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The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology
Collecting more than two dozen stories that originally appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction—the premiere speculative fiction magazine—this extraordinary anthology celebrates 60 years of top-notch genre fiction.
This retrospective volume includes "All Summer in a Day,” Ray Bradbury’s lasting tale of what happened on one special day; "Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, describing what happened to Charlie Gordon when he was made into a genius; "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut’s absurdist cautionary tale of mandatory equality; and "The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick, concerning what Garson Poole learned after the accident that hospitalized him. This remarkable collection also features some of the most highly acclaimed, award-winning authors, including Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Shirley Jackson, Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodore Sturgeon, and Roger Zelazny.
Hand-picked by the magazine’s current editor, this is an unmatched assemblage of appealing, first-rate fiction.
Contents
Introduction by Gordon Van Gelder
"Of Time and Third Avenue" by Alfred Bester
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson
"A Touch of Strange" by Theodore Sturgeon
"Eastward ho!" by William Tenn
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
"This Moment of the Storm" by Roger Zelazny
"The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr.
"I See You" by Damon Knight
"The Gunslinger" by Stephen King
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler
"Buffalo" by John Kessel
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick
"macs" by Terry Bisson
"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford
"Other People" by Neil Gaiman
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
"Journey into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
This retrospective volume includes "All Summer in a Day,” Ray Bradbury’s lasting tale of what happened on one special day; "Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, describing what happened to Charlie Gordon when he was made into a genius; "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut’s absurdist cautionary tale of mandatory equality; and "The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick, concerning what Garson Poole learned after the accident that hospitalized him. This remarkable collection also features some of the most highly acclaimed, award-winning authors, including Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, Shirley Jackson, Peter S. Beagle, Karen Joy Fowler, Ursula K. Le Guin, Theodore Sturgeon, and Roger Zelazny.
Hand-picked by the magazine’s current editor, this is an unmatched assemblage of appealing, first-rate fiction.
Contents
Introduction by Gordon Van Gelder
"Of Time and Third Avenue" by Alfred Bester
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson
"A Touch of Strange" by Theodore Sturgeon
"Eastward ho!" by William Tenn
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut
"This Moment of the Storm" by Roger Zelazny
"The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr.
"I See You" by Damon Knight
"The Gunslinger" by Stephen King
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler
"Buffalo" by John Kessel
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick
"macs" by Terry Bisson
"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford
"Other People" by Neil Gaiman
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle
"Journey into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
475 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Gordon van Gelder
294 books25 followersGordon Van Gelder (born 1966) is an American science fiction editor. From 1997 until 2014, Van Gelder was editor and later publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, for which he has twice won the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form. He was also a managing editor of The New York Review of Science Fiction from 1988 to 1993, for which he was nominated for the Hugo Award a number of times. As of January 2015, Van Gelder has stepped down as editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction in favour of Charles Coleman Finlay, but remains publisher of the magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
August 13, 2010
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is an excellent collection of 23 stories picked from the treasure trove of short fiction that's been published in the eponymous magazine over the past 60 years. Editor Gordon Van Gelder — also the editor of the magazine since 1997 — has done an admirable job, picking stories that illustrate the diversity of both the genre and the magazine. As such, this is a great anthology for SF&F fans as well as newcomers looking for a taste.
The line-up of authors in this collection looks like a veritable Who's Who of speculative fiction: Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman — just to name a few of the most famous ones. What's even more impressive is the fact that all the stories collected here saw their first publication in the magazine. It really gave me pause when I realized that a towering classic such as "Flowers From Algernon" by Daniel Keyes first appeared in this digest-sized magazine (and if you haven't read that story yet, you have at least one perfect reason to get this anthology right now!). Every story is preceded by a brief and thoughtful editorial note, often highlighting its author's involvement with the magazine.
The quality of these stories is, as could be expected, almost uniformly excellent. Stand-outs for me were: the previously mentioned "Flowers For Algernon" which is about a mentally retarded man who gains a brief period of brilliance via a scientific experiment; "Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin, an exquisite and touching story set in her Hainish Cycle; "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford, about a young boy's attempt to create life; and "Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick, about how a far-future civilization becomes reintroduced to death. If I could give these stories individual ratings, they'd all have five stars by their names, with the majority of the others getting a solid four stars. The only disappointment for me was "Buffalo" by John Kessel, a reverie about a fictional meeting between the author's father and H.G. Wells.
By the numbers: out of the 23 stories collected here, I'd call 12 solidly science fiction, 6 definitely fantasy, 1 horror, and the rest hard to place but trending towards the fantastical. Included in that last category is Harlan Ellison's "The Deathbird", which is more or less a genre of its own and one of the oddest things I've read in years. The stories are spread out across the six decades of the magazine's existence, although strangely enough not a single story from the eighties was included. The earlier part of the anthology is predominantly science fiction, and as fantasy became more popular over the years, more stories of that genre appear towards the end of the collection. The only real "high fantasy" story included here is Peter S. Beagle's "Two Hearts," in which the author revisits his classic The Last Unicorn. In terms of length, the stories vary from barely 3 pages (Neil Gaiman's "The Others," a terrifying vision of hell) to Stephen King's 44 page story "The Gunslinger," one of the 5 stories that make up the novel of the same name, originally serialized in the magazine.
Another number, and one that might raise an eyebrow, is 5: the number of female authors represented here, compared to 18 male authors. Also, some readers may look for one or more legendary stories from the magazine that unfortunately aren't represented here. My personal pick would be to add Fritz Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar" novella, originally published in F&SF Magazine and certainly one of its classic — and now sadly underappreciated — stories.
Still, it's easy to second-guess almost any anthology, let alone one that attempts to span the life of one of the most revered magazines in speculative fiction. When all's said and done, this is undeniably an excellent collection of stories — one that will give readers a great look at the history of F&SF Magazine and, in doing so, the history of the entire genre. It's possible that some reader will already be familiar with many of these stories, but if you aren't, The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is practically a must-read. Highly recommended.
This review was also published on the Fantasy Literature website: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/zzas...
The line-up of authors in this collection looks like a veritable Who's Who of speculative fiction: Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Stephen King, Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman — just to name a few of the most famous ones. What's even more impressive is the fact that all the stories collected here saw their first publication in the magazine. It really gave me pause when I realized that a towering classic such as "Flowers From Algernon" by Daniel Keyes first appeared in this digest-sized magazine (and if you haven't read that story yet, you have at least one perfect reason to get this anthology right now!). Every story is preceded by a brief and thoughtful editorial note, often highlighting its author's involvement with the magazine.
The quality of these stories is, as could be expected, almost uniformly excellent. Stand-outs for me were: the previously mentioned "Flowers For Algernon" which is about a mentally retarded man who gains a brief period of brilliance via a scientific experiment; "Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin, an exquisite and touching story set in her Hainish Cycle; "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford, about a young boy's attempt to create life; and "Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick, about how a far-future civilization becomes reintroduced to death. If I could give these stories individual ratings, they'd all have five stars by their names, with the majority of the others getting a solid four stars. The only disappointment for me was "Buffalo" by John Kessel, a reverie about a fictional meeting between the author's father and H.G. Wells.
By the numbers: out of the 23 stories collected here, I'd call 12 solidly science fiction, 6 definitely fantasy, 1 horror, and the rest hard to place but trending towards the fantastical. Included in that last category is Harlan Ellison's "The Deathbird", which is more or less a genre of its own and one of the oddest things I've read in years. The stories are spread out across the six decades of the magazine's existence, although strangely enough not a single story from the eighties was included. The earlier part of the anthology is predominantly science fiction, and as fantasy became more popular over the years, more stories of that genre appear towards the end of the collection. The only real "high fantasy" story included here is Peter S. Beagle's "Two Hearts," in which the author revisits his classic The Last Unicorn. In terms of length, the stories vary from barely 3 pages (Neil Gaiman's "The Others," a terrifying vision of hell) to Stephen King's 44 page story "The Gunslinger," one of the 5 stories that make up the novel of the same name, originally serialized in the magazine.
