FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #654: THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, EIGHTH SERIES Edited by Anthony Boucher

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The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Eighth Series is the last of the anthologies in this series that Anthony Boucher edited. And, he goes out with a bang! I enjoyed Fritz Leiber’s “A Deskful of Girls” (which reminded me of Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” comment (you can check it out here). I’ve always liked Brian W. Aldiss’s “Poor Little Warrior.” Shirley Jackson is represented by “The Omen.”

C. M. Kornbluth is honored by a memoriam, a “Memorial Bibliography,” and the inclusion of his short story, “Theory of Rocketry.”

Zenna Henderson’s The People story, “Captivity,” shows the damage isolation can cause. The most famous story in this anthology is Alfred Bester’s classic time travel tale, “The Men Who Murdered Mohammed.” I’ve been entertained by all 8 of Anthony Boucher’s The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction anthologies and look forward to the next entries in the series. GRADE: A-

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20 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #654: THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, EIGHTH SERIES Edited by Anthony Boucher”

  2. Jerry House

    A great anthology and just more proof that Boucher really knew how to put together a great magazine. When Boucher died, I feared the quality of F&SF would diminsh but Robert Mills, Avram Davidson, Ed Ferman, and all the others up to today have carried on the tradition of providing excellent reading, each while putting their personal stamp on the venerable magazine.

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  3. Byron Bull

    This looks like a terrific vintage collection. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for a copy. This really was the golden age of science fiction and fantasy. I read Zena Henderson’s People stories in junior high after Francis Ford Coppola produced “The People” (starring Kim Darby and William Shatner) as an ABC Movie of the Week. It’s a lovely little gem of a movie that I recently downloaded from the Internet Archive.org. Watching it again was surprisingly moving although my emotional response to movies and nostalgia is rather heightened these days due to the prolonged effects of this unending pandemic.

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    1. george Post author

      Byron, thanks for the heads up on THE PEOPLE movie. I watched it decades ago and after reading Zenna Henderson’s stories in these anthologies, I’d like to see it again. In general, these later volumes in THE BEST OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION series are available online for reasonable prices. The first couple volumes are pricey.

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  4. wolf

    Ah, F&SF!
    Of course I don’t remember most stories – I’d need a teleporter right now to get back to Germany where I keep my library, only a few books are here in Hungary.
    I also liked tose colourful covers, not only at Ace but also Signet etc (Carter Brown eg).
    Every day on my way from the train station to university in the early 60s I saw them displayed – but didn’t have the money to buy all of them …
    And since they were so rare and valuable you couldn’t just go in and browse them.

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    1. george Post author

      Wolf, I wish I’d purchased MORE books in the 1960s. Of course, I was just a teenager and the only money I had came from mowing lawns in the Summer and shoveling snow in the Winter. But many paperbacks were only 35 cents.

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      1. wolf

        George, at that time the $ was worth around 4 Deutsche Mark and of course the importers wanted to make some money (what to do with the unsold books and magazines?).So they sold these at maybe 3 DM – corresponding to two pints of beer (including a good tip …) in a students’ bar.
        Rather OT
        That’s why I mever smoked – with my pocket money it was either going out for a few beers or buying cigarettes but not both!
        I really started buying books only when I had my exam in maths and got a well paid job in IT.
        One of the advantages was that I had to travel a lot giving courses usually lasting 3 days or a week. So after work in large cities like Frankfurt or Munich I would hurry to book and record stores – because by German law they had to close at half past six!
        And I still remember my frustration arriving five minutes past six at a famous record and book store in Hamburg – finding it closed already!
        So for routine shopping I would search the stores in the train stations which were allowed to open all evening, sometimes even finding US newspapers and magazines because there were international travelers.
        My favourite story (sorry if I’ve told that already):
        A colleague of mine in Frankfurt who had studies and worked in the USA had married his US girlfriend and brought her over and he told me and showed me the way to a US forces shopping center.
        Of course you needed a military ID to buy cheap cigarettes and whiskey – but not for the bookstore!
        You just needed dollars, they didn’t accept Deutsche Mark.
        So every time I was there I’d go shopping.
        Btw he also was the one who told his boss when in the 1980s they were planning a two weeks information trip to US computer facilities (IBM and other producers, large banks and software houses etc) that he needed another IT expert to accompany them who was really fluent in English and knowledgeable.
        When they asked me to accompany them I said:
        well, sounds really interesting but the cost — but was told that of course it would be a business trip, all expenses paid and my hours too!
        They must have been really happy with the results because we repeated this twice in the following years!
        And at the end of each trip when they flew home I added a weekend in NYC – before taking the helicopter to JFK – that was included in our business class tickets!
        Those were the days!

    1. george Post author

      Rick, I became a steady reader of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION in the 1960s. I read GALAXY and some ANALOGs then, too. I subscribed to IF and WORLDS OF TOMORROW until I went to College in 1967. Then, SF magazine reading was pretty random.

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      1. James Wallace Harris

        My SF magazine background is somewhat similar to yours, George. I subscribed to Analog first, but quickly realized I preferred F&SF, Galaxy, If, Worlds of Tomorrow, Amazing, and Fantastic, but I started a bit later, in the mid-sixties, and gafiated by the mid-seventies. Lately, I’ve gotten nostalgic for that period and have been buying all those old issues I once owned on eBay. I’ve got a pretty solid run of F&SF from 1949-1978. It’s my favorite.

      2. george Post author

        Jim, I used to see plenty of SF magazines in used bookstores that could be had for a dime a copy. Now, most of the used bookstores in Western NY are gone and the SF magazines online aren’t inexpensive. I’m impressed that you have a solid run of F&SF from 1949-1978! Impressive!

  6. Steve Oerkfitz

    I had all the mags back in the 60’s. F&SF was my favorite with Galaxy next. Analog was probably my least favorite.
    This is a good anthology. I liked pretty much the same stories you did. I always thought the poems and Ferdinand Fegfoot bits were a waste of space.

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  8. Todd Mason

    I’ll note that Kit Reed’s first story to be published was in the same issue as Leiber’s “A Deskful of Girls”, as well as being reprinted in the 8th volume, above.

    Reed’s “Winter” (my Wednesday Short Story, along with a recent one by Barry Malzberg) is even better, but “The Wait” is eminently worth reading.
    https://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2021/08/kit-reed-winter-barry-n-malzberg.html

    Feghoots often better than Asimov’s pun stories…fwiw…

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