The 1987 Annual World’s Best SF (DAW Books, June 1987). Cover art by Tony Roberts

By the time The 1987 Annual World’s Best SF appeared as a paperback original from DAW Books in mid-1987, editor Donald A. Wollheim was of course well established as one of the most important and influential — perhaps the most influential — editor in science fiction. Founding editor at Ace Books, and founder of DAW Books, Wollheim had been editing The Annual World’s Best SF series since 1965, when he launched the series with his assistant Terry Carr. It would run for only three more years, until his death in 1990.

The 1987 volume, the 23rd in the series, is an exemplary installment. It includes Lucius Shepard’s groundbreaking novella “R&R,” a Nebula Award winner; Roger Zelazny’s Hugo award-winning “Permafrost;” Howard Waldrop’s Nebula nominee “The Lions Are Asleep This Night;” and Pat Cadigan’s Nebula nominee “Pretty Boy Crossover;” plus stories by Tanith Lee, Doris Egan, Robert Silverberg, Damon Knight, Suzette Haden Elgin, and more.

[Click the images for the World’s Best versions.]

Inside covers for The 1987 Annual World’s Best SF

Arthur W. Saha was Wollheim’s co-editor for the series, taking over Terry Car’s role after Carr departed with Volume 7 (1981), and he remained co-editor until the series ended in 1990 with Wollheim’s death. Saha also inherited The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories from Lin Carter the same year, with Volume 7, released in 1981.

The 1987 volume scores a solid 3.63 with modern readers at Goodreads, where there are are plenty of enthusiastic reviews. But the most entertaining one I’ve found is from 2theD at Amazon, who pans many of the stories but still find room to rave over a few:

Roger Zelazny: “Permafrost” (novelette) – 5/5 – On an adult entertainment planet experiencing a fifty year winter, Dorothy and Paul are the sole inhabitants acting as caretakers along with the human mind-based computer, Andrew Aldon. With ever-approaching glaciers and a frightening weather system, Aldon is the defender and supervisor for the town of Playpoint. When a particular weather system seems to be steering Paul to a specific destination, Aldon warns the man but the latent planetary prowess proves too manipulative for Aldon’s protective circuits. 25 pages —– This is the first Zelanzy I’ve liked. It’s got a enticing detailed background with a cast that’s interesting and headed into an odd peril.

Pat Cadigan: “Pretty Boy Crossover” (shortstory) – 3/5 – Allowed to bide one’s time as one sees fit, the uploaded personality of Bobby relishes an existence spent in the narcissistic limelight of an eternity dancing in front of a crowded club. Referred to as a Pretty Boy, Bobby attracts a fellow Pretty Boy who adores his attention and gyrations. However, the small crowd gathered at the foot of the stairs and the mohawked bouncer aren’t the people they appear to be. 12 pages —– This had an odd, odd start. The initial flavor of cyberpunk was irksome, but the conclusion set it above the bar with the rest of the 80s sub-genre.

Suzette Haden Elgin: “Lo, How an Oak E’er Blooming” (shortstory) – 4/5 – On a chilly February day in Madison, Wisconsin, a lecturer begs for a miracle, for the oak tree outside to burst into blossom. With more than fifty witnesses to the miracle, mob mentality regarding the sudden growth is nulled. All the sciences throw every test at the tree and yet it continues to regenerate its blossoms and stave off death by poisoning. Society embraces the miracles but the military, as always, feels threatened. 10 pages —– The science isn’t as paramount as the reaction to the impossible. The miracle isn’t what shines, but it’s the social impact of the certified mystery.

Jerry Meredith & D.E. Smirl: “Dream in a Bottle” (shortstory) – 4/5 – Approaching a nebulous cloud of interstellar hydrogen, a ramscoop ship opens its magnetic maw to accept the fuel while en route to Zeta Reticuli IV. Piloted by catatonic minds living in their own deceptive cerebral fantasies, a rotating crew monitors the ship’s and pilot’s progress. To bide their time en route, the crew, too, delve into their own personal fantasies. When one pilot awakens on the bridge, Michael slips into other’s realities. 15 pages —– The hardest science fiction in this collection, it’s a little hard to grasp just exactly what’s going on. A tad on the cyberpunk side, the immersion of the cast into virtual reality creates alternate realities, some of which overlap.

