9th Annual Edition: The Year's Best S-F

The Year's Best S-F (Merril) #9

by Judith Merril (Editor), Bruce McAllister (Contributor), Fritz Leiber (Contributor)

Contents:

Bernie the Faust (1963) by Williamm Tenn (novelette )
Fortress Ship (1963) by Fred Saberhagen [Berserker] (short story)
Mr. Waterman (1961) by Peter Redgrove (short story)
Mrs. Pigafetta Swims Well (1963) by Reginald Bretnor (short story)
Tree Trunks (1963) by John Gallagher (cartoon)
They Don't Make Life Like They Used To (1963) by Alfred Bester (novelette)
The Great Nebraska Sea (1963) by Allan Danzig (short story)
The Faces Outside (1963) by Bruce McAllister (short story)
A Slight Case of Limbo (1963) by Lloyd Biggle Jr (short story)
237 Talking Statues Etc. (1963) by Fritz Leiber (short story)
The Jazz Machine (1962) by Richard Matheson (poem)
Mourning Song (1963) by Charles Beaumont (short story)
The Jewbird (1963) by Bernard Malamud (short story)
On the 4th Planet (1963) by J.F. Bone (short story)
Poppa Needs Shorts (1964) by Walt Richmond and Leigh Richmond (short story)
Double Standard (1963) by Fredric Brown (short story)
Interview (1963) by Frank A. Javor (short story)
8 O'Clock in the Morning (1963) by Ray Nelson (short story)
Where Is Everybody? (1963) by Ben Bova (essay)
The Earth Dwellers (1963) by André Maurois (novelette)
The Nobel Prize Winners (1963) by W.J.J. Gordon (short story)
Hot Planet (1963) by Hal Clement (short story)
Confessions of the First Number '63 by Cliff Owsley (short story)
The Ming Vase '63 by E.C. Tubb (short story)
A Bargain with Cashel (1963) by Gerald Kersh (short story)
Drunkboat (1963) by Cordwainer Smith [Instrumentality] (novelette)
Summation: SF 1963 (1964) by Judith Merril (essay)
Books (1964) by Anthony Boucher (essay)
Honorable Mentions (1964) by Judith Merril (essay)

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Josephine Juliet Grossman

aka Cyril Judd (with C.M. Kornbluth)

Judith Josephine Grossman (Boston, Massachusetts, January 21, 1923 - Toronto, Ontario, September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril about 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist.

Although Judith Merril's first paid writing was in other genres, in her first few years of writing published science fiction she wrote her three novels (all but the first in collaboration with C.M. Kornbluth) and some stories. Her roughly four decades in that genre also included writing 26 published short stories, and editing a similar number of anthologies.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Merril was a very good editor and anthologist, and produced an annual best-of-the-year volume before Wollheim or Carr or Dozois. I frequently disagreed with her selections for one reason or another, but she was unarguably quite good. Rather than limiting her selections to the best science fiction from the genre periodicals, she included works from the fields of fantasy and horror, and included material from places like The Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, and The Atlantic Monthly. This ninth volume, her picks for the best of 1963, even includes a cartoon, and works from non-genre writers like Bernard Malamud and Gerald Kersh. My favorites are stories by Cordwainer Smith, Hal Clement, Fritz Leiber, William Tenn, Alfred Bester, and Fred Saberhagen.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection. I really like classic scifi, and this is a wonderful contemporary collection of short stories from 1965.

When you read classic science fiction, of course you have to make some allowances. But I am not willing to make too many! I famously have little patience for bullshit sexist tropes, etc, no matter how foundational the book. And I don't know if it's because the editor of this collection is a woman or what, but with these stories I can just READ them. I don't have to explain away too many details in my head.

I'm pretty sure I finished this collection in the fall of 2021, even if I'm just getting around to writing this review in June 2024. A couple of years ago I was in a used bookstore on vacation that had an impressive science fiction section, and I was thrilled to find a BUNCH of these from various years, so I snagged a few. I couldn't be happier with them. Love you, Judith Merril!!

[Lorelei · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I learned from this book: I like the older science fiction better than anything I've seen in recent years - or do I mean decades. Maybe that means I'm an old fart, but it just seems that the older sf manages to be much more hopeful. I finished this anthology with a happy smile, not even able to tell you which of this amazing collection was my favourite. I always liked Judith Merrill as an anthologist.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving from the Meadowdale development, a Levittown inhabited primarily by the families of veterans, in unincorporated Kane County to Park Ridge, a middle- to upper middle-class suburb on Chicago's northwest side, required an adjustment which spanned years. I was ten, a fifth-grader unaware of race and class issues until becoming exposed to the status consciousness on rampant racism of this new community. I hadn't even heard the word "fuck" before moving. I heard it a lot from these cruel children of respectable Republican, Protestant families. I hadn't ever been in a mean fight. The first day on the playground at Washington Elementary I had to fight a complete stranger within a circle of jeering grade schoolers. I hated it and I, formally a pretty social kid, withdrew into solitary activities.

Chief among these activities was reading. My parents and parernal grandparents had libraries. Dad read a lot. Not having had a television during much of my childhood, I'd developed the habit.

The Cold War and the space programs of the USA and USSR being much in the news, I was very much into reading about technology and science, particularly aerospace and astronomy. This led to an early interest in science fiction, much of which in those days was oriented toward the physical sciences.

I'd started with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, then moved into Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. The first anthologist I remember having read, other than Asimov, was Judith Merril, whose annuals went beyond hard-science sf stories to include essays, art and even literature. I was impressed and sought her out.

While I don't recall much detail of the hundreds of sf anthologies I read in later decades, I recall quite a lot about some of Merril's collections from the sixties, so great was the impression they made upon me.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best ones here : Drunkboat by the ineffable, unspeakably good Cordwainer Smith, The Jewbird by Bernard Malamud and The Jazz Machine by Richard (I Am Legend) Matheson. Otherwise, a little so-so.

[Kelly Jeffs · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite things to read are early sci-fi short stories, so this book was right up my alley. HUGE bonus- I was/am extremely excited to find a SF compilation edited by a woman (I gave it an extra star just for that). She gave great insight into why she chose certain stories, plus her keen sense of doom really made me feel right at home. Originally I gave this 3 stars only because I skipped a handful of stories, which I usually refuse to do, but just wasn’t intrigued. I intend on reading more of her compilations.

[Karen Eichler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection has an excellent variety of story styles, which I enjoyed. For science fiction short stories published in 1964, they're also not terribly dated (though it's not completely inescapable.) If you are a fan of science fiction, but haven't tried older sci-fi yet, you should definitely try a "year's best" collection of short stories like this one. It's fascinating to see what the authors were thinking about more than fifty years ago!
Some of my favorites from this collection:
"The Faces Outside" by Bruce McAllister
"237 Talking Statues, Etc" by Fritz Leiber
"On the Fourth Planet" by J.F. Bone
"Interview" by Frank A. Javor. While the technology is a little clunky considering what we have available today, the heart of the story--about living vicariously through others' emotions--is particularly insightful.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this book in hard cover. It was the first Judith Merril collection I ever owned and it was, like all of her collections, exceptionally good. Not only does she include very many stories, some by major authors not identified with the genre, but they are punctuated by poetry and cartoons. The whole is followed by critical reviews of the previous year in science fiction publication. Indeed, I liked this collection so much, thought it so superior to the countless such collections read since, that when I found a copy in 1986, I read it for a second time.

[Ed]

ISFDB 34949. OCLC 641415154.