TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Avram Davidson takes over the Editor position for this series–succeeding Anthony Boucher and Robert Mills–and presents readers with a solid collection. I enjoyed Ron Goulart’s “Please Stand By,” one of Goulart’s Max Kearny stories (you can read more about Max Kearny here).
Theodore L. Thomas’s “Test” is chilling while James Blish’s “Who’s in Charge Here?” will challenge you as most of his stories tend to do. Avram Davidson includes one of his own stories, “The Singular Events Which Occurred in the Hovel on the Alley Off of Eye Street,” complete with its own looniness.
My favorite story in The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Twelfth Series is J. G. Ballard’s moody “The Garden of Time.” Doom is approaching but a couple manage to stave it off…for a time. Avram Davidson makes a good start as Editor. We’ll see how he does next month. GRADE: B+
- ix • Introduction (The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: 12) • (1963) • essay by Avram Davidson
- 1 • Test • (1962) • short story by Theodore L. Thomas
- 6 • Please Stand By • [Max Kearny] • (1962) • short story by Ron Goulart
- 31 • Who’s in Charge Here? • (1962) • short story by James Blish
- 37 • Three for the Stars • (1962) • short story by Joseph Dickinson
- 50 • When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed • (1962) • short story by Vance Aandahl
- 73 • Landscape with Sphinxes • (1962) • short story by Karen Anderson
- 77 • My Dear Emily • (1962) • short story by Joanna Russ
- 101 • The Gumdrop King • (1962) • short story by Will Stanton
- 108 • The Golden Horn • [Tales of a Darkening World] • (1962) • novelette by Edgar Pangborn
- 148 • The Singular Events Which Occurred in the Hovel on the Alley Off of Eye Street • (1962) • short story by Avram Davidson
- 156 • A Kind of Artistry • (1962) • novelette by Brian W. Aldiss
- 184 • Two’s a Crowd • (1962) • short story by Sasha Gilien
- 194 • The Man Without a Planet • (1962) • short story by Kate Wilhelm
- 202 • The Garden of Time • (1962) • short story by J. G. Ballard
- 211 • Hop-Friend • (1962) • short story by Terry Carr
Seeing you so interested in SF, always makes me want to pick up a similar anthology and then I see a mystery:)
Neeru, you might want to start with reading Science Fiction that have mysteries in them. Jack Vance’s MAGNUS RUDOLPH stories all involve mysteries that you would enjoy!
I read this when it was first published. I also like The J. G. Ballard story. I liked the Edgar Pangborn a lot which would be part of his novel Davy. The Aldiss and Davidson stories were also were also very good. A good collection.
Steve, I was reading ACE DOUBLES around the time THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICITON, TWELFTH SERIES was published. I got more into SF short stories around the time Donald Wollheim started published his YEAR’S BEST SF series.
It’s a lovely book, with one of the better covers Doubleday ever managed to slap on an F&SF assembly. But, then, Davidson remains my favorite editor of the magazine, given the kinds of eccentricities and story choices he introduced. Not that any F&SF editor has shamed the tradition.
I believe those were the first published short stories of both Joanna Russ (horror, like most of Russ’s early stories) and Terry Carr (at least outside fan-fiction…fiction about fans…in the fanzines).
“Test” is one of the most widely-half-remembered stories ever published, to judge by the number of times people can into the Borders I worked at and began to describe this one story they read in junior high…the Xerox classroom magazine (back when they were a publisher, as well) READ reprinted the story, as did at least one anthology from Scholastic (their more-established rivals) widely distributed and aimed at teens.
“Please Stand By” is perhaps my favorite Kearney story. I’ve managed to forget how the Wilhelm and Anderson stories go, shall have to dig out my copy…
One of the first best-from-F&SFs I managed to pick up, in the latest ’70s.
Todd, I wish I’d been collecting THE BEST OF F & SF series much earlier than I did. First Editions were common in the 70s and 80s. I’m just happy I have a copy of every volume although it’s a mish-mash of paperbacks, Science Fiction Book Club Editions, and a few First Editions (which could be in better shape).
Todd, I admire the range of stories Avram Davidson selected for THE BEST OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, TWELFTH SERIES. I can’t wait to read the next volume!
Every editor of F&SF put their own mark on the magazine. Davidson’s mark was strong; his editing was as distinctive as his personality and his writing. Good stuff.
Terry Carr should have written more stories, but if he had he may not have gotten all those wonderful anthologies he produced. Vance Aandahl was one of my favorite writer back then; he could have been a major player in the field. Among the others, it’s hard to go wrong with Blish, Russ, Pangborn, Aldiss, Wilhelm, and Ballard. Both Davidson and Goulart have always been favorites.
I had a friend in college who stopped reading F&SF once he learned that Davidson had left the magazine. He felt the magazine could only go downhill. He was wrong, of course, but I could understand his feelings.
Jerry, I know plenty of people who consider Avram Davidson the Best Editor of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION (and the anthologies he edited).
Though it was my least favorite of the 3 major mags ( Astounding, Galaxy and F&SF), I did read F&SF stories occasionally. Davidson was a quirky editor.
Rick, I agree. Avram Davidson was quirky. But, he managed to shake things up and draw more diverse writers and readers to the magazine (and anthologies).