I was amazed to see this in the local used bookstore, and realized it was new to me. Some of the stories in this are ones I'd never seen. I love Sturgeon, who had such a visionary approach to all his writing. There's still a couple of stories yet to read, but it's been just a pleasant venture into artistry.

Even though some of the approaches to tech are dated, the approach to relationships, and the reactions of humans to others, still rings true, after all these years. ( )

Ammirato e apprezzato anche al di fuori del campo della fantascienza, Theodore Sturgeon è uno dei pochi autori di cui la sf possa essere orgogliosa. Scrittore maturo, letterariamente raffinato, Sturgeon riesce a trasporre nelle sue storie tutta la sua possente sensibilità interiore e a coinvolgere emotivamente il lettore con una intensità che ha pochi uguali nella narrativa di fantascienza.
Attraverso un'accurata opera di ricerca e di collage, sono state riunite in questo libro quindici opere che mostrano tutta la vena poetica e il grande pathos umano di questo straordinario scrittore e personaggio. Quindi, opere che in Italia sono state pubblicate una sola volta (dalla nostra Casa Editrice) scelte tra il meglio della sua bibliografia; quindici "perle letterarie" che esprimono tutto il genio di uno dei più grandi maestri della fantascienza e della fantasy. Questi i racconti : La cassa - Sei tu! - Abbi cura di Joey - Non è niente... davvero! - La ragazza che sapeva quel che volevano fare - Jorry - Zio Fremmis - Gli schemi di Dorne - Suicidio - Mai sottovalutare - Necessario e sufficiente - La pratica - Burro blu - Estrapolazione - Stordimento -

This book pulls together eleven stories that were originally published in 1969 and 1970 in a flurry of activity that erupted after a period of prolonged writer's block (from the book's forward I gather that this creative renewal corresponded with a new romantic relationship). To these is added one fairly obscure earlier story, "To Here and the Easel," which was the only included story I had previously read.

Sturgeon is one of my all time favorites, and I came this collection with high expectations. I was especially looking forward to reading the Hugo and Nebula Award winning "Slow Sculpture," but I found this story to be somewhat disappointing. Fortunatelly I found plenty to enjoy in rest of the highly varied included tales (a few of which were not even remotely speculative fiction). My favorites were "Brownshoes," "The Girl Who Knew What They Meant." "Crate," "Take Care of Jorry" and "It's You!" (which I think can only be appreciated by those who have read enough Sturgeon to be surprised at how radically against type it plays). ( )