The Shape of Things (anthology) explained

The Shape of Things
Editor:	Damon Knight
Cover Artist:	Eugene Berman
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Genre:	Science fiction
Publisher:	Popular Library
Release Date:	1965
Media Type:	Print (paperback)
Pages:	206

The Shape of Things is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Damon Knight. It was first published in paperback by Popular Library in 1965.

The book collects eleven short stories and novelettes by various science fiction authors, together with an introduction by the editor. The stories were previously published from 1944-1952 in various science fiction and other magazines.

Contents

• "Introduction" (Damon Knight)
• "Don't Look Now" (1948) (Henry Kuttner)
• "The Box" (1949) (James Blish)
• "The New Reality" (1950) (Charles L. Harness)
• "The Eternal Now" (1944) (Murray Leinster)
• "The Sky Was Full of Ships" (1947) (Theodore Sturgeon)
• "The Shape of Things" (1948) (Ray Bradbury)
• "The Only Thing We Learn" (1949) (C. M. Kornbluth)
• "The Hibited Man" (1949) (L. Sprague de Camp)
• "Dormant" (1948) (A. E. van Vogt)
• "The Ambassadors" (1952) (Anthony Boucher)
• "A Child Is Crying" (1948) (John D. MacDonald)

Reception

Jeffery A. Beaudry, reviewing the anthology in The Washington Post, characterized its general content as "stories from the late '40s and early '50s ... pulpy and populated by mad scientists, good-guy scientists and helpless young 'girls,' but ... great fun."^[1]

Notes and References

1. Beaudry, Jeffery A. "Recommended Reading: Sci Fidelity." In The Washington Post, September 30, 1990, page O14.