8 • The Wings of a Bat • [Lake Possible] • novelette by Pauline Ashwell [as Paul Ash]
A group of miners has traveled to the Cretaceous period. They raised together (with the lead of a medic, as he had more free time than the others) a young orphaned Pteranodon and released it into the wild once it was grown enough. During a storm, there is a threatening situation when the medic seems to be chased by a full-grown lizard bird. There was nothing really surprising, but a well-told version of a familiar story. ***
31 • Call Him Lord • novelette by Gordon R. Dickson
Nebula winner and a Hugo finalist.
The future emperor of a galactic empire arrives on the Earth, which is a backward planet compared to others. But according to tradition, emperors must tour the Earth before their coronation. There is a family who has always acted as their bodyguards. It turns out that the guard is actually guarding something even more valuable than the life of the prince he's supposed to look after. An excellent story. ****+
72 • Two-Way Communication • short story by Christopher Anvil
Someone has invented a device that not only can receive any radio transmission, but also send audio back to the microphone which is emitting the sounds. A very stupid story which is apparently meant as humorous but really isn't. **+
84 • Under the Wide and Starry Sky... • short story by Joe Poyer
The story happens approximately at the time of writing. An astronaut is marooned during a spacewalk, his oxygen system is damaged and he soon won't be able to breathe anymore. The spaceship (strangely) has almost no fuel left, and can’t be maneuvered to pick him up. A pretty standard rescue story, but orbital mechanics and orbital speeds don’t really add up. At one point, the speed of the space capsule is mentioned to be 138.000.000 feet/sec, which corresponds to about 151 million kilometers per hour. That is more than 10% of the speed of light... **
101 • The Alchemist • [Conrad Patrick] • novella by Charles L. Harness
Another Hugo finalist and was also nominated for Nebula.
A chemical reaction that should not have taken place actually does, after a strange man messed with the vials. It turns out he might be an alchemist. Pages of description of imaginary chemical reactions and intricacies of patent law ensue. An extremely slow story in which practically nothing seems to be happening. Such an unbelievably boring story that I gave up about halfway. I glanced at the last half - apparently, everything was due to some psi-powers. Totally unbelievable that this story has received the nominations it has. *
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