What do you think?
Rate this book
One and Wonder: Piers Anthony's Remembered Stories
Piers Anthony presents a compendium of the Golden Age science fiction classics that inspired his astonishing career—timeless tales by Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson, Walter M. Miller Jr., and other early SF masters
When Piers Anthony was thirteen years old, he picked up a copy of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, and his life changed forever. These breathtaking stories of space exploration and remarkable technologies, of alien cultures and future dystopias blew his mind and set his imagination free. Now, after nearly two hundred novels and many New York Times bestsellers, one of the most creative minds in contemporary science fiction and fantasy returns to his roots, presenting the amazing tales that made him the writer he is today.
In One and Wonder, Anthony invites readers to experience the same amazing tales that moved him in his youth, beginning with the first science fiction story he ever read: Jack Williamson’s “The Equalizer,” in which the members of a space mission return to Earth after twenty years only to discover that the world they left is gone forever. Anthony continues on to Theodore Sturgeon’s disturbing tale of an alien virus that literally turns people inside out, Isaac Asimov’s fable of a dangerous automaton hiding among masses of seemingly identical but more-benign machines, and seven more prime examples of Golden Age speculative and fantasy fiction, as breathtakingly inventive and unforgettable today as when they first mesmerized a young Piers Anthony.
When Piers Anthony was thirteen years old, he picked up a copy of Astounding Science Fiction magazine, and his life changed forever. These breathtaking stories of space exploration and remarkable technologies, of alien cultures and future dystopias blew his mind and set his imagination free. Now, after nearly two hundred novels and many New York Times bestsellers, one of the most creative minds in contemporary science fiction and fantasy returns to his roots, presenting the amazing tales that made him the writer he is today.
In One and Wonder, Anthony invites readers to experience the same amazing tales that moved him in his youth, beginning with the first science fiction story he ever read: Jack Williamson’s “The Equalizer,” in which the members of a space mission return to Earth after twenty years only to discover that the world they left is gone forever. Anthony continues on to Theodore Sturgeon’s disturbing tale of an alien virus that literally turns people inside out, Isaac Asimov’s fable of a dangerous automaton hiding among masses of seemingly identical but more-benign machines, and seven more prime examples of Golden Age speculative and fantasy fiction, as breathtakingly inventive and unforgettable today as when they first mesmerized a young Piers Anthony.
327 pages, ebook
First published February 1, 2013
33 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 3, 2018
An eclectic collection of early science fiction works selected for their seminal impact on Anthony. Some good science fiction: some good stories; some neither. Don’t read the Introduction by Piers Anthony: spoilers. Not all strictly SF, some stray into urban fantasy or horror
“Equalizer” by Jack Williamson (1947) “Man lives at the mercy of blind chance, surviving only through a peculiar combination of improbable factors.” Utopian twaddle we all sighed over. Well written and daring for that day. No, cold fusion (or whatever) is not the answer to world peace.
“Breaking Point” by James Gunn (1953) A psychological thriller. “For man’s sense is falsely asserted to be the standard of things; on the contrary, all the perceptions, both of the senses and of the mind, bear reference to man and not to the universe; and the human mind resembles those uneven mirrors which impart their own properties to different objects … and distorts and disfigures them …. For every one … has a cave or den of his own which refracts and discolors the light of nature.” Francis Bacon (1561-1626) “Reality is what it is, and not what it seems to be.” “… using a game whose rules he knew to relate to the one whose rules he didn’t know,”
“Vengeance for Nikolai” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. 1957. Urgh.
“Wherever You May be.” James Gunn 1957. “There was something about machines and the things they made which was basically alien to the human spirit. They might disguise themselves for a time as willing slaves, but eventually, inevitably, they turned against their masters. At the psychological moment, they rebelled.”
The only one I recommend skipping is “Ground Leave Incident” by Rog Phillips. It involves a rape and many of the archaic and offensive attitudes toward it of the twentieth century.
There were more, including Asimov's first robot story.
“Equalizer” by Jack Williamson (1947) “Man lives at the mercy of blind chance, surviving only through a peculiar combination of improbable factors.” Utopian twaddle we all sighed over. Well written and daring for that day. No, cold fusion (or whatever) is not the answer to world peace.
“Breaking Point” by James Gunn (1953) A psychological thriller. “For man’s sense is falsely asserted to be the standard of things; on the contrary, all the perceptions, both of the senses and of the mind, bear reference to man and not to the universe; and the human mind resembles those uneven mirrors which impart their own properties to different objects … and distorts and disfigures them …. For every one … has a cave or den of his own which refracts and discolors the light of nature.” Francis Bacon (1561-1626) “Reality is what it is, and not what it seems to be.” “… using a game whose rules he knew to relate to the one whose rules he didn’t know,”
“Vengeance for Nikolai” by Walter M. Miller, Jr. 1957. Urgh.
“Wherever You May be.” James Gunn 1957. “There was something about machines and the things they made which was basically alien to the human spirit. They might disguise themselves for a time as willing slaves, but eventually, inevitably, they turned against their masters. At the psychological moment, they rebelled.”
The only one I recommend skipping is “Ground Leave Incident” by Rog Phillips. It involves a rape and many of the archaic and offensive attitudes toward it of the twentieth century.
There were more, including Asimov's first robot story.
July 19, 2022
An interesting anthology, mostly decent golden age stories from big name authors of the era like Asimov, James Gunn, Jack Williamson, and Theodore Sturgeon. Anthony writes a brief forward about what each story meant to him as a child; then he writes a brief afterword about his thoughts after rereading them decades later.
Vengeance for Nikolai by Walter Miller and Ground Leave Incident by Rog Phillips are the standouts, both surprisingly fresh over 50 years after their first publication. The worst story was The Girl Had Guts by Theodore Sturgeon, it is based on a bad pun and probably would have had me groaning back in the 1960s.
Vengeance for Nikolai by Walter Miller and Ground Leave Incident by Rog Phillips are the standouts, both surprisingly fresh over 50 years after their first publication. The worst story was The Girl Had Guts by Theodore Sturgeon, it is based on a bad pun and probably would have had me groaning back in the 1960s.
October 11, 2018
First anthology in awhile
Reading what Piers Anthony likes makes me want to read more of what He writes. As one of Heinline’s characters once said,”A psychologist would love a look at your reading list”.
Reading what Piers Anthony likes makes me want to read more of what He writes. As one of Heinline’s characters once said,”A psychologist would love a look at your reading list”.
June 20, 2013
This anthology features stories from the early days of science fiction, selected by Piers Anthony, as the stories that turned him into a science fiction fan, and then author. A couple of the stories haven't aged well, but for the most part these stories are well written and thought prrovoking.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews