4.0 to 4.5 stars. I have not read all of the stories in this collection so this review is for the following stories (I will supplelemnt as I read more of them):"Not with a Bang" (4.0 stars): A cool short story conerning the last man and woman on Earth with a great "twilight zone" type ending."To Serve Man" (5.0 stars): One of Knight's most famous stories, thanks to the great "Twilight Zone" episode made from it. This is superb. "Cabin Boy" (3.5 stars): Clever and original but not as satisfying as the other stories. "The Analogues" (5.0 stars): Another superb story with a great premise and an even better ending.
Do You like book The Best Of Damon Knight (1978)?
As I stepped into my literary rocketship, I brought with me my map of the Golden section of the galaxy, ready to explore and chart the celestial seas of the universe of speculative fiction. I have soared though several realms of imagination and thought I would document new ventures in my quest to continue to expand my knowledge of those who have used their creativity to expand the bookshelves of libraries across the world. I thought I would start out with Knight. When a sci-fi writer is deemed worthy after a lifetime of contributing great writing to the SF literary universe they are knighted with the Nebula Damon Knight Grand Master award.With a reputation as a master of the genre and a title with the book ‘The Best’ I expected great things from author collection entitled, ‘The Best of Damon Knight’. My expectations were even higher after reading a description of each individual story and thinking, ‘These sound like stories worth investing sometime in to it. This book is out of print and is hard to come by. But through the magic of the library exchange program I got this book and stepped into the Knight. It is best to describe and rate each story individually. But that takes time. Let me say at the that overall the personal reflections of when DK wrote each story was overall more interesting than the stories themselves. I may try to read another of his stories. I may even tackle his non-fiction book “How to Write Short Fiction.” But with so little time an so many good authors to read, it’s best to move on to someone else. Some of the stories that stand out are………To Serve Man • (1950 Beware of aliens bearing gifts. I understand why this is considered a classic. It is found in several anthologies and was made into a classic Twilight Zone episode. Special Delivery • (1954) • One of two Knight stories to be found free to read and distribute on Guttenburg.com. It is a story that shows the wonder of life in the womb and the bond between a mother and her puffed up bratty bayb. Anachron • (1954) A time travel story I will read all the way through once I get the Best Time Travel Stories Of all Time anthology out at the library.Man in the Jar • (1957) A greedy earthman traps a bellhop in a giant jar. The bellhop is apparently some type of creature who can create diamonds. The greedy earthman threatens to kill him if he doesn’t do it for him. A rather well crafted sci-fi story. Masks • (1968) A popular story found in several Sci-Fi anthologies in which I actually plan on reading at somepoint.
—Mark Wilson
