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Banshee, whole no. 3, December 1943
Page 3
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this awe-inspiring account of the journeyings of a disembodied mind through all the depths of space and time. The story is a dazzling panorama of strange worlds and alien life-forms, from the creation of the cosmos to its destruction. The purpose of the book is, in the main, to secure a cosmic viewpoint -- paging Claude Degler! -- from which to survey man's contemporary affairs. Inescapably, there is a touch of satire and didacticism, as there is in "Last and First Men," but the book merely gains thereby; in fact, this element is somewhat better handled, with less extravagance, than in the earlier story, yet it is not less fascinating. The last few chapters, I felt, were rather disappointing -- a bewildering attempt to grasp the nature of the Creator -- but aside from this Stapledon has been amazingly successful in carrying out this immense project, and taken all in all "Star Maker" is surely one of the most original and profound works of science fiction ever published. * * * Another book I read recently is the Clark Ashton Smith anthology, "Out of Space and Time." It's a handsome volume, very tastefully laid out (except for the lack of running-heads of the story-titles), but on the whole I was disappointed in its contents. I've read much better material by Smith than the tales he selected for this collection. True, such stories as "The Dark Eidolon," "Sadastor," "From the Crypts of Memory," and "The Weird of Acoval Wothqquan" are not to be sneezed at; nor is there a really poor story in the book. The "The Eternal World" is not there, nor "The Coming of the White Worm," nor "Visitors from Mlok," nor "The Ice Demon," and such mediocre material as "The Return of the Sorcerer" and "The End of the Story" is. It is to be hoped that the projected second Smith volume will give us a more representative group of stories. Do not misinterpret my words, however; "Out of Space and Time," even if not definitive, deserves a place on the bookshelves of every fantasy lover. There is much dross among the gold, but there is gold.
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this awe-inspiring account of the journeyings of a disembodied mind through all the depths of space and time. The story is a dazzling panorama of strange worlds and alien life-forms, from the creation of the cosmos to its destruction. The purpose of the book is, in the main, to secure a cosmic viewpoint -- paging Claude Degler! -- from which to survey man's contemporary affairs. Inescapably, there is a touch of satire and didacticism, as there is in "Last and First Men," but the book merely gains thereby; in fact, this element is somewhat better handled, with less extravagance, than in the earlier story, yet it is not less fascinating. The last few chapters, I felt, were rather disappointing -- a bewildering attempt to grasp the nature of the Creator -- but aside from this Stapledon has been amazingly successful in carrying out this immense project, and taken all in all "Star Maker" is surely one of the most original and profound works of science fiction ever published. * * * Another book I read recently is the Clark Ashton Smith anthology, "Out of Space and Time." It's a handsome volume, very tastefully laid out (except for the lack of running-heads of the story-titles), but on the whole I was disappointed in its contents. I've read much better material by Smith than the tales he selected for this collection. True, such stories as "The Dark Eidolon," "Sadastor," "From the Crypts of Memory," and "The Weird of Acoval Wothqquan" are not to be sneezed at; nor is there a really poor story in the book. The "The Eternal World" is not there, nor "The Coming of the White Worm," nor "Visitors from Mlok," nor "The Ice Demon," and such mediocre material as "The Return of the Sorcerer" and "The End of the Story" is. It is to be hoped that the projected second Smith volume will give us a more representative group of stories. Do not misinterpret my words, however; "Out of Space and Time," even if not definitive, deserves a place on the bookshelves of every fantasy lover. There is much dross among the gold, but there is gold.
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