Isaac Asimov Presents Great Science Fiction 01 (edition 1979)

An anthology of stories from a pivotal year. Again this does include some fantasy tales, so Asimov and Greenberg mean SF in a broader sense.

Great SF Stories 1939 : I ROBOT - Eando Binder
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE STRANGE FLIGHT OF RICHARD CLAYTON
Great SF Stories 1939 : TROUBLE WITH WATER - H. L. Gold
Great SF Stories 1939 : CLOAK OF AESIR - Don A. Stuart
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE DAY IS DONE - Lester Del Rey
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE ULTIMATE CATALYST - John Taine
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE GNARLY MAN - L. Sprague De Camp
Great SF Stories 1939 : BLACK DESTROYER - A. E. Van Vogt
Great SF Stories 1939 : GREATER THAN GODS - C. L. Moore
Great SF Stories 1939 : TRENDS - Isaac Asimov
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE BLUE GIRAFFE - L. Sprague De Camp
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE MISGUIDED HALO - Henry Kuttner
Great SF Stories 1939 : HEAVY PLANET - Milton A. Rothman
Great SF Stories 1939 : LIFE-LINE - Robert A. Heinlein
Great SF Stories 1939 : ETHER BREATHER - Theodore Sturgeon
Great SF Stories 1939 : PILGRIMAGE - Nelson Bond
Great SF Stories 1939 : RUST - Joseph E. Kelleam
Great SF Stories 1939 : THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE - William F. Temple
Great SF Stories 1939 : STAR BRIGHT - Jack Williamson
Great SF Stories 1939 : MISFIT - Robert A. Heinlein

Yes, I am smart with feelings.

3.5 out of 5

Gnome sweetener.

4.5 out of 5

Mother rebellion blackness.

3.5 out of 5

Hairy belly superseded.

3 out of 5

Greenbeefo transfer.

3.5 out of 5

Neanderthal lightning strikee holds his age like Vandal Savage.

3.5 out of 5

A ship's crew lands on a planet and meets an alien with extraordinarily dangerous abilities.

3.5 out of 5

Girl surplus probability plane past contact conquest conflict choices.

3 out of 5

Cheap tub-thumping revivalist anti-space anti-space moron defiance moonshot success plaudits.

3 out of 5

Whacky animal park.

3 out of 5

Wrong Tibet.

3 out of 5

Atomic fightoff.

2.5 out of 5

"I can tell you when the Black Camel will kneel at your door."

3.5 out of 5

I can tell you when the Black Camel will kneel at your door.

3.5 out of 5

Tv problem.

2.5 out of 5

Clan mother job for me, with history.

3 out of 5

Can't rebuild us.

3 out of 5

Duplicate relationship.

2.5 out of 5

Maker gift no loss.

3.5 out of 5

Space Marine bad boy builders.

3.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2009/01/great-sf-stories-01-martin-h-greenberg.htm... ( )

This is a collection of stories from 1939, the start of the Golden Age of science fiction (at least as perceived by the editors), the best of the year and part of the foundation of all later science fiction. I started with 1941, and frankly it was a better year.

I was not a fan of "Trends", Asimov's one contribution; I would have much preferred "Marooned off Vesta". Heinlein offers two stories. I would consider "Life-Line" the low point of this anthology, though my strong negative reaction to the stereotypes of the complacent arrogant scientists and the great inventor protagonist who likes tweaking them more than sharing knowledge with anyone is largely to blame there. "Misfit" is basically one of Heinlein's juveniles, with the Heinlein-standard uneducated supergenius. Okay, that story just lost a star when I realize that the main character is Wesley Crusher. I'm a huge fan of Asimov, and appreciate Heinlein, but their stories were the low points for this book.

My high point of the anthology was A. E. van Vogt's "Black Destroyer". Eando Binder's "I, Robot" is also an interesting story, very much reminiscent of Frankenstein (deliberately so) and Čapek's R.U.R.. Don A. Stuart's "Cloak of the Aesir" was a bit long and slow. Lester Del Rey's "The Day is Done" suffer from using a conceit that was dead on arrival, being one of those futuristic stories where everything is American symbols and the MacGuffin is the American Constitution or the like.

Generally, everything but Asimov and Heinlein's contributions were good, but nothing was great. As I said above, I enjoyed the anthology from 1941 and "Marooned off Vesta", so it's not as simple as not enjoying this era; perhaps, as with the choice of Asimov's stories, it was the selection, or perhaps the Golden Age was less then ripe at the time. It is an important anthology for students of science fiction, for anyone who wants to read the early short works, and I might have added a half star if I were rating it on that alone. From that perspective, however, it's missing a bibliography and a listing of major long form material of the year. ( )