Another number, and one that might raise an eyebrow, is 5: the number of female authors represented here, compared to 18 male authors. Also, some readers may look for one or more legendary stories from the magazine that unfortunately aren't represented here. My personal pick would be to add Fritz Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar" novella, originally published in F&SF Magazine and certainly one of its classic — and now sadly underappreciated — stories.
Still, it's easy to second-guess almost any anthology, let alone one that attempts to span the life of one of the most revered magazines in speculative fiction. When all's said and done, this is undeniably an excellent collection of stories — one that will give readers a great look at the history of F&SF Magazine and, in doing so, the history of the entire genre. It's possible that some reader will already be familiar with many of these stories, but if you aren't, The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is practically a must-read. Highly recommended.
This review was also published on the Fantasy Literature website: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/zzas...
July 27, 2019
4.5 stars.
A lot of the stories are classics so if you are someone who reads fantasy or sci-fi short stories a lot of them will be ones you’re familiar with. But there were a few that I didn’t know and most of them were excellent. And it’s wonderful to have collected in one book some of the strongest stories from some major figures in the genre. “Solitary” is a story I love and was excited to re-encounter here and the short story that eventually became the novel flowers for Algernon which I knew of but hadn’t read was an interesting glimpse at the beginnings of that novel. This isn’t a necessary read if you have read a significant number of the other best of anthologies from this magazine and/or have a long familiarity with the magazine but it provides a great introduction to some really wonderful stories.
“creation” is a fascinating take on the Adam and eve myth. “A touch of strange” is a mermaid/love story but definitely didn’t end how I expected it to. “Max” is told as a series of peoples responses to interview questions and deals with the concept of revenge taken to a very grim extreme.
A lot of the stories are classics so if you are someone who reads fantasy or sci-fi short stories a lot of them will be ones you’re familiar with. But there were a few that I didn’t know and most of them were excellent. And it’s wonderful to have collected in one book some of the strongest stories from some major figures in the genre. “Solitary” is a story I love and was excited to re-encounter here and the short story that eventually became the novel flowers for Algernon which I knew of but hadn’t read was an interesting glimpse at the beginnings of that novel. This isn’t a necessary read if you have read a significant number of the other best of anthologies from this magazine and/or have a long familiarity with the magazine but it provides a great introduction to some really wonderful stories.
“creation” is a fascinating take on the Adam and eve myth. “A touch of strange” is a mermaid/love story but definitely didn’t end how I expected it to. “Max” is told as a series of peoples responses to interview questions and deals with the concept of revenge taken to a very grim extreme.
October 10, 2009
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through the kind offices of the Publicist of the publisher, Tachyon Publications.
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by Gordon Van Gelder, is an anthology of stories across the eponymous magazine's 60 year history.
Although I am not a heavy reader of SF magazines (when I read SF stories, its usually in anthologies or collections), it is clear to me, immediately, that F&SF has had a wonderful history of publishing some of the best stories in SF history.
And a swath of those stories are ably collected by Mr. Van Gelder in this collection. The stories range in publication date from 1951 (Alfred Bester's Time and Third Avenue) to 2007 (Ted Chiang's story The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate).
Arranged in chronological order, the stories show the changes and evolution of the SF story with a high quality of selected stories throughout. Its not just a "most famous" story group either. While there are genre-famous stories like Flowers for Algernon, the Deathbird, and Harrison Bergeron, there are stories that are in that class, but much well less known. (Zelazny's This Moment of the Storm, for instance, or Peter Beagle's story sequel to the Last Unicorn, Two Hearts come to mind)
With that in mind, I devoured this book quickly and gleefully. I enjoyed the touchstones to the classics and old favorites, and discovering new (to me) stories as well. Gelder has done an top notch job.
Genres that forget their history are condemned to fail by that forgetting. Collections like this help the genre of SF keep in mind its roots and history. Any serious fan of science fiction would do well to dip their oars into this volume.
The lineup:
Of Time and Third Avenue, Alfred Bester
All Summer in a Day, Ray Bradbury
One Ordinary Day with Peanuts, Shirley Jackson
A touch of Strange, Theodore Sturgeon
Eastward, Ho!, William Tenn
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut
This Moment of the Storm, Roger Zelazny
The Electric Ant, Philip K Dick
The Deathbird, Harlan Ellison
The Women Men Don't See, James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon)
I see You, Damon Knight
The Gunslinger, Stephen King
The Dark, Karen Joy Fowler
Buffalo, John Kessel
Solitude, Ursula K Le Guin
Mother Grasshopper, Michael Swanwick
macs, Terry Bisson
Creation, Jeffrey Ford
Other People, Neil Gaiman
Two Hearts, Peter S Beagle
Journey into the Kingdom, M Rickert
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, Ted Chiang
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by Gordon Van Gelder, is an anthology of stories across the eponymous magazine's 60 year history.
Although I am not a heavy reader of SF magazines (when I read SF stories, its usually in anthologies or collections), it is clear to me, immediately, that F&SF has had a wonderful history of publishing some of the best stories in SF history.
And a swath of those stories are ably collected by Mr. Van Gelder in this collection. The stories range in publication date from 1951 (Alfred Bester's Time and Third Avenue) to 2007 (Ted Chiang's story The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate).
Arranged in chronological order, the stories show the changes and evolution of the SF story with a high quality of selected stories throughout. Its not just a "most famous" story group either. While there are genre-famous stories like Flowers for Algernon, the Deathbird, and Harrison Bergeron, there are stories that are in that class, but much well less known. (Zelazny's This Moment of the Storm, for instance, or Peter Beagle's story sequel to the Last Unicorn, Two Hearts come to mind)
With that in mind, I devoured this book quickly and gleefully. I enjoyed the touchstones to the classics and old favorites, and discovering new (to me) stories as well. Gelder has done an top notch job.
Genres that forget their history are condemned to fail by that forgetting. Collections like this help the genre of SF keep in mind its roots and history. Any serious fan of science fiction would do well to dip their oars into this volume.
The lineup:
Of Time and Third Avenue, Alfred Bester
All Summer in a Day, Ray Bradbury
One Ordinary Day with Peanuts, Shirley Jackson
A touch of Strange, Theodore Sturgeon
Eastward, Ho!, William Tenn
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut
This Moment of the Storm, Roger Zelazny
The Electric Ant, Philip K Dick
The Deathbird, Harlan Ellison
The Women Men Don't See, James Tiptree Jr (Alice Sheldon)
I see You, Damon Knight
The Gunslinger, Stephen King
The Dark, Karen Joy Fowler
Buffalo, John Kessel
Solitude, Ursula K Le Guin
Mother Grasshopper, Michael Swanwick
macs, Terry Bisson
Creation, Jeffrey Ford
Other People, Neil Gaiman
Two Hearts, Peter S Beagle
Journey into the Kingdom, M Rickert
The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, Ted Chiang
June 30, 2010
This is not the very best of Fantasy & Science Fiction. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction has published so many wonderful stories that for many years they were able to publish ANNUAL best-ofs. They did a few more anthologies for occasional anniversaries, and had to cull this list from all of those. So these may be some of the most culturally significant stories the magazine has put out, or they may be stories that the editors thought stood the test of time particularly well, but I think it's impossible to put the term 'very best' to a sampling of such a stellar body of work.
