Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century

I thought this was an outstanding collection of 20th century short stories, exactly as advertised. It is arranged by time period, according to when the stories were published. It avoids, for the most part, stories that are overly dated by now, instead it focuses on stories with great concepts. Most are masterpieces, particularly the stories by Biggle, Aldiss, Le Guin, Ellison, Poul Anderson and Sturgeon. Only a couple caused me to wonder why they were selected.

Stories are clustered into 3 chronological eras: "The Golden Age", "The New Wave,:" and "The Media Generation." What strikes me is the parallel evolution and devolution of the SF tale; the early stories are jam packed with ideas (is there a story so full of invention as Heinlein's "All You Zombies"?), sometimes at the expense of literary craftsmanship. The later tales are better told, but have so much less to tell, often being the vessels of a single idea, or a fragment of an idea.

This collection of science fiction short stories is a wonderful exploration of the genre. The collection is divided into three sections: The Golden Age, The New Wave and the Media Generation. It includes some very famous stories I had read before (e.g. The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke and "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison).

There are also many authors and stories that I had never heard of before. I particularly enjoyed the author introductions at the start of each story which covered both the author's biography and notable works. This was a fun way to explore some of the giants of the science fiction genre. I recommend it to science fiction fans interested in discovering more authors.

I'm not sure this anthology quite lives up to its title, but it's worth buying for Ellison's "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" alone. In fact, that's exactly why I bought it, since I have many of the other stories elsewhere...

A solid anthology split into 3 sections, The Golden Age, The New Wave and The Media Generation.

Loved

Call Me Joe by Poul Anderson - Brilliant precursor to James Cameron's Avatar.

Passengers by Silverberg - A world where people's bodies can be usurped and disregarded at arbitrary times by intangible spirits with their own personalities. An interesting, unpredictable, progressive ending.

Sandkings by George R R Martin - An outstanding addition to the sf horror subgenre. A moral overtone to boot. Encouraged me to explore this author's collection Nightflyers and Other Stories. I was not disappointed.

Liked

The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke - A simple story exploring the relationship between Western rationalism and Eastern show more spirituality. Also anthologised in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One.

Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson - Classic tale of evolution. Also anthologised by Dozois.

Snow by John Crowley - A sentimental look at memory recall in the context of lost loved ones. Very "Dark Mirror"-esque. Also anthologised by Dozois.

Loathed

"All You Zombies--" by Heinlein - Time-travelling mystery, too much effort, didn't get it, not my cup of tea. show less

The stories in this collection are very uneven. I really liked "Sandkings," for example, but other stories are dated at best and unreadable at worst.

Great selection of stories. Sandkings (George R. R. Martin) and Tunesmith (Lloyd Biggle Jr) are not to be missed.