Customer Reviews

Visions of Wonder: The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology

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Actually it is quite intent on the reader saying it's peculiar. Ostensibly for sf classes it nevertheless says its for non-academics like myself. Actually the choices weren't as peculiar as I'd expected. It is slanted towards recent stories though. Science fiction is starting to throw the old authors off too much for my taste. For instance the first story I read in this was Bears Discover Fire by Bisson. Although good ,maybe even great, the sf sites on the web made it sound like the best short science fiction story ever. I feel bad that I expected that because it is enjoyable even if it isn't the best. Still there were good stories (including Bears...)in here & good essays. I have no interest in reading any Delaney, but his essay was interesting. Especially when he talked about the proper way to visualize spaceports in the original Foundation trilogy. I always thought I was visualizing them wrong. Knight's essay appealed to my love of history, & of what I know educated men of the past snickered as much at tales of distant lands in much the same way some snicker at sf. Meanwhile Merril's had a trippy Beatles' feel that was uninformative, but amusing. Worth reading, but maybe not worth buying considering the price. One last thing I'm sad to see how few comments anthologies receive. I hope that's not because noone's reading them. Outside magazines like F&Sf, Sf Age, Analog, & Asimov anthologies are the thing for sf short stories. I hope that "message" didn't ruin my review since this was largely a book about short fiction & anthologies.

The best in this anthology (e.g. "Island of Dr. Death", "Mr. Boy", "Sur" and "Souls") can easily be found elsewhere. Most of the remainder should never have been born, let alone exhumed. The critical essays, with one exception, (Joanna Russ') define the abc's of meretriciousness -- absurd, boring, challenged ... It's a shame, really, since Hartwell has edited one of the best anthologies of this type -- "The Dark Descent". If you haven't tried that one, best check it out and leave this one behind.