The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction

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The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction
The Wheels of If 1948.jpg
first edition of The Wheels of If
Author L. Sprague de Camp
Cover artist Hannes Bok
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Shasta
Publication date
1948
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pagesvii, 222 pp

The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction is a 1948 collection of science fiction stories by L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Shasta and in paperback by Berkley Books in 1970. It has also been translated into German. [1] All the stories were originally published in the magazines Astounding Science Fiction and Unknown . [2]

Contents

Contents

Allister Park, a prosecutor and local politician is thrown into a parallel universe where due to very minor differences in the course of history, North America has been settled by descendants of the Vikings and New York is replaced by New Belfast. He endeavors to get back into his own universe using his ingenuity to gain influence in his new surroundings.
This parody on other time travel stories is about a scientist who uses a time travel device to threaten all of North America with destruction through time travel paradoxes, and the secret agent attempting to stop him using a copy of the device.
Earth has been taken over by the Centaurians, former humans who came back from space as a supremely ethical and powerful people. The heroes in the story, aided by an enigmatic historian, are mostly trying to salvage their corrupt economic schemes.
An apparent plague makes people grow bodily hair similar to that of Gorillas. Two doctors attempt to find a cure while large-scale societal changes happen around them.
Vernon Brock is a biologist who experiments with turning lungs into gills. After accidentally performing the transformation on himself, he is stuck underwater, unable to communicate, and attempts to resolve the situation using his limited knowledge.
In a future where many states have been united into a democratic state and the numerically superior Hindus are enforcing a ban on bovine meat, a young scientist working on in vitro meat gets into trouble with police and with meat smugglers.
An anthropologist meets a curious "ape-man" at a circus, who turns out to be a Neanderthal who stopped aging when he was struck by lightning 50,000 years ago. Struggles over the scientific value and rights of this "non-human" ensue.

Reception

Astounding reviewer P. Schuyler Miller praised the stories as "representative examples of de Campian whimsy and reverse plot-twists." [3]

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"The Stolen Dormouse" is a science fiction novella by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published as a serial in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for April and May, 1941 and first appeared in book form in de Camp's collection Divide and Rule. The story has also appeared in the anthologies Astounding Stories: The 60th Anniversary Collection, and The Best of Astounding: Classic Short Novels from the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperpilosity</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"Hyperpilosity" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Stories for April, 1938, and first appeared in book form in the de Camp collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction (Shasta, 1949; It later appeared in the anthologies Omnibus of Science Fiction, Science Fiction of the Thirties, The Edward De Bono Science Fiction Collection, and The Road to Science Fiction #2: From Wells to Heinlein, as well as the magazine Fantastic Story Magazine and the de Camp collection The Best of L. Sprague de Camp. In 2014 the story was shortlisted for the Retro Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Living Fossil (short story)</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"Living Fossil" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, on the concepts of human extinction and future evolution. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for February 1939. It first appeared in book form in the anthology A Treasury of Science Fiction ; it later appeared in the anthologies Gates to Tomorrow, and The SFWA Grand Masters, Volume 1. The story has been translated into Danish, Swedish and Italian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Blue Giraffe</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"The Blue Giraffe" is a science fiction story on the concept of mutation by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for August, 1939. It appeared in book form in the anthology Adventures in Time and Space and later in the anthologies World of Wonder, The Science Fiction Bestiary, Androids, Time Machines and Blue Giraffes, Isaac Asimov Presents the Great Science Fiction Stories: Volume 1, 1939, Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, and An Anthropomorphic Century. The story has been translated into Italian, French and German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Merman</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"The Merman" is a science fiction story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, based on the concept of human biological engineering. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for December, 1938. It first appeared in book form in the collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction ; it later appeared in the anthology Science Fiction of the Thirties and the collection The Best of L. Sprague de Camp. The story has been translated into German

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Contraband Cow</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"The Contraband Cow" is a classic science fiction story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction for July, 1942. It first appeared in book form in the hardcover collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction ; the collection was reprinted in paperback by Berkley Books in 1970. The story has been translated into German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Throwback (short story)</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"Throwback" is a classic science fiction short story featuring atavism by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction for March 1949. It first appeared in book form in the collection A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales ; it later appeared in the anthology Apeman, Spaceman. The story has been translated into Italian and German.

References

  1. Laughlin, Charlotte; Daniel J. H. Levack (1983). De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. p. 104.
  2. The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  3. "Book Reviews", Astounding Science Fiction, October 1949, p.142