Nebula Winners 14

Nebula Awards Showcases #14

by Frederik Pohl (editor)

Bantam, 1982. Mass market paperback. Required reading for the science fiction fan!

A Guide to the Perplexed (1980) (essay) by Frederik Pohl
"The Persistence of Vision" (1978) by John Varley "Stone" (1978) by Edward Bryant
"A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye" (1977) by Charles L. Grant
"Science 1938" (essay) by Isaac Asimov
"The Future of Science Fiction" (essay) by Norman Spinrad
"Dreamsnake" (excerpt) (1978) by Vonda N. McIntyre
"Little Green Men from Afar" (1976) (essay) by L. Sprague de Camp
"Cassandra" (1978) by C. J. Cherryh
"Seven American Nights" (1978) by Gene Wolfe

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

220 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published January 1, 1982

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Deepti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of stories and essays from 1978! Though I liked Dreamsnake, the essays and the shortlists more than the novella and short story winner

[Timothy]

5 stories:

(2/5 read)

**** The Persistence of Vision (1978) • John Varley
Stone (1978) • Edward Bryant
A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye (1977) • Charles L. Grant
Cassandra (1978) • C. J. Cherryh
***** Seven American Nights (1978) • Gene Wolfe

[Ian Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes one of my favourite novellas: John Varley's "The Persistence of Vision."

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent read of some classic Science Fiction. I especially liked "The Persistence of Vision" by John Varley and the excerpt from "Dreamsnake" by Vonda McIntyre.

[Andy]

ANTHOLOGY.

[Melvie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Green Men from Afar • (1976) • essay by L. Sprague de Camp: "Also, more and more find it possible, by easy travel and communication, to confine their social lives to those who share their own outlooks and prejudices. Wherever they go, they seek out others of their own peculiar views, since most folk prefer having their existing beliefs confirmed to having them refuted. In such a limited milieu, the most bizarre ideas can be solemnly embraced, because the cultists, seeing only one another outside of working hours, are never forced to consider other points of view. Hence a leader, if he can isolate his followers long enough, can convince them that the moon is made of green cheese. Since they never hear him contradicted, they believe it indefinitely. Thus contemporary society tends to become more and more subdivided into small, exclusive, mentally self-isolated groups. Each has its own version of the True Faith and never listens to any other.

What can be done about this? Something, but not a great deal. If one is in academe, one can drill one's students in the criteria for judging a statement... One can warn one's students against the stigmata of the charlatan: arrogance, garrulity, appeals to emotion, authoritarianism, incomprehensible language, conviction of his own grandeur and persecution, and certainty that those who reject his ideas are scoundrels or madmen."