The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312869738 ISBN 13: 9780312869731

Publisher: Tor Books, 1999

Synopsis

Since its founding, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has been acclaimed as one of the pinnacles of the field, the source of fantastic fiction of the highest literary quality. Now the magazine known to its readers as "F&SF" celebrates its fiftieth anniversary with a spectacular anthology of the best recent work from the magazine.

Included are stories from major writers like Bruce Sterling, John Crowley, and Harlan Ellison. Also here are award-winners like Ursula K. Le Guin's Nebula-winning "Solitude," Maureen F. McHugh's Hugo-winning "The Lincoln Train," and Elizabeth Hand's Nebula- and World Fantasy Award-winning "Last Summer at Mars Hill."

The fiftieth anniversary collection for the most distinguished magazine of the science fiction and fantasy world.

Contributors include:
Dale Bailey
Terry Bisson
Michael Blumlein
Ray Bradbury
John Crowley
Bradley Denton
Paul Di Filippo
S.N. Dyer
Harlan Ellison
Esther M. Friesner
Elizabeth Hand
Tanith Lee
Ursula K. Le Guin
Maureen F. McHugh
Rachel Pollack
Robert Reed
Bruce Holland Rogers
Bruce Sterling
Ray Vukcevich
Kate Wilhelm
Gene Wolfe

About this title

About the Author

Edward L. Ferman was Editor and Publisher of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from 1966 to 1991, garnering four Hugo Awards for the magazine and three for himself as Best Editor. He has remained the Publisher since then.

Gordon Van Gelder has served as Editor since 1997.

Reviews

Half a century old, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction continues to impress. Editor Van Gelder and long-time publisher Ferman are, Van Gelder writes in the introduction to one story here, connoisseurs of "lyrical, character-driven human dramas." Among the 21 pieces collected here, all copyrighted between 1994 and 1998, are examples of that sort of drama by well-known authors like Ursula Le Guin, Tanith Lee and Terry Bisson, alongside entries from newer talents. At their best, the stories are strongly original, their humanity amplified by elements of scientific extrapolation or straight-out magic: the quotidian rendered fantastic and the fantastic, quotidian. Ray Bradbury's "Another Fine Mess," a whimsical L.A. ghost story, is so sweet as to make one laugh tears. John Crowley's "Gone" fascinates: alien "elmers" seed hope in a desperate world, with the point of view that of a woman whose survivalist ex has absconded with the children. Bruce Holland Rogers explores intricate borders of mind and machine in his Nebula-winning "Lifeboat on a Burning Sea." Information never crowds out the natural life of these tales (the old SF excess). Rather, they sin, when they do, by an excess of sentiment. The formidable Gene Wolfe washes out with "No Planets Strike," an offworld Christmas tale that reads like a draft, seeming to seek justification in its uplifting associations. Harlan Ellison delivers with his forceful prose and charming, tough dialogue a cookie-cutter story of Twilight Zone-ish comeuppance. In "Quinn's Way," fantasist Dale Bailey vividly captures joys and torments of childhood, but his prose periodically goes purple: e.g., he provides three introductions. Is the craft sufficient to carry its load of sentiment? Often, yes, though sometimes a reader's tears will abort in a squint and a cock of the head. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Not, as you might anticipate from the subtitle, a major retrospective, but a second ``best from'' (following 1989's 40th Anniversary ``best from''). This time, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction's current editor, Van Gelder, and its long-serving previous editor, Ferman, have assembled 21 stories from 1993 through 1998. At the top of the list are two Nebula Awardwinning yarns, Bruce Holland Rogers's ``Lifeboat on a Burning Sea'' and Esther M. Friesner's ``A Birthday.'' Also on the agenda: Terry Bisson's short comic-horror masterpiece, ``Partial People'' (``lips and eyes stuck under theater seats like gum''), strange alien invasions (John Crowley, Gene Wolfe), politics (Robert Reed), fairy tales (Rachel Pollack), and alternate history (Maureen F. McHugh). Add top-notch entries from such luminaries as Bruce Sterling, Harlan Ellison, Tanith Lee, Bradley Denton, Michael Blumlein, Paul Di Filippo, Kate Wilhelm, Ray Bradbury, and Ursula K. LeGuin, and it's obvious why F&SF has thrived while competitors have vanished. Eloquent, scintillating, often sublime. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Jointly compiled by the publisher (and former editor) and the editor of the most prestigious speculative fiction magazine, this anthology includes 22 stories published in its pages between 1993 and 1998. Among them are the winners of four Nebula Awards, one Hugo, and one World Fantasy Award, which is not all that surprising since their authors include such luminaries as Ursula Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, and Ray Bradbury, and the distinguished if less conspicuous likes of Paul Di Filippo, Terry Bisson, and Esther Friesner. The stories have little more in common than ingenuity in choice of themes and, without falling into pretentiousness, the refusal to sacrifice quality of writing to the exploration of an idea. For a long time, F&SF (as the magazine is known in the trade) has been a leader in expanding the terrain of speculative fiction. Judging from this volume, it intends to continue in this role. Roland Green

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Books
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312869738
• ISBN 13: 9780312869731
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Ferman Edward L., Van Gelder Gordon