Second paragraph of third story (“Before Eden”, by Arthur C. Clarke):
There was no way forward; neither on its jets nor its tractors could S.5—to give the Wreck its official name—scale the escarpment that lay ahead. The South Pole of Venus was only thirty miles away, but it might have been on another planet. They would have to turn back, and retrace their four-hundred-mile journey through this nightmare landscape.
An anthology of cutting edge SF as of the year 1964, when the book retailed for three shillings and sixpence, equivalent to 17½ new pence. There are twelve stories, nine first published in the 1950s and three in the 1960s, all by white men, eight Americans (one of whom was the naturalised Canadian-born A.E. van Vogt) and four British. This was the third of a series of Penguin anthologies edited by Aldiss with the intention of bringing new readers into SF.
All of the stories feature memorable concepts, maybe some of them out of date now (eg the magic-using community sealed off from the scientific world, the defeated white Americans who decide to try and conquer Europe), but stimulating for the Penguin reader of 1964. The standout piece is probably Arthur C. Clarke’s “Before Eden”, in which two cynical technicians accidentally discover life on Venus and unwittingly destroy it as they leave.
The stories do not at all reflect the coming New Wave, but I guess that can be forgiven for a collection which was probably assembled in 1962 and 1963, and perhaps the New Wave might not have appealed to the average Penguin reader as much. It’s an interesting snapshot of the genre at a particular time, and from a particular angle. You can still get Yet More Penguin Science Fiction here.
This was both the shortest unread book that I acquired in 2022, and the sf book that had lingered longest unread on my shelves. Next on those piles respectively are The Forgotten and the Fantastical, ed. Teika Bellamy, and Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep, by Philip Reeve.
