This week I returned to stories from Cosmic Corsairs, edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio. I have previous covered other stories in this anthology HERE and HERE. The stories in the book focus on space pirates, and were written between 1941 and 2020.
"They Never Come Back" by Fritz Lieber
I think that this is the first thing I have read by Fritz Lieber. I enjoyed the story very much. A bit old-fashioned I guess, but that is as it should be. Bart Harlan has recently heard that his former girlfriend was killed in the loss of a ship that was traveling the warp from Mars to Earth. Space warps are the method of travel in space in this story, and it sounded a perfectly good explanation to me. Regardless, a ship and its crew has never been recovered after losing contact with the warp, so there is no hope he will see her again. Except that he believes that there is a way to rescue the ship and he does his best to pursue that goal. The problem is that he is not an official navigator and no one will listen to him. So he gets a job on a beat up old spaceship that is going in the right direction, and later finds out he has gotten mixed up with ruthless pirates. The story was exciting and held my attention.
"Breaking News Regarding Space Pirates" by Brian Trent
Jolene Fort is a former space pirate, now retired. She was renowned for stealing valuable art objects. So when Bradley Winterfig's collection is vandalized and some very valuable pieces stolen, he has the Police Department of the space colony bring Jolene to his private vault for questioning. This is a clever locked room mystery, and Jolene Fort is a great character.
First published in 2016 in Galaxy's Edge, no. 23. It is ten pages long in the Cosmic Corsairs anthology.
"Teen Angel" by Robert Garcia y Robertson
Under normal circumstances, I would not seek out a story about a young girl turned into a sex slave, but this one turned to be well worth reading. The story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2006, and is identified as a novelette by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. In this anthology the story is about 34 pages long.
A young girl is taken by a slaver, who turns her into a remote controlled sex toy for his master. However, she retains her compassion and good nature through the years, and is intelligent enough to take advantage of the situation when she has the opportunity to escape. I did get immersed in the story of how she finds her way back home, and how life has changed when she returned.
Rick Robinson at Tip the Wink introduced me to this book, and sent me his copy to read. Also see George Kelley's review of Cosmic Corsairs for comments on more of the stories and a list of the stories.
I have five stories and about 80 pages left to read in Cosmic Corsairs.
16 comments:
I do like locked-room mysteries, Tracy, when they're done well, and it sounds as though Breaking News... does that effectively. I like strong female characters, too, which is an added appeal. They Never Came Back sounds like a suspenseful story with believable characters, and that's a big plus for me. Glad you enjoyed these.
I've been a fan of Hank Davis's SF anthologies for years. I must own a dozen of them! I enjoy Davis's choice in stories and I especially like his introductions to the stories that tell you about the author and how the story got published.
That is an obscure early Fritz Leiber story, all right...FUTURE FICTION being one of the more durable but relatively minor markets in that era (though long-term editor Robert A. W. Lowndes, who would succeed then-editor in 1941 Charles Hornig when the latter was imprisoned for conscientious objection during World War 2, did publish much or the first pro examples of the early work, particularly, in his low-budget magazines, of writers ranging from Carol Emshwiller to Edward Hoch to Kate Wilhelm to Stephen King to F. Paul Wilson to Janet Fox.
Leiber was a genius, and a relatively mature talent even from his early publications. I will have to dig out a copy of that issue or the book, one way or the other, now! Leiber would publish his first two novels not long after this story, the brilliant CONJURE WIFE and the impressive GATHER, DARKNESS!...
Glad you found some worthwhile handling of the disturbing situation in the Garcia and Robertson, too.
Ah, I see I was telescoping things a bit...Robert Lowndes was in place as editor of FUTURE by the beginning of 1941, and Hornig would be imprisoned, after eventually refusing even peaceable wartime service, in 1943.
The Fritz Leiber one appeals to me a lot. I think I have read something by him, I seem to recall seeing his books in the library when I was a teen but I can't for the life of me remember what it would have been. This seems like a good collection. I've been fascinated by the idea of space pirates since I saw an episode of Blake's 7 in my 20s where pirates took over the ship. I'd not previously thought of such a thing. LOL
Margot: Since reading more short stories, I have found that I really enjoy science fiction short stories. I never would have guessed.
And in that shorter story, the author did well at creating a strong female character.