My father had a subscription from approximately 1957-2007. The magazine was around the house through my entire childhood, and most visits home as an adult I was able to grab a new issue off of the coffee table. I remember story after story that made me laugh, or cry, or shift my world view just a little. Most of the funny stories aren't in the anthology. Neither are the comics, the gorgeous covers, the contests, the film reviews.
So again, this is a sampling. It includes some stories that are classic by any definition: Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon," Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in A Day" and James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Women Men Don't See.". It includes a couple of recent gems, such as Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate."
Other highlights for me included "Solitude" by Ursula LeGuin, "The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick, "Two Hearts", "Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick, "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford, "I See You" by Damon Knight... here's hoping the magazine survives the current publishing mess to continue bringing out these fine stories.
My father had a subscription from approximately 1957-2007. The magazine was around the house through my entire childhood, and most visits home as an adult I was able to grab a new issue off of the coffee table. I remember story after story that made me laugh, or cry, or shift my world view just a little. Most of the funny stories aren't in the anthology. Neither are the comics, the gorgeous covers, the contests, the film reviews.
So again, this is a sampling. It includes some stories that are classic by any definition: Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon," Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in A Day" and James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Women Men Don't See.". It includes a couple of recent gems, such as Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate."
Other highlights for me included "Solitude" by Ursula LeGuin, "The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick, "Two Hearts", "Mother Grasshopper" by Michael Swanwick, "Creation" by Jeffrey Ford, "I See You" by Damon Knight... here's hoping the magazine survives the current publishing mess to continue bringing out these fine stories.
August 22, 2015
Some true classics here, along with stories I don't remember hearing of or reading before. As with any anthology, it's Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, and only the editor will love every one of the stories, but by and large these stories demonstrate why F&SF has been so successful for so long. They aren't, for the most part, trotting out the tropes, even to play with them or subvert them; they're taking SFF to strange and wonderful new places.
There's also a visible shift over time in the kind of stories that get written. All of them exhibit high-quality writing and clever ideas, but what that means changes from decade to decade. The earlier stories often rely on a twist at the end for their impact, and are more likely to be tropish, even gimmicky, with one simple "what-if" pushed to sometimes absurd lengths. "Harrison Bergeron," for example, Kurt Vonnegut's story from 1961, is an absurdist story about a society that achieves equality by handicapping anyone with talent down to the level of mediocrity or below.
The later stories take you more deeply into the human heart. They may still only have a single "what-if", but they speculate more about how that would affect people, and show us those people experiencing those effects. The later stories also sometimes call the speculative element into question within the story, so we're not sure whether the narrator is unreliable (or deceived, or mistaken, or insane), as in Karen Joy Fowler's "The Dark" or M. Rickert's horrifying "Journey into the Kingdom".
I won't go through every story, but I'll mention some highlights, and a lowlight or two.
Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon" has been one of my favourite stories since I read it as a teenager, because its heartwrenching effect is achieved largely by use of language. For part of my Master's degree, I analysed the novel expansion linguistically, and even though that was 25 years ago (oof), when I re-read this original version I could still remember which parts the author developed further. Wisely, he chose the relationship between the narrator and his teacher as one of those parts. This story is an exception to the "more heart later in the book" trend I mentioned above; it's all heart. I have to say that, now that I know a little more about human trials and the rules for them than I did when I first read it, its main conceit seems completely unlikely, but I forgive it because of how good it is.
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) is another classic, still, sadly, relevant in its suggestion that women don't do terribly well in our culture, or any culture, and have to keep their heads down in order to be a little safer (but not really safe).
"The Gunslinger," by Stephen King, is part of his Dark Tower series, and struck me as overwritten and not complete in itself. It started out slow-moving and then became dark and tragic, neither of which I find appealing, before stopping without an ending.
"Buffalo" by John Kessel isn't, to me, speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is part of what it's about - it involves Kessel's father's encounter with H.G. Wells, which he says twice in the story never actually happened, and they discuss spec-fic briefly and unsatisfactorily - but it boils down to "both Wells and my father had sucky lives". Not a favourite.
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin is another that I remember, I think from Le Guin's own collection, and it has the anthropological insight that only Le Guin can do so well. Its message is that there are many ways of being human, and someone who only knows one way may not be able to appreciate the strengths of another way.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle takes characters from his novel The Last Unicorn and places them in a new situation many years later, and for someone like me who either hasn't read the novel, or has read it so long ago he's forgotten it, that's less than completely successful, though the story is good enough to work on its own terms.
The book closes with Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a beautiful story involving time travel in an Arabian Nights setting.
Volume 2 is coming out soon, and I have the e-ARC from Netgalley, so that's what I'll be reading next. It'll be interesting to compare the two.
There's also a visible shift over time in the kind of stories that get written. All of them exhibit high-quality writing and clever ideas, but what that means changes from decade to decade. The earlier stories often rely on a twist at the end for their impact, and are more likely to be tropish, even gimmicky, with one simple "what-if" pushed to sometimes absurd lengths. "Harrison Bergeron," for example, Kurt Vonnegut's story from 1961, is an absurdist story about a society that achieves equality by handicapping anyone with talent down to the level of mediocrity or below.
The later stories take you more deeply into the human heart. They may still only have a single "what-if", but they speculate more about how that would affect people, and show us those people experiencing those effects. The later stories also sometimes call the speculative element into question within the story, so we're not sure whether the narrator is unreliable (or deceived, or mistaken, or insane), as in Karen Joy Fowler's "The Dark" or M. Rickert's horrifying "Journey into the Kingdom".
I won't go through every story, but I'll mention some highlights, and a lowlight or two.
Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon" has been one of my favourite stories since I read it as a teenager, because its heartwrenching effect is achieved largely by use of language. For part of my Master's degree, I analysed the novel expansion linguistically, and even though that was 25 years ago (oof), when I re-read this original version I could still remember which parts the author developed further. Wisely, he chose the relationship between the narrator and his teacher as one of those parts. This story is an exception to the "more heart later in the book" trend I mentioned above; it's all heart. I have to say that, now that I know a little more about human trials and the rules for them than I did when I first read it, its main conceit seems completely unlikely, but I forgive it because of how good it is.
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon) is another classic, still, sadly, relevant in its suggestion that women don't do terribly well in our culture, or any culture, and have to keep their heads down in order to be a little safer (but not really safe).
"The Gunslinger," by Stephen King, is part of his Dark Tower series, and struck me as overwritten and not complete in itself. It started out slow-moving and then became dark and tragic, neither of which I find appealing, before stopping without an ending.
"Buffalo" by John Kessel isn't, to me, speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is part of what it's about - it involves Kessel's father's encounter with H.G. Wells, which he says twice in the story never actually happened, and they discuss spec-fic briefly and unsatisfactorily - but it boils down to "both Wells and my father had sucky lives". Not a favourite.
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin is another that I remember, I think from Le Guin's own collection, and it has the anthropological insight that only Le Guin can do so well. Its message is that there are many ways of being human, and someone who only knows one way may not be able to appreciate the strengths of another way.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle takes characters from his novel The Last Unicorn and places them in a new situation many years later, and for someone like me who either hasn't read the novel, or has read it so long ago he's forgotten it, that's less than completely successful, though the story is good enough to work on its own terms.
The book closes with Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a beautiful story involving time travel in an Arabian Nights setting.
Volume 2 is coming out soon, and I have the e-ARC from Netgalley, so that's what I'll be reading next. It'll be interesting to compare the two.
March 12, 2012
I hesitate to give a book five stars. I'm not a crotchety literary elitist (I swear!); I just have this bizarre OCD about not wanting to cheapen the value of five stars. "The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology" is the only short story collection to which I've given five stars (and I loved Fragile Things and Last Defender of Camelot!).
Short story collections are usually mixed bags for me. I tend to leave a book behind with a vivid memory of a half-dozen favorite stories, which together constitute the book's impression. So I remember Last Defender of Camelot for its eponymous story, as well as For A Breath I Tarry. I remember Fragile Things for Sunbird and How To Talk To Girls At Parties. This anthology is a different matter altogether.
