Reviewed By: Marisa Exter
The Calibrated Alligator and Other Science Fiction Stories
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Robert Silverberg
Class/Genre: Science Fiction [Short Stories]
Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1969
This collection of stories by Robert Silverberg from the late 1950s and early 1960s stands up remarkably well to modern science as well as the sensibilities of this 29-year old reviewer (even if it's cover art doesn't!). Stories are set in the distant future as well as the present, and include space travel, time travel, and just plain weirdness. Protagonists include a 14 year old boy who knows he can fly a starship and doesn't want to wait to graduate from high- school to apply to Federal Space Academy ("His Head in the Clouds"), a perplexed alien from a many-millennia-old Federation who can not understand why Terrans are interfering with the Federation's attempts at expansion ("Point of Focus") as well as the more typical 1950s-esque middle aged white guy stuck in a bizarre situation ("Mugwump 4", amongst other stories). The title story, "The Calibrated Alligator", still makes good science fiction now as well, detailing the down and dirty details of living on a moon base, with every gram of supplies shipped up from Earth meticulously examined – the only disappointment is the one I always feel when reading a story obviously not intended to be set in a parallel universe which includes a statement such as "Even in A.D. 1996, there were some legislators from obscure regions who simply couldn't understand the point of throwing away billions of dollars on a laboratory on the moon".
Marisa Exter
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Marisa Exter
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