Forbidden Planets Author:Marvin Kaye (Editor) Regardless of what you tell them, people tend to do the things they shouldn't. That defiance in the face of the unknown -- that hubris which makes us meddle with things better left alone -- is a traditional theme of sf&f. The early cinema emphasized its capacity to scare, and horror and sf films from Forbidden Planet to Alien resonate in our col... more »lective unconscious.
We at the Club wondered what some of today's best sf writers would do with this classic motif, so we asked renowned editor (and long-time SFBC member) Marvin Kaye to pick six stellar authors to contribute to an all-new SFBC Creation. Forbidden Planets gathers their exciting original novellas, stories that go to worlds we wouldn't want to set foot on, while stirring up our innate desire to challenge the status quo.
In "Mid-Death" by Alan Dean Foster, you never see death coming...
Welcome to Mid-World -- an impenetrable world-forest filled with bizarre predators, where visitors are strictly prohibited, and no one on base ever goes outside. Now a crack squad of commandos must bring a botanist out of the treacherous, kilometer-high jungle. But they've overestimated their readiness... and underestimated the planet.
Allen Steele's "Walking Star" shows how far some people will go for transcendence...
When the richest man on Coyote hires a guide to help him find Walking Star, a friend and employee who disappeared in the unexplored and justly feared wilds, they're horrified to discover that he's been running an experiment with profound implications for the future of civilization...
In "JQ211F, And Holding" by Nancy Kress, there are worse things than death...
A scientist has found what may be the source of all life in the galaxy, a noxious world of acid seas, and enormous volcanic and electrical activity. According to calculations, there should be microbes on the planet, so why are all his samples showing non-viable junk? In the very act of seeking answers, he could lose everything he'd hoped to gain...
In Robert Reed's aptly titled "Rococo," chaos means "disasters that never arrive along expected avenues..."
An engineer on the Great Ship, Aasleen is sent to stop her brother, Rococo, who stole a shuttle and crashed on the quarantined, bolide-battered home world of the uniquely alien Scypha. The creatures have agreed to give humans empty worlds in their system in exchange for a ride aboard the Ship. Now, Rococo is trying to ruin the deal, but there's a method to his madness...
"Kaminsky at War" by Jack McDevitt asks, "What do you do when the rules say 'don't interfere' -- and you must?"
For 42 years, since the discovery of the alien Noks, anthropologist Arthur Kaminsky had walked unseen among them, watching them work, play, make love. But today was different: today he watched them die. And suddenly he wanted to stop their decades-long world war. But there were greater issues at stake than the cause of a maverick do-gooder...
For the People in Julie E. Czerneda's story, there truly is "No Place Like Home."
For generations, the space-dwelling Umlari have had one collective wish: to find their long-lost home world, the one planet capable of supporting their kind. Using custom-grown avatars, specially trained walkers explore each new world. Now they've found what promises to be the one... but, as we humans say, there are worse things than not getting your heart's desire...« less