There is not a single story in this book that I do not--unequivocally and incontrovertibly--love.
This is a masterpiece gallery from the masters of the genre. Every story captures and illustrates the highest qualities of its authors. This anthology is more than a collection of the very best: it is a cartography of the genre, a map of its territories, from Sturgeon and Bradbury to LeGuin and Gaiman. And it is a timeline. Editor Gordon Van Gelder's thoughtful presentation arranges these stories in a way that guides us through the history of science fiction, opening with early classics by Bester, Bradbury and Sturgeon, and finishing off with a modernist flourish with Gaiman, Rickert and Ted Chiang.
If you have any interest in Fantasy or Science Fiction at all, do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book. These stories are the crown jewels of the genre.
Short story collections are usually mixed bags for me. I tend to leave a book behind with a vivid memory of a half-dozen favorite stories, which together constitute the book's impression. So I remember Last Defender of Camelot for its eponymous story, as well as For A Breath I Tarry. I remember Fragile Things for Sunbird and How To Talk To Girls At Parties. This anthology is a different matter altogether.
There is not a single story in this book that I do not--unequivocally and incontrovertibly--love.
This is a masterpiece gallery from the masters of the genre. Every story captures and illustrates the highest qualities of its authors. This anthology is more than a collection of the very best: it is a cartography of the genre, a map of its territories, from Sturgeon and Bradbury to LeGuin and Gaiman. And it is a timeline. Editor Gordon Van Gelder's thoughtful presentation arranges these stories in a way that guides us through the history of science fiction, opening with early classics by Bester, Bradbury and Sturgeon, and finishing off with a modernist flourish with Gaiman, Rickert and Ted Chiang.
If you have any interest in Fantasy or Science Fiction at all, do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book. These stories are the crown jewels of the genre.
February 14, 2018
This 60th anniversary anthology of the best of F&SF features an extraordinary body of work. Honestly, it reads like a who's who of genre fiction: Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Karen Joy Fowler, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury, etc. I had read some of the stories before, like Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" and Bradbury's tragic "All Summer in a Day." I think there were only three stories in the book that just didn't click for me at all, but far more were truly astonishing and fantastic.
Some of my new favorites:
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree Jr.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (tearjerker at the end, ugh)
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Some of my new favorites:
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree Jr.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (tearjerker at the end, ugh)
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin
May 14, 2010
For all the many, many years I've been reading science fiction, I had never read the classic "Flowers For Algernon". Always meant to, just never got around to it. Finally with this volume I did - and it turns out it IS as good as everyone says it is. Powerful stuff, and deeply affecting. I confess, there must have been a bit of dust in my eyes as I finished the story.
All the stories in this book are of a very high standard, and I would recommend to anyone who likes their fiction with a taste of the fantastic.
All the stories in this book are of a very high standard, and I would recommend to anyone who likes their fiction with a taste of the fantastic.
October 26, 2012
Very solid collection. In addition to the well-known classics (Harrison Bergeron, All Summer in a Day, Flowers for Algernon), there were a bunch of great stories I was unfamiliar with. Some standouts: The Electric Ant (PKD), Other People (Neil Gaiman), Journey into the Kingdom (Mary Rickert). I thought the last story, The Merchant at the Alchemists Gate (Ted Chiang) was the best in the collection, and maybe one of the best time-travel stories I've read.
Read
March 20, 2021This volume reminded me of the Twilight Zone marathon -- several episodes/stories that didn't grab me at all (notably those with military members, aliens, etc.) and others that were great.
I read and enjoyed:
All Summer in a Day (Ray Bradbury)
One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts (Shirley Jackson)
Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
Harrison Bergeron (Kurt Vonnegut)
Flowers for Algernon was a WOW -- "It's a good feeling to know things and be smart." "Soon you'll be able to connect them too. You'll see how the different branches of learning are related. There are many levels, Charlie, like steps on a giant ladder that take you higher and higher to see more of the world around you."
Harrison Bergeron -- many similarities to today's world
I read and enjoyed:
All Summer in a Day (Ray Bradbury)
One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts (Shirley Jackson)
Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes)
Harrison Bergeron (Kurt Vonnegut)
Flowers for Algernon was a WOW -- "It's a good feeling to know things and be smart." "Soon you'll be able to connect them too. You'll see how the different branches of learning are related. There are many levels, Charlie, like steps on a giant ladder that take you higher and higher to see more of the world around you."
Harrison Bergeron -- many similarities to today's world
May 2, 2022
For some reason I started thinking about reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes in (grade? high?) school and all I could remember was that there was a super-smart mouse. So I tracked down the story in a science fiction anthology and was very pleased to get reacquainted with it. It's chilling and poignant and sad and funny to read mentally-handicapped protagonist Charlie Gordon's first-person account of receiving an "operashun" to make him smart. The story was originally published in 1959 and it really holds up. I'm glad to have reread the short story version as it sounds like the longer novel and the movie aren't that great. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut is also in this anthology, which is one of those things that you occasionally hear as a cultural reference but that I never fully understood as I had never read the story. Yikes. Creepy and dystopian, and way too SHORT! I wanted to know more about this vision of the United States in 2081 when everyone was finally equal--too bad it wasn't 50 pages longer.
November 28, 2021
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has always been the home of more literate science fiction and fantasy than most of its competitors. This anthology demonstrates the quality and breadth of writing that has graced its pages. Here are some of the highlights.
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury (March 1954 - short story)
3 Stars
There's no doubt Bradbury could string words together into evocative sentences and come up with characters and locations unlike anything else. His plots, however, were never his strong point, and this story is no exception. A class of youngsters on Venus live with constant rain, except for some reason every seven years the sun comes out for about an hour. Due to some bullying shenanigans by her classmates, the one girl who has experienced sunlight on Earth is locked in a closet during the time of sunshine. The repercussions of this act are left as an exercise for the reader.
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson (January 1955 - short story)
5 Stars
This oft reprinted tale follows Mr. John Philip Johnson, a nice young man who unselfishly helps any and all who need it, including acting as a matchmaker to two lonely singles. The tale takes a twist when Mr. Johnson gets home and compares notes with his wife.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes (April 1959 - novelette) 1960 Hugo Award winner (The 1966 novel-length version won the Nebula Award and was a Hugo Award finalist.)
5 Stars
This is one of the most well known and popular sf stories of all time. It is a heartbreaking, emotional look at how society treats those with mental handicaps. Cliff Robertson received an Emmy nomination for the tv adaptation on the U.S. Steel Hour: "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon" (2/22/1961) and went on to win an Oscar for his reprisal of the role in the feature film Charly (1968) that was a 1969 Hugo Award finalist.
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (October 1961 - short story)
4 Stars
I had to read this many times in high school and college English classes, but it's been a very long time since then, so it's nice to revisit it. In 2081 where, in the name of equality, everyone is issued handicaps to reduce all their abilities to that of the least capable human, the ill fate of genius and extraordinary physical specimen Harrison Bergeron is described. It's a heavy-handed satire that both conservatives and liberals will undoubtedly take from what they will. Somewhat surprisingly, it was not nominated for the Hugo Award.
"This Moment of the Storm" by Roger Zelazny (June 1966 - novelette) 1967 Hugo Award finalist and 1967 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
On an alien world, the human settlers must contend with a massive rain storm that devastates their community. The protagonist is a man who has spent hundreds of years in suspended animation, traveling the voids between planets, and his reactions to the storm and how it affects those around him are poignant and bittersweet.
