The Seedling Stars
 Dust-jacket from the first edition | |
| Author | James Blish |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Lionel Dillon |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction short stories |
| Publisher | Gnome Press |
Publication date | 1957 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 185 pp |
| OCLC | 7013015 |
The Seedling Stars is a 1957 collection of science fiction short stories by James Blish. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1957 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories concern the adaptation of humans to alien environments (a process Blish called pantropy). This may be viewed in contrast to the concept of adapting planetary environments to suit humans (terraforming).
Contents
- "Seeding Program" (F&SF 1956)
- "The Thing in the Attic" (If 1954)
- "Surface Tension" (Galaxy 1952)
- "Watershed" (If 1955)
"Seeding Program" was originally published under the title "A Time to Survive". "Surface Tension" was revised from its magazine publication, and here incorporates material from Blish's earlier story "Sunken Universe", published in Super Science Stories in 1942.[1] The four stories are termed 'Book One', 'Book Two', etc. and some editions refer to this as a standard novel in four sections, rather than an actual short story collection.
Reception
Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the collection as "a thought-provoking job."[2] Anthony Boucher also received the book favorably, saying it "nicely illustrat[ed] the characteristic Blish balance between thinking and storytelling, with each reinforcing the other."[3]
References
- ↑ Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
- ↑ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1957, p.105
- ↑ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, July 1957, p.92.
- Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 306.
- Contento, William G. "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections". Retrieved 2008-03-04.
External links
- The Seedling Stars title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Pantropy series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database