American Science Fiction: Eight Classic Novels of the 1960s

by Gary K. Wolfe (Editor), Daniel Keyes, Poul Anderson

In a deluxe two-volume collector's edition boxed set, eight mind-bending novels from science fiction's most transformative decade, including the landmark classic Flowers for Algernon.

The tumultuous 1960s was a watershed decade for American science fiction. As the nation raced to the moon, acknowledged masters from the genre's "golden age" reached the height of their powers. As it confronted calls for civil rights and countercultural revolution, a "new wave" of brilliant young voices emerged, upending the genre's "pulp" conventions with newfound literary sophistication; female, queer, and nonwhite authors broke into the ranks of SF writers, introducing provocative new protagonists and themes. Here, in a deluxe, two-volume collector's set, editor Gary K. Wolfe gathers eight wildly inventive novels, the decade's best: Daniel Keyes' beloved Flowers for Algernon and Poul Anderson's madcap The High Crusade; Clifford D. Simak's Hugo Award-winning Way Station; Roger Zelazny's post-apocalyptic . . . And Call Me Conrad (previously published as This Immortal); Joanna Russ' Picnic on Paradise, a pioneering work of feminist SF, and Samuel R. Delany's proto-cyberpunk space opera Nova; R.A. Lafferty's quirky, neglected, utterly original Past Master; and Jack Vance's haunting Emphyrio.

Genres: Science Fiction, Classics

1460 pages, Hardcover

Published November 5, 2019

About the author

Gary K. Wolfe is Emeritus Professor of Humanities at Roosevelt University and the author, most recently, of Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature and Sightings: Reviews 2002–2006. He writes regular review columns for Locus magazine and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts with Jonathan Strahan the Hugo-nominated Coode Street Podcast.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nova *** -- This is a wide-ranging and entertaining novel. I’m not a sci-fi aficionado but this novel has many elements to make it entertaining to most readers. It has plenty of action and touches on a wide range of issues include class, culture, cyborgs, and colonization. It even features a multi-racial world.

It is a quest novel that has been compared to Moby Dick. It is good, but I felt it lacks the depth and the development of characterization throughout the story that would raise it to greatness. At its core, it is an adventure novel though it does offer some narrative devices that go beyond the simple adventure story.

This is considered a sci-fi classic, so if that’s your genre you’ll certainly want to read it. If your tastes are more literary, like mine, this is certainly worth reading if you are looking to add some different flavors to your reading.

[Brown Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looked at from a suitable angle, this could be considered the second half of a science fiction anthology, the first half being the two volumes reprinting novels of the 1950s. There's a heritage of short fiction anthologies in sci-fi, but the costs of printing books have rendered anthologies of novels a much rarer phenomenon. The 19 novels of this sequence are certainly among the very best of cold war American sci-fi, and suggest it is erroneous to consider cold war sci-fi to have been primarily a short fiction genre. Wolfe has assembled what I would consider a nominee for best sf anthology ever.

Suitable purchase for sci-fi fans who want a more portable possibly less expensive way to possess all these novels in boards, and for those who want a sampling of the best sci-fi of the era at a reasonable cost, and don't have time to read everything to find the gems.

[Timothy]

The High Crusade (1960) • Poul Anderson
**** Way Station (1963) • Clifford D. Simak
** Flowers for Algernon (1966) • Daniel Keyes
... And Call Me Conrad (1961) • Roger Zelazny
Past Master (1968) • R. A. Lafferty
Picnic on Paradise (1968) • Joanna Russ
**** Nova (1968) • Samuel R. Delany
***** Emphyrio (1969) • Jack Vance