El general derribó a un ángel; El ratón; Milty Boil, un visionario; El mohawk; La herida; El Wall Street Journal de mañana; El intervalo; El cine; Los insectos

Fascinating concepts - but every single story ends on a down note. The title story is perhaps the least depressing - at least no one's dead, in that one. Of course, it's not really an ending, just a stop. In most of the rest, someone's dead (or expects to be dead, shortly) - in a couple, the whole world's dead. Apparently this is supposed to carry some sort of moral element - but he doesn't offer any alternatives, or options. He's just telling us that people make wrong choices, and people (the same ones, or others, or everyone) die of it. Comprehensively - ugh. I won't be reading any more by him. ( )

This may be the first book by Howard Fast that I have read altho I have vague memories of reading bits of my mom's copy of The Immigrants many years ago. I think that is a book that I should seek out one day - I see it now and then.

Fast was not a fantasy or science fiction writer, he was a writer of epic historical fiction, so this little collection of fantasy and science fiction stories is a unique thing and a mildly surprising treat. It was published in 1970 and the opening title story is about a gung-ho 2 star general in Vietnam who likes nothing more than leading his cavalry in the choppers and blazing the machine gun from the side at anything that moves. He's what Tarantino would call a natural born killer. And after returning to base he gets a call from the line that he shot down an angel. A real 20 foot tall angel.

A story that I thought among the best was called "The Mouse". There are not a lot of stories here, just nine, but among them are some very good ones, with unexpectedly strong moral and social commentary elements. Amongst the satire and farce is a bit of silliness that may not have aged so well, but there is thought provoking bits as well. These are by no means "great" stories but I was happy to get in the time machine and go visit 1969-1970 sensibilities briefly. I don't think Fast was really trying to write Fantasy or science fiction stories to stand up to much scrutiny - he was trying to write stories to make you look at the world from a different angle, and think about things.

Fast writes on the flyleaf: "The book is really not about a general who zapped an angel. Rather it is about the general childishness of man, the only form of life that refuses to grow up."

So I took a look at Howard Fast on wikipedia and see this:

"Fast spent World War II working with the United States Office of War Information, writing for Voice of America. In 1943, he joined the Communist Party USA and in 1950, he was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities; in his testimony, he refused to disclose the names of contributors to a fund for a home for orphans of American veterans of the Spanish Civil War (one of the contributors was Eleanor Roosevelt), and he was given a three-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress.

It was while he was at Mill Point Federal Prison that Fast began writing his most famous work, Spartacus, a novel about an uprising among Roman slaves. Blacklisted by major publishing houses following his release from prison, Fast was forced to publish the novel himself. By the standards of a self published book, it was a great success, going through seven printings in the first four months of publication."

You just never know what the library is throwing away and probably shouldn't ... ( )

An excellent collection of offbeat science fiction stories by Howard Fast, a best-selling author in other fields. The title story and "The Wound", about an oil well that went just a little too deep, are the most memorable stories - but these are all good reads. Considering the times these were written, there is definitely a counterculture feel to these stories. ( )