Major Science Fiction Anthologies - A Brief History
Updated 02 May 2008
Plenty has been written about the decline of the short story, anthology and collection, and when you read some older books they have been saying the same thing for decades, even in the first issue of Asimov's magazine in 1977.
I have also seen Gardner Dozois write about the acceleration of the 'lack of memory' of past science fiction work. Not too surprising perhaps with the pace of change.
I have looked for an article like this for a while, and one may well exist somewhere that I have never seen, or in an obscure journal, fanzine or book. Of the critical works I have seen they are more interested in listing novels, in general.
With less interest in anything not a novel, it explains why fewer people write about anthologies, certainly. If anyone knows of any piece of writing relatively recently by someone far more knowledgeable than I am, I would love to see it. Likewise with suggestions for additions.
A Fantasy version of this article can be found here
Major Fantasy Anthologies - Briefer HistorySo I thought I'd have a go at listing some works that I know about, and others found with some browsing. Of more particular interest is more modern publication, even if not more modern work, that is likely to be more available. I certainly wasn't around in the 40s and 50s and 60s to acquire or read the older volumes, and as such, I am much more likely not to know about books from that time. Part of the point of writing this is for people to point out additions, though. A Super Editor or eidetic memoried bibliographer I am not.
Where I have actually read and rated them, I will put a link after the volume that goes to that for anyone who cares. The editors of the volumes are listed at the end of the article and linked to their isfdb entry for those who would like to check out the contents of the volumes.
A couple more additions and the DAW suggestion.
NINETEENTH CENTURY AND PRE-GERNSBACK
Whether you want to call the start of Science Fiction Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, you will find all those stories online here :-
Project Gutenberg Australia SF ProjectScience Fiction (Bookshelf) - ProjectGutenbergOf particular interest of course is H. G. Wells, but also Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle and others have stories here.
Some dead tree anthologies of this type that I have found while browsing :
Masterpieces of Science Fiction - Sam Moskowitz (1966)
Science Fiction by Gaslight - Sam Moskowitz (1968)
The Road to Science Fiction 1 - James Gunn (1977)
Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1981)
THE ELDER ERA
I will call this time period up until around 1960, as I have done a couple of times before.
Amazing Stories started in 1926, edited by Hugo Gernsback, he whom for which the major Science Fiction awards are named.
The editor that has put the most work into writing about the magazines in this era here is Mike Ashley, and he has updated this work recently
The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 1 1926-1935 - Mike Ashley (1974)
The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 2 1936-1945 - Mike Ashley (1975)
The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 3 1946-1955 - Mike Ashley (1976)
The History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 4 1956-1965 - Mike Ashley (1978)
These books are history, analysis, anthologies of stories and bibliographies.
The updated volumes begin with :
Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the Beginning to 1950 - Mike Ashley (2001)
and are still continuing.
Once John W. Campbell took over Astounding Science Fiction and had been going for a while, the idea to put some stories into books took hold. I have never seen any of his books, but I have certainly seen quite a few people write about Groff Conklin, even on LibraryThing recently.
So here's a selection of titles, preceded by a small volume by Donald A. Wollheim, the founder of DAW books, who would later go on to commit anthology at great length.
Boucher was the editor of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, early on.
The Pocket Book of Science Fiction - Donald A. Wollheim (1943)
Adventures in Time and Space - Raymond J. Healy and Frances McCormack (1946)
The Best of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1946)
Treasury of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1946)
The Science Fiction Galaxy - Groff Conklin (1950)
The Big Book of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1950)
Possible Worlds of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1951)
Omnibus of SF - Groff Conklin (1952)
6 Great Short Novels of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1954)
6 Great Short Science Fiction Novels - Groff Conklin (1954)
13 Great Stories of Science Fiction - Groff Conklin (1960)
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction 1 - Anthony Boucher (1959)
A Treasury of Great Science Fiction 2 - Anthony Boucher (1959)
Also, an anthology series of sorts by Frederik Pohl.
Star Short Novels - Frederik Pohl (1954)
Star of Stars - Frederik Pohl (1960)
1 Star Science Fiction Stories - Frederik Pohl (1953)
2 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 2 - Frederik Pohl (1953)
3 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3 - Frederik Pohl (1954)
4 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 4 - Frederik Pohl (1958)
5 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 5 - Frederik Pohl (1959)
6 Star Science Fiction Stories No. 6 - Frederik Pohl (1959)
Some later volumes putting together some of the best work from these time periods.
1 Decade the 1940s - Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss (1975)
2 Decade the 1950s - Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss (1976)
3 Decade the 1960s - Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss (1977)
Some more recently published books that look at the early era were produced by Isaac Asimov and his editing cohort, and Mammoth books should be a bit easier to find.
Before the Golden Age - Isaac Asimov (1974)
Before the Golden Age 1 - Isaac Asimov (1975)2 Before the Golden Age - Isaac Asimov (1975)
Before the Golden Age 3 - Isaac Asimov (1975)01 The Great SF Stories 01-25, 1939-162 - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (1979-1992)
1 Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction (1983) - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
2 The Golden Years of Science Fiction (Second Series) (1983) - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
3 The Golden Years of Science Fiction: Third Series (1984) - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
4 The Golden Years of Science Fiction: Fourth Series (1984)
5 The Golden Years of Science Fiction: Fifth Series (1985)
6 The Golden Years of Science Fiction: Sixth Series (1988)
The Mammoth Book of Classic Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1930s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1988)
The Mammoth Book of Golden Age Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1940s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1989) The Mammoth Book of Vintage Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1950s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1990)
Science Fiction of the 30's - Damon Knight (1975)
This one covers from mid 40s to mid 60s.
Science Fiction 101 [v.t. Robert Silverberg’s Worlds of Wonder] - Robert Silverberg 1987)
Didn't get to any other decades, it seemed, in thist lot.
A Century of Science Fiction (1950-59) - Robert Silverberg (1997)
Also in the Conklin era, some other editors had the rather brilliant idea to collect the best stories as they saw it, and publish them in yearly volumes, and thus the Year's Best Science Fiction Series was born.
The first of these was co-edited:
E. F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty (1-6,Short Novels 1-3) (1949-1958)
The Best Science Fiction Stories 1949 - E. F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty (1950)T. E Dikty Year's Best Scince Fiction Stories and Novels (1-3) 1956-1958
The 1958 volume is called 'Ninth Series'
Towards the end of the fifties, a remarkable woman turned her hand to the same exercise, and with a different, wider ranging philosophy, which lasted into the modern era.
Judith Merrill (1-12) (1956-1967)
The Best Of Sci-Fi 12 - Judith Merril (1970)THE MODERN ERA
Along with Merril's continuing work, and the arrival of Galaxy science fiction magazine, anthologies began to appear in much larger numbers, and the sixties saw several original anthology series begin to appear, published annually like the reprint Year's Best Series.
These are just those I happen to know about, or recall at the moment, I know there are others and even some short more recent varieties in the 1990s, and suggestions can certainly be made. I have read some of these earlier books as a kid, but cannot remember which volumes, other than the Spectrum.
Spectrum - Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest (1961-1965)
Spectrum 5 - Kingsley Amis and Robert Conquest (1965)New Writings in SF - John Carnell (1964-1972)
Orbit - Damon Knight (1966-1980)
Alpha - Robert Silverberg (1970-1978)
New Dimensions - Robert Silverberg (1971-1981)
Universe - Terry Carr (1971-1987)
Universe 13 - Terry Carr (1983)Universe 14 - Terry Carr (1984)Universe 15 - Terry Carr (1985)These series produced some 'Best Of' selections, as well, and here are a few examples of such books :-
The Best from New Writings in SF - John Carnell (1972)
The Best from Orbit - Damon Knight (1975)
The Best of New Dimensions - Robert Silverberg (1979)
The Best from Universe - Terry Carr (1984)
Also in this time some chronologically broader anthologies appeared, as some of the other editors of the time put together some more general books. Earlier examples of which appear to have come from Orbit editor and critic Damon Knight.
A Century of Science Fiction - Damon Knight (1962)
A Century of Great Short Science Fiction Novels - Damon Knight (1964)
One Hundred Years of Science Fiction - Damon Knight (1968)
Science Fiction Argosy - Damon Knight (1972)
Modern Masterpieces of Science Fiction - Sam Moskowitz (1965)
Master's Choice - Laurence M. Janifer (1966)
Master's Choice 1 - Lawrence M. Janifer (1968)Master's Choice 2 - Laurence M. Janifer (1969)
Here we get a 'movement' anthology, that influenced a large number of writers and people during this period.
