The Science Fiction of Mark Clifton
Edited by Barry N. Malzberg and Martin H. Greenberg.
The Science Fiction of Mark Clifton collects 11 of the 20 short stories Mark Clifton published. Clifton's technique: use a first person narrator to establish trust with an audience, then write on some of the most far-fetched, implausible themes possible, such as poltergeists, alien beings, ESP, and travel through space and time without a space ship. One of the reasons Clifton's work is so believable is that he appears (from his correspondence with Judith Merril, some of which is reproduced in the introduction) to have held a serious and sincere belief in the possibility of what he was writing about, particularly that a race of humans with telekinetic powers would soon emerge and replace homo sapiens.
Contents:
- Memoir and Appreciation by Judith Merril
- What Have I Done?
- Star, Bright
- Crazy Joey (with Alex Apostolides)
- What Thin Partitions (with Aex Apostolides)
- Sense from Thought Divide
- How Allied
- Remembrance and Reflection
- Hide! Hide! Witch! (with Alex Apostolides)
- Clerical Error
- What Now, Little Man?
- Hang Head, Vandal!
- Afterword by Barry N. Malzberg
- Bibliography
