There’s a new book recommendation site in town and its name is Shepherd. They aim to give Goodreads a run for its money and to help build their site, Shepherd has been reaching out to authors for their top five book recommendations based on a theme of their choice.
In my case, I created a list of the best books about ordinary people thrown into bizarre and extraordinary circumstances. It’s an honor to be featured on Shepherd and join the ranks of so many incredible writers!
This week, we spotlight BookBub with articles about gaining followers, growing your readership, how BookBub’s auction model works, and strategies for using ads on their platform.
Becca Puglisi, co-author of the Emotion Thesaurus, offers tips on how to create insecure characters while Sarah Gribble provides a guide to writing horror. Do you know who your target audience is? If not, Amy Wilson has some advice for you.
All that and a little more, including a few discussions about Ray Bradbury. Enjoy and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
What’s Autofiction? Should You Fictionalize the Story of Your Life? by Anne R. Allen
Point of View: What’s the Best Choice? by Jami Gold
Honing Your Author Voice by Heather Webb
BookBub Ads 101: How the Auction Model Works by AJ Jack
Using BookBub Ads to Drive Series Sell-Through by AJ Jack
Who is My Target Audience? by Amy Wilson
How to Write a Novel Synopsis from Good Story Company
How to Write Horror: 8 Crucial Components to Terrify and Delight by Sarah Gribble
Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl by David Boaz
10 Tips for Growing a Global Audience of Readers by Mark Leslie Lefebvre
Can Writing Heal Physical Pain? by Sue Coletta
In Favor of Present Tense Writing by Rhiannon Richardson
Writing Insecure Characters by Becca Puglisi
14 Ideas for Getting More BookBub Followers by Diana Urban
The Sideshow Magician Who Inspired Ray Bradbury—Then Vanished by Erik Ofgang
A tribute to SF writer C.M. Kornbluth— who died at the age of 34 in 1958—Science Fiction Showcase delivers eleven excellent speculative fiction tales edited by Kornbluth’s wife, Mary Byers. Contributing authors include Ray Bradbury, Damon Knight, Ted Sturgeon, Robert Bloch, Frederik Pohl, Avram Davidson, James Blish, Jack Williamson, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, and Richard Matheson.
With a line-up like that, how could you go wrong? It’s a rare occasion when I enjoy every story in an anthology almost equally, but in this case, they were all brilliant. Were I forced to choose favorites, they would be…
Richard Falk, a fugitive from Earth, steals a space freighter and heads to Mars where an alien transportation device was long ago uncovered. Unable to live in a society brainwashed into complacency by the government, Falk intends to use the device to begin life anew on a distant world. There’s only problem—once you step inside, where you end up is anyone’s guess in “A Ticket to Anywhere” by Damon Knight.
Anderson “Sonny” Trumie grew up poor, practically raised by robots, in a society whose highest priority was to consume. Yet, time passed Sonny by and he failed to share in its enlightenment. He continued to consume, until he was too obese to move without assistance, and to construct robots to help him acquire his own island… and still he wanted more, for Anderson Trumie was “The Man Who Ate the World” by Frederick Pohl.
In “A Work of Art” by James Blish, 19th century German composer Richard Strauss is resurrected in a new body in the year 2161. Repulsed by what he considers the regression of music in this modern age, Strauss sets out to compose an opera based on Christopher Fry’s play, Venus Observed. Although his opera is wildly successful, Strauss comes to realize two awful truths about himself… and his fate.
The orphaned boy of two American explorers must leave his Tibetan upbringing and migrate to Kansas where he is to be raised by his intolerant Christian aunt who, glaring down at him with one eye brown and other a glassy green, will not bear the boy’s heathen faith and philosophy. Yet despite her chastisements and beatings, the boy holds true to his Tibetan teachings while his aunt learns a lesson in cruelty in Jack Williamson’s “The Cold Green Eye.”
“Mantage” by Richard Matheson – Alfred Hitchcock observed that “drama is life with the dull bits cut out,” but what if you were so eager to achieve your goals that you had the option to live your life without those dull bits? Heed the old adage, you can’t live your life in a day—unless you’re award-winning writer Owen Crowley who learns that the gaps between the accolades are just as precious.
This collection of 11 reprinted tales edited by Groff Conklin features some of the most skilled storytellers in vintage SF including Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft, Lester Del Rey, Ray Bradbury, Frederic Brown, and more. There were at least three entries that I recalled reading in other collections as recently as a few months ago, but they were absolutely worth a second pass.
