"The Void Beyond and Other Stories" by Robert Moore Williams
Women don't go on spaceships. Some unexplained feature of their anatomy causes them to lose their sanity if they try. However, one women insists. The story recounts the result of her failure to accept no for an answer.
Many people, women in particular, I imagine, will find this tale misogynistic and hopelessly outdated. I suppose it is, but I suspended disbelief, granted the author his premises, and watched with interest to see where he would take it. The ending really worked for me.
*** Refuge for Tonight (1949) 31 pages
Set in the near future, this story is a derivation of the alien invasion and takeover of Earth story except there are no aliens and only North America is taken over by united Europeans of all people. Americans are about to develop space travel and Europeans are concerned Americans will then become too dominant. So they launch a pre-emptive strike and conquer America. Now it's up to the Resistance.
This is a familiar trope to we SF readers of the 21st century, but was fairly original for a 1949 audience. I marveled at Williams' range--this story was nothing like the other two so far--and was prepared to enjoy this take on a classic theme, but then as he did in The Blue Atom, Williams lost the thread of his story and made it about more and more people with hidden, irrelevant agendas. The scale broadened, the number of characters increased, and what was really being fought for became fuzzy. The ending was more like a beginning and answered none of the questions the story raised. It read like the first two chapters in a novel that stopped suddenly.
*** The Challenge (1950) 17 pages
This story reads a lot like a Star Trek Original Series episode, which I love. An Earth spaceship visits an alien planet, sustains damage it must fix before it can depart, but natives with superior technology insist the ship depart before repairs are made or face destruction. If the ship departs too early the crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space.
I like the set-up premise of the problem, but then it's as though Williams attaches a different story altogether into this story and goes in an entirely different direction relating to time travel conundrums. The switch and resolution to the premise don't work for me.
*** The Weapon (1947) 26 pages
Set 500 years in the future, all of which were peaceful for the world, a real alien invasion is attempted this time. The main problem is we have forgotten how to wage war or fight as a civilization. We're ripe for the plucking unless a certain group of men remember how to fight.
This is an excellent premise for a science fiction story and the story is told tightly. Williams knew where he was going from beginning to end and stays on course. The story gets 3 stars from me rather than 4 only because I find the solution implausible and scientifically speaking completely unbelievable.
** The Stubborn Men (1948) 5 pages
Nuclear weapons research is dangerous, too dangerous for two brothers in the same family to conduct. If the research kills both, who will there be to continue the family name? The story got two stars from me because it didn't achieve much.
***** The Final Frontier (1950) 14 pages
This story is about a friendship between two men of different planets, Elso, the Martian, and John Barnett, the human. Elso is committing suicide because it's his time and Barnett is being pursued by ruthless criminals who want to steal his intellectual property. Elso finishes suiciding, the criminals apprehend Barnett, and all appears lost.
Williams saved the best story for last in his collection. I like how alien Williams portrays Elso by simply, and without editorial comment, showing us Elso's actions through Barnett's eyes. We are never given a description of Elso and we have no idea of his thought processes, nevertheless Elso is depicted as very alien, but with one exception: the concept of friendship loyalty, which transcends everything no matter who or what in this universe you are. I loved this message! (Dan, Goodreads)
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