"Horace Gold - Inside Man & Other Science Fiction Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gold Horace)

Beyond this Horizon, Methuselah's Children , and Future History stories; the best
works of A. E. Van Vogt,The World of Null-A, Slan, The Weapon Makers ; and
authors as legendary as Lester del Rey, L. Sprague de Camp, and Theodore
Sturgeon, among others.
H. L. Gold effected a revolution of equal significance in the 1950s, when he
emphasized social satire and a sense of humor, along with such human-centered
sciences as psychology, sociology, and anthropology, into the pages of his
newly-launched science fiction magazine,Galaxy. Although a few writers whose
natural bent ran more his way than Campbell's тАУ notably Theodore Sturgeon тАУ
moved over fromAstounding (soon to be renamedAnalog to better suit the more
sophisticated tastes of the modern age), Gold's most notable successes were all
home-grown and his record for developing stellar talent and encouraging them to
write stellar works is evident in the names and stories that emerged fromGalaxy's
pages. Among them were Alfred Bester withThe Demolished Man andThe Stars My
Destination; Frederick Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth'sGravy Planet and
Gladiator-at-Law ; and Ray Bradbury'sFahrenheit 451 ; along with William Tenn,
Robert Sheckley, Margaret St. Clair, Evelyn E. Smith, and others. It should prove no
surprise, then, thatGalaxy and Gold were frequent nominees for the Hugo Award for
Best Science Fiction Magazine of the Year and captured it 1953.
Gold's own fiction bears all the characteristics he focused on atGalaxy , a puckish
sense of humor joined with a wicked flair for satire. Mix, and the result is sometimes
as effervescent as champagne ("Inside Man," "Grifter's Asteroid"), as wicked a kick
in the head as whiskey ("Someone to Watch Over Me"), and as satisfying as
well-brewed lager ("The Transmogrification of Wamba's Revenge"). Horace Gold
also liked to stand familiar science fictional notions on their head, and he does that
again and again in the stories in this collection. Almost every science fiction author
worth their salt has, at one time or another, written about extra-sensory perception,
telepathy, and other paranormal abilities. Gold does it too, but unlike his colleagues,
he dreams up brand new wrinkles on ESP no one else, including you, every thought
of (as in "Inside Man" and "The Riches of Embarrassment"). When he wrote "The
Transmogrification of Wamba's Revenge," Gold was given a cover painting
depicting the cliched scene of a scientist experimenting on miniature human beings
he has shrunk in size тАУ the notion can be found in the oldThrilling Wonder Tales of
1930s fame, as well as the filmDoctor Cyclops тАУ but when Gold looked at the
painting, he saw an entirely different possibility тАУ one everyone else in the field
overlooked. And when Gold meditates on one of humakind's age old dreams, you
can be sure things don't turn out anything like the dream. The special quality of
Gold's work was endorsed by his colleagues when "Inside Man" was nominated for
the Science Fiction Writer's of America Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1965.
The Science Fiction Source Bookhails Gold's science fictions as "witty
entertainments ... evidence of [a] sharp and perceptive intelligence."The Magazine of
Fantasy and Science Fiction noted that "there's nothing machine-made about H. L.
Gold's tales. Mr. Gold is almost the only SF writer capable of creating lower and
lower-middle class backgrounds (a relief, after all of SF's potentates, plutocrats and
technological elite)."Inside Man & Other Science Fictions is a real treat for SF fans,
gathering together in an exclusive ebook edition the best of H. L. Gold's uncollected
work, including his Nebula nominee title story.
Jean Marie Stine
4/21/2003