They came from outer space Book

Closing out my seventh iteration of reading my fiction books A-Z+an anthology is this book edited by schlock legend Jim Wynorski. I actually got the idea to pick it next when I saw the security guard reading it in "Chopping Mall," Wynorski's 1986 still-very-watchable-horror flick.

The idea is explained in the title and, fortunately, the stories are much better than some of the worst movies made out of them. "Who Goes There?" is the best John W. Campbell I've read in recent memory, though I'm not sure it's at the level of either the Hawks/Nyby Classic or the John Carpenter version. JWC was too "golden age" sci-fi, I think, to get into the horror of it'though his style is very suited to Carpenter's neo-Western "tough men doing tough jobs without getting too worked up over it" style.

Some of the ideas are tenuously connected, such as Ray Bradbury's "The Foghorn," which apparently really was the vision for "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms," and Bradbury's intro (about being called in to doctor a script that had been based on one of his stories without licensing it from him) is typically terrific.

While I've grown weary of Harlan Ellison's "angry young man" schtick, "A Boy and his Dog" holds up pretty well. I do think the whole Boomer-era of reflexive blinding rage toward the middle-class from which all these angry young men emerged will not endear itself to future generations, but that needn't concern us here.

I rather liked "Farewell to the Master," which was new to me and really not especially connected to the movie beyond the basic premise and a few "props" (alien spaceship, giant robot). The movie is classic, but the story makes you go "whoa".

It was kinda fun to see the name of Ib Melchior (featured prominently on the latest MST3K season) on "The Racer", which became "Death Race 2000". I had not known he was a writer.

"The Fly" holds up very well even on a third reading since I started my journey, so that's cool.

The only negative mark I'd give is for "The Alien Machine", and not even then for the story, but for Wynorski's omission in the metatext. The story became "This Island Earth" and it's remarkable how faithful the movie is to the story, except that it only goes as far as Act I. (Cal gets on the self-flying plane. And "MST3K: The Movie," while I love it so, did some dirt here to what's basically a decent '50s scifi.)

The omission, however, is that there are TWO other stories that round out the rest of the movie. I get not including them, just like I get including only the original inspiration for "2001", but I don't get not mentioning them!

Minor point, though. and nine of the stories were new to me, so that was nice. Worth checking out, if you can find a copy.