Cloak of Aesir

Summary

Cloak of Aesir is a collection of science fiction stories by American writer John W. Campbell, Jr. It was published in 1952 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the magazine Astounding SF under Campbell's pseudonym Don A. Stuart.

Cloak of Aesir
Dust-jacket from the first edition
AuthorJohn W. Campbell, Jr.
Cover artistMalcolm Smith
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherShasta Publishers
Publication date
1952
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages254
OCLC1136776

Contents edit

  • Introduction
  • "Forgetfulness"
  • "The Escape"
  • "The Machine"
  • "The Invaders"
  • "Rebellion"
  • "Out of Night"
  • "Cloak of Aesir"

Six of the seven stories were later included in the 1976 collection The Best of John W. Campbell (Ballantine/Del Rey).[1]

Reception edit

Writing in The New York Times, J. Francis McComas "warmly recommended" Cloak of Aesir, noting that "none of these stories follows its chosen path to an expected destination."[2] Groff Conklin characterized the collection as "somewhat overwritten, but still well done."[3] Boucher and McComas, however, praised Cloak for the stories' "amazing modernity of concept and extrapolation [and their] rarely achieved combination of original thinking and high adventure.".[4] P. Schuyler Miller praised the collection as "all top-notch idea-stories . . . laying the foundations of the more adult stuff we know today."[5]

References edit

  1. ^ "Contents Lists". www.philsp.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Spacemen's Realm", The New York Times Book Review, February 8, 1953, p.24
  3. ^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1952, p.134
  4. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, October 1952, pp.43-44
  5. ^ "The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction, August 1952, p.128

Sources edit

  • Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 593.
  • Contento, William G. "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections". Archived from the original on 2019-06-10. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  • Tuck, Donald H. (1974). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 87. ISBN 0-911682-20-1.

External links edit