Finished - 13 Great Stories of Science Fiction edited by Groff Conklin. This book is from 1960, right at the peak of the silver age of science fiction. The theme of the book is "invention" so all the stories deal in some with the process of inventing, using, or simply understanding an existing invention. There are about 4 stories in here that would make absolutely ass-kicking EP episodes, they are:
The War is Over - Algis Budrys - an entire planetary society appears to have collectivized solely to put one of their own into space to deliver a very specific message on a specific date. Told from the POV of the astronaut, mostly.
Volpla - Wyman Gwynn - a smartass scientists attempts to hoax the world with his genetically engineered creatures, but is done in by his own expertise. There's some tongue in cheek here, and the gender roles are eye-rolling, but the central idea is really fun. It's also a little long for EP maybe.
Shipping Clerk - William Morrison - Down on his luck drunk Ollie Keith accidentally swallows an interdimensional transporter used by two disguised aliens to move Earth goods to the import/export business on their home planet. Funny and fun. Also some nice Twilight Zone style storytelling.
Technological Retreat - C. G. Edmondson - This might be the first story to ever approach the idea of what kicks off a technological singularity. It's a fun "aliens meet hick" and establish trade story but the outcome is really interesting and fun.
The Skills of Xanadu - Theodore Sturgeon - The one big far-far-far future culture story where humanity is united by the old tongue but divided by everything else. A warlike scout named Brill makes a survey of a very pastoral society he must determine why they are as they are, and how his people might benefit from conquest. This is a very familiar plot in the intervening years since this was published but it's nice to see how Sturgeon uses the technology angle to tell the story of galactic conquest. There's a twist or two, and some mild humor, but what makes it so good is Sturgeon's character development. This one runs long too, but it's well worth seeking out, the payoff is great.
Groff Conklin was the editor of Galaxy magazine in the 1950s and 1960s and edited a couple of dozen anthologies like this. I am guessing most of the content was pulled out reprints from Galaxy Magazine, but there are some of his books that are co-edited by other writers like Asimov and Bradbury and he may have solicited fresh stuff from the popular writers of the time then. I've got another one on order from Amazon and I'll write that one up when I receive and read it.
Since it's mostly 1950s science fiction there's an element of datedness to it, the computer stories and robot stories, while only somewhat fresh in 1954 or so are stale as million year old bread now. It's funny to see how differently computers turned out to be when they were first made into story mechanics, and how many writers took the simplest story ideas from say, I Robot, and milked them like an atomic cow, even writers I love like John Wyndham get in on the act and does his best to write his own version of I Sing the Body Electric which, while perfectly entertaining, is completely boring idea-wise.
I love finding these old silver age treasures.