In A.J. Deutsch’s “A Subway Named Mobius,” an entire passenger train is lost for months in a closed rail system. When transportation officials and a local mathematician with a theory attempt to locate the train, they discover that they can hear it—in multiple locations—but cannot see it since it has passed into another dimension. Will the train ever reemerge and if so, how can this be prevented from happening again?
In one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular stories, a meteorite crashes into a field of crops where it begins to poison both soil and water, driving the farmer and his family insane. It’s soon discovered that the vile, luminous substance that infected the area might be intelligent. How will the locals rid themselves of “The Colour Out of Space”?
When alien psychologists learn that Earth has finally achieved interstellar travel, the decision is made to invite them into the Federation of Planets, an honor which no race has ever turned down… until now. Discover why in Isaac Asimov’s “Homo Sol.”
Anthony Boucher brings us hapless ventriloquist Paul Peters who encounters a benevolent extraterrestrial creature at a local zoo. The alien, relieved to finally find someone with whom he can communicate, enlists Paul’s help in finding his long lost love. At first, the pair is undecided on a strategy until Paul comes up with a new routine known as “The Star Dummy.”
A spaceship explodes ejecting its helpless crew into space. Fortunately, they’d had just enough time to don their spacesuits—but not their personal propulsion systems. As a result, each man is hurled on an uncontrollable trajectory with just enough time to settle their differences and make peace with their collective fate in Ray Bradbury’s “Kaleidoscope.”
When an Earth naval vessel lands on the alien world Shaksembender, the crew of three is greeted by a party of wary copper-skinned humanoids who had been expecting their arrival based on the prophesy of Fraser, the first human space explorer to visit their planet 300 years ago. Using a hidden mind-reading device against the alien emissary, the pilot of the Earth ship discovers that Fraser warned the aliens to be circumspect if the next human explorers utter two specific words… but will we ever learn those words in Eric Frank Russell’s “Test Piece”?
The incompetence of bureaucracy at a Galactic level is showcased in Murray Leinster’s “Plague.” When all the women of the planet Pharona are consumed and killed by a bizarre luminescent organism, the planet is placed in quarantine and Space Navy reservist Ben Sholto is dispatched in his private vessel to ensure no one escapes. When a ship, piloted by Ben’s lost love Sally, emerges from Pharona, he takes her aboard in an attempt to cure her, making them both fugitives.
In John D. MacDonald’s “Spectator Sport,” a scientist travels into the future only to find society under control of a government that does not take kindly to independent thinking and prefers its citizens to be docile zombies.
In Arthur C. Clarke’s much reprinted “History Lesson,” five thousand years after an ice age has claimed all human life on Earth, Venusians arrive and uncover relics left in a vault—one of which is a roll of 35mm film that they believe depicts typical human behavior… or not.
A concerned citizen confronts physicist John Graham about the doomsday weapon Graham is developing and leaves him with a frightening metaphor that strikes close to the heart in Fredric Brown’s “The Weapon.”
Long after mankind has gone extinct, a race of heuristic automatons have taken over the Earth. A group of robotic biologists undertake experiments to reboot the human race in order to learn more about the concept of “Instinct,” which is also the name of this classic tale by Lester Del Rey.
How can you go wrong with a collection of 25 stories that includes heavyweights such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Douglas Adams, Ursula K. Le Guin, Terry Pratchett, C.S. Lewis, Fritz Leiber, Phil K. Dick, Brian W. Aldiss, Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven, and more?
To be honest, I only enjoyed about half of them. My favorites include:
“The Twonky” by Henry Kuttner – When Kerry Westerfield’s brand new cabinet radio begins walking around the house dictating Kerry’s every move, he calls in psychiatrist pal Mike Fitzgerald, but this radio is constructed like no other… and it defends itself against anyone who might pose a threat—with fatal results.
“A Great Deal of Power” by Eric Frank Russell – When military scientists create an android assassin to kill top officials and scientists in the enemy’s ranks, they program its mind with a pure hatred of power… but what will the android do when the enemy is eliminated and those giving the orders become the powerful?
“Doodad” by Ray Bradbury – Running from the mob, Gyp Crowell finds himself in a shop called Thingamabobs, Doodads, Whatchamacallits, Hinkies, Formodaldafrays, Hootenannies, Gadgets, and Doohingies. While there, Gyp finds a device that might help him out of his predicament… in ways he didn’t expect.
