Another day, another delivery, this time the 2 volume short story collection by Kate Wilhelm. I think I’ve read a story or two by her and I’m aware of her name as she had a long history as a writer including SF, picking up various Hugo and Nebula awards. An author perhaps I should read more of. And now I can.

It was pointed out to me that I don’t seem to read a lot of short stories these days and there is truth to that comment. Yet I continue to buy short story collections and compilations. I remember growing up in my teens and 20s, devouring one short story collection after another, that was my introduction to the world of science fiction’s golden age. Favourite authors from that era include Asimov and Bester, Simak and Sturgeon, Clarke and Dick, and of course the mighty Ray Bradbury.

I loved a tightly written short story. That sense of a piece of writing being the right length for the story, minimal padding, no expectation nor requirement of a novel length work. You’d read one, then another, then another, some bite size, some longer, always in a single sitting. Ideas abounded, varying perspectives, as you jumped from one to another. Playing with ideas and creations, sometimes beasts of the id, sometimes far flung worlds, different places, different races.

In recent years, perhaps decade, I have acquired special editions of short stories by Philip K Dick (5 volumes from Subterranean Press), the occasional collection of Greg Egan (also Subterranean), Australian authors (from PS Publishing), and Ray Bradbury (PS Publishing, Subterranean Press). A few years ago, Centipede Press started publishing their series, Masters of Science Fiction, of which the Kate Wilhelm books were the latest. Previous releases in the series included works by James Patrick Kelly, Fritz Leiber, and Richard Wilson.

The nice thing about these books, which makes them easy to buy is that they’re relatively cheap, typically $40-50 per volume for a nicely bound collection. The Kate Wilhelm set was $95 in total for two volumes, filling 1,500 pages of stories. I haven’t read many of the stories in this series but I want to. They’re there on the shelf. Waiting for me.