Product Description
Please visit www.PhoenixPick.com for more great science fiction at great prices. ... Read more

Product Description
Abridged from the 1953 edition, containing 12 of the original 23 stories. Includes: Yesterday Was Monday (1941) by Theodore Sturgeon; Endowment Policy (1943) by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett]; Other Tracks (1938) by William Sell; And It Comes Out Here (1951) by Lester del Rey; The Mist (1952) by Peter Grainger [as by Peter Cartur]; Ambition (1951) by William L. Bade; Tiger by the Tail (1951) by Alan E. Nourse; Business of Killing (1944) by Fritz Leiber; The Middle of the Week After Next (1952) by Murray Leinster; Night Meeting (1950) by Ray Bradbury; What If... (1952) by Isaac Asimov; The Flight That Failed (1942) by A. E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull [as by E. M. Hull]. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Memories..oh sweet memories...
It was the early 80s and I was in the library in Woodbridge Middle School.I found a hardcover book that seemed interesting.A time travel story.Being into science fiction I, of course, checked it out.I enjoyed it so much that I remembered it till this day.In fact, I had to order it when I found it on Amazon.Of course I had forgotten the title, the author, almost everything but was lucky to find a site on prehistoric fiction.But lets move onto the plot.
Yes, the plot is simple - in those days sending teens back in time was the norm.Teenagers in sci-fi fought aliens, destroyed monsters and saved the world all the time.Sometimes more than once.
Sadly, the science, mostly with early life, is outdated.Well, duh, it was first printed in 1966.Of course the dinosaurs and their behavior is all wrong.But I think it would still make a good gift for a child just starting to read or explore books.Or for a person who wants, like me, to relive moments of childhood.

Loved it as a kid.
I read this book in elementary school. I loved it. I've now purchased it for my kids!

Not Free SF Reader
A time travel story with dinosaurs.What more could a boy want?

Basically, though, that is about the only people that should be reading it, as a boy and his father go to rescue a colleague who has become trapped.

The last 40 years haven't been kind to this book
Science that is so far off I have a hard time believing that it wasthought to be accurate in 1966.Dinosaurs whose only behavior is maniacal attack, even in the case of some herbovores.Prehistoric men who operate pretty much on the same level - savages just gotta be savage, after all.A paleontologist who travels back to the time of the dinosaur and collects no data - mostly just shoots things.Only one female character, who is mostly only happy when she does something to please the male heros.People who make bizarre choices apparantly only because the plot needs them to.No character development, clumsy writing, sloppy editting.

Actually, Lester Del Rey didn't even write this.Someone else wrote it to his outline.

There was good science fiction written in 1966, but is probably a example of why science fiction used to have such a crummy reputation.

Man, this title takes me WAY back.
I was just now listening to the Dynasty theme song, from the tv drama, and it jarred my memory so I had to look this book up and here it is. I too remember this from elementary school. There was a time machine and things get thrown back and forth through time and there was an ice-age and s$#% like that. Get this book for your scientifically minded kids - they'll love it. ... Read more

Product Description
The complete pulp... reprinted for the first time! This historic first issue included material by Ray Cummings and A.E. Van Vogt but also a comic book section featuring stories by Gardner F. Fox, Joe Kubert and John Giunta. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

My first science fiction novel and my first library book!
This was the very first book I ever checked out from our public library.
I was 6 years old and it was also my first science fiction book.
I loved it so much it sparked a lifelong love of science fiction.
I read all the Lester del Rey books my local branch had,
then went on to discover Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, and my boyhood favorite Heinlein.
I wish Lester del Rey were alive today so I could thank him for all the joy that "The Runaway Robot" has brought to me and my children.

Runaway Robot, just like I remember it
This was one of my favorite books growing up, I read it at least once a year.Unfortunately my copy had disappeared.I was thinking about it quite a bit and decided to try to find a copy.The copy that was mailed to me was in outstanding condition and the book was just as I had remembered it, it was a really pleasant walk down memory lane.Brought a much needed smile to my face.

Enduring and memorable.
I've been looking for this book for years and today (finally) remembered the name! I read this in 2nd grade and the story has stuck with me over the years. It's a great morality play and will inspire the imaginations of young and old alike! It's definitely in my all-time top-ten!

My First Sci-Fi Book
This book gets an automatic 5 star rating by virtue of it being my first ever science fiction novel. I must have been eight when I read it and I still have a copy in my library.

