The Great science fiction series : stories from the best of the series from 1944 to 1980 by twenty all-time favorite writers edited by Frederik Pohl, Martin Harry Greenberg, and Joseph Olander came to my attention through the great web site, BLACKGATE.COM. John O’Neill reviewed this forgotten classic book from 1980 here.. I had never heard of this book before reading John O’Neill’s review. John also pointed out that The Great Science Fiction Series cost over $100 at online booksellers. Fortunately, the Buffalo Erie County Public Library had a copy which I took out and read.
Many of the stories in The Great Science Fiction Series are familiar: “Hothouse” by Brian W. Aldiss, “The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D” by Ballard, “Surface Tension” by James Blish, “Ararat” by Zenna Henderson, “The Great Magic” by Fritz Leiber, etc. Most SF readers know about Saberhagen’s “Berserker” stories and Larry Niven’s “Known Space” series. Some of these series expanded after The Great Science Fiction Series was published in 1980. This anthology features a bibliography of the series and informative introductions to the stories and the series included in this volume. I hope I can find a copy at a reasonable price so I can add it to my book collection! How many of these series do you remember? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction by Frederik Pohl ix
Hothouse Series Introduction by Brian W. Aldiss 1
“Hothouse” by Brian W. Aldiss (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1961) 3
Nicholas van Rijn Series/Technic History Introduction by Poul Anderson 32
“A Little Knowledge” by Poul Anderson (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1971) 34
The Wendell Urth Series Introduction by Isaac Asimov 52
“The Talking Stone” by Isaac Asimov (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1955) 54
Vermilion Sands Series Introduction by J. G. Ballard 71
“The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral D” by J. G. Ballard (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1967) 72
Cities in Flight Series Introduction by James and Judith Blish 86
“Bridge” by James Blish (Astounding Science Fiction, February 1952) 88
Surface Tension/The Pantropy Series Introduction by James and Judith Blish 112
“Surface Tension” by James Blish (Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1952) 114
The Feghoot Series Introduction by Grendel Briarton (R. Bretnor) 150
“Through Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot” by Reginald Bretnor (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1956). 152
The White Hart Series Introduction by Arthur C. Clarke 154
“The Reluctant Orchid” by Arthur C. Clarke (Satellite Science Fiction, December 1956) 155
Tales from Gavagan’s Bar Introduction by L. Sprague de Camp 164
‘The Ancestral Amethyst” by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1952) 166
The People Series Introduction by Zenna Henderson 173
“Ararat” by Zenna Henderson (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1952) 175
Retief Series Introduction by Keith Laumer 194
“Ballots and Bandits” by Keith Laumer (If, September-October 1970) 196
The Change War Series Introduction by Fritz Leiber 221
“No Great Magic” by Fritz Leiber (Galaxy Magazine, December 1963) 223
The Dragonriders of Pern Series Introduction by Anne McCaffrey 259
“The Smallest Dragonboy” by Anne McCaffrey (Science Fiction Tales, 1973) 261
Helva/The Ship Who Sang Series Introduction by Anne McCaffrey 273
“The Ship Who Sang” by Anne McCaffrey (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1961) 274
Known Space Series Introduction by Larry Niven 290
“A Relic of the Empire” by Larry Niven (If, December 1966) 292
Berserker Series Introduction by Fred Saberhagen 308
“Sign of the Wolf” by Fred Saberhagen (If, May 1965) 309
Slow Glass Series Introduction by Bob Shaw 317
“Burden of Proof” by Bob Shaw (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, May 1967) 318
The AAA Ace Series Introduction by Robert Sheckley 331
“The Lifeboat Mutiny” by Robert Sheckley (Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1955) 332
In Hiding/Children of the Atom Series Introduction by Wilmar H. Shiras 343
“Opening Doors” by Wilmar H. Shiras (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1949) 344
City Series Introduction by Clifford D. Simak 373
“Aesop” by Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Science Fiction, December 1947) 374
The Instrumentality of Mankind Introduction by John J. Pierce 400
“The Game of Rat and Dragon” by Cordwainer Smith (Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1955) 402
Notes on Contributors 416
Copyrights 420
So many great series in this book…. and still a few I’d never heard of! Did you make any discoveries of your own?
John, thank you bringing THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES to my attention on BLACKGATE.COM. I had never seen or heard of this book before reading your excellent review! And, initially, I was bummed at the price of the book that online sellers were charging. But, I got lucky. The BUFFALO ERIE COUNTY LIBRARY had a copy of THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES. I put in a Request and a week later I was reading this great book!
I had read all or part of all of the series that are presented in THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES because I was reading the SF magazines where many of these series first appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. I particularly liked Keith Laumer’s Retief series, Leiber’s Change War series, Saberhagen’s Berserker series, and Robert Sheckley’s AAA Ace series.
A great book with some great stories, George. A lot of favorites here. The Aldiss, Ballard, Henderson, and Smith stories blew my socks off when I first read them. I remember the others fondly.
Jerry, I’ll keep looking for a reasonably priced copy of THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES and if I find a second copy I’ll be happy to send it to you as an early Christmas present.
