A short story collection that deserves its place in the SF Masterworks collection. Miller's short stories focus on character and emotion rather than technology, and so while the imagined futures are quite retro and a bit dated, they still make compelling reading. There is some very memorable imagery which makes the stories feel quite cinematic; I could easily imagine them being adapted into an impressive anthology TV series.
The titular story is a post-apocalypse with some similarities to Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, though with better drawn characters and a far stranger plague. My favourite stories were 'The Big Hunger', a history of human space travel and galactic conquest written in a somewhat biblical style, and 'Conditionally Human', about a man whose job is killing animals who have been artificially granted intelligence through genetic engineering - the story has many layers, touches many subjects, making a very impressive 58 pages.
Subject matter is varied, though is sometimes quite typical of the time period. Two stories explore 1950s anxieties over increasing automation: 'The Darfsteller', which won a Hugo award, about an aging actor who can't move with the times when theatres become automated - while I could tell it was a well-constructed and well-written story, I didn't find it especially engaging. 'Dumb Waiter' is a post-apocalyptic story in which the protagonist explores an abandoned automated city: it's all still functioning and running as normal, but there are no people. 'The Will' is a simple and uplifting time-travel story. 'I, Dreamer' is about a sentient spaceship. 'You Triflin' Skunk!' is a jokey alien invasion tale. 'Anybody else Like me?', about human mutation, packs a surprisingly powerful emotional punch for only being 18 pages. 'Blood Bank' is a far-future space opera.
Two stories are set on Mars: 'Crucifixus Etiam' and 'Big Joe and the Nth Generation'. These were relatively weak, though still entertaining: Mars colonization has been done to death in SF, so the subject feels quite cliche now.
'Vengeance for Nikolai' is set during an invasion of Soviet Russia by American fascists ('blueshirts') who greet each other by saluting and saying, "America first!"
Anthologies tend to be hit and miss, but I only actively disliked one story here: 'The Lineman', which featured truly appalling misogyny. This is 50s SF, so the gender politics is obviously quite dated: the female characters in most of the stories were badly drawn, and the male characters were often casually misogynist, but 'The Lineman' took it to another level. Minor spoiler: (view spoiler) I do not think this story should have been included.
Overall though, I thoroughly recommend this collection if you're wanting some good retro SF.
I've given the collection a 4 star rating. I rated each of the stories separately as I was reading:
'You Triflin' Skunk' 4/5
'The Will' 4/5
'Anybody else Like me?' 4/5
'Crucifixus Etiam' 3/5
'I, Dreamer' 4/5
'Dumb Waiter' - 4/5
'Blood Bank' - 4/5
'Big Joe and the Nth Generation' - 3/5
'The Big Hunger' - 5/5
'Conditionally Human' - 5/5
'The Darfstellar' - 3/5
'Dark Benediction' - 4/5
'The Lineman' - 1/5
'Vengence for Nikolai' - 3/5
Average rating: 3.64
Average excluding 'The Lineman': 3.85
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