The Best of C. M. Kornbluth

by C.M. Kornbluth

Book Overview

THE BEST OF C.M. KORNBLUTH contains two stories by science fiction writer C.M. Kornbluth (1923-1958). As a teenager, Kornbluth was a member of the Futurians, an influential group of science fiction... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000BNUCL8
• Release Date: October 1976
• Publisher: Nelson Doubleday
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.

Customer Reviews

It's a very good book -- the lowest rating I gave any of the stories was three stars

My copy of The Best of C. M. Kornbluth was found in my local Friends of the Library Bookstore. It had been read so often that the spine was cracking in several places. Edited by Frederick Pohl, himself a science-fiction writer and Cyril Kornbluth's friend since they had been in their mid-teens, according to his introduction. His notes before each story contain interesting information about the author and/or his inspirations. What stories does this book include? I'll list them in alphabetical order instead of book order in case one is looking for a particular story. Keep in mind that I am a former librarian, so "A," "And," and "The" at the beginning of titles have been ignored. The Advent on Channel Twelve | The Adventurer | The Altar at Midnight | Dominoes | Friend to Man | Gomez | The Last Man in the Bar | The Little Black Bag | The Luckiest Man in Denv | The Marching Morons | The Mindworm | The Only Thing We Learn | The Remorseful | The Rocket of 1955 | Shark Ship | The Silly Season | Two Dooms | With These Hands and The Words of Guru If you're looking for bright, positive futures and happy endings, this is NOT the book for you. Many of these stories, particularly "The Remorseful" should be avoided if one is feeling depressed. These are well written. Mr. Kornbluth was able to bring characters to life even in the shortest stories. They are so cynical, though. The futures he depicted were dystopian. "The Little Black Bag" was adapted for the horror anthology TV show, "Night Gallery". Several others could be adapted as horror movies or as segments within a horror anthology movie. One story has a child every bit as frightening as the little boy who wished people into the cornfield on the original "Twilight Zone". "The Marching Morons" has stuck in my mind for decades, even though I would think that the brilliant people could have come up with effective birth control that required no actions on the part of the stupid generations before the story takes place. The closest things to happy endings are when an unethical or evil protagonist meets a well-deserved fate. Well, one man fulfills his great desire, but at a cost that can only seem a mercy given his life. Do I recommend this book anyway? Yes!

A Subversive Genius

Many today may not know Kornbluth's name, but his bleak vision of popular culture can be seen, whether it is intentionally referenced in "RoboCop" or unintentionally paralled in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"Kornbluth is a fine example of why that period of time was called the Golden Age of science fiction. Even in stories where the plot may be dated, or in potboilers like "Valerie" (a novel written under a pseudonym), Kornbluth's writing is always a pleasure and worth reading simply for his use of language and treatment of characters.It is a shame this brilliant man died so young (and thus selfishly depriving readers of more of hs writing) and remarkable that no one has written his biography.

What's the secret?

One day, perhaps, I shall work out why it is that bookstore shelves creak and groan under the weight of best-selling volumes whose greatest worth is as emergency toilet roll, while genuinely important, readable, inventive prose goes out of print before you can blink. Kornbluth is one of a number of almost forgotten writers, many of whom also died young, dismissed these days because they worked in science-fiction and the pulp markets. Little has been written since in the area of short stories to top the best of Kornbluth; and even those tales of his which have been overtaken by events (such as his story about the first manned rocket) are so original and well written that they remain far more than just period curiosities. Make the effort to find a copy of this collection and you are unlikely to regret it.

One of the best SF short story collections ever written...

There is not a dud in this book...each story is a stone-cold SF masterpiece by a true genius who was cut down in his prime at age 35. If you haven't read Kornbluth, you are missing out on some of the finest SF stories anywhere. Includes the widely acknowledged SF masterwork, "The Marching Morons" that seems utterly prophetic for the 90s. Also has The Little Black Bag, many others. Kornbluth's work is almost too good for description. Funny, thought-provoking, fantastically prescient. And each story concludes with an absolute gem of a last line, some of the best finishes anywhere ("and the last thing he learned was that death is the end of pain" etc etc). If you like these, you will also love Kornbluth's brilliant satirical novel (co-authored with his best friend, Frederic Pohl), "The Space Merchants", a novel written in the 1950s that posits a world in which all of mankind has been taken over by gigantic advertising agencies...sounds a little too close to the truth for comfort? It is!