The Hugo Winners, Volumes 1 and 2

This is the one you HAD to get when you joined the Science Fiction Book Club back in the day (remember them? you got, I think four books for a buck plus shipping.) I sent in the little card from inside an Ace Double (or maybe a Perry Rhodan novel, I forget) and lo, a couple of months later the box arrived...I was big into Asimov back then and I got his "Buy Jupiter and Other Stories", "The Gods Themselves" (awesome book!), The Foundation Trilogy (in one volume, excellent!) and...this one, the piece d'resistance.

There's not a lemon in the carload. They're ALL good. No, not all of them will be stories you'll necessarily enjoy. I'll admit I'm not fond of McCaffrey. But that's personal taste, and I bet she wouldn't like my stuff either. show more But what you will find are all the award winners and Isaac's ever-thoughtful comments on each one. I still have a copy of the old SFBC volume, and I won't part with it, even though it's second hand and lacks a dust jacket. The stories are so good and there's so many of them, stories you will want to come back to and read over and over, stories that will introduce you to writers who will become your favorites.

I've left the Science Fiction Book Club behind, but this book remains, and I suspect it ever shall. A true Book Of Wonders, it belongs on every readers' shelf. show less

This is a must-own collection, with many classic stories. To mention just a couple, there is Eric Frank Russel's "Allamagoosa", one of the funniest things I have ever read. The book also includes Daniel Keyes original (before he expanded it into a novel) version of "Flowers for Algernon", which is simply one of the best things anyone has written, period.

Mostly* blech. The first batch had far too many Warriors, and the second had too much Weirdness. There were a few stories that have been anthologized elsewhere that are worth reading if one is a big fan of this old speculative fiction, or if one is interested, perhaps, in the first stories that explored an idea that has since become a trope.

[b:Allamagoosa|20652992|Allamagoosa|Eric Frank Russell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391029981s/20652992.jpg|39948430] is funny.
[b:The Star|13598725|The Star|Arthur C. Clarke|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1451214185s/13598725.jpg|19189646] is a touchstone.
I usually recommend Simak, and so will list [b:The Big Front Yard|16396737|The Big Front Yard (Astounding Science Fiction. Vol. LXII. show more No. 2. October 1958)|Clifford D. Simak|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380890849s/16396737.jpg|22583908].
[b:That Hell-Bound Train|20653820|That Hell-Bound Train|Robert Bloch|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391043646s/20653820.jpg|13647235] is more horror, and more literary; quite good.
The short-story version of [b:Flowers for Algernon|36576608|Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1510416245s/36576608.jpg|3337594] is included here.
Three stories by [a:Harlan Ellison|7415|Harlan Ellison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1377708311p2/7415.jpg] are included.
And the only woman included is [a:Anne McCaffrey|26|Anne McCaffrey|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1323715139p2/26.jpg], for [b:Weyr Search|23574136|Weyr Search|Anne McCaffrey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1429838251s/23574136.jpg|43172583].
(The others are not worth mentioning.)

*However, there is one novelette that is brilliant, enchanting, literary, engaging, and very much ahead of its time. It's not even sexist, as we're led to expect that all fiction from the era is (and the others are). Why have none of the other anthologies that I've read reprinted [b:The Darfsteller |1613382|The Darfsteller And Other Stories|Walter M. Miller Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1334787405s/1613382.jpg|1607187] by [a:Walter M. Miller Jr.|6025722|Walter M. Miller Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1339680458p2/6025722.jpg], author of the well-known and deservedly lauded [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1450516880s/164154.jpg|250975]?! Don't be put off by the title. If you've ever felt pressured by the pace of technological advances, if you have any interest in the performing arts, if you've ever had a demeaning job, if you've ever loved & lost... read this story! show less

Some of these stories are better than others - at least you can expect that in an anthology, but one is left wondering whether that "better" has more do with the reader's own likes and dislikes. Because this collection is definitely excellent, representing some of the best authors in sci-fi. Asimov's brief introductions are silly but personal in nature - introducing the authors as people he knows or has met. Each story has its key, its mystery and its appeal that draws you in...[in process]

Reviewed Nov. 2004

Asimov's usual arrogant style of writing about himself is never more apparent than when he sets up the Hugo Award winner stories. I was very disappointed with the first few stories, "The Darfsletter" and overlong story about a dejected actor who tries to sabotages the robot plays that have replaced human actors. The next "Allamagoosa" was a red-tape paper pusher story about men who are bureaucrats, the whole story is about a miss-spelling. "Exploration Time" another overly long story of a man and his bears that try to colonize an unfriendly world. Finally Clarke's "The Star" shows me that these Hugo winners can indeed be excellent stories. Next "Or all the Seas with Oysters" could have happened at any modern year -a show more bicycle shop- safety pins and clothes hangers never think of them the same way. "The Big Front Yard" another wonderful suspense novelette makes you think about the common man - and talents we all have making us unique. "The Hell-Bound Train" was okay - more like something from a Twilight Zone episode. "Flowers for Algernon" was a tear jerker, I think I've heard of this story and wish I had read this while at CSUMB. Lots of labs, testing and fooling the humans. The last story, "The Longest Voyage" talks about the common Sci Fi theme of advanced societies giving their knowledge to "primitive" peoples. The need to continuing to discover for ourselves the unknown outweighs this knowledge handed to us. All the stories have a common theme - no female lead characters guess Sci Fi writers are a bunch of male losers!

17-2004 show less

A terrific collection of short stories, literally each one a classic. Highlights (although most of the stories are great) include 'Flowers for Algernon' by Keyes, the 'Star' by Clarke, 'I have no mouth and must Scream' by Ellison, 'Nightwings' by Silverberg, 'Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones'by Delany and possibly my favorite 'The Darfsteller' by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

I read these stories when I was a boy, many years later they haven't lost their impact. I could rave on and on about the quality of the stories contained within this book, it is amazing the quality of the Science Fiction short story during this time period. Pick the book up and read.

It took me forever to finish this book; well, con razón, since I was reading many other books at the same time.

There was one story that particularly moved me, and not in a positive way: "The Sharing of Flesh," by Poul Anderson. If you know that I am an ethical vegan, and you read this story, then you will understand.