A Star Above It and Other Stories (Nesfa's Choice)
This volume of the late Oliver's short fiction and its companion,Far from This Earth and Other Stories, strike a truly heroic blow for the cause of restoring classic sf to print. During a 35-year career begun in 1952, Oliver specialized in short fiction, much of it sharing the common device of a society being observed, which reflected Oliver's other occupation as a professor of anthropology. "Blood's a Rover" features human military observers and aliens. "The Ant and the Eye" has a misfit observing his society and it observing him, each trying to see whether they can fit the other. "Any More at Home Like You" is one of several stories about aliens coming to Earth or being marooned there and groping toward understanding. Oliver believed that intelligence of any sort, though inevitably fallible, would grope toward understanding enough to prevent gross crimes and total disasters. He also believed in human expansion into space and to other worlds, and that faith adds further to stories already distinguished by graceful prose and good world building. Must-have volumes for thorough sf collections.Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved