The Seedling Stars is a 1957 collection of science fiction short stories by American writer James Blish. It was first published by Gnome Press in 1957 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories concern the adaptation of humans to alien environments (a process Blish called pantropy).

The Seedling Stars
Dust-jacket from the first edition
AuthorJames Blish
Cover artistLionel Dillon
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherGnome Press
Publication date
1957
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pages185
OCLC7013015

Contents

edit

"Seeding Program" was originally published under the title "A Time to Survive". "Surface Tension" was revised from its magazine publication, and here incorporates material from Blish's earlier story "Sunken Universe", published in Super Science Stories in 1942.[1] The four stories are termed 'Book One', 'Book Two', etc. and some editions refer to this as a standard novel in four sections, rather than an actual short story collection.

Reception

edit

Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the collection as "a thought-provoking job".[2] Anthony Boucher also received the book favorably, saying it "nicely illustrat[ed] the characteristic Blish balance between thinking and storytelling, with each reinforcing the other".[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections
  2. ^ "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, January 1957, p.105
  3. ^ "Recommended Reading," F&SF, July 1957, p.92.

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. 306.
  • Contento, William G. "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections". Retrieved 2008-03-04.
edit