“Not By Its Cover” by Philip K. Dick – When a special, translated edition of an ancient Latin book is published with animal hide cover, it is quickly discovered that certain passages in the book have been translated differently that in the paperback version, which leads to an astonishing conclusion about the animal hide covers…
“A Good Knight’s Work” by Robert Bloch – Sir Pallagyn of the Black Keep is hurled forward in time by the legendary Merlin to find the Cappadocian Tabouret in a “house of the past.” First, however, he decides to help a new found friend defeat the local mob boss…
“The Rules of Names” by Ursula K. Le Guin – Mr. Underhill lives a reclusive life in the village, practicing his wizardry with often questionable results… until a pirate named Blackbeard arrives with certain suspicions and accusations against Underhill. In response, the old bumbling sorcerer shows his true colors…
“Mythological Beast” by Stephen Donaldson – Norman is a librarian in an age of ignorance when so many among the population can barely read. Norman has a problem when he notices a horn growing in the middle of his forehead. Shortly after, his entire body begins to change into the shape of a creature than cannot be allowed to exist in a controlled society…
“The Adventure of the Snowing Globe” by F. Antsey – A man stops into a toy shoppe to purchase a present and is drawn to a snow globe containing a miniature castle. After shaking the globe, the man is transported to the real castle, meets a real princess being held prisoner by her cruel, oppressive uncle, and finds himself face to face with a real dragon…
“Zaphod Plays It Safe” by Douglas Adams – Zaphod Beeblebrox is hired by the Safety and Reassurance Administration to retrieve items of secretive nature from a crashed ship in the depths of an alien ocean. Despite Zaphod’s increasing misgivings, the authorities assure him that “it’s all perfectly safe”…
“The Odd Old Bird” by Avram Davidson – When the frivolous Prince Vlox indicates to two royal scientists that his property has been frequently visited by a rare bird, the Emperor’s wizard Eszterhazy requests that the prince capture the bird and have it sent to him. However, there is some confusion on the part of the temporary help when the bird is delivered around the same time as the cook was expecting a chicken…
“The Gnurrs Come from the Voodwork Out” by Reginald Bretnor – Quack inventor Papa Schimmelhorn arrives at the local Secret Weapons Bureau determined to demonstrate how his new invention, which resembles a bassoon, will win the war… in the most unimaginable way!
“Captain Wyxtpthll’s Flying Saucer” by Arthur C. Clarke – A pair of hapless aliens land in England on a mission to find and retrieve an intelligent human specimen only to end up incarcerated by the local police as mental patients… until the town drunk helps them escape!
“There’s A Wolf in My Time Machine” by Larry Niven – A time traveller finds himself in a parallel dimension where mankind evolved from wolves instead of apes.
“2BRO2B” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. – In order for newborns to be permitted to live in a dystopian future under strict population control, someone must volunteer to die. What happens when a married couple is expecting triplets, but could locate only one volunteer?
Several of the 22 stories in this collection had been previously published in such magazines as The New Yorker, Charm, American Mercury, Saturday Evening Post, The Reporter, Epoch, and others. Although there were a handful of tales that I found to be lackluster and anticlimactic (“I See You Never,” “The Wilderness,” “Invisible Boy,” “The Garbage Collector” and a few others), the sheer variety and breadth of topics covered clearly demonstrates Bradbury’s prowess as a master storyteller (as if we didn’t know this already!)
My favorites include:
“The Fog Horn” – Attracted year after year by the sound of a fog horn installed near a lighthouse, a legendary and elusive sea creature finally decides to attack.
“The April Witch” – A young witch with the ability to inhabit other creatures desperately wants to know what it’s like to fall in love.
“The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl” – After murdering a man in his home, the killer becomes obsessed with removing all trace of his presence—over every nook and cranny of the house.
“The Murderer” – An average man in search of peace and quiet destroys all of his electronic devices in a society where constant chatter from watches, radios, computers, phones, and TV have pervaded—nay, INVADED!—everyday life.
“A Sound of Thunder” – A travel company offers safaris to any year in the past, but disobeying the rules even slightly could be a mistake that follows you back to the future!
“Powerhouse” – A married couple traveling into town on horseback takes refuge against a storm in a powerhouse. Though she does not believe in God, the wife has an electrifying out of body experience.
“The Meadow” – A construction crew is ordered to tear down the backlot structures of a movie studio, where sets from every corner of the world have provided a second home to Smith, the night watchman. Determined to restore it all, Smith picks up a hammer and begins to rebuild it all, to the consternation of the wealthy investor who ordered the demolition.
“The Great Fire” – Marianne is visiting her uncle and aunt for the summer, upsetting her uncle’s peaceful existence. Every evening, Marianne dashes out of the house when her boyfriend arrives, giving her uncle hope that marriage is in the air and Marianne will soon move out—but Grandma knows the joke’s on him!
“Hail and Farewell” – A 43-year-old man, who appears no more than twelve, moves from town to town every few years masquerading as an orphan or a runaway in order to be adopted by childless couples.