Thanks for the offer, George, but I already have a copy somewhere. Surely there must be some deserving reader of your blog who would appreciate it, though.
Jerry, I’ll keep that in mind!
Like you I read most of these in the magazines back in the 60’s. Familiar with all of these stories but didn’t know Slow Glass was a series. My favorites are the Aldiss, Ballard, Smith and Henderson series. Although I feel Smith did much better stories than The Game of Rat and Dragon.
Shaw wrote several more stories and s short novel involving Slow Glass. Good stuff.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?25395 Slow Glass series
Steve, I agree with you on Cordwainer Smith. “Think Blue, Count Two” is one of my favorite Smith stories…maybe because it was the first Smith story I read as a kid.
Amusing the mix of series…there are A Lot of people who would take issue with several of these series being considered great…notably the Feghoots, the White Hart, the AAA Ace (cited by some as the worst of Sheckley), and of course the Ballard still has some detractors…while others are almost universally loved, not least the Bob Shaw “Slow Glass”, the Fritz Leiber “Change War” and the Clifford Simak “City”…and, increasingly, the Ballard! I’m definitely fonder of some than the others, but that is on balance a good selection. (Asimov, almost as devoted to distended puns as R. Bretnor, of course would snap at any criticism of those…I’m fond of a good pun, as well…some Feghoots definitely better than others, as joke stories and as puns).
When subbing for Patti, I usually include a John O’Neill review and/or some other BLACK GATE items.
My Damon Knight anthology today, WORLDS TO COME, includes the far less-well-known decade-earlier prequel of sorts to “Surface Tension”, which was combined with that story for the novella version, “Sunken Universe”…
Todd, I noticed your WORLDS TO COME included the prequel to “Surface Tension.” John O’Neill not only recommends obscure SF that I’ve never heard of (but want to read!), he has uncanny success finding excellent SF paperbacks and hardcovers on eBAY for a pittance!
I agree on Black Gate being a must read daily. Lots of great stuff there. I can’t understand why this book is so expensive. I would hope someone would release an ebook at the very least. I like the White Hart and Gavagan’s Bar series, as well as the Simak and Henderson (recent read), and I have the Retief collections. I hope this becomes more available as my library doesn’t have it.
Probably horribly expensive because Harper barely got behind it, probably had a short print run aimed mostly at libraries, and I see by ISFDB it never had a paperback (not even a large-format “quality” paperback) nor second printing nor foreign edition. Orphaned.
Pretty much like Pohl’s career retrospective memoir/anthology YESTERDAY’S TOMORROWS, which Berkley orphaned half a decade later.
Todd, I agree with your analysis on why THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES is so pricey. But I’m hoping I run across an X-Library edition when Book Sale season begins in a few months.
Jeff, as I mentioned I hadn’t seen or heard of THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES before I read John O’Neill’s review on BLACKGATE.COM. Now that I’ve read it, I’d like to own a copy but I’m reluctant to spend over $100 for it. I suspect the high price is the result of a low print run and no reprint editions.
I’m familiar with most of them, though Feghoot and AAA Ace are new to me. I saw the piece on this in Black Gate, which is also a daily stop for me.
Rick, Sheckley’s AAA Ace story, “Ghost V,” was one of my favorites as a kid. Like Todd, I’m not a big fan of the Feghoot pieces. I’m sure you’re familiar with Poul Anderson’s Nicholas van Rijn Series.
Absolutely!
I haven’t seen this book – but I fondly remember most of the series mentioned here!
Some of these, the Blish stories e g I read i readin German first – and I was fascinated!
There were a few editors and just two publishers (Goldmann and Heyne) where you could get this kind of stuff – and I was hooked of course!
Thanks for the memories this brings up!
Wolf, the thanks goes to John O’Neill of BLACKGATE.COM who featured this book on the web site. I had no idea it existed!
Not totally OT:
Famous British writer Michael Moorcock was another one on the series track, though a bit later maybe …
Just read this:
Michael Moorcock’s farewell stage performance will be as part of the band Moonhawks in a celebration of ‘50 Years of the Music of Hawkwind’ at North American Space Ritual 2019 (Austin, Texas, 30 March 2019
Anyone going there?
I still remember Hawkwind playing at one of the few cons I could visit:
Eastercon in Brighton in the 80s – with a lot of US guests, among them Donald Wollheim’s daughter and her husband (if I remember correctly) who enjoyed the German beer I had brought … 🙂
Wolf, I’m sure if Bill Crider was still around he’d attend Michael Moorcock’s farewell stage performance in Austin, Texas. Bill’s son lives in Austin.
About a year ago I discovered this title existed and wanted to buy a copy, but I thought them too expensive. Now they really are too expensive. The cheapest copy at ABEBooks is $124. And after your review, I want a copy for sure. But all good things come to he who waits. I bet the Blackgate essay made readers go search for it, and they snapped up all the cheaper copies. Over time more copies should show up again.
James, like you I’m in Waiting Mode for THE GREAT SCIENCE FICTION SERIES. I’ll be looking for it when the Spring BOOK SALE season starts in a few months.