1967 short stories (Book Guide)

Klappentext

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (stories not included). Pages: 25. Chapters: Dangerous Visions short stories, Smith of Wootton Major, Faith of Our Fathers, Riders of the Purple Wage, I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Flatlander, The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World, The Hall of the Dead, The Hand of Nergal, The Vale of Lost Women, A Message From Charity, Hawksbill Station, Gonna Roll the Bones, The City of Skulls, The Soft Weapon, The Thanksgiving Visitor, Land of the Great Horses, Carcinoma Angels, Exile to Hell, Wolves Beyond the Border, Hornblower and the Widow McCool, The Thing in the Crypt, The Billiard Ball, Aye, and Gomorrah, The Jigsaw Man, The Last Encounter, If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?, Segregationist, Eutopia, The Handicapped, Shall the Dust Praise Thee?, The Happy Breed, A Toy for Juliette, The Day After the Day the Martians Came, Encounter with a Hick, The Night That All Time Broke Out, The Malley System, The Doll-House, Lord Randy, My Son, Auto-da-Fé, Test to Destruction, Go, Go, Go, Said the Bird, From the Government Printing Office, The Day of Forever, The Recognition, Sex and/or Mr. Morrison, Incident in Moderan, Judas, The Escaping. Excerpt: Riders of the Purple Wage is a science fiction novella by Philip José Farmer. It appeared in Dangerous Visions, the famous New Wave science fiction anthology compiled by Harlan Ellison, in 1967, and won the Hugo Award for best novella in 1968, jointly with Weyr Search by Anne McCaffrey. The title of the story is a take-off on Riders of the Purple Sage, a Western by the American author Zane Grey. Riders of the Purple Wage is an extrapolation of today's tendency towards state supervision and consumer-oriented economic planning. In the story, all citizens receive a salary (the purple wage) from the government, to which everyone is entitled just by being born. The population is self-segregated into relatively small communities, with a controlled environment, and keeps in contact with the rest of the world through the Fido, a combination television and videophone. The typical dwelling is an egg-shaped house, outside of which is a realistic simulation of an open environment with sky, sun and moon. In reality each community is on one level of a multi-level arcology. For those who dislike this lifestyle, there are wildlife reserves where they can join "tribes" of Native Americans and like-minded Anglos, living closer to nature for a while. Some choose this lifestyle permanently. Art (and art appreciation) are prominently displayed in this society; artists receive press coverage comparable to that of today's movie stars. Hardly less glamorous are the art critics, each of whom has a pet theory about art. A critic also acts as an agent or manager, promoting the work of one or more artists, especially if their work seems to support his ideas. The story revolves around one of these pampered artists, who sometimes find themselves uninspired, due to the lack of major conflicts in society. Sexual relations and sexual orientation are portrayed as absolutely free from prejudice. The main character is bisexual, and it is implied that most of his acquaintances have had at least experim