“In a room in a tower, high above the city, a piano was playing a man.” This was more or less the first sentence I ever read in a science fiction story, and the oddness of it made a deep impression. I was 13—the story was in a book someone had given me for Christmas. It was called Adventure Stories for Boys, or something similar. I can no longer remember the real title of the book, and all the stories were unsigned, but that opening sentence has stayed with me.
The Reactor writer—British novelist and science fiction author Christopher Priest (1943-2024)—would have been 13 in 1956.
Sharing in case it rings a bell with the hive mind. (Also, the five story summaries by Priest are worth a look.)
This is Mutiny In Space, by Edward Boyd. It appeared in Space Story Omnibus (Children’s Press 1955) and in Whopper Space Stories (Children’s Press 1954).
the man’s name is Ztl (not sure how you pronounce it) and the city is Arcton. The mutiny is on a synthetic world , one of many on which Earth exports its surplus people to reduce overpopulaton. Intelligent ants are an important part of Earh’s military.
These antholgies must have been about the first real sf I encountered (unless you count Rupert [Bear] and the Space Ship or Dan Dare in the Eagle comic). I read them when they first came out, at the age of - would you believe seven?
I also encountered Charles Chilton’s radio serial Journey Into Space at about the same time.