"The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick (October 1969 - short story)
4 Stars
The slang term for an organic robot in the future of 1992 is electric ant. One such electric ant doesn't know he's an electric ant until going to a hospital after an accident. He eventually discovers that his perception of reality is controlled by a spool of tape inside his chest. When he begins to experiment with the tape, strange things begin to happen. This is a typical Philip K. Dick story where the question of how much of what we call "reality" is actual and how much is within our own heads?
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (March 1973 - novelette) 1974 Hugo Award winner and 1974 Nebula Award finalist
3 Stars
This story clearly comes out of New Wave sensibilities, with unusual stylistic choices and a lot of seeming sidetracks along the way that are hard to reconcile with the main tale of Nathan Stack, the latest incarnation of a long line of humans, journeying with a supernatural being sometimes known as Dira and sometimes known as Snake (as in the snake in the Garden of Eden). Ellison surely recognized the potential befuddlement of his readers by placing "it will eventually become evident" statements in characters' mouths. And I suppose things eventually became evident, as Stack has to ultimately make the choice that some of the side characters made, to euthanize a diseased loved one (as in Ellison's poignant first-hand account of his dog, Ahbhu), only this time it's the Earth and all it's inhabitants who are dying from the diseases of mankind. The story is filled with Biblical symbolism, along with some snarky commentary about Biblical inconsistencies.
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr. (pen name for Alice Sheldon) (December 1973 - novelette)
4 Stars
Don Fenton, an American on a fishing vacation, Ruth and Althea Parsons, mother and daughter, and pilot Esteban are stranded in a Mexican mangrove swamp when their small plane crashes. Don and Ruth split off from Althea and Esteban to search for fresh water. Don increasingly suspects all is not as it seems with Ruth, especially after he is injured in an encounter with smugglers and Ruth more than competently takes care of him. Things get really weird when some strangers in a boat come by. The point of the story is that men too often see women merely as sexual objects and that women must carefully navigate in a man's world.
"I See You" by Damon Knight (November 1976 - short story) 1977 Hugo Award finalist
4 Stars
A scientist invents a viewer that lets people see both across space and time. In addition to the voyeuristic applications for which it's used, it is also used to search historical and genealogical events, and ultimately used as a deterrent to crime. The story raises some serious moral and ethical questions.
"The Gunslinger" by Stephen King (October 1978 - novelette)
5 Stars
This story has a great opening line: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." So begins an epic series that spans eight books and some ancillary material published over a 20+ year interval. The series combines science fiction, fantasy, horror, Western, noir, and other genres, and ties into much of King's other work. King slightly expanded "The Gunslinger" to be the first chapter of the fix-up novel The Gunslinger (1982).
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler (June 1991 - short story) 1992 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
Considering the multiple plot threads that are somewhat ambiguous, Fowler does a beautiful job of weaving together an interesting and subtle story. We have missing hikers in Yosemite who may or may not have turned feral, soldiers fighting in tunnels in Vietnam, and suspected plagues in various places, skillfully tied together.
"Buffalo" by John Kessel (January 1991 - short story) 1992 Hugo Award finalist and 1992 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
This is the imaginary story of Kessel's father's chance meeting with H. G. Wells in a 1934 Washington, DC, nightclub where Duke Ellington's orchestra was playing. I wouldn't classify this as sf per se, but it is very well written and has a strong message: "life constrained is not life wasted".
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin (December 1994 - novelette) 1995 Hugo Award finalist and 1996 Nebula Award winner
4 Stars
Le Guin was a master of writing about cultures alien to our Western ways. Here, a mother and her two very young children volunteer to study the culture of some humans in a primitive society on an out-of-the-way planet. Men and women live in separate places; boys, when they are old enough, live in yet another place, and no one talks much to each other, especially the outsiders. Except the girl is young enough that some of the women and the other children seem to think it's ok to interact with her. So she is raised more by the other women than by her own mother and eventually feels more kinship to them than her mother and brother.
"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford (May 2002 - short story) 2003 Hugo Award finalist and 2003 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
A young boy creates a living being out of a log and other items in a forest. It's a gentle metaphor for religious creation stories, particularly the Biblical story.
"Other People" by Neil Gaiman (October-November 2001 - short story)
4 Stars
A very short story that illustrates that in hell, time is fluid.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (October-November 2005 - novelette) 2006 Hugo Award winner and 2007 Nebula Award winner
5 Stars
This sequel to The Last Unicorn (1968) is exciting, funny, and ultimately very moving. A nine-year-old girl, Sooz, makes a quest to find her king who she knows is the only one who can kill the griffin that has been terrorizing her village. Along the way she meets the magician Schmendrick and his companion Molly. Together they meet King Lír, but is he too old and feeble to fight?
"Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert (May 2006 - novelette) 2007 Nebula Award finalist
3 Stars
This starts out as a ghost story, pivots to a fairly sweet love story, and then takes a very dark and disturbing turn at the end.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (September 2007 - novelette) 2008 Hugo Award winner and 2008 Nebula Award winner
5 Stars
An alchemist in Cairo has a device that allows people to travel 20 years into the future. He recounts several tales of customers who used the device with varying results. The stories illustrate how time is fixed, yet there are still surprises in store for those who visit the future. But then one man wants to travel into the past, and learns an important lesson by doing so. Rarely do stories so expertly examine the paradoxes of time travel as this one does.
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury (March 1954 - short story)
3 Stars
There's no doubt Bradbury could string words together into evocative sentences and come up with characters and locations unlike anything else. His plots, however, were never his strong point, and this story is no exception. A class of youngsters on Venus live with constant rain, except for some reason every seven years the sun comes out for about an hour. Due to some bullying shenanigans by her classmates, the one girl who has experienced sunlight on Earth is locked in a closet during the time of sunshine. The repercussions of this act are left as an exercise for the reader.
"One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts" by Shirley Jackson (January 1955 - short story)
5 Stars
This oft reprinted tale follows Mr. John Philip Johnson, a nice young man who unselfishly helps any and all who need it, including acting as a matchmaker to two lonely singles. The tale takes a twist when Mr. Johnson gets home and compares notes with his wife.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes (April 1959 - novelette) 1960 Hugo Award winner (The 1966 novel-length version won the Nebula Award and was a Hugo Award finalist.)
5 Stars
This is one of the most well known and popular sf stories of all time. It is a heartbreaking, emotional look at how society treats those with mental handicaps. Cliff Robertson received an Emmy nomination for the tv adaptation on the U.S. Steel Hour: "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon" (2/22/1961) and went on to win an Oscar for his reprisal of the role in the feature film Charly (1968) that was a 1969 Hugo Award finalist.
"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (October 1961 - short story)
4 Stars
I had to read this many times in high school and college English classes, but it's been a very long time since then, so it's nice to revisit it. In 2081 where, in the name of equality, everyone is issued handicaps to reduce all their abilities to that of the least capable human, the ill fate of genius and extraordinary physical specimen Harrison Bergeron is described. It's a heavy-handed satire that both conservatives and liberals will undoubtedly take from what they will. Somewhat surprisingly, it was not nominated for the Hugo Award.
"This Moment of the Storm" by Roger Zelazny (June 1966 - novelette) 1967 Hugo Award finalist and 1967 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
On an alien world, the human settlers must contend with a massive rain storm that devastates their community. The protagonist is a man who has spent hundreds of years in suspended animation, traveling the voids between planets, and his reactions to the storm and how it affects those around him are poignant and bittersweet.
"The Electric Ant" by Philip K. Dick (October 1969 - short story)
4 Stars
The slang term for an organic robot in the future of 1992 is electric ant. One such electric ant doesn't know he's an electric ant until going to a hospital after an accident. He eventually discovers that his perception of reality is controlled by a spool of tape inside his chest. When he begins to experiment with the tape, strange things begin to happen. This is a typical Philip K. Dick story where the question of how much of what we call "reality" is actual and how much is within our own heads?