Dangerous Visions - Harlan Ellison (1967)
Science Fiction Novellas - Harry Harrison and Willis E. McNelly (1975)
1 SF: Authors’ Choice - Harry Harrison (1968)
2 SF: Authors’ Choice 2 - Harry Harrison (1970)
3 SF: Authors’ Choice 3 - Harry Harrison (1971)
4 SF: Authors’ Choice 3 - Harry Harrison (1974)
A Science Fiction Reader - Harry Harrison and Carol Pugner (1973)
Science Fiction The Great Years - Frederik Pohl and Carol Pohl (1973)
Science Fiction The Great Years 2 - Frederik Pohl and Carol Pohl (1976)
The Great Science Fiction Series - Frederik Pohl and Martin H. Greenberg and Joseph Olander (1980)
Brian Aldiss edited some books for noted publisher Penguin, and a couple of these my father actually still has, as you will see by the links. These volumes has been reissued and monkeyed with over the years it seems, and even last year, yet another release of this Omnibus came out.
Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus - Brian Aldiss (1973) Penguin Science Fiction - Brian Aldiss (1961)More Penguin Science Fiction - Brian Aldiss (1963)Yet More Penguin Science Fiction - Brian Aldiss (1964)Introducing Science Fiction - Brian Aldiss (1964)
The Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction - Brian Aldiss and Sam Lundwall (1986)
SF: The Best of the Best, Part 1 - Judith Merril (1970)
Classic Science Fiction The First Golden Age - Terry Carr (1978)
Classic Science Fiction - Terry Carr (1978)
Each of the following looks at a chunk of time, volume 1 is proto-SF to Verne and Wells, listed earlier.
The Road to Science Fiction 2 - James Gunn (1979)
The Road to Science Fiction 3 - James Gunn (1979)
The Road to Science Fiction 4 - James Gunn (1982)
The Golden Age of Science Fiction - Kingsley Amis (1981)
Great Short Novels of Science Fiction - Robert Silverberg (1970)
The Arbor House Treasure of Science Fiction - Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg (1980)
The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels - Robert
Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg (1980)
The Arbor House Treasure of Science Fiction Masterpieces - Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg (1983)
A volume aimed at using SF in teaching in schoolrooms and lectures, Atteberry being an Idaho State University lecturer-type.
The Norton Book of Science Fiction - Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian Atteberry (1984))
This following volume has a more international focus, including Europeans whose first language is not English, South Americans, etc, so a little different.
Movement anthology number two, with the arrival of Neuromancer, the continuing improvement of personal computing technology, and a focus on cyberpunk.
Mirrorshades The Cyberpunk Anthology - Bruce Sterling (1986)World Treasury of Science Fiction - David G. Hartwell (1988)
Isaac Asimov is almost his own publishing category at this time, and he mentioned to assist with getting lots of books into print. In one of his other works that I have read he says that the three worked well together, Greenberg was good at the nuts and bolts paperwork, and Waugh had a great collection and ability to track down relevant stories. Asimov of course had the name as well as his own not inconsiderable input. Even if you find anthologies of his for kids or with an ordinary bunch of stories, they can be worth flipping through for his introductions.
100 Great Science Fiction Short Short Stories - Isaac Asimov and Martin Harry Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander (1978)
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Treasury - Isaac Asimov and M artin H. Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander (1980)
Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction of the 19th Century - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1981)
Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction Firsts - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1984)
Amazing Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1985)
Science Fiction Masterpieces - Isaac Asimov (1986)
Also fitting into the modern era, with New Era mass market type publication are these :-
The Mammoth Book of Short Science Fiction Novels - Isaac Asimov (1986)
The Mammoth Book of New World Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1960s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1991)
The Mammoth Book of Fantastic Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1970s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1992)
The Mammoth Book of Modern Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1980s - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh (1993)
I imagine it is quite possible that Martin H. Greenberg could put together an anthology on a dark night, in a storm, hanging upside down on a rope ladder from a helicopter while supercriminals take potshots at him. Or, we should be happy to have him.
Another different type of book also came on the scene, starting in the sixties, and again thanks to Isaac Asimov. Work was collected from those stories that had garnered Hugo Awards, and several volumes of these came out, and have been pretty influential, as well as being available thanks to the Asimov name, and many people will have seen these.
1 The Hugo Winners, Volume 1 - Isaac Asimov (1962)
2 The Hugo Winners, Volume 2 - Isaac Asimov (1971)
The Hugo Winners 1968-1970 - Isaac Asimov 3 The Hugo Winners, Volume 3 - Isaac Asimov (1977)
4 The Hugo Winners, Volume 4 - Isaac Asimov (1985)
5 The Hugo Winners, Volume 5 - Isaac Asimov (1986)
1 The New Hugo Winners - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (1989)
2 The New Hugo Winners, Volume II - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (1991)
The Super Hugos - Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg (1992)
3 The New Hugo Winners, Volume III - Martin H. Greenberg
4 The New Hugo Winners, Volume IV - Martin H. Greenberg (1997) More consistent in publication, if not in actual editor or content is the yearly volume publishing some of the Nebula award winning work. While not as good as the Hugo stories, in general, whether Nebula Awards, or Nebula Awards Showcase, these are still coming out, certainly a good thing.
Nebula Awards (series) - Various Various
Nebula Awards Showcase 2003 - Nancy KressBen Bova's anthology picking the cream is an outstanding book, too.
The Best of the Nebulas - Ben Bova (1989)Taking a similar sort of approach to the Asimov Hugo series, Silverberg, Bova and some others made some selection, both short stories and novellas (which is what 2A and 2B are, as well) of high quality work.
The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame Volume 1 - Robert Silverberg (1970)The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1 - Robert SilverbergScience Fiction Hall of Fame The Novellas 1 - Ben Bova (1975)
Science Fiction Hall of Fame The Novellas 2 - Ben Bova (1975)
The Science Fiction Hall Of Fame Volume 2A - Ben Bova (1973)Science Fiction Hall of Fame 2B - Ben Bova
Science Fiction Hall of Fame 3 - Arthur C. Clarke and George Proctor (1982)
Science Fiction Hall of Fame 4 - Arthur C. Clarke (1981)
Science Fiction Hall of Fame IV - Terry Carr (1987)
The modern era saw the rise of multiple Year's Best Science Fiction series, both in co-editing team-ups and solo efforts. The most influential at the time, reading what the Super Editors and others write, would appear to have been Terry Carr's, and at least by my numbers of those stories I have come across, the best selections. This, of course, is before Gardner Dozois and his Bugcrushers came on the scene towards the end of that period.
Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss (1-9) (1968-1976)
Best SF 1967 - Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss (1968)Best SF 1968 - Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss (1969)Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr (1-7) (1965-1971)
Lester Del Rey to Gardner Dozois (1-10) (1972-1981)
Donald A. Wollheim (1-19) (1972-1990)
Terry Carr (1-16) (1972-1987)
The Best Science Fiction Of the Year 01 - Terry Carr (1972)Best Science Fiction of the Year 14 - Terry Carr (1985)The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Of the Year 16 - Terry Carr (1987)David Garnett (1-3) (1988-1990)
With the loss of Wollheim and Carr, and the inability of the UK Orbit series to survive, this left Dozois as the Lone Gunman in the Year's Best Science Fiction Series. Fortunately for us, his are the longest volumes with long critical, bilbliographical introductions, so if you were going back with a time machine to pick a series to survive, this is the one you would choose. These are the must-have type volumes, and now appear in varieties to suit most people (and hopefully electronically sometime). Whether hardback, or trade, or mass market, or the UK Mammoth Book of Best New SF (which are nice and cheap thanks to the no postage charge
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk".) This was on top of his editing Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and producing other books.
Gardner Dozois (1984,Ongoing)
The Year's Best Science Fiction 03rd Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (1986)The Year's Best Science Fiction 04th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (1987)The Year's Best Science Fiction 05th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (1988)The Year's Best Science Fiction 06th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (1989)The Year's Best Science Fiction 10th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (1990)The Year's Best Science Fiction 11th Annual Collection - Gardner DozoisThe Year's Best Science Fiction 13th Annual Collection - Gardner DozoisThe Year's Best Science Fiction 14th Annual Collection - Gardner DozoisThe Year's Best Science Fiction 15th Annual Collection - Gardner DozoisThe Year's Best Science Fiction 16th Annual Collection - Gardner DozoisThe Year's Best Science Fiction 17th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2000)The Year's Best Science Fiction 18th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2001)The Year's Best Science Fiction 19th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2002)The Year's Best Science Fiction 20th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2003)The Year's Best Science Fiction 21st Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2004)The Year's Best Science Fiction 22nd Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2005)The Year's Best Science Fiction 23rd Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2006)The Year's Best Science Fiction 24th Annual Collection - Gardner Dozois (2007)Shared World Anthologies
These type of projects appeared in this period, and the major series still going is Wild Cards. Note some volumes in the series are novels
Wild Cards : 01 Wild Cards - George R. R. Martin (1987)Wild Cards : 02 Aces High - George R. R. Martin (1987)Wild Cards : 04 Aces Abroad - George R. R. Martin (1988)Wild Cards : 05 Down and Dirty- George R. R. Martin (1988)Wild Cards : 06 Ace In The Hole - George R. R. Martin (1988)Wild Cards : 07 Dead Man's Hand - George R. R. Martin (1990)Wild Cards : 08 One Eyed Jacks - George R. R. Martin (1991)Wild Cards : 09 Jokertown Shuffle - George R. R. Martin (1991)Wild Cards : 13 Card Sharks - George R. R. MartinWild Cards : 14 Marked Cards - George R. R. MartinWild Cards : 16 Deuces Down - George R. R. MartinWild Cards : 18 Inside Straight - George R. R. Martin THE NEW ERA
Or, the Hartwell Renaissance, if you like, in more ways than one. I'll start this section the second way, with the Year's Best Series.
In a great move for reader, David G. Hartwell managed to get a mass market paperback Year's Best Science Fiction series started, which continues currently.
His remit was to include only science fiction, not wobbly or dodgy curveball fantasy stories, no matter, how good. Gardner Dozois for example, chose Bears Discover Fire for his, and also included it in his Modern Classics of Fantasy. This is the sort of thing I am guessing he means.
David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (1996, Ongoing)
Year's Best SF 01 - David G. Hartwell (1996)Year's Best SF 02 - David G. Hartwell (1997)Year's Best SF 03 - David G. Hartwell (1998)Year's Best SF 04 - David G. Hartwell (1999)Year's Best SF 05 - David G. Hartwell (2000)Year's Best SF 06 - David G. Hartwell (2001)Year's Best SF 07 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2002)Year's Best SF 08 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2003)Year's Best SF 09 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2004)Year's Best SF 10 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2005)Year's Best SF 11 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2006)Year's Best SF 12 - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2007)The appearance of Hartwell's series, and the fact that some definitely better science fiction was being written from the 1990s onwards, led Byron Preiss to have a go at a similar series, but considerably shorter books, being your standard paperback length, 300 odd pages, not the close to 500 of the Hartwell books. Karen Haber is the constant in all these volumes, and as a whole, the stories aren't quite as good as the other Year's Best Series. That doesn't mean don't get them if you see them around, as a Year's Best series is still better than any other anthologies, barring rare exceptions. Strahan was a longtime editor of Australian magazine Eidolon, and also two volumes of Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy with Jeremy Byrne.
Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber to Karen Haber and Jonathan Strahan (1-4) (2002-2005)
Science Fiction The Best of 2001 - Robert Silverberg and Karen HaberScience Fiction The Best of 2002 - Robert Silverberg and Karen HaberScience Fiction The Best Of 2003 - Jonathan Strahan and Karen HaberScience Fiction The Best Of 2004 - Jonathan Strahan and Karen HaberWhen publisher Byron Preiss was killed in an accident (very sad, they also produced a whole heap of other books, superhero or Zelazny or whatever that I have read), this series ceased.
Locus rescued the Australian half of this duo, and allowed Jonathan Strahan to put out his stray Very Best of 2005 that very few people will have seen - but is still available. Unfortunate, as this is a really great selection of work.
Jonathan Strahan (1,1-2,Short Novels 1-4) (2005,2007-????,2004-????)
Science Fiction the Very Best of 2005 - Jonathan StrahanThe volumes after this have the fairy pollution, unfortunately, as like the Australian work, it is now Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year.
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Of the Year 1 - Jonathan StrahanWith the mass popularity of the internet, so too perhaps, Rich Horton. Noted for lots of writing on usenet, and on the web, as well as similar in magazines, his 'Virtual Bests of the Year (sans stories, of course) - see
http://www.speculativeliterature.org/Reader/HortonSummaries.php for example' and analysis have lead to dead tree Bests of the Year, including a separate Fantasy volume.
Rich Horton (2006,Ongoing)
Science Fiction the Best of the Year 2006 - Rich HortonScience Fiction the Best of the Year 2007 - Rich HortonIn other work, that other dusty and musty smelling like your parents publisher like Penguin had a go at a Science Fiction anthology, with a long, critical introduction.
The Oxford Book Of Science Fiction Stories - Tom Shippey (1992)A bunch of good books produced by Dozois in this period, setting out to choose some not as widely reprinted stories for his Modern Classics series.
Modern Classics Of Science Fiction - Gardner Dozois (1992)Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction - Gardner Dozois (1994)These two books are full of older, and newer, respectively, space opera and adventure stories of high quality. A really welcome addition. There's a geolocked bookclub edition that combines them both, I think. An editor that manages to get his books titled 'Stuff' has to be about as far from pretentious as you can get.
The Good Old Stuff - Gardner Dozois (1998)The Good New Stuff - Gardner Dozois (1999)These volumes are short stories in the first, novellas in the second, that are Dozois' personal picks from the first 20 odd volumes of his Year's Best series, as the stories that he likes or affected him the most.
Best of the Best - Gardner Dozois (2005)The Best Of the Best 2 - Gardner Dozois (2007)(note UK versus are Mammoth Books of the Best of the Best - one of which apparently has 3 extra stories, according to the editor)
Here's the second part of the Hartwell Renaissance, not to discount that it was a joint effort, just that Hartwell and Hard SF start with the same three letters and roll off the keyboard and tongue better.
The Ascent of Wonder is subtitled The Evolution of Hard SF, and that is what you get, from the Victorian era writers through to Egan, and an outstanding volume it is, and has some critical work throughout, start, per story, and end.
The Ascent of Wonder The Evolution of Hard SF - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (1994)This book follows on from the volume above, and is designed to point out that beginning in the nineties something was in the water, and that the work being produced was an improvement, and a return to some of these themes traced in the earlier book.
The Hard SF Renaissance - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2002)A very similar style of book to the Hard SF Renaissance, although Space Opera is a smaller range of work to look at than Hard SF, which can overlap but has a much greater variety of story.
The Space Opera Renaissance - David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2006)A couple of wide ranging taking stories from many decades and places style of anthology come next. I think the first one is more obscure and pricey, and The Science Fiction Century is available split up and in Mammoth style books too for those not in the US.
Visions of Wonder - David G. Hartwell (1996)
The Science Fiction Century - David G. Hartwell (1997)The Science Fiction Century Volume One - David G. Hartwell (2006)
The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction - David G. HartwellThe Science Fiction Century Volume Two - David G. Hartwell (2006)
The first volume, looking at the contents, isn't close to the standards of the latter, but I have included it for recency and easy availability, as well as being long and cheap and pretty decent. The second volume is really good and even includes an old story discovered.
Masterpieces the Best Science Fiction of the Century - Orson Scott Card (2001)
The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction - Mike Ashley (2002)
The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction - Mike Ashley (2006)Strahan and Brown choose a selection of work from the Locus Awards, so this is rather high quality.
The Locus Awards - Jonathan Strahan and Charles N. Brown (2004)The point of this next volume is somewhat different. The editors delve into their childhoods and old collections and magazines to choose older stories that influence them when they were younger. Should be easy to find this, and you can also get it electronically from Baen. It is also a free ebook if you subscribe to Jim Baen's Universe, too. A fine deal, that.
People probably miscategorise Baen as 'just that right wing military SF stuff', and it is certainly true that they do a lot of that, and make money at it. However, they also have a keen interest in SF history, as shown by this volume, and them republishing Cordwainer Smith, A. Bertram Chandler, and their rediscovery projects like James H. Schmitz. Lots of fine work there, plus a reasonable number of anthologies. Not to mention JBU itself.
I wouldn't sneer at other publishers just because they make lots of money from crappy big fat overextended fantasy series, or sex with vampire lines, or producing multiple pastoral feminist utopias, or whatever.
The World Turned Upside Down - Eric Flint and David Drake and Jim Baen (2005)New Legends was the rare beast, a really, really strong original anthology, and with a harder SF focus to boot.
New Legends - Greg Bear (1995)The next work noted for moving a lot of copies moreso than being brilliant, it still had some good stories and is likely findable in your libraries sitll today, along with its fantasy counterpart Legends, that both produce novellas to go along with really popular novel series.
Far Horizons - Robert Silverberg (1999)Two rare beasts in 12 years, another outstanding original anthology, able to come about because of better work being published in the nineties and beyond, like. Much as pointed out in The Space Opera Renaissance written about by Hartwell and Cramer, just prior. (Thank you, Alastair Reynolds and company.)
The New Space Opera - Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (2007)New Anthology Series
Just recently has seen the rise of original anthology series again, and these appear to have made it past one volume, with the first volume of the former better than the latter, but as the latter was a mass market paperback, it is much, much cheaper.
There is also 'Eclipse' by Jonathan Strahan, which looking at it would seem to be a mixture of work, and not a lot of SF of the style of these two books. Then there is a Del Rey book of Science Fiction and Fantasy coming, too, which of course is not just a science fiction series.
Fast Forward - Lou Anders (2007,ongoing)
Fast Forward 1 - Lou AndersSolaris Book of New Science Fiction - George Mann (2007,ongoing)
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction - George Mann (2007)The Solaris Book Of New Science Fiction 2 - George Mann(2008)APPENDICES
I am not saying these are major anthologies as such (although some are, to me, I rate the Centaurus volume highly, even though all Australian.) These are just some I have come across, or examples I have read and included. This is also to point out the wide range of good stuff that can be seen.
1. SUBSET ANTHOLOGIES
Examples of books that are restricted by geography, or by sex.
The Best From the Rest of the World - Donald A. Wollheim (1976)
Metaworlds - Paul Collins (1985)
Metaworlds - Paul CollinsCentaurus - Damien Broderick and David G. Hartwell (1999)
Centaurus The Best of Australian Science Fiction - Damien Broderick and David HartwellAustralian Science Fiction - Van Ikin (1982)
Australian Science Fiction - Van IkinNorthern Stars - David G. Hartwell and Glenn Grant (1994)
Terra SF: The Year's Best European SF - Richard D. Nolane (1981)
Terra SF II: The Year's Best European SF - Richard D. Nolane (1983)
Women Of Wonder - Pamela Sargent (1975)Women of Wonder: The Classic Years - Pamela Sargent (1995)
Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years - Pamela Sargent (1995)
The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 1 - Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne (1996)Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 2 - Jonathan Strahan and Jeremy Byrne (1997)Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 1-3 (ongoing, hopefully) - Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt
Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 1 - Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt (2006) Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 2 - Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt (2007)Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy 3 - Bill Congreve and Michelle Marquardt (2008)The Road to Science Fiction 5 The British Way - James Gunn (1998)
The Road to Science Fiction 6 Around the World - James Gunn (1998)
The SFWA European Hall Of Fame - James Morrow and Kathryn Morrow (2007)2. THEME ANTHOLOGIES
Books that focus on a particular subject, oppression of science by religious nuts in the case of the less obviously titled Galileo's Children.
The best example of consistently doing this is the publisher DAW, who produce a book a month, with a different theme, for example, this one :-
Black Mist and Other Japanese Futures - Orson Scott CardNot all of them are science fiction of course. One I read last year was 'The Secret History of Vampires' for example.
Also
The Exclamatory Series (Aliens! to Immortals!) - Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois (1980-1998) Note that some of this series is fantasy.
Some examples of others than I liked :
The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time - Barry N. Malzberg (2003)Supermen : Tales of the Posthuman Future - Gardner Dozois (2002)Future Sports - Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann (2002)Galileo's Children - Gardner Dozois (2005)Rewired - John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly (2007)
(A 'post-cyberpunk reprint anthology. Having read pretty much all of this, I can say like it)
3. MAGAZINE ANTHOLOGIES
Books that have stories culled from the pages of a particular periodical that no longer exists.
Examples from Defunct Magazines
Amazing Stories
Galaxy
If
New Worlds
Omni
SciFiction
Galaxy Science Fiction Omnibus - H. L. Gold (1955)
The Best Science Fiction From If - Frederik Pohl (1964)
The Best SF Stories from New Worlds - Michael Moorcock (1967)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 2 - Michael Moorcock (1968)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 3 - Michael Moorcock (1968)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 4 - Michael Moorcock (1969)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 5 - Michael Moorcock (1969)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 6 - Michael Moorcock (1970)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 7 - Michael Moorcock (1971)
Best SF Stories from New Worlds 8 - Michael Moorcock (1974)
Galaxy 1 - Martin H. Greenberg and Frederik Pohl and Joseph D. Olander (1980)Galaxy 2 - Martin H. Greenberg and Frederik Pohl and Joseph D. Olander (1981)Galaxy : The Best of My Years 1 - James BaenWorlds of If - Frederik Pohl and Martin H. Greenberg (1986)
1 The Best of Omni Science Fiction - Ben Bova (1980)
2 The Best of Omni Science Fiction - Ben Bova (1981)
3 The Best of Omni Science Fiction - Ben Bova (1982)
4 The Best of Omni Science Fiction - Ben Bova (1982)
Omni Best Science Fiction - Ellen Datlow (1991)
Omni Best Science Fiction Two - Ellen Datlow (1992)
Omni Best Science Fiction Three - Ellen Datlow (1993)
Veteran
Books that have stories culled from the pages of a particular periodical that has been around a long time.
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Asimov's
Analog
Interzone
Large numbers of anthologies have been taken from these magazines over the years, for example, there are many from FSF and Asimov's alone.
Astounding: the John W Campbell Memorial Anthology - Harry Harrison (1973)
The Best Of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine - Gardner Dozois (1988)The Best From Amazing Stories - Ted White (1989)
The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction Sixth Series - Anthony Boucher (1957)The Best From Fantasy & Science Fiction: The Fiftieth Anniversary Anthology - Gordon Van Gelder and Edward L. Ferman (1999)
Isaac Asimov's Utopias - Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams (2002)Isaac Asimov's Detectives - Gardner Dozois and Sheila WilliamsFourth Planet From the Sun - Gordon Van Gelder (2005)Other anthology titles such as Analog, Isaac Asimov's...,Astounding Analog Reader, If Reader, Galaxy Reader, Interzone, Omni, etc., etc.
New
A couple of new magazines, that are definitely feature a majority of science fiction work - around two thirds in this case.
Jim Baen's Universe - Eric Flint
Helix - William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans
Anthologies
The Best Of Jim Baen's Universe - Eric Flint (2007)Best of Jim Baen's Universe 2 - Eric Flint (2008)
4. MINOR ANTHOLOGIES SERIES
Quark - Samuel R. Delany (1970-1971)
Nova - Harry Harrison (1970-1974)
Andromeda - Peter Weston (1976-1978)
Stellar - Judy Lynn Del Rey (1976-1981)
Chrysalis - Roy Torgeson (1977-1983)
Destinies - Jim Baen (1980-1981)
Destinies Vol 1 No 1 - James BaenDestinies Vol 2 No 1 - James BaenDestinies Vol 2 No 2 - James BaenDestinies Vol 3 No 2 - James BaenFar Frontiers - Jim Baen and Jerry Pournelle (1985-1986)
New Destinies - Jim Baen (1987-1990)
Synergy - George Zebrowski (1987-1989)
Full Spectrum - Lou Aronica (1988-1993)
New Worlds - David Garnett (1991-1994)
Starlight - Patrick Nielsen Hayden (1996-2001)
5. EDITOR LIST
Isfdb links to the various editors mentioned, so you can look up their work and the contents of the volumes if you like. Isfdb will often have wikipedia links to them, as well.
Brian AldissKingsley AmisLou AndersLou AronicaMike AshleyIsaac AsimovBrian AtteberyJim BaenGreg BearEverett F. BleilerAnthony BoucherBen BovaCharles N. BrownJohn CarnellTerry CarrArthur C. ClarkeJohn CluteGroff ConklinRobert ConquestAndy CoxKathryn CramerJack DannEllen DatlowLester del ReySamuel R. DelanyT. E. DiktyGardner DozoisDavid DrakeEdward L. FermanEric FlintDavid GarnettGlenn GrantMartin H. GreenbergKaren HaberHarry HarrisonDavid G. HartwellRaymond John HealyDamon KnightUrsula K. Le GuinSam LundwallBarry N. MalzbergGeorge MannGeorge R. R. MartinShawna McCarthyJ. Francis McComasWillis E. McNellyJudith MerrilJames MorrowSam MoskowitzRichard D. NolaneJoseph D. OlanderJerry PournelleDavid PringleCarol PugnerKristine Kathryn RuschArthur W. SahaWilliam SandersPamela SargentStanley SchmidtGeorge H. ScithersTom ShippeyRobert SilverbergJonathan StrahanRoy TorgesonGordon Van GelderCharles G. WaughLawrence Watt-EvansPeter WestonSheila WilliamsDonald A. Wollheim(need to add Kelly and Kessel)
6. REFERENCES
Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections - William G. ContentoLocus Index to Science Fiction - William G. Contento and Charles N. BrownBest SF - Mark WatsonIsfdb.orgAsYouKnow_Bob's Librarything CatalogTags: anthologies, anthology, anthony boucher, arthur c. clarke, arthur w. saha, barry n. malzberg, ben bova, carol pugner, charles n. brown, conquest, damon knight, david drake, david garnett, david hartwell, david pringle, donald a. wollheim", e. f. bleiler, edward l. ferman,
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