SciFiMike
  • Home
  • SF Radio
  • Book Reviews
  • SF Links
  • Contact

SciFiMike Quick Review: Microcosmic God — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 2

9/10/2017

0 Comments

 
microcosmic god cover

Microcosmic God — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 2

This second volume in ‘The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon’ series covers work written in 1940 and 1941, and is a quantum leap in quality over the stories in the first volume. Sturgeon was now selling stories regularly to John Campbell for publication in Astounding and Unknown magazines, and had ceased writing the formulaic stories for newspaper syndication found in the first volume. All but two of the stories in this volume were published in Astounding and Unknown.

The highlight of the volume is the title story Microcosmic God, about a reclusive scientist who creates microscopic beings with accelerated evolution. The creatures’ technology soon overtakes that of humanity and the scientist becomes rich from exploiting their inventions, leading to jealousy and trouble from his banker.

All of the seventeen stories in this volume are readable and entertaining, with not a dud among them. A couple (Cargo and The Jumper) reflect the time they were written, being about refugees from the war in Europe and strange goings on in a prisoner of war camp, respectively. The Purple Light is also notable, as it is basically a re-write of a story from the first volume, with the location changed from a plane to a spaceship.

All in all a worthwhile collection of early Sturgeon works, in which any reader should find something to like.


                                                   SciFiMike Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆


0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

        Books Reviewed

    A Quantum Murder by Peter F. Hamilton.

    Adventures In Time And Space edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas.

    American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

    Anthem by Ayn Rand.

    Baby Is Three — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 6 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Beowulf translated by J. R. R. Tolkien.

    Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks.

    Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

    Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

    Eon by Greg Bear.

    Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

    Flux by Stephen Baxter.

    Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

    Futuristic Violence And Fancy Suits by David Wong.

    Gateways To Forever by Mike Ashley.

    Golden Son by Pierce Brown.

    Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    In Search of Wonder by Damon Knight.

    John Dies At The End by David Wong.

    Killdozer! — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 3 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson.

    Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny.

    Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald.

    Microcosmic God — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 2 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Mindstar Rising by Peter F. Hamilton.

    Morning Star by Pierce Brown.

    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

    Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold.

    Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

    Raft by Stephen Baxter.

    Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.

    Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

    Ring by Stephen Baxter.

    Sea-Horse In The Sky by Edmund Cooper.

    The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories by Angela Carter.

    The Compleat Enchanter by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.

    The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold.

    The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem.

    The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Eighty Minute Hour by Brian Aldiss.

    The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe.

    The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North.

    The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem.

    The Game Is Altered by Mez Packer.

    The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey.

    The Godmakers by Frank Herbert.

    The God Stalker Chronicles by P. C. Hodgell.

    The Gunslinger by Stephen King.

    The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman.

    The Last Man by Mary Shelley.

    The Last Starship From Earth by John Boyd.

    The Martian by Andy Weir.

    The Menace From Earth by Robert A. Heinlein.

    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe.

    The Perfect Host — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 5 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks.

    The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith.

    The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

    The Science Fiction Hall of Fame edited by Robert Silverberg.

    The Syndic by C. M. Kornbluth.

    The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton.

    The Time Machines by Mike Ashley.

    The Ultimate Egoist — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 1 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley.

    The Way The Future Was by Frederik Pohl.

    Thunder And Roses — The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, Volume 4 by Theodore Sturgeon.

    Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter.

    Transformations by Mike Ashley.

    Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin.

    Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.

    Whipping Star by Frank Herbert.

    Wool by Hugh Howey.
    Free counters!
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.