This volume of THE GREAT SF STORIES series features two iconic stories. The first, Clifford D. Simak’s wonderful “The Big Front Yard,” brings back memories of reading the story in ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION in the late 1950s. That issue had a brilliant Kelly Freas cover illustrating “The Big Front Yard” that remains etched in my memory.
The second story, C. M. Kornbluth’s dark “Two Dooms,” rocked my world when I first read it in the 1960s. Later, I learned Kornbluth died shortly after “Two Dooms” was published at the age of 34. Kornbluth shoveled snow from his driveway, which delayed him. Then, running to meet his train, Kornbluth suffered a fatal heart attack on the platform of the train station. What a tragic loss of a great talent!
Avram Davidson’s “All the Seas with Oysters, Silverberg’s “The Iron Chancellor,” and Sheckley’s “The Prize of Peril” still entertain after all the decades. But my favorite surprise in this anthology is Rog Phillips’s “The Yellow Pill” which cleverly explores the nature of Reality. Volume #20 of THE GREAT SF STORIES series is a winner! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction 9
The Last of the Deliverers by Poul Anderson (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, February 1958) 13
The Feeling of Power by Isaac Asimov (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, February 1958) 29
Poor Little Warrior! by Brian W. Aldiss (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, April 1958) 41
The Iron Chancellor by Robert Silverberg (GALAXY, May 1958) 49
The Prize of Peril by Robert Sheckley (MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, May 1958) 77
Or All the Seas with Oysters by Avram Davidson (GALAXY, May 1958) 99
Two Dooms by C. M. Kornbluth (Venture Science Fiction, July 1958) 111
The Big Front Yard by Clifford D. Simak (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, October 1958) 167
The Burning of the Brain by Cordwainer Smith (IF, October 1958) 229
The Yellow Pill by Rog Phillips (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICTION, October 1958) 243
Unhuman Sacrifice by Katherine MacLean (ASTOUNDING SCIENCE FICITON, November 1958) 259
The Immortals by James E. Gunn (STAR SCIENCE FICTION #4) 297
Pretty good lineup. Some I remember well and have read multiple times over the years=the Simak, Davidson, Sheckley. The Cordwainer Smith and Silverberg are early stories before they hit their stride. Need to reread the Kornbluth and Phillips-can’t remember what they are about. The only ones I don’t recall reading are the Anderson and Asimov. Like that cover.
Steve, the Phillips short story was the surprise of this volume. Highly recommended!
I think this is one of the ones I have at home. I know I’ve read the Silverberg and probably a few others.
Jeff, I’m always amazed that Robert Silverberg was so good a writer so young. Here he is making THE GREAT SF STORIES of 1958…as a teenager!
Another fine collection. I’ve read a good many of the stories here (not that I remember them) and am at least somewhat familiar with all the authors except Phillips, who I just don’t remember at all.
Michael, Rog Phillips was a regular in ASTOUNDING. But he hit it out of the park with “The Yellow Pill.”
Great line-up, great stories! “The Yellow Pill” is probably the best story Rog Phillips wrote. And you can’t go wrong with Davidson.
Jerry, you’re right about Rog Phillips scoring big with “The Yellow Pill.” And Davidson is truly an underrated writer!
I well remember that issue of Astounding, and read it shortly after it was published, then more than once afterward. “The Big Front Yard” is a favorite. Another excellent book in the Great SF series. I see the number of stories from F&SF has increased over the previous year. Only two stories from Galaxy, but it was in a decline at the time, I think. Todd will know.
Rick, like you I remember first reading that issue of ASTOUNDING with “The Big Front Yard” in it. It’s like it was yesterday!
I see you found both the Astounding cover and the original artwork. Cool.
Rick, I figured I would feature Kelley Freas’s iconic cover.
I of course also remember The Big Front Yard, bought this anthology in the early 70s on one of my shopping trips to London and of course read all stories – those were the days!
One might add that it won the 1959 Hugo for Simak.
PS:
To compensate for the stress I had in my IT job I’d read at least 200 pages of SF every evening …
Wolf, I was reading about 200 pages of Science Fiction in Study Halls in High School each day. Most of the homework I was assigned was of the “make-work” variety. I just did the bare minimum to satisfy the teachers’ requirements and spent the rest of my time reading Simak, Asimov, Heinlein, Ellison, Van Vogt, Vance, Anderson, Silverberg, etc.