"The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (March 1973 - novelette) 1974 Hugo Award winner and 1974 Nebula Award finalist
3 Stars
This story clearly comes out of New Wave sensibilities, with unusual stylistic choices and a lot of seeming sidetracks along the way that are hard to reconcile with the main tale of Nathan Stack, the latest incarnation of a long line of humans, journeying with a supernatural being sometimes known as Dira and sometimes known as Snake (as in the snake in the Garden of Eden). Ellison surely recognized the potential befuddlement of his readers by placing "it will eventually become evident" statements in characters' mouths. And I suppose things eventually became evident, as Stack has to ultimately make the choice that some of the side characters made, to euthanize a diseased loved one (as in Ellison's poignant first-hand account of his dog, Ahbhu), only this time it's the Earth and all it's inhabitants who are dying from the diseases of mankind. The story is filled with Biblical symbolism, along with some snarky commentary about Biblical inconsistencies.
"The Women Men Don't See" by James Tiptree, Jr. (pen name for Alice Sheldon) (December 1973 - novelette)
4 Stars
Don Fenton, an American on a fishing vacation, Ruth and Althea Parsons, mother and daughter, and pilot Esteban are stranded in a Mexican mangrove swamp when their small plane crashes. Don and Ruth split off from Althea and Esteban to search for fresh water. Don increasingly suspects all is not as it seems with Ruth, especially after he is injured in an encounter with smugglers and Ruth more than competently takes care of him. Things get really weird when some strangers in a boat come by. The point of the story is that men too often see women merely as sexual objects and that women must carefully navigate in a man's world.
"I See You" by Damon Knight (November 1976 - short story) 1977 Hugo Award finalist
4 Stars
A scientist invents a viewer that lets people see both across space and time. In addition to the voyeuristic applications for which it's used, it is also used to search historical and genealogical events, and ultimately used as a deterrent to crime. The story raises some serious moral and ethical questions.
"The Gunslinger" by Stephen King (October 1978 - novelette)
5 Stars
This story has a great opening line: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." So begins an epic series that spans eight books and some ancillary material published over a 20+ year interval. The series combines science fiction, fantasy, horror, Western, noir, and other genres, and ties into much of King's other work. King slightly expanded "The Gunslinger" to be the first chapter of the fix-up novel The Gunslinger (1982).
"The Dark" by Karen Joy Fowler (June 1991 - short story) 1992 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
Considering the multiple plot threads that are somewhat ambiguous, Fowler does a beautiful job of weaving together an interesting and subtle story. We have missing hikers in Yosemite who may or may not have turned feral, soldiers fighting in tunnels in Vietnam, and suspected plagues in various places, skillfully tied together.
"Buffalo" by John Kessel (January 1991 - short story) 1992 Hugo Award finalist and 1992 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
This is the imaginary story of Kessel's father's chance meeting with H. G. Wells in a 1934 Washington, DC, nightclub where Duke Ellington's orchestra was playing. I wouldn't classify this as sf per se, but it is very well written and has a strong message: "life constrained is not life wasted".
"Solitude" by Ursula K. Le Guin (December 1994 - novelette) 1995 Hugo Award finalist and 1996 Nebula Award winner
4 Stars
Le Guin was a master of writing about cultures alien to our Western ways. Here, a mother and her two very young children volunteer to study the culture of some humans in a primitive society on an out-of-the-way planet. Men and women live in separate places; boys, when they are old enough, live in yet another place, and no one talks much to each other, especially the outsiders. Except the girl is young enough that some of the women and the other children seem to think it's ok to interact with her. So she is raised more by the other women than by her own mother and eventually feels more kinship to them than her mother and brother.
"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford (May 2002 - short story) 2003 Hugo Award finalist and 2003 Nebula Award finalist
4 Stars
A young boy creates a living being out of a log and other items in a forest. It's a gentle metaphor for religious creation stories, particularly the Biblical story.
"Other People" by Neil Gaiman (October-November 2001 - short story)
4 Stars
A very short story that illustrates that in hell, time is fluid.
"Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (October-November 2005 - novelette) 2006 Hugo Award winner and 2007 Nebula Award winner
5 Stars
This sequel to The Last Unicorn (1968) is exciting, funny, and ultimately very moving. A nine-year-old girl, Sooz, makes a quest to find her king who she knows is the only one who can kill the griffin that has been terrorizing her village. Along the way she meets the magician Schmendrick and his companion Molly. Together they meet King Lír, but is he too old and feeble to fight?
"Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert (May 2006 - novelette) 2007 Nebula Award finalist
3 Stars
This starts out as a ghost story, pivots to a fairly sweet love story, and then takes a very dark and disturbing turn at the end.
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (September 2007 - novelette) 2008 Hugo Award winner and 2008 Nebula Award winner
5 Stars
An alchemist in Cairo has a device that allows people to travel 20 years into the future. He recounts several tales of customers who used the device with varying results. The stories illustrate how time is fixed, yet there are still surprises in store for those who visit the future. But then one man wants to travel into the past, and learns an important lesson by doing so. Rarely do stories so expertly examine the paradoxes of time travel as this one does.
May 3, 2016
I enjoyed 12 of the 23 stories in this anthology, which would seem to indicate a so-so rating, but the stories I did like tended to be quite good indeed. This anthology is heavy on science fiction and alternative fantasy - there is basically no dungeons and dragons-style fantasy here, which was initially a bit of a disappointment. Overall, I found the author selection and subject matter diverse and pleasantly surprising and the story order well thought out. Also, the great thing about this being a short fiction anthology is that I simply skipped stories I didn't like and dove into the ensuing tale.
So, overall, this is a great anthology, and you're bound to find at least one story in here which will not only be enjoyable, but may well leave a lasting impression with you.
Here are the stories from S&SF 60th which I liked or loved:
1. Pg 29, 'One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts' - Shirley Jackson
- A charming feel-good story with a surprising plot twist
2. Pg 71, 'Flowers for Algernon' - Daniel Keyes
- This is probably one of the most brilliant and famous pieces of short sci-fiction ever written. I believe I read it back in Junior High, but the significance was lost on me then. Really sheds light on topics such as intelligence and the nature of 'the fool.' Fantastically conceived.
3. Pg 191, 'The Women Men Don't See' - James Tiptree Jr.
- This is an odd tale which kept bringing me to the brink of tiring of it and then pulling me back in. Kind of campy 50s style sci-fi, but with Mexico and survival elements mixed in...
4. Pg 221, 'I See You' - James Knight
- Interesting technological concept and rarely-used story methodology make this worth a read
5. Pg 235, 'The Gunslinger' - Stephen King
- Several of my friends have been huge Gunslinger and Dark Tower fans for years, and I'd never read any of it until now. This is THE story which started the Gunslinger tales. Brutal, disturbing, mysterious, unbelievable and yet gritty with realism. One of King's good efforts.
6. Pg 297, 'Buffalo' - John Kessel
- The story of a fictional encounter with H.G. Wells and working class life in early 20th century industrial America. Unique, intellectual and blue collar.
7. Pg 315, 'Solitude' - Ursula K. Le Guin
- My first reading of this frequently-mentioned sci-fi empress. An in-depth otherworldly anthropological study which looks closely at alien and not-so-alien realities for males and females.
8. Pg 343 'Mother Grasshopper' - Michael Swanwick
- A tale mixing medieval death with modern technology, in a world that exists on the body of a grasshopper...
9. Pg 361 'Macs' - Terry Bisson
- A strange and ethically-interesting tale of cloning in Oklahoma
10. Pg 371 'Creation' - Jeffrey Ford
- Boyhood fantasy, religion, and the power to give life and take it away. Made me think.
