Yes, I can here the grumbling already. This one surely isn't forgotten, you're saying. Well, that's because you're geezers. I have a feeling that SF readers under 40 haven't even heard of this book, which I consider an essential anthology. Out of print since 1979, I think. If there's a more recent version, maybe someone will let us know in the comments.The thesis here is that while SF's Golden Age might have been the '30s and '40s, the genre came of age in the '50s. The stories in this volume are offered in evidence. Malzberg's introduction claims that "The level of short-story writing during the decade . . . has never been equalled. . . ." You can judge for yourself.
You'll notice that it's an Analog book and that Ben Bova is the series editor, and six of the ten stories here are from Campbell's Astounding. That's only because the editors chose them, though. There was no coercion. They were free to choose whatever they pleased.
Malzberg's intro has been published elsewhere, but if you haven't read it, it's a must. So is Pronzini's afterword, as are the afterwords he and Mazlberg provide for each story. Mainly, though, there are the stories themselves. I was lucky enough to grow up during the '50s and to see some of these in their original magazine appearances. I don't have a clue as to what my life would have been without my discovery of SF in those years, but I'm certain it wouldn't have been nearly as good. I loved this stuff then. I still do.
4 comments:
Amen to your comments. Malzberg (along with Bruce Sterling) is one of the few "angry young (yeah, yeah, but most of us are still young in our own minds) men" I pay/paid attention to because of the quality and tone of his non-fiction. He wrote some very good fiction, too 8-)
That whole ANALOG Book line was pretty doomed...the originals "quality paperbacks" were from the quickly dead Baronet, also publishing the fine, shortlived COSMOS magazine edited by David Hartwell, and Ace under James Baen's editorship offering the mass-market editions, such as the one you picture, and the whole magilla dead almost before it started. I don't believe the anthology has been reprinted, even by SFBC with an ugly new cover, since the Ace edition. Certainly an important anthology for the young me, as well, even if even then I was ready to argue with Barry about the centrality of ASTOUNDING in the sf short-fiction firmament in the 1950s (being quite the stalwart fan of F&SF's contributions, and recalling that while GALAXY's strength might've been most obvious in longer fiction, Leiber's "Coming Attraction" appearing there was predictive in a number of ways...
I read every digest that I could get my hands on in the '50s. F&SF and GALAXY were favorites, as were several others. Those were the days.
Hey, in the tradition of the Golden Age being 13, the late '70s weren't too shabby, as I've nostalgically spung on my blog repeatedly, either...
Post a Comment