AboutSue Kayton Expertise Engineer who has read thousands of science fiction books and short stories. Can recommend stories on specific subjects and comment on technical feasibility. Especially good at older out-of-print books and authors.
I'm looking for a book I read 10 or 15 years ago. There were several short stories that stood out for me:
-Firstly, a story where a man (whos family is dead) purchases a machine which forms any type of metal object that is keyed into it. The man wants to return the machine for some reason so figures he'll get it to make something impossible. He keys in a 'devil's pitchfork', which to his surprise it creates. He looks into the impossible space and see's his dead family. The story ends with him keying in a larger version so he can crawl through the space.
-The next one I recall is about a man who lives in a massive rubbish dump. There is no vegetation or life. He spends his time searching for soil to sustain a seed which he found. I think the story ends with the seed growing into poisonous orange which he eats.
-I did also think this collection included the story 'It's such a beautiful day' (Asimov) or something very similar, but i cannot find a collection which includes this and the other stories i remember.
Thanks for your help 8)
Answer Haven't read the first two stories. On the chance that the third story you are referring to is "It's a GOOD life", here is a list of anthologies containing that story. And a link to a short story index that might be useful.
(ss) Star Science Fiction Stories #2, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine 1953
Star of Stars, ed. Frederik Pohl, Doubleday 1960
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night, ed. Alfred Hitchcock, Random House 1961
Best SF 4, ed. Edmund Crispin, Faber and Faber 1961
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: More Stories for Late at Night, ed. Alfred Hitchcock, Dell 1962
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories for Late at Night, Part I, ed. Alfred Hitchcock, Pan 1964
Introducing Science Fiction, ed. Brian W. Aldiss, Faber and Faber 1964
Masters’ Choice, ed. Laurence M. Janifer, Simon & Schuster 1966
Tomorrow’s Children, ed. Isaac Asimov, Doubleday 1966
Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, ed. Robert Silverberg, Doubleday 1970
Speculations, ed. Thomas E. Sanders, Glencoe Press 1973
Mutants, ed. Robert Silverberg, Nelson Doubleday 1974
In Dreams Awake, ed. Leslie A. Fiedler, Dell 1975
Wolf’s Complete Book of Terror, ed. Leonard Wolf, Clarkson N. Potter 1979
Constellations, ed. Malcolm Edwards, Gollancz 1980
The Golden Age of Science Fiction, ed. Kingsley Amis, Hutchinson 1981
Weekend Book of Science Fiction, ed. Stuart Gendall, Harmsworth Publications Ltd. 1981
Hallucination Orbit, ed. Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg & Charles G. Waugh, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 1983
