Leo P. Kelley (no relation) was a Science Fiction writer who edited three “academic” anthologies (see below) for McGraw-Hill. In the early 1970s, many colleges and universities started offering courses in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Some editor at McGraw-Hill saw the opportunity to create a series of textbooks for students taking those courses.
Kelley delivered an anthology of 32 stories with a “contemporary” feel. Most of the stories were published in the 1960s. There are a few stories from the 1950s and a couple from the 1970s.
Obviously, Kelley decided to skip the “historical” approach to SF–no Heinlein, no Van Vogt–and concentrated on stories students might enjoy. The most “classic” of these stories is Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations” from 1954.
Big Name writers like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Harlan Ellison are included. Newcomers like Gene Wolfe, Carol Carr, Norman Spinrad, Charles Platt, and Dean R. Koontz point toward the Future.
Kelley includes some of my favorite writers: Fritz Leiber, Keith Laumer, Chad Oliver, Fredric Brown, Poul Anderson, Richard Matheson, Fred Saberhagen, C.M.Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl.
Other publishers got into the SF textbook market with more traditional chronological anthologies. Themes in Science Fiction provides short stories that are still fun to read today! Do you recognize some of these stories? Any favorites? Did you ever take a SF course in College? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- 3 • The Last of the Romany • (1963) • short story by Norman Spinrad
- 14 • The Total Experience Kick • (1966) • short story by Charles Platt
- 28 • Shortstack • [Willy Shorts] • (1964) • novelette by Leigh Richmond and Walt Richmond
- 47 • Far from This Earth • (1970) • short story by Chad Oliver
- 63 • Maelstrom II • (1965) • short story by Arthur C. Clarke
- 76 • Founding Father • (1965) • short story by Isaac Asimov
- 82 • Holdout • (1957) • short story by Robert Sheckley
- 93 • The Cold Equations • [Cold Equations (Godwin)] • (1954) • novelette by Tom Godwin
- 119 • The Father-Thing • (1954) • short story by Philip K. Dick
- 131 • The Silk and the Song • (1956) • novelette by Charles L. Fontenay
- 155 • Eyebem • (1970) • short story by Gene Wolfe
- 165 • Puppet Show • (1962) • short story by Fredric Brown
- 174 • Look, You Think You’ve Got Troubles • (1969) • short story by Carol Carr
- 187 • Young Girl at an Open Half-Door • (1968) • short story by Fred Saberhagen
- 196 • The Man Who Came Early • (1956) • novelette by Poul Anderson
- 219 • Soldier • (1967) • short fiction by Harlan Ellison
- 239 • The Good Provider • (1952) • short story by Marion Gross
- 247 • A Message from Charity • (1967) • short story by William M. Lee
- 266 • Witch War • (1951) • short story by Richard Matheson
- 271 • Gomez • (1954) • novelette by C. M. Kornbluth
- 294 • Muse • (1969) • short story by Dean R. Koontz
- 307 • The World of Myrion Flowers • (1961) • short story by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl
- 313 • X Marks the Pedwalk • (1963) • short story by Fritz Leiber
- 318 • EPICAC • (1950) • short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
- 325 • The Last Command • [Bolo] • (1967) • short story by Keith Laumer
- 343 • Lost Memory • (1952) • short story by Peter Phillips
- 357 • The Survivor • (1965) • novelette by Walter F. Moudy
- 383 • The Post-Mortem People • (1966) • short story by Peter Tate
- 398 • The Travelin’ Man • (1970) • short story by Leo P. Kelley
- 409 • One Love Have I • (1955) • short story by Robert F. Young
- 424 • Who Shall Dwell • (1962) • short story by H. C. Neal
MCGRAW-HILL ANTHOLOGIES EDITED BY LEO P. KELLEY:
- The Supernatural in Fiction (1973)
- Fantasy: The Literature of the Marvelous (1974)
- Themes in Science Fiction (1972)
I recognise some of the stories–good ones–but not others. Peter Tate? H.C. Neal? I always get a “days of future passed” vibe when I see Norman Spinrad’s name–groovy in the ’60s (BUG JACK BARRON), somewhat forgotten now, I expect. Wasn’t “Soldier” the basis for a lawsuit by Harlan Ellison claiming that it was plagiarised for TERMINATOR? I wonder if students saw a course on SF as an easy A?