11. Pg 383 'Other People' - Neil Gaiman
- I was harder on Neil, as he's such a big shot these days, but here he's produced a very brief and quite brilliant tale of...torture...
12. Pg 423 'Journey Into the Kingdom' - M. Rickert
- A paranormal tale of the sea, madness, coffee, love and death, which is more like several stories in one.
13. Pg 451 'The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate' - Ted Chiang
- Fantastic proverbial tale set in the medieval Muslim world. Alchemical magic and words of wisdom galore, all in a delightfully different and enticing 'mysterious middle-east' style.
So, overall, this is a great anthology, and you're bound to find at least one story in here which will not only be enjoyable, but may well leave a lasting impression with you.
Here are the stories from S&SF 60th which I liked or loved:
1. Pg 29, 'One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts' - Shirley Jackson
- A charming feel-good story with a surprising plot twist
2. Pg 71, 'Flowers for Algernon' - Daniel Keyes
- This is probably one of the most brilliant and famous pieces of short sci-fiction ever written. I believe I read it back in Junior High, but the significance was lost on me then. Really sheds light on topics such as intelligence and the nature of 'the fool.' Fantastically conceived.
3. Pg 191, 'The Women Men Don't See' - James Tiptree Jr.
- This is an odd tale which kept bringing me to the brink of tiring of it and then pulling me back in. Kind of campy 50s style sci-fi, but with Mexico and survival elements mixed in...
4. Pg 221, 'I See You' - James Knight
- Interesting technological concept and rarely-used story methodology make this worth a read
5. Pg 235, 'The Gunslinger' - Stephen King
- Several of my friends have been huge Gunslinger and Dark Tower fans for years, and I'd never read any of it until now. This is THE story which started the Gunslinger tales. Brutal, disturbing, mysterious, unbelievable and yet gritty with realism. One of King's good efforts.
6. Pg 297, 'Buffalo' - John Kessel
- The story of a fictional encounter with H.G. Wells and working class life in early 20th century industrial America. Unique, intellectual and blue collar.
7. Pg 315, 'Solitude' - Ursula K. Le Guin
- My first reading of this frequently-mentioned sci-fi empress. An in-depth otherworldly anthropological study which looks closely at alien and not-so-alien realities for males and females.
8. Pg 343 'Mother Grasshopper' - Michael Swanwick
- A tale mixing medieval death with modern technology, in a world that exists on the body of a grasshopper...
9. Pg 361 'Macs' - Terry Bisson
- A strange and ethically-interesting tale of cloning in Oklahoma
10. Pg 371 'Creation' - Jeffrey Ford
- Boyhood fantasy, religion, and the power to give life and take it away. Made me think.
11. Pg 383 'Other People' - Neil Gaiman
- I was harder on Neil, as he's such a big shot these days, but here he's produced a very brief and quite brilliant tale of...torture...
12. Pg 423 'Journey Into the Kingdom' - M. Rickert
- A paranormal tale of the sea, madness, coffee, love and death, which is more like several stories in one.
13. Pg 451 'The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate' - Ted Chiang
- Fantastic proverbial tale set in the medieval Muslim world. Alchemical magic and words of wisdom galore, all in a delightfully different and enticing 'mysterious middle-east' style.
June 24, 2010
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is the most recent anthology to be published by the magazine bearing the same name. It is not a bad short-story collection, although I have to say that the first half is much better than the second. Some stories really have a lasting effect, like "Flowers for Algernon," while others, for a selection celebrating 60 years of publication, are really just so-so. One of the latter that immediately comes to mind is Ursula Le Guin's "Solitude," a feminist sexual-political diatribe layered in allegory a.k.a. Speculative Fiction. I'm also not big on unicorns, so story Beagle's story "Two Hearts" was kind of a dud.
I also think that Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" was a poor selection, not because it was bad (The Dark Tower is one of my favourite stories of all time) but rather because it just was not a good fit. Essentially, the selection in The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is only the first chapter of the novel called The Gunslinger and so I don't think including such a limiting part of the book does the story any justice. Furthermore, it wastes pages that could have otherwise gone to a story more deserving. Nonetheless, although the second half of the collection is so-so, the very last story in the anthology by Ted Chiang, "The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate," might be the best story in the whole collection. It is great.
So all in all, the stories in this anthology are a little too overtly political, and a little too dark to make it great.
I also think that Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" was a poor selection, not because it was bad (The Dark Tower is one of my favourite stories of all time) but rather because it just was not a good fit. Essentially, the selection in The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is only the first chapter of the novel called The Gunslinger and so I don't think including such a limiting part of the book does the story any justice. Furthermore, it wastes pages that could have otherwise gone to a story more deserving. Nonetheless, although the second half of the collection is so-so, the very last story in the anthology by Ted Chiang, "The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate," might be the best story in the whole collection. It is great.
So all in all, the stories in this anthology are a little too overtly political, and a little too dark to make it great.
Currently reading
May 16, 2015Mini-reviews of each story:
Of Time and Third Avenue, Alfred Bester: 3/5
The short-story format has always been important and held in high regard in science fiction. This classic twist-in-time mystery story is a good example of why. The short format allows a simple idea and plot twist to be explored without the need to build elaborate sets, plot, and side characters. Bester serves us with an enjoyable, if straightforward and somewhat predictable story, effectively setting a scene and executing a plot twist around one central idea in a few pages.
All Summer in a Day, Ray Bradbury: 2/5
What would it be like to live on a planet where the climate was one of constant rain, where a glimpse of the sun is as rare and remarkable an event as a solar eclipse is to us? The premise for Bradbury's story is an interesting one, especially in light of all the science fiction that assumes living on another planet is essentially like living on earth, either because planets are assumed to have the same general climate characteristics, or because of terraforming. However, while the setting is interesting, the story rather isn't. What we get is a very predictable little sob story, that is ultimately forgettable.
To be continued ...
Of Time and Third Avenue, Alfred Bester: 3/5
The short-story format has always been important and held in high regard in science fiction. This classic twist-in-time mystery story is a good example of why. The short format allows a simple idea and plot twist to be explored without the need to build elaborate sets, plot, and side characters. Bester serves us with an enjoyable, if straightforward and somewhat predictable story, effectively setting a scene and executing a plot twist around one central idea in a few pages.
All Summer in a Day, Ray Bradbury: 2/5
What would it be like to live on a planet where the climate was one of constant rain, where a glimpse of the sun is as rare and remarkable an event as a solar eclipse is to us? The premise for Bradbury's story is an interesting one, especially in light of all the science fiction that assumes living on another planet is essentially like living on earth, either because planets are assumed to have the same general climate characteristics, or because of terraforming. However, while the setting is interesting, the story rather isn't. What we get is a very predictable little sob story, that is ultimately forgettable.
To be continued ...
March 20, 2017
This is a fantastic anthology, with a huge variety of absolute classics and gems, from a sixty-year span of publication. Powerful, powerful pieces -- and ones that give you great tastes of a whole lot of different authors, from Alfred Bester to Ted Chiang.
Some of the standout stories are:
* The classic "Flowers For Algernon";
* Peter Beagle's heartbreaking adventure "Two Hearts,"
* Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which does Arabian Nights style tales of magical time travel;
* "Solitude," one of Ursula LeGuin's quintessential tales of contact with alien cultures,
and more and more and more.
Anthologies, by their nature, tend to be a grab bag -- some stories are great, others not so much. This is a rare exception. There's immense variety, but almost every story is a treasure, large or small.
It's a showcase of the fantastic, top-notch work that the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has done over the decades. It's full of genre classics -- and ones that stand the test of time, which is no mean feat. I can't tell you how many times I've been in conversations with friends going, "Oh, there's this fantastic story you should really read! Here, I've got it in this book here..."
Highly, highly recommended.
