From Booklist
Nolan is best known as the author of the basis of the classic sf movie
Logan's Run, which has now been remade. He has written sf for more than 50 years, and this collection, introduced by a cogent autobiographical essay, attempts to representatively sample his sf stories from 1954 to 2001. "Freak" opens the book and reflects the themes of
Logan's Run. "The Grackel Question," "The Day the Gorf Took Over," and "The Mating of Thurdburt," however, reflect what Nolan justifiably calls his "zany" mode and showcase his command of humorous sf. Other noteworthy tales include "The Joy of Living," an early (1954) android story (the subject crops up elsewhere in Nolan's work; see "Mating"); "The Small World of Lewis Stillman," which uses L.A.'s storm drains more effectively than anything else this side of the movie
Them; and "Violation," which deals with traffic cops through the eyes of an author who collected a good many speeding tickets during 15 years in auto racing as writer and driver.
Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Description
Representing the best of a 50-year writing career, these 19 short stories have been collected from the wide-ranging oeuvre of William F. Nolan. Zany tales are included, such as "Toe to Tip, Tip to Toe, Pip-Pop as You Go," in which everyone is kept in perpetual drugged states and the social deviates are those who are straight. More serious stories are also told such as "The Small World of Lewis Stillman," in which the last surviving resident of Los Angeles must conceal himself in storm sewers in order to avoid a new wave of smaller city dwellers who, although primitive, are dangerous in their numbers. Interspersed are narratives that address the emotional attachments of robots to humans, mix science fiction with the classic Wild West, and allow alien rock stars and human groupies to intermingle.
