World's Best Science Fiction 1971

World's Best Science Fiction #7

by Donald A. Wollheim (Editor), Terry Carr (Editor)

Contents:
Introduction • essay by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr
Slow Sculpture • (1970) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
Bird in the Hand • [Svetz] • (1970) • novelette by Larry Niven
Ishmael in Love • (1970) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg
Invasion of Privacy • (1970) • novelette by Bob Shaw
Waterclap • (1970) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
Continued on Next Rock • (1970) • novelette by R. A. Lafferty
The Thing in the Stone • (1970) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak
Nobody Lives on Burton Street • (1970) • shortstory by Gregory Benford
Whatever Became of the McGowans? • (1970) • novelette by Michael G. Coney
The Last Time Around • (1968) • novelette by Arthur Sellings
Greyspun's Gift • (1970) • shortstory by Neal Barrett, Jr.
The Shaker Revival • (1970) • novelette by Gerald Jonas
Dear Aunt Annie • (1970) • novelette by Gordon Eklund
Confessions • [Jose Silvera] • (1970) • novelette by Ron Goulart
Gone Are the Lupo • (1970) • shortstory by H. B. Hickey

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Donald Allen Wollheim was a science fiction writer, editor, publisher and fan. He published his own works under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell.

A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.


In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."

Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.

Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.

He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.

In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.

After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the seventh annual anthology edited by Carr and Wollheim in which they presented their choices of the best short science fiction published in the previous year. It's interesting to note how much the field had changed since the series' inception, with The New Wave movement in full swing, original anthologies appearing whereas there had only been digest-sized monthly magazines, and, of course, new authors. I thought they did a good job of selecting representative works from all directions, even though they may not have been the best of the best. I particularly liked Theodore Sturgeon's Slow Sculpture, Larry Niven's Bird in the Hand, Robert Silverberg's Ishmael in Love, R.A. Lafferty's Continued on Next Rock, Clifford D. Simak's The Thing in the Stone, and Ron Goulart's Confessions. My favorite was The Shaker Revival by Gerald Jonas.

[Ari Pérez · Rating 3 out of 5]

[***] Slow Sculpture • (1970) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
[**] Bird in the Hand • [Svetz] • (1970) • novelette by Larry Niven
[*****] Ishmael in Love • (1970) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg
[***] Invasion of Privacy • (1970) • novelette by Bob Shaw
[**] Waterclap • (1970) • novelette by Isaac Asimov
[**] Continued on Next Rock • (1970) • novelette by R. A. Lafferty
[****] The Thing in the Stone • (1970) • novelette by Clifford D. Simak
[**] Nobody Lives on Burton Street • (1970) • shortstory by Gregory Benford [as by Greg Benford ]
[****] Whatever Became of the McGowans? • (1970) • novelette by Michael G. Coney
[***] The Last Time Around • (1968) • novelette by Arthur Sellings
[***] Greyspun's Gift • (1970) • shortstory by Neal Barrett, Jr.
[***] The Shaker Revival • (1970) • novelette by Gerald Jonas (Read before in Silverberg's Alpha 2)
[***] Dear Aunt Annie • (1970) • novelette by Gordon Eklund
[*] Confessions • (1970) • novelette by Ron Goulart
[**] Gone Are the Lupo • (1970) • shortstory by H. B. Hickey

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 4 out of 5]

8- The minus here is for the few stories that I found a little too frivolous (Like the Ron Goulart story 'Confessions' or Larry Nivens 'Bird in the hand') but on the whole this is an excellent collection of sci fi, showcasing the genre broadening and incorporating sociological and psychological themes, but also moving away from the sexism and racism of the fifties. The fact that I already knew several of the stories collected here goes to show the quality of the tales. There are some classics here. 'Slow sculpture' by Theodore Sturgeon is a small tale with a psychological look at an engineer who doesn't seem to be able to get his invention out there. The scientifical speculation takes a step back to focus on the interaction between the protagonists. Even so, it's pretty forgettable. 'Ishmael in love' by Robert Silverberg on the other hand is a great story about a love crossing the species divide, with an unusual protagonist. I quite liked this one and the voice it was written in. Bob Shaw's invasion of privacy is great as well, about a very strange alien invasion. It starts with a boy mentioning seeing his grandmother in an abandoned house, after she died two weeks earlier ... A melangoly atmosphere throughout. I already knew 'Waterclap' by Asimov, which is not his best story, but it was fun seeing him describe life on the ocean floor for once instead of life between the stars. It was a bit preachy. R.A. Lafferty's 'Continued on next rock' was more magical realism, or fantasy of a sort, even if it concerned archaeologists. The weirdness was fascinating. The theme was continued in Clifford D. Simaks 'The thing in the stone'. I liked this story with a gentle, flowing rhythm about a man who can see the past and talk with the stars, and senses a presence in the stone beneath his feet. A bit long maybe for what it tries to do. 'Nobody lives on Burton Street' by Gregory Benford was a bit too much of a parody for my taste. 'Whatever became of the McGowans?' I had also read before. I liked the weirdness slowly creeping up on the protagonists and the almost lulling effect of what is in essence body horror. A great tale. 'The last time around' was okay, but I didn't like the conclusion of it. I don't think it would work the way the protagonists thought it would. Too old fashioned a tale for this collection, I think. 'Greyspun's Gift' seemed a bit old fashioned as well, but had a killer ending. 'The shaker revival' was more of a sociological extrapolation, that looked on a new sect in the United States. An original form and it leaves its conclusions to the reader. 'Dear aunt Annie' wanted too much to be clever, I thought. It didn't really work for me. I did very much like the closing story 'Gone are the lupo' by H. B. Hickey. The introduction states this was the first story by the author since twenty years. I didn't know his name before, but this story shows great talent. He writes from an alien perspective, showing the callousness of human colonists and exposing their hubris in not taking the effort to understand an alien ecosystem ... A bit like 'Whatever became of the Mc Gowans?' in that regard. A strong conclusion to this collection.

[Samwise Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow Sculpture by Theodore Sturgeon 5/5
Bird in the Hand by Larry Niven 3/5
Ishmael in Love by Robert Silverberg 2/5
Invasion of Privacy by Bob Shaw 4/5
Waterclap by Isaac Asimov 4/5
Continued on Next Rock by R.A. Lafferty 5/5
The Thing in the Stone by Clifford D. Simak 2/5
Nobody Lives On Burton Street by Gregory Benford 3/5
Whatever Became of the McGowans? By Michael G. Coney 4/5
The Last Time Around by Arthur Sellings 2/5
Greyspun's Gift by Neal Barrett, Jr. 2/5
The Shaker Revival by Gerald Jonas 4/5
Dear Aunt Annie by Gordon Eklund 4/5
Confessions by Ron Goulart 3/5
Gone Are the Lupo by H.B. Hickey 2/5

[Kushtrim · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always astonishing to see how the authors of the past decades pictured our future. WBSF is a great collection of short novels, giving the reader wonderful stories to get an interesting point-of-view of how our future might look like from an era where there were no smart devices, no internet, and a very limited way of getting information about what's happening worldwide. Highly recommended.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite is “The Thing in the Stone” by Clifford D. Simak.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mismash of classic sci-fiction stories. Some are great and give pause for thought. Other's are magical thinking books, where the science is really just the supernatural used for a conceit that the author wants to use to make a point. I don't like the latter... and they tend to be full of strange names and made up words to create the 'futuristic' feel.

But in general, I enjoyed the stories, and nothing ever hangs around too long.

[Ed]

ISFDB 55367. OCLC 38866353.