". . . what if all the atoms are really little planets?...and we in turn are just atoms in someone else's universe?"

Fun concept, Bill.

Wa-a-a-ay back, I bought a book entitled Adventures in Time and Space ed. Raymond J. Healy & J. Francis McComas (Random House, Aug '46, $3.00, 997pp.). One of the stories it contained was "He Who Shrank," by Henry Hasse (Amazing, Aug. '36), in which the protagonist is an unwilling participant in an experiment that caused him to shrink, and continue shrinking. He would fall into matter (piece of paper on a desk), emerge as a gigantic being in a "universe," diminish in size until he floated down onto an electron (orbiting its nucleus like a planet orbiting a star), become "normal size" for the beings there, have lots of adventures, then dwindle and vanish, and the whole process would happen again as he entered layer after layer of smallness. Spoiler Alert:   the man who quotes the "shrinker's" narration is a science fiction writer—here on Earth. The shrinker finishes his narration—up to that point—as he diminishes and disappears into a sheet of typing paper. Just passing through on his way to. . . .

I'm guessing that the story was the basis of the movie "The Incredible Shrinking Man," although the screenplay—and the novel—are credited to Richard Matheson. Good special effects for a 1950s movie, but the scope of the short story was much more sweeping and awe-inspiring. Remake scheduled to come out in July, 2008. There was also a novel on the same theme: The Girl in the Atom. Not great.

The anthology contained some of the classic classic science fiction stories from the pulp SF magazines in the 1930s. Several of them emerged later on in longer form—movies.   At least the movies were based on the short stories. One was "Who Goes There" by Don A. Stuart (Astounding, Aug. '38) on which the movie "The Thing" was based. James Arness (later, Matt Dillon of "Gunsmoke") was The Thing. But the "thing" in the short story was far more scary. Alien. Deadly. And it could assume any shape. Could have been the guy sitting next to you and you wouldn't know it until too late. Antarctic setting. They had to get the thing before it occured to it to surn into a seagull and fly away North.

Another was "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates (Astounding Oct '40). This was the germ of the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still."   The story concludes with a man carrying a dead alien humanoid to a parked spaceship with a huge robot standing motionless beside it. The man say, "I'm sorry about your master." To which the robot intones, "You are mistaken. I am the master." The movie was considerable expanded, with an anti-war, anti-violence theme. Classic film.

The anthology includes Isaac Asimov's "Nightfall" (Astounding Sep. '41) and "Black Destroyer" by A. E. Van Vogt (Astounding Jul '39). And a couple dozen others of comparable quality and vintage. One of the best $3.00 investments I ever made.

Don Firth