6 Reading Read the extracts from Chris’s list of favourite classic science fiction stories. Choose the correct texts (A–F) for each statement (1–11). You can use a text more than once. Write your answers in the boxes provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. 2 Multiple matching (texts) Great sci-fi stories A I like character-driven stories, light-hearted humor and a twist that sneaks up on you, and science fiction author William Tenn delivered truly wicked humor and characterization in Time in Advance. It is the story of a man who’s about to commit a lethal crime. Far from being a dark story of a vicious criminal secretly planning a covert murder, Tenn’s tale takes a light approach. In this world, society views the crime as perfectly legal, if something of a novelty. The hero is aiming to commit a vile crime, and not only is nobody about to stop him, his criminal intentions make him a celebrity. B Nightfall, published first in Astounding Science Fiction in 1941, is a classic science fiction short story, no doubt about it. Asimov made it into a novel, too. I haven’t read the novel. But this story really is mind-blowing. Devastating. But in a good way. It’s not the writing. Nightfall is easy and enjoyable to read. But typical of Isaac Asimov, the writing is not as tight as it could be, and the dialogue wanders a bit. It’s a tad long for what it is. The characters, though well-defined, lack that spark that would make them truly likable. But all that doesn’t matter. Because the ending is really unexpected – or it was, for me – and has a mind-blowing effect. C Me – I’m a sucker for time travel. The kind of time travel many critics scoff at as clichéd. Time travel in which the attempt to break the second law of thermodynamics and betray nature’s linear preference causes a shocking paradox. Time travel used as a vehicle to teach bad people the good lesson that enterprise driven by self-serving greed has a price. It’s trite. It’s old-fashioned. But gee. That’s a good story. And that’s what’s missing from today’s fiction. The 1943 piece The Time Locker is creative, and funny, and it’s one of the very best. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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