Written from the perspective of Rex the robot, the language is simple, the action exciting, and the story fun. It is a simple tale of loyalty that starts on Ganymede and ends on Earth, by way of Mars. As an extra bonus, its illustrated, albeit sparsely.

This is a good book for young readers, although you'll probably have to pay more than the $.50 cover price of my copy.

Great book to read to your little robot lovers!
We finished reading The Forgotten Door and are now in the midst of Runaway robot.I can hardly stand to put it down myself....the kids beg for "One more chapter, PLEASE!" every time my husband finishes reading one aloud. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Readable but Unremarable.
"Prisoners of Space" is readable but unremarkable.

The plot revolves around a 17-year-old girl and her friend and semi-adopted brother, an 18-year-old-boy. They live in the mining colony Diana in tunnels and bubbles on the Moon, which rumor holds will be shut down because of lack of ore. The problem is that the boy and girl were both born on the Moon and could not live on earth, so they would have to move to a space station which doesn't appeal to either of them.The boy, feeling adventuresome, goes exploring in the far tunnels and thinks he hears something alive.Together the boy and girl befriend "Fuzzy", a creature that reminds me of the alien pet the Jetsons have, but without the springy suction-cup legs.The origin of the creature is a mystery which is solved as the plot thickens.

The intro, written by Del Rey, isn't bad, but other than that the beginning is the worst part of the book.To start off with, the names of the characters are monosyllabic and annoyingly common place: Dave, Jane, Joe, Grace, Etc.The dialogue is quite campy at times and there's a fair amount of it, so you see the names again and again.Then there are some glaring improbabilities.The boy doesn't know what grass is, though he is familiar with the expression "the grass is always greener on the other side."He also thinks that the flare he saw in the sky could have been a meteorite, and for some bizarre reason he avoids telling anyone that he thinks it was a rocket.He and the girl have adapted to breath low-pressure and the air on a visit to earth is too heavy.So far okay, but then what the heck do the other colonists breath?Why would the colony have lower pressure than Earth?This is stuff Jules Verne would not have gotten wrong, especially a year before the first Apollo landing.

Overall, it is a an okay book, and some would rate it better.But I consider it something less than Heinlein's better juveniles and Del Rey's better short stories.Probably it should be considered as an average juvenile. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Old Science Fiction is best
Not only are the stories interesting, but they're a slice of past attitudes.I must admit that I haven't read this book in so long, the only story I remember is the one where the characters are surprised that when they got back to Earth, everyone they knew was long dead.I guess the relativity of time was a new idea in the 30s.I do remember that these stories are a charming combination of naivete and incredible insights.It's always a surprise to me when the characters in a story light up in a spaceship, smart women are presented as anomolies, and all alien planets have breathable air.But then, an old Science Fiction story will accurately predict a future technology and how it will change society.I heartily recommend these stories.I recommend all old Science Fiction, especially the ones where their future is now our past (1984, 2001).Did what they predicted come true?Why not?

List of Stories and Authors
OUT AROUND RIGEL by Robert H. Wilson
THE FIFTH-DIMENSION CATAPULT by Murray Leinster
INTO THE METEORITE ORBIT by Frank K. Kelly
THE BATTERY OF HATE by John W. Campbell
THE WALL; and THE OTHER by Howard W. Graham, Ph.D.
THE LOST LANGUAGE by David H. Keller, M.D.
THE LAST MEN by Frank Belknap Long, Jr.
THE MAD MOON by Stanley G. Weinbaum
DAVEY JONES' AMBASSADOR by Raymond Z. Gallum
ALAS, ALL THINKING by Harry Bates
THE TIME DECELERATOR by A Macfadyen, Jr.
THE COUNCIL OF DRONES by W.K. Sonnemann
SEEKER OF TOMORROW by Eric Frank Russell and Leslie T. Johnson
HYPERPILOSITY; and THE MERMAN by L. Sprague de Camp
PITHECANTHROPUS REJECTUS by Manly W. Wellman
THE DAY IS DONE by Lester del Rey

Not Really a Labor of Love
During the early 1970s, there was a resurgence of interest in science fiction of the 1920s and the 1930s. There was Isaac Asimov's wonderful anthology-autobiography, _Before the Golden Age_ (1973), Jaques Sadoul's _Les Meilliers Recits de Astounding Stories_ (1972), Jack Williamson's _The Early Williamson_ (1975), and _The Best of Stanley Weinbaum_ (1974). Damon Knight's _Science Fiction of the 30s_ (1975) was also part of this revival. I don't wish that the book had never been published, but it's a bit of a dissapointment when compared with other works in this movement.

