Sense of Wonder

By Jack Williamson, John Wyndham, Murray Leinster, et al.

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0450022471
• ISBN13: 9780450022470
• Release Date: September 1982
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.

Customer Reviews

That Good Old Sense of Wonder

_A Sense of Wonder_ (1967), ed. Sam Moskowitz is an anthology of three longish sf stories from the 1930s, which Moskowitz claims in a lengthy critical introduction are tales laden with some good ole-fashioned "sense of wonder" that you can't hardly find no more in that slick, newfangled, modern science fiction of today. The stories are: Murray Leinster's "The Mole Pirate" (_Astounding_, 1934); Jack Williamson's "The Moon Era" (_Wonder Stories_, 1932); and John Wyndham's "Exiles on Asperus" (as by John Beynon Harris, _Wonder Stories Quarterly_, 1933). Before their appearance in this anthology, none of these stories had been collected in book form, though they have all been collected a multitude of times since then. All of these stories are solid, above average pieces, well worth your time and attention. "Sense of Wonder" is a slippery concept that often has more to do with how a reader _perceives_ a story than it does with some element of the story itself. But (especially in regard to old sf stories), heavily descriptive tales are more prone to elicit a sense of wonder in me. Thus, descriptive tales like Raymond Z. Gallun's "Old Faithful," John W. Campbell's "Twilight," Henry Hasse's "He Who Shrank," or Charles R. Tanner's "Tumithak of the Corridors" tend to evoke a sense of wonder in me (at least, part of the time). Action-oriented tales, like Stanley Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet," Campbell's "The Brain-Stealers of Mars," and William Grey Beyer's "Let 'Em Eat Space" do not, though they may have other virtues. Of the stories in this anthology, the Williamson novella is clearly the most descriptive, as he gives us the sights and sounds of a living Luna of long ago. In this tale, Williamson proves to be a heavily visual writer, using sharp shapes and vivid colors. It is the story most likely to evoke a feeling in the reader that he or she is experiencing a sense of wonder. The Leinster and Wyndham tales are more action-oriented stories in which description is trimmed down in favor of a fast plot, snappy dialogue, and a touch of humor. Old-time editors like Forrest J. Ackerman and Sam Moskowitz may purport to find a sensawunda in these yarns. But I rather suspect that this will not be true of more modern readers. Recommended. _Addendum_: This anthology was originally published in hardback by Doubleday in 1967 under the title, _Three Stories_.