Blood of Tyrants by Ben Bova

A sequel of sorts to Escape!

Bova took the main character of Danny and put him in a far-different rehabilitation program. 

It was an interesting story where Danny takes everything he’s learned about how re-enter society and puts his own twist on things when he’s released. 

I’ve got to say this is the weakest story so far.  It relied too much on my willingness to suspend disbelief. 

Escape! by Ben Bova

I had a feeling I would enjoy Bova’s short works.

Here we explore a re-imagined penal system. 

A young man is sent to The Center which is run by a kind-hearted director who created the facility to help inmates learn the skills needed to re-enter society. 

The Center runs incredibly well with the help of an AI.  Having been written in 1970 it is amazing to see how very close we are today to achieving this kind of advancement. 

I found the story well told. I could see it adapted into a movie very easily.

Ben Bova's website - http://benbova.com/

Ben Bova

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume I edited by Robert Silverberg - Book Report #167

I've decided to collect all the reviews of each individual story from this anthology into one post.

This may make it easier to read my thought on the book instead of trying to search out each story from the blog.

Fun fact:  I started to read this book in August of 2012.  That's right, it took me nearly five years to get through it.

A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum

Twilight by John W. Campbell

Helen O'Loy by Lester del Rey

The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein

Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon

Nightfall by Isaac Asimov

The Weapon Shop by A. E. van Vogt

Mimsy Were the Borogoves by Lewis Padgett

Huddling Place by Clifford D. Simak

Arena by Fredric Brown

First Contact by Murray Leinster

That Only A Mother by Judith Merril

Scanners Live in Vain by Cordwainer Smith

Mars is Heaven! by Ray Bradbury

The Little Black Bag

Born of Man and Woman by Richard Matheson

Coming Attraction by Fritz Leiber

The Quest For Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher

Surface Tension by James Blish

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke

It's A Good Life by Jerome Bixby

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

Fondly Fahrenheit by Alfred Bester

The Country of the Kind by Damon Knight

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

A Rose for Ecclesiastes by Roger Zelazny

Mars is Heaven! by Ray Bradbury - A Short Story Review

28/150/216

This was a fun story, then creepy.

A mission to Mars!

A landing on Mars!  In the middle of an American small town!

Excuse me?  What?

The air is breathable too.  The captain and two officers leave the ship to investigate.  What they find is peculiar to say the least.  While they try to rationalize what they see I was left with the feeling that something was terribly wrong here.

When the captain figures it out, well, it's a bit too late.

The only problem that I had with the story came from the first paragraph, where it stated that this was the third mission to the planet.  How could they not have communicated with the firs two missions?

The only explanation I can come up with comes from the publication date, 1948.  Sputnik launched in 1957 and Echo 1 not until 1960.  At that time only radio and the telephone provided the quickest communications.  But without the infrastructure of wires and radio towers, even terrestrial exploration would go months without communication with the outside world, so why not a trip to Mars?

Reading these old stories has to come with a certain forgiveness because they are a product of their times.

This was an excellent story.

Ray Bradbury website - http://www.raybradbury.com/

Ray Bradbury

Planet Stories Fall 1948