Description

Aims to bring together a diverse selection of science fiction spanning over sixty years, from Isaac Asimov’s “Nightfall”, first published in 1941, to the 2006 story “Friends in Need” by Eliza Blair. This title includes stories which portray struggles against machines, epic journeys, genetic experiments, time travellers and alien races.

“Editing is a much more difficult job than writing, especially when it comes to authors. Almost all the famous authors are notorious for choosing inferior to bad stories, whenever they are given an opportunity to make a “best of” selection from their works. It proves, that making a selection requires an altogether different perspective, and a connect with the hoi-polloi readers, which most of our authors lack. A classic example would be this book, as well.
This selection, widely respected by critics, turned out to be a disappointingly depressing one, where the author has selected stories that might be elevating, from a philosophical point of view, but are dashed poor reads. Also, his selections seem to be influenced by a Biblical worldview, which is NOT shared by readers like me.
I had read a majority of these stories in different collections, and while several of them have had a lasting impact, the others were soporific and simply boring. To such pile, Aldiss had added several more dark, drab, dull stories, which the critics would lap-up. As far as I’m concerned, they only succeeded in souring the day.
There are MUCH MUCH better anthologies available. The modern selections made by Paula Guran, while the older classic anthologies edited by Asimov et.al. are books that you might actually enjoy, and treasure.”

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