Damon Knight: “Stranger on Paradise” (shortstory) – 4/5 – Biographer Howard Selby attains permission to visit the planet of Paradise only after an exhaustive physical examination, disinfection, and blood replacement. Paradise is the only inhabitable planet ever found, where all diseases are unknown and the native life prove ineffective with Earth life. The idyllic planet was once home to a famous poet, the same poet whose work Howard is trying to dive into. When he comes across a cryptic sonnet, his opinion of the planet plummets. 18 pages —– A great start but a kind of sloppy ending, the sonnet separated a great shortstory from a decent short story. The motivation for the conclusion was weak but its effects were great. Good conclusion for the collection, in general.

Read the entire review (which starts off warmly with “I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed with an anthology”) here.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

Introduction by Donald A. Wollheim
“Permafrost” by Roger Zelazny (Omni, April 1986) — Nebula nominee, Hugo winner
“Timerider” by Doris Egan (Amazing Stories, March 1986)
“Pretty Boy Crossover” by Pat Cadigan (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1986) — Nebula nominee, SF Chronicle Award winner
“R & R” by Lucius Shepard (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1986) — Hugo nominee, Locus and Nebula Award winner
“Lo, How an Oak E’er Blooming” by Suzette Haden Elgin (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 1986)
“Dream in a Bottle” by Jerry Meredith and D. E. Smirl (L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume II, 1986)
“Into Gold” by Tanith Lee (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1986)
“The Lions Are Asleep This Night” by Howard Waldrop (Omni, August 1986) — Nebula nominee
“Against Babylon” by Robert Silverberg (Omni, May 1986)
“Strangers on Paradise” by Damon Knight (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1986)

Wollheim and Terry Carr had competitive Year’s Best series running concurrently for nearly two decades after their last anthology together, the 7th volume in their shared series (World’s Best Science Fiction: 1971). Their competition ended in 1987. Terry Carr died unexpectedly of congestive heart failure on April 7, 1987, only days after handing in the final text for his introduction to Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16, published three months after the Wollheim volume.

Terry Carr’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16,
edited by Terry Carr (Tor, September 1987). Cover by Peter Gudynas

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16 was the last volume in Terry Carr’s long running (and hugely respected) series. Curiously, it was the first to receive a hardcover edition — and it has never been reprinted in paperback.

Wollheim died three years later, ending his series with the 26th volume, The 1990 Annual World’s Best SF. That brought an end to their epic rivalry, and the years in which SF readers could look forward to enjoying dueling Year’s Best volumes from two of the most gifted and influential editors science fiction has ever seen.

Carr’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16 had absolutely zero crossover with the Year’s Best volume from his old mentor — but still contains some terrific work, including the Hugo and Nebula nominated novella “Escape from Kathmandu” by Kim Stanley Robinson, the Locus Award nominated novella “Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo” by John Varley, the World Fantasy Award-winning novelette “Hatrack River” by Orson Scott Card — and a short but poignant Editor’s Note by Beth Meacham, announcing the death of editor Carr.

For the curious, here’s the complete TOC for Terry Carr’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year #16.

Editor’s Note by Beth Meacham
Introduction by Terry Carr
“Escape from Kathmandu” by Kim Stanley Robinson (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September 1986) — Hugo, Nebula, Locus nominee
“Hatrack River” by Orson Scott Card (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1986) — Hugo, Nebula, Locus nominee; World Fantasy Award winner
“Blindsight” by Robert Silverberg (Playboy, December 1986)
“Galileo Complains” by Carter Scholz (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1986)
“Aymara” by Lucius Shepard (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1986) — Locus, Nebula nominee; SF Chronicle Award winner
“Cold Light” by Ian Watson (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1986)
“Surviving” by Judith Moffett (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1986) — Nebula nominee, Sturgeon Award winner
“The Prisoner of Chillon” by James Patrick Kelly (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1986)
“And So to Bed” by Harry Turtledove (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, January 1986)
“Grave Angels” by Richard Kearns (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1986)
“Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo” by John Varley (Blue Champagne, 1986) — Locus Award nominee
1986, the SF and Fantasy Year in Review, by Charles N. Brown
Recommended Reading, by Terry Carr

With the death of both Terry Carr and Donald Wollheim, the mantle of Year’s Best SF seniority fell to a young and relatively inexperienced magazine editor named Gardner Dozois, who became editor of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine in 1986, and whose Year’s Best Science Fiction series would eventually run for 35 years (nearly as long as Carr and Wollheim combined), and set a standard for editorial ambition and excellence that has yet to be surpassed.

