- Hardcover: 242 pages
- Publisher: Five Star (ME); 1 edition (May 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0786253398
- ISBN-13: 978-0786253395
- Product Dimensions: 21.9 x 17.4 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 445 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,037,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
In these 10 stories, Hugo-winner Steele shows as much imagination and wit at lesser length as he does at novel length. "Agape among the Robots" is an amiable satire on human relationships as translated by robots. "Green Acres" offers more satire in an alternate-history setting in which marijuana is legal and hemp is also valuable as the source of substitutes for plastic. The shared-world story "Graceland" introduces rock 'n' roll to Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld. "Warning, Warning" is a homage to the venerable, ambivalently cherished old TV show Lost in Space, while "Tom Swift and His Humongous Mechanical Dude" gives a satirical nod to the world of the Tom Swift Jr. juvenile sf novels of many a baby-boomer's fond memory. Also noteworthy is an entry in Steele's passionate alternate recent history in which space exploration continued, "A Walk across Mars," set during the joint Russian-American expedition of 1976. In all, a solid set, with not a mediocre, let alone dumb, piece in it. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another collection of excellent short stories by the master,
By A Customer
This review is from: The American Beauty (Hardcover)
This collection of ten short stories is the fourth book of short stories by the author. As usual, I enjoyed all the stories, they are very entertaining and some are downright very funny. I am eagerly waiting for the next collection of stories.
5.0 out of 5 stars
run the SF gamut trhough a weird looking glass,
By
This review is from: The American Beauty (Hardcover)
Any anthology that introduces the content as Mishegos (the Yiddish word for "a collection of things") can be looked upon as a warning for genre specialists or a delight for generalists. The AMERICAN BEAUTY consists of ten science fiction tales mostly from the last five years, but none earlier than 1992, that run the gamut of science fiction, but share several traits. The stories center on present or future America, but through a weird looking glass. Each contribution is fun to read and typically turns on its head via opening the jugular inside a value or a famous novel. Oy! vey! Alternate universes where marijuana flows legally, Tom Swift rides rockets again, and romantic robots courting aside, Allen Steele displays his chutzpah with this delightful book.Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
All American Tales,
By
This review is from: The American Beauty (Hardcover)
American Dream is the author's fourth collection of stories. These ten stories are all related in some way to contemporary America.Agape Among the Robots is a story of robots absorbing love through example. Her Own Private Sitcom is an extension of the idea that the world is a stage. Green Acres is an alternate history of the hemp plant in this country. Missing Time is a multiverse/time travel story in which the Mayor gets to second guess his actions. Graceland is a Riverworld tale about the immortality of rock music. Jake and the Enemy is a story of a dog protecting his turf from a robot. Warning, Warning is an explanation, of sorts, for the TV show Lost in Space. The Fine Art of Watching is a tale of the difference between surveillance and perception. A Walk Across Mars makes a case for the media not always telling everything it knows. Tom Swift and His Humongous Mechanical Dude is an indictment of current parenting techniques. I must admit that the author's short stories often unsettle me to some extent. He does have a way to approaching things from an unexpected direction, but that is an admirable trait in any author in any genre. However, he sometimes put an extra sharp edge to his scalpel that cuts a little too deep for my taste. His short works are not very pleasant at times, but makes good points. Recommended to Steele fans and anyone who enjoys satire with a sharp edge and a bit of refined wit.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
