Idella Purnell Stone (1901–1982)

Never in This World is a collection of humorous science fiction, and it does its job well. Randal Garrett's "Look Out! Duck!" was the high point of the volume for me, an engaging look at the mishaps that happen on one spaceship delivering ducks. A number of the shorter ones were also humorous, and Asimov and Briarton (author of Ferdinand Feghoot) tossed in their expected puns. "Senhor Zumbeira's Leg", by Martí-Ibañez was interesting, but I wouldn't classify it as science-fiction. Poul Anderson's "Critique of Impure Reason" was slightly amusing but a little too self-serving. On the downside, "Rebel" was stupid (blindly reversing stuff doesn't make something funny), and I couldn't finish "Little Anton" from combined bad pseudo-dialect and general stupidity. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good collection of stories I mostly haven't seen elsewhere.… (mais)