Indeholder "The Golden Bugs", "Leg. Forst.", "So Bright the Vision", "Galactic Chest".

"The Golden Bugs" handler om Randall Marsden, hans kone Helen og deres søn Jan, naboen Darby Wells, kaldet Dobby, og den anden nabo Arthur Belsen. En stor sten havner på deres græsplæne og nogle små gyldne mariehøns dukker op. Dobby er insektforsker, men har aldrig set den slags mariehøns før. Tommy Henderson, som er en af Jans venner, er amatørgeolog og har aldrig set den slags sten før. En slags hul båndmønstret agat, men agater kan ikke blive så store og de er ikke hule. Mariehønsene begynder at gøre huset rent til Helens store begejstring. Jan og Tommy har fundet ud af at mariehønsene ikke kommer fra Jorden og at de ser ud til kun at spise agater. Dobby prøver at dissekere en af billerne, men deres exoskelet er supersolidt. Billerne begynder at splitte Randall's møbler og hus ad med telekinese og Dobby advarer om at det er et niveau, hvor privatpersoner ikke kan gøre noget. Randall ringer til politiet, der selvfølgelig tror at han er skør, men de kommer dog og må sande at han hverken er fuld eller gal. Billerne slår en hund ihjel ved at flyve ind i den med høj fart. Måske har Dobby ret i at en atombombe er på sin plads for at stoppe dem. Naboen Belsen har en masse musikinstrumenter af metal og er bekymret over at billerne smider alt af træ ud fra Randall's hus og fylder det med metal. Alt fra skruer til dele af politibilerne udenfor. Så han sætter en tonegenerator op, der rammer billernes egensvingningsfrekvens for de ser ud til at være lavet af krystal og uden nogen form for biologisk materiale. Tricket virker og jordboerne er reddet fra en invasion. Randall tænker over om vi selv vil blive mødt med samme ubønhørlige konsekvens, hvis vi begiver os udenfor jorden?
"Leg. Forst." handler om ???
"So Bright the Vision" handler om ???
"Galactic Chest" handler om ???

??? ( )

A charming set of novelettes from the king of pastoral science fiction, though the majority here is on Simak's pulpier side. Unexpected acts of cleanliness are an element in three of the stories, which I can only assume was a factor in grouping them together.


The Gold Bugs - 3.25

"Impossible... by any earthly standard. It runs counter to everything we've ever known or thought. But the question rises: can our earthly standards, even remotely, be universal?"

An initially pleasant but tame Simakian outing develops into a chaotic domestic invasion of telepathic bugs. The narrator and co. jump to wildly unreasonable conclusions with virtually nothing to go on that turn out to be correct, including an 11 year old boy who may as well be an adult (as far as he's written). Some genuinely interesting ideas are ultimately executed in a very silly fashion, making it all impossible to take seriously. It seems to take itself seriously, especially when speculating on the arrogance of man, but if you embrace it in the same way you would a cheesy b-movie then it makes for quaint fun, littered with fragments of the compelling.


Leg. Forst - 4.25

Hazlitt hunched forward in his chair and his voice dropped almost to a whisper.
"Mr. Packer," he confided in stricken horror, "I am becoming honest!"

Takes the hobby of stamp collecting and places it in the overwhelming context of an interstellar postal service. The protag is a scrooge of a collector who has his activities turned upside down by a particularly curious arrival in his mail with a biological stamp. The story shares some parallels with 'The Gold Bugs', such as the uncanny and invasive cleanliness of an alien intruder, motive unknown. The twist toward the end is devilish in its portrayal of positive moral transformation - a contrary statement that makes more sense once you've read the story, and about as sinister as you can expect from Simak: the weaver of endearing evil and compelling benevolence.


So Bright the Vision - 3.9

"So," said Green Shirt. "You write all the stories?"
"Yes. All three of us."
"But you write them best."
"I wouldn't say that exactly. You see -"
"You write the wild and woolly stories? The bang-bangs?"
"Yeah. I guess I'm guilty."

Noir-like telling of a dated but compelling future, in which Earth's main value within the galactic scope is its ability to weave tales that appeal to a plethora of races; only it has evolved to a point where the writer is merely the mechanic for a machine. Independent creativity, 'manual' writing, is impractical and looked upon disfavourably, like belching or eating with your fingers; and the best way to make a living is to maintain good equipment and gather appropriate data to feed these creation machines. The issue our protagonist faces is that he's fresh out of dough and resources. Other factors come into play and the direction is not predictable, but while I found the story immensely enjoyable for the most part, some of the final beats are so convenient and rushed as to weaken its impact.


Galactic Chest - 3.5

The Brownies have come back again... have you put out that bowl of milk?

A sci-fi spin on a classic of fairy tale lore, written in a no-nonsense pulpy style and situated in the newsroom - an environment Simak was very familiar with. The prose is economic, with occasional splatterings of the flowery, and the characters are thin but likeable. It's not an eventful story but it has a vibe about it that clicked with me. Fairly unremarkable compared to some of Simak's other stories, and possibly the least interesting of the collection, but nevertheless a solid execution of what it shoots for. ( )