A few people are attracted to Mars and work there as settlers but the work is hard. Port Laribee is an Earth outpost on drying and dying Mars. Gallun (originally published in Planet Stories 1952) This is quite a humorous and charming short story. Poor Mitkey is stuffed into the rocket, with plenty of cheese, and blasted off. The only thing he can put in the rocket is a mouse which he names Mitkey (yes, after the famous Disney mouse). He has invented a new type of rocket and wants to send it to the Moon before revealing it to the scientific community. He lives now in Connecticut and, because he lives alone, talks to himself in a rather thick German accent. Professor Oberburger is a German scientist of rockets and other hard sciences. “The Star Mouse” by Fredric Brown (originally published in Planet Stories 1942)
The strange woman, Rann, tries to control Starke’s actions for her own ends but Strake resents that and tries to make his own decisions. Starke quickly becomes accustomed to his new body but finds himself a hated man. It turns out that the body he’s given is one of swordsman Conan, who has betrayed his wife and his liege, in Crom Dhu. Starke wakes up again, this time in chains. Starke realizes that his own body is dying and the woman says that she will transfer his mind to another body. Starke wakes up and sees a strange, naked woman. He’s racing from the thugs the Mines sent after him, when his ship crashes. This time he has robbed a million credits from the Terro-Venus Mines. Hugh Starke (note that Stark/Starke name!) is a thief and a very successful one, too. “Lorelei of the Red Mist” by Leigh Brackett & Ray Bradbury (originally published in Planet Stories 1946) I was only familiar with Brackett, Bradbury, and Anderson before reading this collection. She reveals how she came to collaborate with Ray Bradbury on the first story of the collection. She also introduces each of the stories and we get a fascinating glimpse into her own writing process in 1945, at least, she seemed to have been a pure “pantser” working without an outline or even an ending to aim for. So nothing much has changed in my lifetime. She defends the need for space opera or purely entertaining stories which the critics apparently scoff. “Beyond Our Narrow Skies” by Leigh Brackettīrackett’s introduction to the collection shows something of the science fiction field in the 1970s.
A collection of seven science fantasy stories.
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