George, I am glad you reminded me of his other anthologies. I just checked out Abebooks.com and I can get copies of some of his anthologies at a good price. I go through the science fiction books every year at the book sale, because that is the area my son frequents, and never see any of those anthologies there, unfortunately.
I agree about the introductions. They are excellent without telling too much.
Todd, I noted some good comments you had added at George's post on this anthology, when I checked it out again yesterday. And now you have provided more and different information here. Thanks for that. I like to learn more about science fiction.
And amazingly, my son is currently reading Gather, Darkness by Leiber. I had noticed that when he took my husband to a recent doctor's appointment, but I knew nothing about the book. I will have to try it out soon.
I was just recently mentioning to my husband your fantastic collection of short story magazine issues. I am so envious, even though we have no room to store such a collection.
Cath, I never thought of space pirates either until I saw this anthology, but it makes perfect sense.
I will be trying books and more stories by Leiber. As noted above, my son has one of his books and I have another one in a omnibus edition of various science fiction novels from the 1950's. That one is The Big Time and I think it deals with time travel, which I usually like.
THE BIG TIME is a novella, which is set in a sort of rest and recuperation station for soldiers in what's known as the Change War, in which two opposing forces, for convenience's sake tagged the Spiders and the Snakes, flit through time/space to cause things to happen in their side's favor. (This is the background of the novella, rather than anything like a spoiler...it's part of an ongoing series of stories by Leiber, of which TBT is one of the best.) One interesting aspect of the story is that it essentially all takes place in a subjectively short period of time in one room...Leiber was an actor before he became a professional writer, and his work often verges on the dramatic when it doesn't actually take that form on occasion (with such stories as "The Secret Songs" or the actual play "The Mechanical Bride").
I have a very poorly organized collection still, alas, but hope tp straighten things out some soon!
GATHER, DARKNESS is a very good read! Among Leiber's longer sf works (as opposed to the fantasies and such brilliant horrors as CONJURE WIFE, YOU'RE ALL ALONE and OUR LADY OF DARKNESS), G, D is one of his best, along with THE BIG TIME and the somewhat improbably-titled A SPECTER IS HAUNTING TEXAS, which is a satirical science fiction novel rather than a ghost story in any way.
But do plunge into Leiber's short fiction, as well, if you enjoy his novels. (Some of which, including THE WANDERER and THE SILVER EGGHEADS, have charms, but are not a patch on such short fiction as "Coming Attraction" or "Poor Superman", or the brilliant likes of "Smoke Ghost"...)
Todd, you are right (of course), The Big Time is very short. In the Library of America omnibus edition I have it is about 100 pages. I did look into the series that The Big Time is a part of a bit. It includes some short stories, I think.
A poorly organized collection is better than no collection at all. And with lack of organization you can make happy discoveries.
Indeed, everything else in the Change War series is shorter fiction yet...Leiber's most famous series is his sword & sorcery milestone saga of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, which includes stories which frequently verge on horror and some which are science fantasy, with a mild science-fictional component (not least the one novel in that sequence, THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR). Leiber also braided very short series of stories, including the three playlets in prose form (mostly) which have very strong autobiographical elements and characters based on his wife and their son, and his parents: "The Secret Songs", "237 Talking Statues, Etc.", and "The Winter Flies" (the editor of F&SF didn't like the title of that last one, so published it as "The Inner Circles"); another features a character based more loosely on himself, professor Norman Saylor, and is comprised solely, I believe, of the horror novel CONJURE WIFE and the odd, deft fantasy short story "Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee" (which initially describes a drummer's musical pattern...I'll admit it took me at least some months to see how it could be also taken as a somewhat fratorital salacious reference), which otherwise have little to link them. TIMEWAR is an incomplete collection of a number of the more important Change War short stories. THE GREEN MILLENNIUM is a novel, not up to its predecessors, following in a loose sequence with aforementioned "Coming Attraction" and "Poor Superman".
You might have the sense I'm a fan, though not an uncritical one. His best work is as good as any fantastica I've read, and among the most influential on other writers.
Indeed, rediscovery of the forgotten or feared lost is always a bonus! Getting the shelves repaired or purchased and up is another matter, as well...
Todd, your comments here certainly motivate me to start reading the Change War series, and I am also interested in trying the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series too, although verging on horror is not my idea of a good time. I noticed that the series is numbered not in publication order in two different places I checked. Is it best to start with Swords and Deviltry?
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