) © F&SF, Dec 1950 "Marriage Manual" © Startling Stories, Fall 1954 Change the Sky, 1974 "Mrs. Hawk" © Weird Tales, Jul 1953 --/ cool f story --/ style award --/ rare find "An Old-Fashioned Bird Christmas" © Galaxy, Dec 1961 Change the Sky, 1974 ---------------------------------------------- "Pillows" © Thrilling Wonder Stories, Jun 1950 The Best of Margaret St.Clair, 1988 --short story : 1950 Retro Hugo nomination --/ fourth place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ adventure award Very solid space adventure with truly interesting aliens. I did not expect it from this writer, but here it is! Licks any other good entry. I can eat such stories for breakfast, lunch and dinner. review: 04-Jul-06 (read in 2002) ---------------------------------------------- "Prott" © Galaxy, Jan 1953 The Best of Margaret St.Clair, 1988 --/ cool f story --/ style award --/ wonder award --/ humour award "Prott" is a "boring" alien race, who did nothing but bore humans. They looked like gigantic space-going fried eggs. The story begins with a Prott discovering a human in a spaceship; the Prott enthusiastically begins telling the human about "--ing the --." However, the man can't make out what the noun and verb in the telepathically transmitted phrase mean, so the Prott explains some more... and more... and brings equally enthusiastic friends review: 04-Jul-06 (read in 1993) ---------------------------------------------- "Shore Leave" © Change the Sky, 1974 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ shock value --/ rare find ---------------------------------------------- "Short In The Chest" (as by Idris Seabright) © Fantastic Universe, Jul 1954 The Best of Margaret St.Clair, 1988 --/ fourth place sf story --/ wonder award --/ style award ---------------------------------------------- "Stawdust" © F&SF, Sep 1956 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ fourth place space sf story --/ wonder award --/ idea award --/ shock value Absolutely surreal and at times bewildering story about a "nightmare of the senses" in a hyperspace starship, where nothing is what it seems. The cause of the hallucinations is not explained, it could be some physiological effect of hyperspace itself. The creepy feeling is top-notch, almost Hitchcock-ian it its intensity - people disappear from the ship one by one, turning into saw-dust filled dummies, and our poor girl is left alone to pilot the ship... Can she make it, as the instruments and technology itself are crumbling all around her? No, she definitely can't, and the way her doom catches up with her is quite nightmarish indeed. review: 20-Sep-06 (read in 2003) ---------------------------------------------- "Then Fly Our Greetings" © Startling Stories, Mar 1951 Change the Sky, 1974 --/ cool sf story ---------------------------------------------- "Thirsty God" (as by Idris Seabright) © F&SF, Mar 1953 --/ cool sf story --/ wonder award Rare and imaginative story about Brian, a human who rapes a Venusian girl and seeks refuge from her family in a small shrine. But the shrine turns out to be an alien machine that changes his body while he's asleep. Unfortunately the machine wasn't designed to convert humans so the process goes wrong, leaving him physically helpless. In that state he is found and repeatedly subjected to a kind of symbolic rape by a more primitive Venusian race. (synopsis by Leem) review: 20-Sep-06 (read in 1997) ---------------------------------------------- "The Wines of Earth" (as by Idris Seabright) © Change the Sky, 1974 Change the Sky, 1974 ----------------------------------------------

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