The Arbor House Treasury of Great Science Fiction Short Novels

by Robert Silverberg (Editor/Contributor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor/Introduction), Samuel R. Delany

Includes:

Introduction by Robert Silverberg, Martin Harry Greenberg
Beyond bedlam by Wyman Guin
Equinoctial by John Varley
By his bootstraps by Robert A. Heinlein
The golden helix by Theodore Sturgeon
Born with the dead by Robert Silverberg
Second game by Charles V. De Vet and Katherine MacLean
The dead past by Isaac Asimov
The road to the sea by Arthur C. Clarke
The star pit by Samuel R. Delany
Giant killer by A. Bertram Chandler
A case of conscience by James Blish
Dio by Damon Knight
Houston, Houston, do you read? by James Tiptree, Jr.
On the storm planet by Cordwainer Smith
The miracle workers by Jack Vance

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

753 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

There 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.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good anthology of fifteen science fiction short novels, or four novelettes and eleven novellas according to the SFWA definitions as they apply to wordage. In either case, it's a long, massive book, and I was pleased when the SF Book Club released an affordable edition in 1981. Greenberg and Silverberg selected stories dating from 1941 (Heinlein's By His Bootstraps) to 1977 (Varley's Equinoctial) and struck a nice balance of famous classics and lesser-known works, as well as famous (Asimov, Clarke, Sturgeon) and less well-known authors (DeVet, MacLean, Guin). The contents are dominated by stories from Astounding SF magazine (five stories), with two from Galaxy, and one each from Infinity, If, F & SF, true pulp Thrilling Wonder Stories, Worlds of Tomorrow, the unlikely-named Two Complete Science Adventure Books, and two of the most recent from original book anthologies. I especially enjoyed Sturgeon's The Golden Helix, Delany's The Star Pit, editor Silverberg's Born with the Dead, Blish's A Case of Conscience, Chandler's Giant Killer, Heinlein's By His Bootstraps, Cordwainer Smith's On the Storm Planet, Tiptree's Houston, Houston, Do You Read? It was neat they included a Jack Vance that wasn't The Dragon Masters or The Last Castle (it was The Miracle Workers), and I remember being especially impressed with Wyman Guin's Beyond Bedlam. It's a great collection of old (and a few older!) classics.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five of these tales I enjoyed reading but only sampled the rest, not finding characters I could care about.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly great collection of novellas spanning from the 1950s through the 1970s. Particular favorites include:
1. Beyond Bedlam - Wyman Guin - a world where everyone is forced to have multiple personalities,
2. Giant Killer - A Bertram Chandler - life and death from the perspective of another life form. Author creates a fascinating society of vicious minds and their perception of the world.
3. A Case of Conscience - James Blish - a Garden of Eden that isn't truly the paradise it seems to be.
4. The Miracle Workers - Jack Vance - mixture of medieval magic with science
5. Golden Helix - Theodore Sturgeon - humans in suspended animation wake to find themselves on a strange jungle planet and discover the source of life.

These and most of the other stories each have some thought provoking ideas in them. Two less successful stories for me were: "On the Storm Planet" - by Cordwainer Smith - I just didn't get it. So many fascinating ideas, DNA manipulation, free will, criminals having their minds erased and a planet of perpetual storms, but in the end I didn't understand the point The other story I didn't enjoy was "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree Jr - a commentary on male/female roles that started well with astronauts who discover they have been transported 300 years into the future, but which degenerates into stereotypes and a crudely depicted attempted rape.

[Timothy]

(7/15 read)

15 novellas:

Beyond Bedlam (1951) • Wyman Guin
*** Equinoctial (1977) • John Varley
By His Bootstraps (1941) • Robert A. Heinlein
The Golden Helix (1954) • Theodore Sturgeon
**** Born with the Dead (1974) • Robert Silverberg
Second Game (1958) • Charles V. De Vet and Katherine MacLean
The Dead Past (1956) • Isaac Asimov
The Road to the Sea (1951) • Arthur C. Clarke
**** The Star Pit (1967) • Samuel R. Delany
Giant Killer (1945) • A. Bertram Chandler
*** A Case of Conscience (1953) • James Blish
Dio (1957) • Damon Knight
***** Houston, Houston, Do You Read? (1976) • James Tiptree, Jr.
*** On the Storm Planet (1965) • Cordwainer Smith
**** The Miracle-Workers (1958) • Jack Vance

[Lora · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this over the period of a couple of years or so.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this at my local library so I could read Heinlein's "By His Bootstraps".

[Kt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only read The Star Pit by Samuel R. Delaney

[bluetyson]

The Arbor House treasury of great science fiction short novels by Robert Silverberg (?)

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A better-than-average collection of fifteen longer science fiction pieces.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent selection of novellas by some great science fiction authors.