Black Gate

The Drowned World, first edition (Berkley Medallion, August 1962). Cover by Richard Powers

I’m criminally undereducated in J.G. Ballard. I came to most of my favorite science fiction writers through short fiction, and the first Ballard short stories I read (such as “The Terminal Beach”) were lush and impressively written, but also a far cry from the adventure tales I craved in SF and fantasy.

But as I’ve grown older, I found I’m much more interested in Ballard. I wrote a Vintage Treasures piece on The Crystal World last November, and tracked down his monumental Complete Short Stories, Volumes One & Two in 2019. But the roots of my interest trace back (as they often do) to an article at Black Gate. In this case, Thomas Parker’s terrific piece A Prophet Without Honor: J.G. Ballard, published here in 2015.

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Lin Carter’s anthologies of Adult Fantasy: Kingdoms of Sorcery and
Realms of Wizardry (Doubleday, 1976). Covers by John Cayea and Robert Aulicino

Lin Carter was an exceptional editor, and one of the most important figures in 20th Century American fantasy. As Managing Editor of the seminal Ballantine Adult Fantasy imprint, he was responsible for publishing virtually one new title every month — and he did exactly that, tirelessly producing 83 volumes between August 1965 and April 1974. In the late 70s and early 80s he became one of the most important anthology editors in the genre, helming three major anthology series: Flashing Swords! (five volumes, 1973-1981), The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories (six volumes, 1975-1980), and the paperback incarnation of Weird Tales (four volumes, 1980-83).

But the early 70s was really Carter’s heyday, at least in terms of anthologies. In those days he was producing two to three every year, including terrific books like Golden Cities, Far (1970), Discoveries in Fantasy (1972), and Great Short Novels of Adult Fantasy (1972), all of which were original paperbacks.

In 1976 Carter published his final anthologies of adult fantasy, Kingdoms of Sorcery and Realms of Wizardry. Unlike virtually every other anthology he published, these were hardcover originals — and in fact were never reprinted in paperback. But like the others they were assembled with exacting care, crammed full of dozens of entertaining and informative short essays introducing the tales. While they are much less talked about than his later titles, these are delightful books, with plenty to enchant modern readers — those few who know about them, anyway. I’m here to do what I can to correct that.

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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.

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What If, Volumes 1-2 (Pocket Books, 1980 and 1981) and Volume 3
(Surinam Turtle Press, 2013). Covers by Richard Powers and Gavin L. O’Keefe

Richard Lupoff was a True Believer. By which I mean he gave his career to science fiction, and both cared about it deeply and wrote about it fairly extensively — like Isaac Asimov, Brian Aldiss, Harry Harrison, Terry Carr, Sam Moskowitz, Donald A. Wollheim, Barry N. Malzberg, Gardner Dozois, and a handful of other crusty old timers.

The thing about True Believers is they have opinions. Boy, do they. They’re happy to tell you when the Golden Age of Science Fiction actually was, what they think of modern SF, and what should have won the Hugo Award last year. And the year before that. They’re especially vocal about awards, come to think of it.

Lupoff didn’t just spout off about stories that were unjustly robbed of a Hugo Award — he actually did something about it. In 1980 and ’81 he published two highly-regarded anthologies, What If? Volume One and Volume Two, which brazenly set out to “Remedy the Injustices of the Past Three Decades!” (that’s right there on the back cover copy) and collect the fiction that SHOULD have won the Hugo Award every year, starting with 1953 and working all the way up to 1965. In 2013, Surinam Turtle Press released the long-delayed third volume, presenting Lupoff’s selections for the fiction that should have been awarded SF’s highest honor in 1966-1973.

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Tuf Voyaging (Baen, February 1986). Cover by David Willson

George R.R. Martin is the most successful living American science fiction and fantasy writer. He mostly gets attention for his novels these days, but early in his career he was chiefly known for his wonderfully moody and imaginative short stories, most of which were set in his sprawling Thousand Worlds universe, including the novel Dying of the Light and the famous stories “Sandkings,” “Nightflyers,” “A Song for Lya,” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon.”

Many of Martin’s most ardent fans are unaware of his Thousand Worlds series featuring Haviland Tuf, a small time merchant who inadvertently comes into possession of one of the greatest weapons in the galaxy, a 30-kilometer long seedship known as the Ark. Inspired by the work of the great Jack Vance (and written in a style that sometimes imitates Vance), the tales garnered a number of major award nominations, and were collected in Tuf Voyaging by Baen in 1986.

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Supernatural Sleuths and Sci-Fi Private Eye (Roc, 1996 and 1997), and
Isaac Asimov’s Detectives (Ace, 1998). Covers by Romas Kukalis, uncredited, and Andy Lackow

Science fiction detectives have been a popular theme for anthologies for a couple of generations now. We’ve covered a few (including Tin Stars, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh), but there’s lot more out there for the curious and the collector alike.

I’ve recently been dipping into some themed anthologies from the 80s and 90s, and three that have impressed me all have themes of detection: Supernatural Sleuths and Sci-Fi Private Eye (both published by Roc, in 1996 and 1997), and Isaac Asimov’s Detectives (Ace, 1998). They gather a fabulous cross section of 20th Century cross-genre fiction, including a John the Balladeer tale by Manly Wade Wellman, a Black Widowers story by Isaac Asimov, a Solar Pons mystery by August Derleth and Mack Reynolds, a Carnacki adventure by William Hope Hodgson, a Jules de Grandin novelette by Seabury Quinn, and a pair of Gil Hamilton novellas by Larry Niven, plus a rich range of major award-winning and nominated SF from Nancy Kress, Greg Egan, Kate Wilhelm, John Varley, and more.

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