The full title of SPECULATIONS 17 (1982) is Stories Written Especially for This Volume By Well-Known Science Fiction Authors, But Their Names are Concealed by a Code and It’s Up to You to Figure Out Who Wrote What.
I’m a sucker for these kinds of gimmick books! Here’s the list of the 17 SF writers who contributed to this volume:
- Isaac Asimov
- Scott Baker
- Alan Dean Foster
- Phyllis Gotlieb
- Zenna Henderson
- Joe L. Hensley
- R. A. Lafferty
- Alice Laurance and William K. Carlson
- Jacqueline Lichtenberg
- Roger Robert Lovin
- Rachel Cosgrove Payes
- Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg
- Mack Reynolds
- Joanna Russ
- Robert Silverberg
- Jack Williamson
- Gene Wolfe
Isaac Asimov writes an insightful introduction explaining the growing popularity of Science Fiction–and this is 1982!–and predicting a bright future for the genre. Asimov also writes story introductions and is careful not to supply any hints as to the identity of the authors. If you’re looking for something fun and different, give SPECULATION 17 a try. (If you GOOGLE Isaac Asimov and SPECULATIONS 17, you’ll get a link to a Wiki page that identifies the writers of the stories without having to crack the Code.) GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Foreword: The Scope of Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov — ix
- Nor Iron Bars a Cage — 1
- Surfeit — 23
- The Winds of Change — 44
- Harpist — 59
- Great Tom Fool, or The Conundrum of the Calais Customhouse Coffers — 75
- The Hand of the Bard — 95
- The Man Who Floated in Time — 111
- Flee to the Mountains — 122
- Last Day — 135
- The Newest Profession — 140
- A Break for the Dinosaurs — 160
- Event at Holiday Rock — 168
- A Touch of Truth — 173
- “Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?” — 182
- …Old…As a Garment — 189
- Flatsquid Thrills — 198
- The Mystery of the Young Gentleman — 205
- Biographies of the Authors — 231
- To Break the Code — 239
I’ve read a few of those gimmick books too, though I don’t like them as much as George does. I do like Pronzini & Malzberg and Silverberg and a couple of the others, though.
Jeff, Asimov assembled a strong line-up of writers for SPECULATIONS 17. I could do without the Code, though. Fortunately, Wiki provides the answers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculations_(book)
I suppose the future of the genre looked bright in 1982. Clarke, Heinlein, and Herbert had built on the late-’60s counter-culture popularity of 2001, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND and DUNE to achieve mainstream visibility, and STAR WARS and STAR TREK were in the theaters. I’m not sure a lot has changed since then, aside from the metastatic growth of the STAR WARS empire. SF still seems locked into its own space on the Barnes & Noble shelves.
Fred, it’s hard to underestimate the impact of STAR TREK and STAR WARS on the Science Fiction genre. I read less SF now than I did in the 1980s. Fantasy is more fun. And, I love a good mystery!
If I remember correctly, the code was pretty easy to break (or, as Ryan George might put it, “barely an inconvenience”), which, to my my mind, tended to cheapen the “gimmicky” concept. It would have been better to have eliminated the authors’ names altogether, leaving the stories — many of which were very good — to stand on their own. Gimmick or not, the collection is worth reading.
Jerry, Isaac Asimov usually had a lot of help when his name was on the cover of an SF anthology–Martin Greenberg mainly–but with SPECULATIONS 17 Alice Lawrence must have helped recruit the writers while Asimov wrote the story Introductions.