"Giant Killer" | |
---|---|
by A. Bertram Chandler | |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Science fiction |
Published in | Astounding Science Fiction |
Publication type | Periodical |
Publisher | Street & Smith |
Media type | |
Publication date | October 1945 |
"Giant Killer" is a science fiction short story by A. Bertram Chandler. It was first published in the October 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction , and later included in many science fiction anthologies, including World of Wonder edited by Fletcher Pratt. [1] In 1996 it was shortlisted for a Retro Hugo Award for Best Novella. [2]
Called a "pocket universe" story by The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, [3] "Giant Killer" is told from the point-of-view of a colony of mutants living in a spaceship. Though they are eventually (in the final sentence) revealed to be rats, they are obviously sentient lifeforms: they have a culture, complete with marriage, seers, governmental structures, specialized safety equipment, and ritualized combat. They are illiterate, albeit: they marvel as the giants make black marks on "skin," which they perceive as some inscrutable form of "sorcery." The "giants" of the story's title are the humans crewing the spaceship. Much is made of the mutants' efforts to understand the giants' fascinating world, including such locales as the Place-of-Life-Which-Is-Not-Life, obviously the robotics laboratory.
In the 1967 novel "Contraband from Otherspace", Chandler's character John Grimes travels to an alternate history timeline where mutant rats have taken over the Rim Worlds and cruelly enslaved their human population. In that context, the mutant rats are obviously the book's villains who must be fought. Finding that the mutant rats developed on a spaceship which crashed on one of the Rim words, and that the mutants survived the crash to multiply, conquer and enslave the humans, Grimes manages to take his ship back in time and blow up the rat-infested ship, thus aborting the entire timeline of mutant rat conquest. Grimes is uneasily aware that his act might be considered as genocide, but sees no other way to avert the enslavement of the humans.
Arthur Bertram Chandler was an Anglo-Australian merchant marine officer, sailing the world in everything from tramp steamers to troop ships, but who later turned his hand to a second career as a prolific author of pulp science fiction. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of George Whitley, Andrew Dunstan and S.H.M. Many of his short stories draw on his extensive sailing background. In 1956, he emigrated to Australia and became an Australian citizen. By 1958 he was an officer on the Sydney-Hobart route. Chandler commanded various ships in the Australian and New Zealand merchant navies, including his service as the last master of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne; by law, the ship was required to have an officer on board while awaiting its towing to China to be broken up. Chandler wrote over 40 novels and 200 works of short fiction, winning the Australian Ditmar Awards for the short story "The Bitter Pill" and for three novels: False Fatherland, The Bitter Pill, and The Big Black Mark. One of Chandler's daughters, Jenny Chandler, married British horror fiction writer Ramsey Campbell. His other children were Penelope Anne Chandler and Christopher John Chandler.
"Blind Alley" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1945 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, and later included in the collection The Early Asimov (1972).
This is a bibliography of the books written or edited by Isaac Asimov, arranged alphabetically. Asimov was a prolific author, and he engaged in many collaborations with other authors. This list may not yet be complete. The total number of books listed here is over 500. Asimov died in 1992 at age 72; a small number of his books were published posthumously.
Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and anthologist in many genres, including mysteries and horror, but especially in speculative fiction. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. He was also a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel. Greenberg was also an expert in terrorism and the Middle East. He was a longtime friend, colleague and business partner of Isaac Asimov.
Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan — many considered classic works of SF and Fantasy today. Gnome was important in the transitional period between Genre SF as a magazine phenomenon and its arrival in mass-market book publishing, but proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many of the major SF authors, and in some cases, as with Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was responsible for the manner in which their stories were collected into book form.
NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books:
Gilgamesh in the Outback is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert Silverberg, a sequel to his historical novel Gilgamesh the King as well as a story in the shared universe series Heroes in Hell. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1987 and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 1986. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, it was then printed in Rebels in Hell before being incorporated into Silverberg's novel To the Land of the Living. Real-life writers Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft feature as characters in the novella.
Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 7 (1945) is an English language science fiction short story collection, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It is part of a series which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the first half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fourth Series with the second half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946).
Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 19 (1957) is the nineteenth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in February 1989.
Isaac's Universe is a fictional universe created by Isaac Asimov for other science fiction writers to use as a setting. It introduces the collaborative science fiction universe created by Asimov which eventually resulted in five volumes: three short story collections and two novels. It was initiated by Martin H. Greenberg, who also edited and published its three short stories collection by Avon Books starting in 1990.
World of Wonder is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories edited by Fletcher Pratt, published in hardcover by Twayne in 1951. No subsequent editions were issued.
This is a bibliography of American science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson.
Intergalactic Empires is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh as the first volume in their Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction series. It was first published in paperback by Signet/New American Library in December 1983. The first British edition was issued in paperback by Robinson in July 1988.
Neanderthals is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Robert Silverberg, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh as the sixth volume in the Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction series. It was first published in paperback by Signet/New American Library in February 1987.
Supermen is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh as the third volume in their Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction series. It was first published in paperback by Signet/New American Library in October 1984. The first British edition was issued in paperback by Robinson in 1988.
Monsters is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh as the eighth volume in their Isaac Asimov's Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction series. It was first published in paperback by Signet/New American Library in July 1988. The first British edition was issued in paperback by Robinson in July 1989.
The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1940s is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, the second in a series of six samplers of the field from the 1930s through the 1980s. It was first published in trade paperback by Robinson in 1989, and reissued in 2007. The first American edition was published in hardcover and trade paperback by Carroll & Graf, also in 1989; a second trade paperback edition appeared in 2007. In 1991 Galahad Books issued two hardcover editions under the variant titles Great Tales of the Golden Age of Science Fiction and Science Fiction: Classic Stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction; under the latter title it reissued the book in August 2000, April 2004 and March 2010.
The Mammoth Book of New World Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1960s is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, the fourth in a series of six samplers of the field from the 1930s through the 1980s. It was first published in trade paperback by Robinson in 1991. The first American edition was issued in trade paperback by Carroll & Graf in the same year. A later edition, also in trade paperback, was published by The Book Company under the variant title The Giant Book of New World SF: Short Novels of the 1960s in 1997.
The Mammoth Book of Fantastic Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1970s is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, the fifth in a series of six samplers of the field from the 1930s through the 1980s. It was first published in trade paperback by Robinson in 1992. The first American edition was issued in trade paperback by Carroll & Graf in the same year.
Robert Silverberg Presents the Great SF Stories: 1964 is an American anthology of short stories, edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg, first published in hardcover by NESFA Press in December 2001. It is a continuation of the Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories series of short story anthologies, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This book is a continuation of the book series The Great SF Stories originally edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg with the last one published in 1992.