TITLE: ISAAC ASIMOV PRESENTS THE GREAT SF STORIES VOL. 1 (1939)
EDITED BY: Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
CATEGORY: Anthology
SUB-CATEGORY: Short Fiction
FORMAT: Paperback, 432 pages
PUBLISHER: DAW Books, New York, 1st Printing, March 1979.
Those are the various general details, and here\’s a listing of the contents:
- Introduction by Isaac Asimov
- \”I, Robot\” by Eando Binder (Amazing Stories, January 1939)
- \”The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton\” by Robert Bloch (Amazing Stories, March 1939)
- \”Trouble with Water\” by H. L. Gold (Unknown, March 1939)
- \”Cloak of Aesir\” by Don A. Stuart (John W. Campbell, Jr.) (Astounding Science Fiction, March 1939)
- \”The Day is Done\” by Lester Del Rey (Astounding Science Fiction, May 1939)
- \”The Ultimate Catalyst\” by John Taine (Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1939)
- \”The Gnarly Man\” by L. Sprague De Camp (Unknown, June 1939)
- \”Black Destroyer\” by A. E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
- \”Greater Than Gods\” by C. L. Moore (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
- \”Trends\” by Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction, July 1939)
- \”The Blue Giraffe\” by L. Sprague De Camp (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
- \”The Misguided Halo\” by Henry Kuttner (Unknown, August 1939)
- \”Heavy Planet\” by Milton A. Rothman (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
- \”Life-Line\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, August 1939)
- \”Ether Breather\” by Theodore Sturgeon (Astounding Science Fiction, September 1939)
- \”Pilgrimage\” by Nelson Bond (Amazing Stories, October 1939)
- \”Rust\” by Joseph E. Kelleam (Astounding Science Fiction, October 1939)
- \”The Four-Sided Triangle\” by William F. Temple (Amazing Stories, November 1939)
- \”Star Bright\” by Jack Williamson (Argosy, November 1939)
- \”Misfit\” by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science Fiction, November 1939)
This is a real gem of an anthology, and what a year 1939 was! It\’s hard to know where to start with this lot, but it would probably be with the three that really stand out for me, Van Vogt\’s \”Black Destroyer\”, John W. Campbell\’s (under his \”Don A. Stuart\” pseudonym) \”Cloak of Aesir\” and Milton A. Rothman\’s \”Heavy Planet\”, which are all stories that impacted greatly on me when I first started reading short SF way back in my early teens.
But there are also so many other good stories here, in particular C. L. Moore\’s \”Greater Than Gods\”, Jack Williamson\’s \”Star Bright\”, Lester Del Rey\’s \”The Day is Done\”, Eando Binder\’s \”I, Robot\”, Isaac Asimov\’s \”Trends\”, and the two Robert A. Heinlein stories \”Life-Line\” and \”Misfit\”. Most of the others I can\’t really remember, as I read them so long ago, and there are a few that I don\’t think I\’ve actually read before.
I\’m really looking forward to reading (or is that re-reading?) Henry Kuttner\’s \”The Misguided Halo\” (I\’m a big fan of his), Theodore Sturgeon\’s \”Ether Breather\” (likewise a big fan of his), Robert Bloch\’s \”The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton\” and the two L. Sprague De Camp stories \”The Gnarly Man\” and \”The Blue Giraffe\”. All big names that I\’ve enjoyed reading before.
This book was the first in a very long series, and Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories, Volumes 1-25, was one of the greatest ever series of science fiction anthologies. Published by DAW Books, the twenty-five volumes each covered a single year, and the entire series spanned the years 1939-1964.
The first twelve of these volumes were also later repackaged in a series of hardcovers, Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction. There were six volumes in total of that one, First Series-Sixth Series, each one containing two of the original paperback volumes. For some reason (I\’ve never found out why), this series of hardcovers stopped at the half-way mark, and the remaining thirteen volumes of the paperbacks were never collected in hardback. Pity. Those hardbacks were really nice, and I\’m fortunate enough to have all six of them.
The twenty-five volume paperback set is a different matter. I only started to collect those several months ago, and so far I only have nine of them, although I continue to pick up the odd one here and there, with the intention of collecting the entire series, eventually. The books in this series are also quite expensive and hard to find, and most of the copies that I\’ve seen are from US sellers, so the shipping charges to the UK and Ireland are also very expensive. I\’ve often seen costs totalling up to $50 on Ebay for one of these paperbacks inclusive of shipping, as some of the US sellers charge ridiculously and inexcusably high transatlantic shipping charges. It\’s much better if you can find them on Amazon UK, as they only charge £2.80 shipping from all Amazon sellers, even those in the US.
Anyways, nine down, sixteen to go. Oboy! I guess it\’s time to get the credit card out and start buying a few more of these books…