What do you think?
New Dimensions #6
New Dimensions 6: Science Fiction
Anthology of 12 original stories.
- GenresAnthologiesShort Stories
240 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1976
About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,412 books1,671 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 21, 2020
This was the sixth volume of Silverberg's annual original science fiction short stories anthologies. Silverberg championed the New Wave style in these books, but some of the stories he included this time around just kind of fell flat for me. It doesn't contain any works of the knock-your-sox-off variety, but I remember liking the stories by Tom Reamy, George Alec Effinger, and Barry N. Malzberg. My favorite was The Psyclologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats by James Tiptree, Jr. The cover is rather bland, too; just a big fuzzy digit, a real let-down after the lovely cover than the third book had.
September 21, 2026
Robert Silverberg seemed to be an entirely different person whenever he edited the New Dimensions series. He turned into Damon Knight Lite (Knight was the editor of a similar anthology series called Orbit.) When Silverberg edited a reprint anthology, he tended to choose stories with traditional storytelling elements, hard sci-fi, monsters (bug-eyed or not) -- all that good stuff.
Although it was admirable that he tried to get his considerable audience to read new authors, the story selection was baffling. Makes me shudder at how bad a story had to be in order for Silverberg to reject it.
Although this wasn't the worst New Dimensions that I've read (that dubious honor goes to New Dimensions 7) this was nowhere near the best. Two of the stories did make the cut for The Best of New Dimensions, but they were two stories I didn't like. I would've chosen the Pollack, the Gotschalk and either Effinger.
Selections:
* "Target, Berlin!" By George Alec Effinger. Amusing alternative history story where WWII was postponed until 1974. In 1981, a key player named George Alec Effinger publishes a memoir about the war, to mixed reviews. It's also a parody of the automotive industry in the early 1970s.
* "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" by James Tiptree, Jr./Alice Hastings Bradley/Racoona Sheldon/etc. This novella somehow managed to get into The Best of New Dimensions. This was written as a protest against animal experimentation. It begins with screaming newborn rats methodically being beheaded, and gets worse. She's preaching to the choir with me, so I had to skip this. Includes an illustrated page of rats in experiments.
* "Is Your Child Using Drugs?" By Rachel Pollack. Although initially amusing, this story quickly turns creepy as we realize the kid in the example is drug free.
* "Charisma Leak" by Felix C. Gotschalk. This stream of consciousness story of two days in the life of the world's most charismatic man presages William Gibson. Actually quite amusing at times.
* "Secret Rider" by Marta Randall. Love stinks, no matter what the planet or time.
* "On the Air" by Barry N. Malzberg. This also made it to The Best of New Dimensions. In that book, Our Editor revealed that Malzberg tried to withdraw this story after it was submitted. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. This is a first person account of a frequent caller to a radio show. It's one of those stories that, after it's done, you have no idea if you like it or not.
* "Dinosaurs" by Tom Reamy. A long story filled sith sex and death that doesn't make much sense. What a disappointment.
* "Mask" by Donnan Call Jeffers, Jr./Alex Jeffers (grandson of poet Robinson Jeffers). An incredibly annoying rewrite of the Orpheus myth.
* "Water" by David Marshak. Set in the (then) fantastical year of 2022. The author states that he was raised in a cult, which makes me wonder how much of this story is biographical. A tribe of humans living on an intergenerational spacecraft explore strange new worlds and sensations. This is a diary of one fellow called Isak. It's a difficult story, but stick with it. It makes a weird kind of sense.
* "Osiris On Crutches" by Philip Jose Farmer and Leo Q. Tincrowdor. This is an amusing reworking of the Osiris myths in the Farmer fashion. Tincrowdor was an artist friend of Farmer's.
* "Chase Our Blues Away" by George Alec Effinger. A tongue-in-cheek fable about growing up. A Mickey Mouse like creature befriends a group of schoolchildren every summer for years. A college student reflects on the friendship.
* "The Alternates" by James P. Girard. Just a bunch of people (and robots) arguing with each other.
Although it was admirable that he tried to get his considerable audience to read new authors, the story selection was baffling. Makes me shudder at how bad a story had to be in order for Silverberg to reject it.
Although this wasn't the worst New Dimensions that I've read (that dubious honor goes to New Dimensions 7) this was nowhere near the best. Two of the stories did make the cut for The Best of New Dimensions, but they were two stories I didn't like. I would've chosen the Pollack, the Gotschalk and either Effinger.
Selections:
* "Target, Berlin!" By George Alec Effinger. Amusing alternative history story where WWII was postponed until 1974. In 1981, a key player named George Alec Effinger publishes a memoir about the war, to mixed reviews. It's also a parody of the automotive industry in the early 1970s.
* "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats" by James Tiptree, Jr./Alice Hastings Bradley/Racoona Sheldon/etc. This novella somehow managed to get into The Best of New Dimensions. This was written as a protest against animal experimentation. It begins with screaming newborn rats methodically being beheaded, and gets worse. She's preaching to the choir with me, so I had to skip this. Includes an illustrated page of rats in experiments.
* "Is Your Child Using Drugs?" By Rachel Pollack. Although initially amusing, this story quickly turns creepy as we realize the kid in the example is drug free.
* "Charisma Leak" by Felix C. Gotschalk. This stream of consciousness story of two days in the life of the world's most charismatic man presages William Gibson. Actually quite amusing at times.
* "Secret Rider" by Marta Randall. Love stinks, no matter what the planet or time.
* "On the Air" by Barry N. Malzberg. This also made it to The Best of New Dimensions. In that book, Our Editor revealed that Malzberg tried to withdraw this story after it was submitted. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. This is a first person account of a frequent caller to a radio show. It's one of those stories that, after it's done, you have no idea if you like it or not.
* "Dinosaurs" by Tom Reamy. A long story filled sith sex and death that doesn't make much sense. What a disappointment.
* "Mask" by Donnan Call Jeffers, Jr./Alex Jeffers (grandson of poet Robinson Jeffers). An incredibly annoying rewrite of the Orpheus myth.
* "Water" by David Marshak. Set in the (then) fantastical year of 2022. The author states that he was raised in a cult, which makes me wonder how much of this story is biographical. A tribe of humans living on an intergenerational spacecraft explore strange new worlds and sensations. This is a diary of one fellow called Isak. It's a difficult story, but stick with it. It makes a weird kind of sense.
* "Osiris On Crutches" by Philip Jose Farmer and Leo Q. Tincrowdor. This is an amusing reworking of the Osiris myths in the Farmer fashion. Tincrowdor was an artist friend of Farmer's.
* "Chase Our Blues Away" by George Alec Effinger. A tongue-in-cheek fable about growing up. A Mickey Mouse like creature befriends a group of schoolchildren every summer for years. A college student reflects on the friendship.
* "The Alternates" by James P. Girard. Just a bunch of people (and robots) arguing with each other.
Read
March 28, 2021very important, for everyone keeping track, out there.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews