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Title: Moonrise
Series: British Library Science Fiction Classics
Editor: Mike Ashley
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 258
Words: 99.5K

Synopsis:

Dead Centre

Judith Merril

A Visit to the Moon

George Griffith

Sunrise on the Moon

John Munro

First Men in the Moon

H.G. Wells

Sub-Satellite

Charles Cloukey

Lunar Lilliput

William F. Temple

Nothing Happens on the Moon

Paul Ernst

Whatever Gods There Be

Gordon R. Dickson

Idiot’s Delight

John Wyndham

After a Judgement Day

Edmond Hamilton

The Sentinel

Arthur C. Clarke

My Thoughts:

Boring, boring, boring. Many of these stories were more travelogues “in space” than any adventure story. I can imagine the moon just fine on my own thank you very much.

Yeah, not much else to say besides boring. I mentioned this in the Lost Mars review, but these stories are mostly in public domain and they are there because nobody cares enough to do the work to keep them punching out pennies for the author or their estate. If nobody is willing to do that minimal work, that should tell you a good bit about the stories themselves. Mainly forgotten stories that nobody will miss once they are completely forgotten.

So far, this series has felt like something thrown together by the editor to make a quick buck or to fill in some sort of hole in a publishing schedule. I will say, those vintage SF geeks will probably enjoy these, but I am not one of those people. I might enjoy old stories, but not because they are old, but because they are good. A vintage SF geek will enjoy the story because it is old, period.

★★☆☆☆ ( )

Eleven stories spanning 1894 to 1963. Some of have aged horribly in both their science-fictional and cultural aspects and are unintentionally humorous. A few though, are still very strong stories, notably the entries from Arthur C. Clarke, John Wyndham, Edmond Hamilton, and Judith Merril. ( )

This was an interesting book in terms of looking at people's views of the future, but is not the greatest reading experience. I enjoyed it and one or two of the stories were excellent. But several had not aged well, including the H.G. Wells extract. Hats off to the British Library for exploring their collection. ( )