I had so much fun reading Groff Conklin’s Minds Unleashed SF anthology last week (you can read my review here), I thought I would follow it up another Conklin anthology, 12 Great Classics of Science Fiction from 1963.
Probably the most famous story in this anthology is Cordwainer Smith’s “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell,” one of the classic stories of the Instrumentality. Almost as famous is A. Bertram Chandler’s tricky story of alien detection, “The Cage.” And, I’ve always been fond of Robert Sheckley’s story of a future Mail-Order Bride, “Human Man’s Burden.”
Other very good stories include Fredric Brown’s dark short-short story, “Earthmen Bearing Gifts,” and Robert F. Young’s “Thirty Days Had September.” You just can’t go wrong reading a Groff Conklin anthology! GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- “Introduction” (Groff Conklin) — 5
- “Due Process” (Algis Budrys) — 9
- “Earthmen Bearing Gifts” (Fredric Brown) — 27
- “Things” (Zenna Henderson) — 30
- “The Top” (George Sumner Albee) — 38
- “My Object All Sublime” (Poul Anderson) — 48
- “Human Man’s Burden” (Robert Sheckley) — 57
- “On the Fourth Planet” (J. F. Bone) — 72
- “The Ballad of Lost C’Mell” (Cordwainer Smith) — 89
- “Thirty Days Had September” (Robert F. Young) — 110
- “The Cage” (A. Bertram Chandler) — 126
- “Star-Crossed Lover” (William W. Stuart) — 138
- “Immortality … for Some” (J. T. McIntosh) — 157
Among the notable thing about Conklin’s anthologies is how often his selections have good to excellent stories that have remained, if not obscure, defiantly not heavily reprinted chestnuts.Fewer clunkers than most of his contemporaries’ volumes.
Todd, I agree with you. Conklin chose stories that remain readable decades later. And, as you say, few clunkers.
It might’ve helped that he wasn’t someone who was obsessively an SF Guy to begin with…had a bit of wider experience with literature, perhaps as a result a better sense of story construction, at least.
What Todd said. Conklin’s early doorstop anthologies helped estab;ish many stories as “classics.” As more and more anthologies entered the field it became harder to find stories of a similar caliber, but Conklin always managed to find eminently readable stories that covered a wide range of approaches for the paperback anthologies he edited during the latter part of his career. I would quibble at tha title of this volume, however, as most of the tales here are not “Great Classics” — but I imAgIne a title like 12 PRETTY DARNED GOOD SCIENCE FICTION STORIES MANY PEOPLE HAVE NOT READ might not have had as much drawing power on the news stands.
Jerry, I’m with you on the overly liberal use of “Classics” in anthology titles. The companion volume to 12 GREAT CLASSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION is 13 GREAT CLASSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION which I have around here somewhere. And, aren’t “Classics” supposed to be “Great”?
Miserable “Classics” would encompass, say, W.H.D. Rouse’s translations of Homer…
Todd, good point on Homer translations. While all translations have strengths and weaknesses, I’m a fan of Robert Fagles whose words really speak to me.
Usually, when one finds a paperback with a title such as 12 GREAT CLASSICS from the ’60s or earlier, it indicates a chunk or, more often, half of a more sturdily bound hardcover has been reprinted in the less-expensive-to-produce thinner sort of paperback. Though this one was a sequel original to a previous Fawcett Gold Medal original from several years earlier which George will soon rediscover is tagged 13 GREAT STORIES OF SCIENCE FICTION…perhaps GM was more hype-ready by the mid-’60s! Great Stories is perhaps overselling, but Good to Excellent Stories As I Usually Present is indeed perhaps not the marketers’ favorite sort of title.
This anthology has mostly authors I have never read, so it would be a good option for me someday. When I clear out some of the many anthologies that I am partly into.
Tracy, I’ve enjoyed every Groff Conklin SF anthology that I’ve read…about a dozen of them! Highly recommended!
As a teen In read as many Groff Conklin anthologies as I could find. Got catch up on a lot of great stories. My other big go to book was the 2 volume A Treasury of Science Fiction edited by Anthony Boucher. It was always offered through the SFBC at that time.
Steve, like you I read and enjoyed Boucher’s A TREASURY OF SCIENCE FICTION. Luckily, my School Library had several Groff Conklin SF anthologies. Then, I started buying Conklin’s paperback SF anthologies. Great stuff!