Menace of the Machine (British Library Science Fiction Classics) ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Menace of the Machine
Series: British Library Science Fiction Classics
Editor: Mike Ashley
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 257
Words: 95.5K

Synopsis:

Table of Contents

Moxon’s Master

Ambrose Bierce

The Discontented Machine

Adeline Knapp

Ely’s Automatic Housemaid

Elizabeth Bellamy

The Mind Machine

Michael Williams

Automata

S. Fowler Wright

The Machine Stops

E. M. Forster

Efficiency

Perley Poore Sheehan & Robert H. Davis

Rex

Harl Vincent

Danger in the Dark Cave

J. J. Connington

The Evitable Conflict

Isaac Asimov

Two-Handed Engine

C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner

But Who Can Replace a Man?

Brian W. Aldiss

A Logic Named Joe

Will F. Jenkins

Dial F For Frankenstein

Arthur C. Clarke

My Thoughts:

I had not read, or even heard of, 3/4's of these stories, so this was a good collection to expand my knowledge of classic SF. Considering that some them date back to the 1890's, that's as classic as you can get! Of course, there was also a reason I had not heard of most of these.

While not universally depressing, the tone is definitely set by the title. I had to remind myself several times that this was not a collection about the indomitableness of the human spirit but what humanity could let itself in for. It was interesting to see how almost every single author believed that man's creation was somehow greater than mankind and they blithely threw out statements about how complicated and wonderful the machines were and how simple and primitive the human body was. It really showed a complete lack of understanding about biology and an acceptance of the roar of evolution that was just coming into being then.

The biggest reason this got 3 stars from me and no higher was because of the fething editor sticking in his nose. Just like in the collection Worst Contact, this editor (Mike Ashley) has a little chat with the reader about the author of the upcoming story. Maybe that works for a lot of people but when I saw that on the first story I gritted my teeth and groaned. Then when I saw it for the second story I knew this was going to be the format. Unfortunately, I am not disciplined enough to skip them and besides, why should “I” have to skip them, why didn't the editor skip them? I believe I used a lot of words in my head like sycophant, lickspittle, buttkisser and useless sod. Instead of allowing me to read the stories and judge on their own merit, Ashley has to include a bunch of data that ruined the whole experience for me. Besides ruining the flow the collection! I've got 4 or 5 more of these British Library series edited by Ashley and I'm going to do my hardest to skip his idiotic blathering and useless drivel and generally disgusting toejam munching.

To summarize, the stories were enjoyable on a variety of levels but the editorializing ruined the whole thing for me.

★★★☆☆