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection,
edited by Gardner Dozois (St. Martin’s Press, May 1987). Cover by Alan Gutierrez

Dozois’ massive volumes (typically 600+ pages in oversized trade paperback) cast a wider net than Carr and Wollheim’s economical paperbacks. His The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection, published the same year as Wollheim’s The 1987 Annual World’s Best SF, contained five overlapping selections: the Lucius Shepard novella “R&R,” plus the Damon Knight, Pat Cadigan, Robert Silverberg, and Tanith Lee.

For comparison, here’s the TOC for Dozois’ The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection, including two World Fantasy Award nominated novellas, Tim Powers’ “Night Moves” and “Chance” by Connie Willis, plus Gear Bear’s Hugo and Nebula Award winning story “Tangents,” Judith Moffett’s Nebula nominee “Surviving,” and William Gibson’s Hugo and Nebula nominee “The Winter Market.”

Summation: 1986, by Gardner Dozois
“R & R” by Lucius Shepard (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1986) — Hugo nominee, Locus and Nebula Award winner
“Hatrack River” by Orson Scott Card (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1986) — Hugo, Locus and Nebula nominee; World Fantasy Award winner
“Strangers on Paradise” by Damon Knight (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1986)
“Pretty Boy Crossover” by Pat Cadigan (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1986)
“Against Babylon” by Robert Silverberg (Omni, May 1986)
“Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes” by S. P. Somtow (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, April 1986)
“Into Gold” by Tanith Lee (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1986)
“Sea Change” by Scott Baker (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1986)
“Covenant of Souls” by Michael Swanwick (Omni, December 1986)
“The Pure Product” by John Kessel (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1986)
“Grave Angels” by Richard Kearns (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 1986)
“Tangents” by Greg Bear (Omni, January 1986) — Locus nominee, Hugo and Nebula Award winner
“The Beautiful and the Sublime” by Bruce Sterling (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1986)
“Tattoos” by Jack Dann (Omni, November 1986)
“Night Moves” by Tim Powers (Night Moves, 1986) — World Fantasy Award nominee
“The Prisoner of Chillon” by James Patrick Kelly (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June 1986)
“Chance” by Connie Willis (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, May 1986) — World Fantasy Award nominee
“And So to Bed” by Harry Turtledove (Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, January 1986)
“Fair Game” by Howard Waldrop (Afterlives, 1986)
“Video Star” by Walter Jon Williams (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July 1986)
“Sallie C.” by Neal Barrett, Jr. (The Best of the West, 1986)
“Jeff Beck” by Lewis Shiner (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, January 1986)
“Surviving” by Judith Moffett (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1986) — Nebula nominee, Sturgeon Award winner
“Down and Out in the Year 2000” by Kim Stanley Robinson (Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1986) –– Locus Award nominee
“Snake-Eyes” by Tom Maddox (Omni, April 1986)
“The Gate of Ghosts” by Karen Joy Fowler (Artificial Things, 1986)
“The Winter Market” by William Gibson (Interzone #15, Spring 1986) — Hugo, Nebula, Locus nominee
Honorable Mentions: 1986 by Gardner Dozois

We’ve covered two other volumes in this series:

The 1975 World’s Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim
The 1989 Annual World’s Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

Our coverage of Donald A. Wollheim also includes:

Swordsmen In The Sky, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
Would You Spend $44 on a Collection of 30 Vintage DAW Paperbacks?
The 1989 Annual World’s Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha
The Macabre Reader edited by Donald A. Wollheim
The Golden Age of Science Fiction: Donald A. Wollheim by Steven H Silver
Birthday Reviews: Donald A. Wollheim’s “Blueprint” by Steven H Silver
The 1975 World’s Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
Rich Horton on The Earth in Peril, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
The Editor As Author: Donald A. Wollheim’s The Secret of the Ninth Planet by Violette Malan
The Ultimate Invader edited by Donald Wollheim
Tales of Outer Space, edited by Donald A. Wollheim
Kirkus Looks at Donald A. Wollheim and the Ace Double

The 1987 Annual World’s Best SF was published by Tor Books in June 1987. It is 303 pages, priced at $3.95. The cover is by Tony Roberts. It has never been reprinted, and there is no digital edition. It has been out of print for 36 years, copies i decent shape will cost you about the same as a brand new paperback (under 10 bucks).

See all of our Vintage Treasures here.