I love Science Fiction. I especially love older anthologies, since if one story stinks it is easy to just move on to something else. And I truly love the works prior to the early 1980's; yes, there has been some very good stuff done since then, but the early works offer something that the newer stuff just can't reach, and that is freshness.

An innocence that just can't be recaptured. That is the problem with Sci Fi on television, books or the movies. It gets to a point where it just becomes "Old Hat", a situation that you have seen before, time and again.

With the older works, you know it is something you have read a hundred different time over you history, but here you can fake the elements of surprise and awe that might have been felt by the first readers. The "Golden Age" of Science Fiction was a time of true Giants in the field.

And one of these was Lester del Rey, and that is what this present book review is about.

While currently out of print, "The Best of Lester Del Rey" collects 16 stories from a master craftsman, who handles his work like a concert violinist. Writing for John W. Campbell and many of the others during the hey-day of Unknown, Astounding, and many others, he learned the ways of turning a simple phrase into artistry.

This collection takes some of the best work from the late 1930's into the mid 1050's and re-presents them in a still romanticized idea of what life in the future might have been like, or might have brought.

From creating true love in Helen O'Loy to man's children seeking revenge against a deadly attacker in Vengeance is Mine, the stories reach deep into the true essence of what Speculative Fiction should be, and probably won't be ever again.

No, not all the stories satisfied me in all ways, but they each one satisfied me in most ways. While most of them do show their age in places, and certainly we know a bit more about the universe that surrounds us today then del Rey and his contemporaries did 4 and 5 decades ago, but the ideal image that was presented in the stories is as fresh today as it was when it hit the pages of pulp those years ago.

From the simple ideas of fantasy characters brought to the modern world, to the final battle between man and God, the stories are both intelligent and amazing. del Rey always stuck to the points and ideas that brought us to Science Fiction in the first place, and that is that there is something else just over the next fence, or around the next curve in the road.

Lester del Rey's genius will live on in the minds of the reader long after they put this book down. For the first time reader, it gives the chance to see what true leaders in the field did to open the doors for the writers of today, and for long time fans it will be a great trip down memory lane with an old buddy, thinking about the good times and realizing that through his work, he won't ever leave our side.

The book is probably eaisly found in most used or second-hand books stores. Or, check eBay once in a while. The photo is a stock photo from the internet, my copy has a brilliant cover be H.R. van Dongen.

Below is a listing of the stories in this edition. And don't even ask me to tell you my favorites, there was no way to pick one. Well, ok... maybe Instinct, or Into Thy Hands.

Ok, fine, my favorite story was For I Am A Jealous People. While the first two dealt with struggle and the supremacy of Mankind and the need for a spiritual image, "Jealous People" dealt with the battle between man and another race, and each one of us sure that God is on our side. The problem is, that this time we are wrong, and instead of just giving up, we become that which can even frighten a Deity.

I loved it.

Introduction: The Magnificent By Frederik Pohl

Helen O'Loy
The Day is Done
The Coppersmith
Hereafter, Inc.
The Wings of Night
Into Thy Hands
And It Comes Out Here
The Monster
The Years Draw Nigh
Instinct
Superstition
For I Am a Jealous People
The Keepers of the House
Little Jimmy
The Seat of Judgment
Vengeance Is Mine

Author's Afterword