Fred, I think you’re right about “Soldier” being the basis of lawsuit against TERMINATOR. Ellison also sued ROBOCOP because of his short story “Brillo.”
Of course I rcrappy” emember all these authors and probably know the stories too!
Did you ever take a SF course in College?
Are you serious?
We SF fans were considered freaks in the 60s.
There wre just two “serious” publishers in Germany which published SF paperbacks- and a “crappy” one which published pulp, the German series “Perry Rhodan” eg.
Wolf, the 1970s witnessed an explosion of SF college classes. I took one in the “Free College” offerings…but I knew more about SF than the instructor!
In the US, George…I wonder, now, how widespread outside the US even in Canada, they were. You probably recall I surveyed Wolfe’s volumes and a few more beyond in this series on my blog…I ended up dropping out of both the sf courses I took on at both my unis, the first at U Hawaii in “82 since I knew more about sf than the grad student who taught it (and he had a extraordinarily nasal voice that distracted me to no end), the second at Geo. Mason U in ’86 because the prof in that one seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about the subject not being taken seriously and she, by gum, was going to make us Work to deserve to be in her class. I had simultaneously enrolled in a horror class where I knew more about the subject than the full prof there as well, but she was both gracious and interested in exploring the subject matter, and I stuck with hers. My writing courses at UH were taught by Robert Onopa and A. A. Attanasio, so that worked out, anyway.
Todd, you had decidedly mixed results with those courses. But the writing courses were certainly worth it!
Or, even, Kelley’s! Between the various academics named Wolfe and Gene Wolfe’s story I’ve reviewed on Wednesday, I have lupoids on my vulpine brain.
Todd, Gene Wolfe is an underrated writer.
Oh, I think those who’ve read him tend to admire his work down to their cores. But he might not be everyone’s cup of challenge and erudition.
Nothing signals the expiration date is fast approaching for a genre more than the sight of academics trying to milk it. I sat in on some classes like this back in the day and they were fun but me experience was always that anyone really invested in a genre was already getting a good history and analysis on their own. Back then it would have been in the zines while now its the internet. I was probably in junior high when this was published and I remember some of our text books containing scrience fiction stories from the fifties and “Twilight Zone” scripts while Scholastic magazine did stories about the popularity of “Star Trek” in syndication. I’m sure that at this very moment some hyperactive young adjunct professor is teaching a course in Gender Identity in Specilative Fiction somewhere…
That looks like a very readable collection and it’s kind of cute. I can see why you picked it up. Some of the stories are, as you noted, already dated and the lack of Theodore Sturgeon and Ursula Le Guin (among others your readers will add to) are huge omissions. The Ellison story was the basis of an “Outer Limits” story and as Fred noted above led to a lawsuit after James Cameron admitted “Terminator” had been inspired by the show.
Byron, I have several SF college course textbooks. Some of them weigh a ton, just like those Norton Anthologies for Literature. And the selections start with the Bible, offer some Verne and Wells, and then pack the anthology with stories from the early 20th Century. THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION offers a lot more fun stories.
Published in 1972, when Leo Kelley was both a teaching academic and a relatively new sf writer…
Todd, Science Fiction was increasing in academic status and popularity about the time THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION was published.
To some degree…but, as Wolf’s testimony might suggest, not everywhere. And I think most thoroughly in the US, where it was seen as Virgin Territory for publish or perish work (of wildly varying quality, too frequently Not Good) and a Way to Relate to the Kids.
I read “The Cold Equation” last week in a thick anthology whose name I can’t remember! I do remember what the story was about, which is unusual for me, and while I liked the premise it seemed a bit long!
Bob, remember that authors were paid by the word back in those days. Adding more words to the story meant more money! “The Cold Equations” is a classic…if a bit long.
I’ve tended to see it as more than a bit of a relic of its era…if an attempt at a challenge to one’s preconceptions. I see it as a less effective child of Crane’s “The Open Boat”…
And in the “legacy” magazines and no few of the online ones, writers are still paid by the word…
George, I think sf is taught in India as part of Popular Literature paper or Dystopian Literature paper. I have heard of/read a few authors on this list but not read any of these stories. Thanks to you, I did read my first anthology of SF stories this week. Here is the link for it: https://ahotcupofpleasureagain.wordpress.com/2023/07/12/ssw-the-best-of-science-fiction-ed-by-groff-conklin/