Should a textbook be this fun to read? If it's a science fiction anthology put together by the Science Fiction Research Association, the answer is yes! This hefty (798 pages) tome is meant to be both a primer to the SF of the '90s as well as an enjoyable book in its own right, and it succeeds fully on both counts. With more than 30 "classic" stories from the current decade supplemented by critical essays from some of the genre's finest writers, this book is both a scholarly resource and road map to some of the best short fiction in recent years.
This third reading anthology from the Science Fiction Research Association offers the uninitiated an excellent and informed introduction to the genre while also supplying fans with plenty of new pleasures. Since this volume spotlights SF of the '90s, editors Hartwell and Wolf have gathered stories by Orson Scott Card, Terry Bisson, Walter Jon Williams and James Patrick Kelly, to mention a few of the 31 fiction contributors. While all of the fiction has been published elsewhere, the editors' introductory essays explain their inclusion: Judith Tarr offers a rip-roaring specimen of alternate history with a tale about the Kennedy boys as rock stars?Marilyn Monroe becomes the kickass feminist lawyer of JFK's nightmares. In the title story from his collection Bears Discover Fire, Bisson demonstrates how the boundaries of SF have expanded, with a story about bears discovering the use of fire that resonates with magical realism; similarly, Kate Wilhelm offers a hypnotic time-travel story that moves the heart more than a simple romance ever could. The editors balance these newer voices against writers who have shaped the genre, and so the work of Philip Jose Farmer, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Anne McCaffrey is also here to be appreciated. But best of all are the nine essays: Samuel R. Delany writes on how science fiction fits into literature; Damon Knight, on critics; John W. Campbell Jr. imagines explaining to a robot what a human is; while David G. Hartwell provides a hilarious and honest examination of the SF fan's psyche, the 12-year-old within each of us. And that kid is going to love this wise, witty and wonderful collection.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The Science Fiction Research Association sponsored two previous anthologies of contemporary sf in the 1970s and 1980s. This book, designed for classroom use, covers the range of current sf and fantasy topics, concerns, and approaches published in the last ten years. The editors offer 32 short stories and nine essays by established and new authors, including Anne McCaffrey, Greg Bear, Kate Wilhelm, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Jordan, Joanna Russ, William Gibson, and Andre Norton. A broad-ranging anthology; highly recommended for sf collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“A broad-ranging anthology; highly recommended for SF collections.” ―Library Journal
“An excellent and informed introduction to the genre while also supplying fans with plenty of new pleasures. . . . [A] wise, witty and wonderful collection.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From the Back Cover
Edited by two of science fiction's most knowledgeable and experienced editors and endorsed by the Science Fiction Research Association, Visions of Wonder was created to fill an urgent need for a thoughtful, readable classroom anthology of science fiction that focuses on science fiction as it is today, in the 1990s.
About the Author
David G. Hartwell, called "an editor extraordinaire" by Publishers Weekly, is one of science fiction's most experienced and influential editors. As an editor with Berkley Books, Pocket Books, William Morrow, and Tor Books, he has worked with many of the field's best authors and edited many award-winning works. He is the author of Age of Wonders, a nonfiction study of the science fiction field. Among his many anthologies are the bestselling World Treasury of Science Fiction and the World Fantasy Award winner The Dark Descent. He is the holder of a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Columbia University, a winner of the Eaton Award, and has won three Hugo Awards for his editorial work.
Milton T. Wolf is a noted librarian, scholar, and vice president of the Science Fiction Research Association. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