Some of the standout stories are:
* The classic "Flowers For Algernon";
* Peter Beagle's heartbreaking adventure "Two Hearts,"
* Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," which does Arabian Nights style tales of magical time travel;
* "Solitude," one of Ursula LeGuin's quintessential tales of contact with alien cultures,
and more and more and more.
Anthologies, by their nature, tend to be a grab bag -- some stories are great, others not so much. This is a rare exception. There's immense variety, but almost every story is a treasure, large or small.
It's a showcase of the fantastic, top-notch work that the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has done over the decades. It's full of genre classics -- and ones that stand the test of time, which is no mean feat. I can't tell you how many times I've been in conversations with friends going, "Oh, there's this fantastic story you should really read! Here, I've got it in this book here..."
Highly, highly recommended.
January 22, 2010
Gordon Van Gelder has been the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction since 1996. Mr. Van Gelder prepared brief paragraphs to introduce each of the short fiction selections of when it was first published in the magazine. He also included a little background on the authors which I found to be a nice touch.
It was lovely going back to some old favourite stories I had not read in years to reread them in this anthology, such as Flowers for Algernon. Many of the authors I had not read before and found their stories to be very intersting, and hope to see other stories written by them.
The collection between science fiction and fantasy is even with excellent choices made by Mr. Van Gelder.
It was lovely going back to some old favourite stories I had not read in years to reread them in this anthology, such as Flowers for Algernon. Many of the authors I had not read before and found their stories to be very intersting, and hope to see other stories written by them.
The collection between science fiction and fantasy is even with excellent choices made by Mr. Van Gelder.
May 21, 2013
4.5 stars
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is an excellent collection of 23 stories picked from the treasure trove of short fiction that's been published in the eponymous magazine over the past 60 years. Editor Gordon Van Gelder — also the editor of the magazine since 1997 — has done an admirable job, picking stories that illustrate the diversity of both the genre and the magazine. As such, this is a great anthology for SF&F fans as well as newcomers looking for a taste.
The line-up of authors in this collection looks like a veritable Who's Who of speculative fiction: Ray Bradbury, Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology is an excellent collection of 23 stories picked from the treasure trove of short fiction that's been published in the eponymous magazine over the past 60 years. Editor Gordon Van Gelder — also the editor of the magazine since 1997 — has done an admirable job, picking stories that illustrate the diversity of both the genre and the magazine. As such, this is a great anthology for SF&F fans as well as newcomers looking for a taste.
The line-up of authors in this collection looks like a veritable Who's Who of speculative fiction: Ray Bradbury, Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
March 10, 2015
I hadn't read the short story version of "Algernon," but found it just as heartbreaking as the novel was when I was half as old as I am now. Of course Bradbury still masters the form with his classic "All Summer in a Day," Le Guin similarly crushes it with "Solitude," and I am incredibly grateful to get proper introductions to legends like Damon Knight, Terry Bisson, Karen Jay Fowler, and Michael Swanwick. The weaker additions are forgivable since this is, after all, a survey of the magazine's top contributors, which of course still have much to teach about where the genre can suffer from an overabundance of details over character or plot. I recommend anyone to pick this up to find both great surprises and familiar favorites between its covers.
April 25, 2015
This is not a particularly inspired collection of short stories. My favorite was the Peter S. Beagle short story that was a sequel (of sorts) to the Last Unicorn, but I doubt it would stand well on it's own.
The editor seemed more interested in picking stories that were personally interesting to him (such as stories that he liked when he was twelve or what have you) than in picking the best short stories that had been published in the magazine.
Further, the short story Eastward Ho! was incredibly tone deaf. I don't know why it was included. It includes Sioux named Chief Hydrogen Bombs, Makes Much Raditiaion, Bright Book Jacket, and so on, based on books. Ick. I didn't finish it.
The anthology is not really worth the time.
The editor seemed more interested in picking stories that were personally interesting to him (such as stories that he liked when he was twelve or what have you) than in picking the best short stories that had been published in the magazine.
Further, the short story Eastward Ho! was incredibly tone deaf. I don't know why it was included. It includes Sioux named Chief Hydrogen Bombs, Makes Much Raditiaion, Bright Book Jacket, and so on, based on books. Ick. I didn't finish it.
The anthology is not really worth the time.
February 9, 2010
I can't say I enjoyed this book but that was more a matter of taste than the quality of the book itself. It's an excellent collection of stories by top-tier SFF authors, but unfortunately I found most of them to be too strange and oddly depressing for my taste. There were a few stories I liked. My favorite was probably Solitude by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which Le Guin accomplished what she does probably better than any other writer I've read: create a culture so alien to our own that it should be incomprehensible, but then bring it to life in a way that helps the reader understand and admire it.
September 15, 2011
Given what the editor had to work with, a surprisingly mediocre collection. Although it does have two heartbreaking masterpieces in Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" and Daniel Keyes's "Flowers for Algernon", you also get dated pieces from Roger Zelazny and Alfred Bester, and Van Gelder includes Stephen King's "The Gunslinger" along with Michael Swanwick's very similar piece, "Mother Grasshopper." Still lots of wonderful stories in this volume's nearly 500 pages, but it could have been so much more.
June 27, 2012
I checked this out mainly because it has Ray Bradbury's famous short story "All Summer in a Day," which was my first contact with his work when I was in G&T classes in 3rd grade. After his death, I wanted to share the story with my sons, and was delighted to find it still as poignant and incisive as ever. But the many other stories in this volume came as a wonderful surprise, and it contains works by authors I've read extensively without having come across these particular stories before, such as Neil Gaiman.
August 6, 2016
I read this book solely because it contains one of my most long-sought short stories, "Two Hearts," the sequel to Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn. That, of course, was perfection. There could not have been a more perfect conclusion to my all-time favorite book.
I accidentally erased the rest of my review. The TL;DR version is that there are a great many awesome standouts within this collection and only one that I especially didn't care for ("The Deathbird," by Harlan Ellison), probably because it was too smart for me.
I accidentally erased the rest of my review. The TL;DR version is that there are a great many awesome standouts within this collection and only one that I especially didn't care for ("The Deathbird," by Harlan Ellison), probably because it was too smart for me.
June 26, 2014
This is a great book for those of us who aren't big into Sci-fi!
Despite the title, it's more Sci-fi than Fantasy, although it does have a bit of both, and then some stories that are really in between (or just far out of any classification!).
It really renewed my love for short stories and it's an amazing read for people who spend time in public transport or who just don't have a lot of reading-time, because you can read a complete story on the time you have free!
Highly recommend this!
Despite the title, it's more Sci-fi than Fantasy, although it does have a bit of both, and then some stories that are really in between (or just far out of any classification!).
It really renewed my love for short stories and it's an amazing read for people who spend time in public transport or who just don't have a lot of reading-time, because you can read a complete story on the time you have free!
Highly recommend this!
Shelved as 'hiatus'
June 3, 2015(Borderlands Bookstore's Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club met on Sunday, 16 May, 2010, at 6 pm to discuss The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, edited by Gordon Van Gelder.)
January 16, 2015
Excellent anthology collection with lots of great stories. "Journey Into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert is the best of her I've read. I had come across it in a previous anthology and had no qualms about reading it again. If you are considering subscribing to the magazine this is a good indicator of the quality of the stories as they are all republished from there.
January 20, 2011
Love love love this book. So many classics by great authors and lots of new stories I'd never seen before. Writers include Shirley Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Neil Gaiman, Harlan Ellison, and Ursula LeGuin. Highly recommend it for sci-fi lovers!
December 20, 2012
I bought this anthology for Kurt Vonnegut's 'Harrison Bergeron', but there wasn't a single story that was less than superb. Not only is each story a triumph, but each flows into the next like they were meant to be collected together.
November 30, 2010
excellent collection.
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