WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #26: FINAL STAGE: THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY Edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg

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Final Stage presents another example of a book I’ve had on my shelves–in this case since 1974 when it was first published–and have only gotten around to reading it recently. Ferman and Malzberg try to touch all the bases: First Contact, Immortality, Robots and Androids, Strange Children, Future Sex, Space Opera, Alternate Universes, Time Travel, etc. Dean R. Koontz is best known for his horror fiction, but he shows up in this anthology with a chilling SF story of Kids with Powers. You won’t soon forget Koontz’s “We Three.” Frederik Pohl’s dark tale of the interaction of humans and aliens, “We Purchased People,” reveals a different side to slavery. Robert Silverberg’s “Trips” shows what can happen if you can visit other dimensions and time-lines.

Ferman and Malzberg provide informative introductions to each story and the authors’s Afterwords reveal more about how the story came to be written. If you’re looking at a top-flight SF anthology, I highly recommend Final Stage. GRADE: A

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24 thoughts on “WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #26: FINAL STAGE: THE ULTIMATE SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGY Edited by Edward L. Ferman and Barry N. Malzberg”

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    I don’t recall ever having this anthology but I am familiar with many of the stories. The Silverberg, Tiptree, Pohl, Dick are all fine stories. Koontz did start out as a SF writer but I never read any of his short fiction from this time, only his novel Demon Seed which wasn’t very good.

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    1. george Post author

      Steve, Koontz wrote some SF that showed up in ACE Doubles, but then turned to writing horror novels. “We Three” shows Koontz could blend SF and horror.

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  3. Michael Padgett

    I’ve read a few of these, probably more of them than I actually remember. I’d love to read the author afterwards.

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    1. george Post author

      Michael, the Author Afterwords make FINAL STAGE worth tracking down. Inexpensive copies are available online. And, some libraries may still have copies.

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  5. Jeff Smith

    Anyone interested in buying a copy of this should buy the paperback that George has illustrated here. The hardback first edition was seriously compromised by the publisher; the in-house editor rewrote three of the stories to “improve” them. She’d intended to rewrite all of them, but got bored and let the others go…unimproved. The original versions of the three stories were restored in the paperback.

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    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I’d heard that story of the meddling publisher of the hardcover edition of FINAL STAGE. I’m glad I read the restored paperback version. Thanks for the heads-up!

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  7. Cap'n Bob Napier

    I’ve never read any of these but, inspired by your example, I bought an anthology called The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol.1!

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  8. tracybham

    This anthology sounds perfect for me. In some cases I could revisit authors I read when I was much younger, and then there would be several that would be all new to me.

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  9. Todd Mason

    These years, something like “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” might be the best-remembered “Tiptree” story…though “Her Smoke” was one that helped cement her reputation. Like Damon Knight, her best work was not in novel form, for the most part, to say the least.

    There’s a discursive account of how Charterhouse Books editor Carol Rinzler decided she would teach Harlan Ellison and a couple of the other writers how to write, and Ferman and Malzberg how to edit, here, as written by Bud Webster in consultation with Malzberg: http://www.philsp.com/articles/anthopology_101_09.html

    And, perhaps sadly, as the Penguin paperback was published in the UK only, a non-corrupt version of the anthology was never published in the US.

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      1. Todd Mason

        Indeed, though the Penguin edition probably saw some limited distribution in the US at the time, as well, when still new.

        Poul Anderson and Robert Silverberg definitely Did Not like their work clumsily abridged and rewritten at all, no. Nor did much of anyone else.

  10. Wolf

    OT:
    Have you heard that Canadian director Denis Villneuve is producing a new version of “Dune” which will be shown for the first time at the film festival in Venice?

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