THE SATURDAY EVENING POST STORIES: 1961

This is the editors' annual selection of representative stories from the Satevepost's past year. There are 18 short stories here and two ""novelettes"" -- The Hands of Corman J, by Leonard Wibberley and The Captain's Lady, by Paul Horgan, both parts of novels. The collection includes some familiar Post names: Ray Bradbury, Pearl S. Buck, Robert Standish, Geoffrey Household, Don Tracy, and some newcomers. The stories are varied in style and content though all exhibit a gloss of workmanship -- which doesn't always conceal some flimsy material. The best stories include: Swindler in the Family, an exposure of oneupmanship among Englishmen in the tropics The Girl from May in which a young man meets the test of heroism; Ray Bradbury's The Drummer y of Shiloh, Geoffrey Household's speculations on the existence of the lost continent of Atlantis; Organization Wife in which a young woman's honesty defeats the ""system""; and Robert Traver's description of a secret fishing spot. Possibly the high point of the collection is taken from Paul Horgan's A Distant plumpet. The Satevepost's market is definable even if the market for short stories is not.