John O’Neill at BLACK GATE reviewed this massive collection. Somehow, it slipped past my radar. I went online and found a copy for a penny (plus Shipping & Handling). Yet this book is worth its considerable weight in gold. Exploring the Norizons comprises two separate collections, Explorers and The Furthest Horizon, bound together in this omnibus edition. Just take a look at the Table of Contents to see the quality of stories in this 916-page tome. And the John Berkey cover is eye-popping! Highly recommended!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXPLORERS:
Preface by Gardner Dozois
“The Sentinel,” by Arthur C. Clarke (10 Story Fantasy, Spring 1951)
“Moonwalk,” by H. B. Fyfe (Space Science Fiction, November 1952)
“Grandpa,” by James H. Schmitz (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1955)
“The Red Hills of Summer,” by Edgar Pangborn (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September 1959)
“The Longest Voyage,” by Poul Anderson (Analog, December 1960)
“Hot Planet,” by Hal Clement (Galaxy, August 1963)
“Drunkboat,” by Cordwainer Smith (Amazing Stories, October 1963)
“Becalmed in Hell,” by Larry Niven (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1965)
“Nine Hundred Grandmothers,” by R. A. Lafferty (If, February 1966)
“The Keys to December,” by Roger Zelazny (New Worlds, August 1966)
“Vaster Than Empires and More Slow,” by Ursula K. Le Guin (New Dimensions 1, 1971)
“A Meeting With Medusa,” by Arthur C. Clarke (Playboy, December 1971)
“The Man Who Walked Home,” by James Tiptree, Jr. (Amazing Science Fiction, May 1972)
“Long Shot,” by Vernor Vinge (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1972)
“In the Hall of the Martian Kings,” by John Varley (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1977)
“Ginungagap,” by Michael Swanwick (TriQuarterly 49, 1980)
“Exploring Fossil Canyon,” by Kim Stanley Robinson (Universe 12, 1982)
“Promises to Keep,” by Jack McDevitt (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, December 1984)
“Lieserl,” by Stephen Baxter (Interzone #78, December 1993)
“Crossing Chao Meng Fu,” by G. David Nordley (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 1997)
“Wang’s Carpets,” by Greg Egan (New Legends, May 1995)
“A Dance to Strange Musics,” by Gregory Benford (Science Fiction Age, November 1998)
“Approaching Perimelasma,” by Geoffrey A. Landis (Asimov’s Science Fiction, January 1998)
THE FURTHEST HORIZON
Preface by Gardner Dozois
“Guyal of Sfere,” by Jack Vance (The Dying Earth, 1950)
“Old Hundredth,” by Brian W. Aldiss (New Worlds Science Fiction #100, November 1960)
“Alpha Ralpha Boulevard,” by Cordwainer Smith (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June 1961)
“Day Million,” by Frederik Pohl (Rogue, Feb/March 1966)
“Bumberboom,” by Avram Davidson (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1966)
“Coranda,” by Keith Roberts (New Worlds, January 1967)
“Nightwings,” by Robert Silverberg (Galaxy, September 1968)
“Pale Roses,” by Michael Moorcock (New Worlds 7, December 1974)
“Anniversary Project,” by Joe Haldeman (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, October 1975)
“Slow Music,” by James Tiptree, Jr. (Interfaces, February 1980)
“The Map,” by Gene Wolfe (Light Years and Dark, November 1984)
“Dinosaurs,” by Walter Jon Williams (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1987)
“The Death Artist,” by Alexander Jablokov (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1990)
“Sister Alice,” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s Science Fiction, November 1993)
“Recording Angel,” by Paul J. McAuley (New Legends, May 1995)
“Genesis,” by Poul Anderson (Far Futures, December 1995)
“The Days of Solomon Gursky,” by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1998)
This sounds wonderful – may not be quite so cheap to find in the UK, but I shall persue … Thanks George.
Sergio, do you live in/near (or come to …) London?
Then you should visit the Forbidden Planet bookstore – I went there regularly, coming by car and ferry several times a year and they had (hopefully still have) a very good selection.
If you manage to get there please report!
Thanks in advance.
PS:
Just reading the name of the authors in that collection gives me pleasant memories …
Wolf, pleasant memories indeed. There’s a wealth of Good Reading in this tome!
Sergio, you might have better luck finding the two original anthologies, EXPLORERS and THE FURTHEST HORIZON. Well worth the search!
George, that is a visually stunning cover, I agree. And an impressive table of contents too.
Prashant, I’m a huge John Berkey fan. His futuristic cover artwork is dazzling! Check out John berkey’s web site at: http://johnberkey.com/
Wonderful artwork!
Uh oh, another 900 page book! Sounds like a pretty good collection. Some of these editors seem to have books coming out monthly.
Jeff, I missed out on some of Gardner Dozois’s anthologies in the 1990s. But they’re still available on-line for a pittance. Bargains!
I searched three on-line book selling sites, and the cheapest one in decent condition (VG or better) was $22, which is hardly “pennies”. I ordered it, because this looks like a very good anthology, but you might want to slow off on the available for pennies line.
Rick, after John O’Neill reviewed EXPLORING THE HORIZONS on BLACK GATE, there must have been a run on the inexpensive copies. You missed the Window of Opportunity!
Ah, that post was just a week ago… I read the first half of it, thought I wasn’t interested in the two books featured in it and stopped. This book was mentioned further down. Anyway, I have it, and another Dozois-edited anthology on the way
Rick, I had some of those Dozois anthologies, but John O’Neill made the other sound so appealing that I ordered all of them.
After reading O’Neill’s comments on the two collections, I also bought a copy of this hefty combo novel. Great stuff!
Bill, John O’Neill is stimulating me to buy more and more books!
Not too much OT (I hope):
Our beloved George R R Martin has several comments in his not-a-blog on editors and Hugo potential, G Dozois is of course featured prominently.
look here:
http://grrm.livejournal.com/471135.html
Wolf, Dozois has won the Best Editor award many times. And, Dozois and George R. R. Martin have partnered up on a few anthologies, too!
Gardner Dozois co-edited with George R.R. Martin on the two fine anthologies, OLD MARS and OLD VENUS. Dozois has been editing years best anthologies and others for a while. He and David Strahan are the two best SF editors about, I think. I also missed this then and have bought it now.
Rick, you’ll be glad you own EXPLORING THE HORIZONS! It’s a terrific anthology.
A lot of chestnuts, and a lot of less easily-available stories…Swanwick’s first story, from TRIQUARTERLY, which is the subject of another look along with VENTURE SF magazine and their all but forgotten best-ofs in my column this week. I do buy a fair amount of reading copies onlinr…in merely “good”/ex-lib condition…
Todd, I do the same thing: GOOD CONDITION books are fine with me. I’m usually just looking for reading copies.
A lot of chestnuts, and a lot of less easily-available stories…Swanwick’s first story, from TRIQUARTERLY, which is the subject of another look along with VENTURE SF magazine and their all but forgotten best-ofs in my column this week. I do buy a fair amount of reading copies onlinr…in merely “good”/ex-lib condition…
George
Every time I come to your blog on a Friday, I end up buying something I didn’t know I wanted until I read your blog.
You just did it again.
— Steve
Steve, I’m just trying to stimulate the Economy! And Good Reading! Thanks for stopping by!