Table Of ContentTable of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Passion Ploy
Lehr, Rex
Dust
Tiger, Burning - Alastair Reynolds
The Singularity Needs Women!
Dreamers’ Lake
Eventide
What We Still Talk About
Kyle Meets the River
Forbearing Planet
This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine
Me•topia
Forbidden Planet
Author and Story Notes
Raves for Peter Crowther’s Anthologies:
“This is a well above average anthology . . . one of the more welcome theme
anthologies of the year.”
—Science Fiction Chronicle for Moon Shots
“Of the year’s original anthologies, Peter Crowther’s Moon Shots yielded a
remarkable number of stories to the year’s best annuals . . .”
—Locus
“The sixteen stories include an impressive array of styles and points of attack.
The overall standard of quality is very high. It’s a very good book. It’s
practically a miracle for a mass-market paperback anthology.”
—SF Site for Mars Probes
“Crowther has, in Mars Probes, assembled a collection of stories that takes its
eyes off the collective scientific ball and manages to be both refreshing and
funny. It stands a very good chance of being the best original SF anthology of
the year.”
—Locus
“Constellations is an excellent original anthology, and it certainly displays the
richness of contemporary British SF to great effect.”
—Locus
“The writers provided a host of differing perspectives so that the audience
obtains a fun collection with no two stories alike and none weak. All new stories,
Peter Crowther has put together a five star anthology that will enhance his
reputation for editing fine off planetary collections.”
—The Midwest Book Review for Constellations
FORBIDDEN
PLANETS
DAW Anthologies Edited by Peter Crowther:
HEAVEN SENT
MOON SHOTS
MARS PROBES
CONSTELLATIONS
Copyright © 2006 by Tekno Books and Peter Crowther.
eISBN : 978-1-101-11618-0
All Rights Reserved.
DAW Book Collectors No. 1385.
DAW Books is distributed by Penguin Group (USA).
All characters in this book are fictitious.
Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the
permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic
editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support
of the author’s rights is appreciated.
First paperback printing, November 2006
DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED
U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES
—MARCA REGISTRADA
HECHO EN U.S.A.
S.A .
http://us.penguingroup.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“Introduction” copyright © 2006 by Ray Bradbury.
“Passion Ploy,” copyright © 2006 by Matt Hughes Company Ltd.
“Lehr, Rex,” copyright © 2006 by Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
“Dust,” copyright © 2006 by Paul McAuley.
“Tiger, Burning,” copyright © 2006 by Alastair Reynolds.
“The Singularity Needs Women!,” copyright © 2006 by Paul Di Filippo.
“Dreamers’ Lake,” copyright © 2006 by Stephen Baxter.
“Eventide,” copyright © 2006 by Monkeybrain, Inc.
“What We Still Talk About,” copyright © 2006 by Scott Edelman.
“Kyle Meets the River,” copyright © 2006 by Ian McDonald.
“Forbearing Planet,” copyright © 2006 by Michael and Linda Moorcock.
“This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine,” copyright © 2006 by Alex
Irvine.
“Me-topia,” copyright © 2006 by Adam Roberts.
“Afterword: Forbidden Planet,” copyright © 2006 by Stephen Baxter.
Introduction
Sometime in the early 1950s MGM Studios contacted me to write a screenplay
for a film—the film turned out to be Forbidden Planet.
This request came from a gentleman named, incredibly, Nickie Nayfack. I
didn’t believe the name, so I checked with MGM and found that he was a
relative of one of the studio producers.
I turned down the project and later regretted it because when I saw the film
with the Id on the screen, I realized that this was the most important idea in the
picture. If MGM had mentioned that to me then, I would have been intrigued and
might have done something of a larger size with the Id than was done in the final
film.
But if I had taken the job, the first thing I would have done would have been
kill Robby the Robot or, if I had let him live, laser beam his storage batteries.
For this, I think, a world would have worshiped me to the end of time. On the
other hand, Robby the Robot’s worshipers would have reviled me beyond
reason.
But there’s absolutely no doubting that Altair 4 was truly an unwelcoming
place. And I should know. Because before 1955—and certainly afterward—I had
written about a few forbidden planets of my own, hostile worlds where you
wouldn’t want to be stranded . . . even fully armed.
The concept of the inhospitable location—be it a planet, a haunted house, or a
graveyard—has long been a staple of fantastic fiction. It’s the kind of stuff I
used to read as a small boy growing up in Illinois.
I remember being read to from Edgar Allan Poe by my Aunt Neva when I was
sick in bed in late 1928 and, the very next year, reading the comic-strip
adventures of Buck Rogers that started to appear in the daily newspapers. Buck
Rogers offered me a trip to the asteroids, Venus, Mercury, and, yes, even Jupiter
itself! And all in 1929 when Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins hadn’t even been
born yet!
And then, at my Uncle Bion’s house in the summer of 1930, I discovered
bookshelves filled with even more exotic worlds . . . Edgar Rice Burroughs’
wonderful creation, John Carter of Mars, who, some two years later, inspired me
to write my own tales of the Red Planet, sometimes depicting it as a friendly
world and other times as a place of mystery and intrigue. The first of those
stories, “The Million Year Picnic,” appeared in the summer of 1946 in Planet
Stories.
So here we are, some sixty years later, with Forbidden Planets, tales of far-off
places where Man isn’t greeted with open arms. Open jaws, perhaps . . . but open
arms? Never! In any event, Peter Crowther has gathered a fine bunch of writers
to give their own take on alien worlds, honoring that film I almost wrote the
screenplay for. I often wonder what kind of job I would have made of it! One
thing is certain: I would have destroyed Robby the Robot early on and let all the
characters behave. What a delightful thought!
Meanwhile, here are a dozen fine stories about mankind facing up to the perils
that may lie ahead on distant worlds. Enjoy!
Ray Bradbury
Los Angeles
July 2005