Part of the problem lies within Knight himself. He is an editor of taste and discrimination, but (unlike Sam Moskowitz or Isaac Asimov) he doesn't really have a fondness for the writing of the time. He believes-- quite rightly-- that most of it was pretty dreadful stuff. But an editor of an anthology of this sort, it seems to me, must have a certain affection for the bad.

The anthology includes three historical surveys covering three slices of time ("The Begining," "The Middle," and "The End"); but he does not give a detailed introduction, and there are no introductions to individual stories. Five of the authors represented in this collection are virtual unknowns: Robert H. Wilson, Frank K. Kelly, Howard W. Graham, A. Macfadyen, and W.K. Sonnemann. Who were they? What stories did they write? For what magazines? This information is not given. (Though I was able to find some of it elsewhere.) And many young whippersnappers with their tentacles still green might like to know something about more famous authors like David H. Keller, Raymond Z. Gallun, and Stanley Weinbaum.

Five of the eighteen stories come from the early days of John Campbell's
_Astounding_ and are really crude anticipations of the Golden Age of the 40s. The other thirteen stories are more representative of the 30s, and they contain five passable pieces: Murray Leinster's "The Fifth-Dimensional Catapult," John Campbell's "The Battery of Hate," Stanley Weinbaum's "The Mad Moon," Raymond Z. Gallun's "Davey Jones' Ambassador," and Harry Bates' "Alas, All Thinking". The remaining eight stories are all pretty dreadful. To be sure, one must expect a certain percentage of clunkers in an anthology covering this period. But were there no pieces available by Jack Williamson, Nelson S. Bond, Edmond Hamilton, or even Stanton Coblentz? William Grey Beyer, now unknown, wrote a charming space opera in the 30s called "Let 'em Eat Space" that has (to my Knowledge) only been reprinted in magazines. And L. Taylor Hanson wrote a good novelette, "The Prince of Liars," that has been anthologized only once. Surely Knight could have found a better selection of stories than this. ... Read more

Product Description
Binding Unknown, Date not stated ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Quirks of Science Fiction
I read this book when I was about eight years old (1955).

Its the story of a race in rocket ships (one from each habitable planet/moon - Earth, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Io, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa). Its a somewhat hokey story 52 years later but a nice trip back along memory lane.

Hate to be a spoiler but when DelRay wrote it in 1952, we were 17 years away from the first Moon Landing. But in the book, the author names the race "the Armstrong Classic" after the first man to land on the Moon.

I remembered that in 1969 and every year since. Truthfully, I just bought the book here on Amazon {ROCKET JOCKEY (Del Rey Books)} , to check my memory. But it was a nice trip back to when I was a kid and dreamt of things to come as well.

A Thrill a Minute in the Armstrong Classic
I have a friend who once said to me that if it wasn't for sports, he would never have made it out of high school. My response was that I made it out of high school in spite of sports. I will confess at the outset that sports science fiction is not really my cup of tea. According to Peter Nicholls and Brian Stableford (1995), it is a form of writing that didn't flourish until after World War II. Some of the early practitioners of it were Clifford D. Simak, Malcolm Jameson, and Lester del Rey.

_Rocket Jockey_ (1952) was first published by Winston under the pseudonym of Philip St. John and was accompanied by a splendid cover by Alex Schomburg.The cover depicted two rockets taking off at an angle from the Moon. The novel has since been reprinted in paperback form several times over (with much less splendid covers), indicating that it has retained a certain degree of popularity over the years. I don't know why. It strikes me as very dated and simplistic, though I'll admit that it does have a certain degree of action and zip.

It was prophetic in an accidental kind of a way. The race across the solar system is called the Armstrong Classic in honor of the first man to land on the Moon-- a Major Armstrong. Unlike Neil Armstrong, his first words were not about a giant step for mankind. They were, "Who won the Indianapolis Classic?" I sometimes wish that our historical first words had been as spontaneous. Ah, well.

The story involves a young pilot for Earth who is maneuvered into racing in the Armstrong Classic against Martian contestants. The Martians are noted for winning by the use of dirty tricks. And there are dirty tricks aplenty that are dished out. I personally find other del Rey juveniles such as _Marooned on Mars_ (1952), _Battle on Mercury_ (1953), and _Step to the Stars_ (1954) to be much better written and much more imaginative. But I will freely admit that sports buffs may get more enjoyment out of this book than I did. ... Read more