{"id":11234,"date":"2019-10-15T10:50:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T10:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=11234"},"modified":"2022-09-05T09:47:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T09:47:44","slug":"best-science-fiction-stories-of-the-year-sixth-annual-collection-edited-by-gardner-dozois-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=11234","title":{"rendered":"Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Sixth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, 1977"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ISFDB<\/a>
\nArchive.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Other reviews:1<\/sup>
\nCharles N. Brown,\u00a0 Isaac Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction Magazine<\/em>, January-February 1978<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Editor, Gardner Dozois<\/p>\n

Fiction:2<\/sup>
\nThe Diary of the Rose<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nCuster\u2019s Last Jump<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 novelette by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nAir Raid<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by John Varley \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nLadies and Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Kate Wilhelm \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nBack to the Stone Age<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Jake Saunders \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nArmaja Das<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Joe Haldeman \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nMary Margaret Road-Grader<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 short story by Howard Waldrop \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\nThe Samurai and the Willows <\/em><\/strong>\u2022 novella by Michael Bishop \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nNon-fiction:
\nIntroduction<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<\/em><\/strong>Summation: 1976<\/em><\/strong> \u2022 by Gardner Dozois
\nHonorable Mentions – 1976<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

The sixth volume of this \u2018Best of the Year\u2019 series from publisher E. P. Dutton saw Gardner Dozois take over from Lester del Rey.3<\/sup> The anthology contains stories first published in 1976.<\/p>\n

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The fiction leads off with The Diary of the Rose<\/em><\/strong> by Ursula K. Le Guin, a journal\/diary story that appears to be set in the near future. The narrator is Rosa, a psychologist who treats patients by \u201cscoping\u201d their conscious and unconscious minds:<\/p>\n

It is amazing how banal most people\u2019s minds are. Of course [Ana] is in severe depression. Input in the Con dimension was foggy and incoherent, and the Uncon dimension was deeply open, but obscure. But the things that came out of the obscurity were so trivial! A pair of old shoes, and the word \u201cgeography!\u201d
\nAnd the shoes were dim, a mere schema of a pair-of-shoes maybe a man\u2019s maybe a woman\u2019s; maybe dark blue, maybe brown. Although definitely a visual type, she does not see anything clearly. Not many people do. It is depressing. When I was a student in first year I used to think how wonderful other people\u2019s minds would be, how wonderful it was going to be to share in all the different world, the different colors of their passions and ideas. How naive I was!\u00a0 p. 4<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She has another patient, Flores Sorde, and it is he who becomes the focus of the story. Initially a reluctant patient\u2014his notes state he is violent and paranoid\u2014Rosa has an odd initial conversation with him:<\/p>\n

F. Sorde: rested but still suspicious. Extreme fear reaction when I said it was time for his first session. To allay this I sat down and talked about the nature and operation of the psychoscope.
\nHe listened intently and finally said, \u201cAre you going to use only the psychoscope?\u201d
\nI said yes.
\nHe said, \u201cNot electroshock?\u201d
\nI said no.
\nHe said, \u201cWill you promise me that?\u201d
\nI explained that I am a psychoscopist and never operate the electroconvulsive therapy equipment, that is an entirely different department. I said my work with him at present would be diagnostic, not therapeutic. He listened carefully. He is an educated person and understands distinctions such as \u201cdiagnostic\u201d and \u201ctherapeutic.\u201d It is interesting that he asked me to promise. That does not fit a paranoid pattern, you don\u2019t ask for promises from those you can\u2019t trust. He came with me docilely, but when we entered the scope room he stopped and turned white at sight of the apparatus. \u00a0p. 7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During their subsequent sessions, Rosa sees that Flores\u2019 mind, unlike Ana\u2019s, produces images that are lucid, and at one point she sees a stunningly detailed rose. Later, Rosa realises that he may not be a mental patient but a political prisoner.
\nThe rest of the story charts Flores effect on Rosa\u2019s own thinking, and her own political disaffection. An air of menace slowly builds\u2014at one point Rosa attends a \u201cPositive Thinking\u201d session and listens to a lecture on \u201cthe dangers and falsehoods of liberalism\u201d; later on, she meets another political patient in Flores\u2019 ward who has had multiple electroshock treatments.
\nThe final section (spoiler) has her encounter Flores on the way to his own treatment. When she visits him afterwards, he has no memory of who she is. There is a fitting final paragraph:<\/p>\n

I am Rosa. I am the rose. The rose, I am the rose. The rose with no flower, the rose all thorns, the mind he made, the hand he touched, the winter rose.\u00a0 p. 24<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story has the same realistic feel as fiction I\u2019ve read about Stalinist oppression and I wondered, given that much of Solzenhitsyn\u2019s work (for one) appeared in English around this time, if that was an influence. (I note that ISFDB4<\/sup> quotes the writer as saying she thinks it takes place in South America, but I didn\u2019t see that at all.)
\nAn almost very good piece: if it has a flaw, it is that the ending feels a little rushed compared with the first half.<\/p>\n

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Custer\u2019s Last Jump<\/em><\/strong> by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop is an alternate world non-fiction account about Custer and Crazy Horse and the Battle of Little Big Horn\u2014which, in this world, involves the 7th<\/sup> Cavalry parachuting into action from dirigibles!
\nThe story starts much earlier than the battle however, and rather slowly, with an account of formation of the 1st<\/sup> Western Interdiction Wing of the Confederate States Army Air Corps. Their early monoplanes affect the course of the American Civil War.
\nThe second section tells of Crazy Horse and Custer\u2019s deployment during that war, and how Crazy Horse and other members of his tribe agree to give land to the CSAAC for an airfield in return for pilot training:<\/p>\n

It fell to Captain Smith to train Crazy Horse. The Indian became what Smith, in his journal,144<\/sup> describes as \u201cthe best natural pilot I have seen or it has been my pleasure to fly with.\u201d Part of this seems to have come from Smith\u2019s own modesty; by all accounts, Smith was one of the finer pilots of the war.
\n[. . .]
\nSmith records146<\/sup> that Crazy Horse\u2019s first solo took place on August 14, 1864, and that the warrior, though deft in the air, still needed practice on his landings. He had a tendency to come in overpowered and to stall his engine out too soon. Minor repairs were made on the skids of the craft after this flight.
\nAll this time, Crazy Horse had flown Smith\u2019s craft. Smith, after another week of hard practice with the Indian, pronounced him \u201cmore qualified than most pilots the CSAAC in Alabama turned out147<\/sup> and signed over the aircraft to him. Crazy Horse begged off. Then, seeing that Smith was sincere, he gave the captain many buffalo hides. Smith reminded the Indian that the craft was not his: during their off hours, when not training, the Indians had been given enough instruction in military discipline as Moseby, never a stickler, thought necessary. The Indians had only a rudimentary idea of government property. Of the seven other Indian men, three were qualified as pilots; the other four were given gunner positions in the Krupp bi-wing light bombers assigned to the squadron.\u00a0 p. 34<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Custer, meanwhile, becomes a parachutist at Jump School.
\nLater in the war Crazy Horse\u2019s squadron is almost completely destroyed during a Union attack on his unit\u2019s airfield, and he and a few others escape with a handful of aircraft, which they hide in tribal caves. Around the same time, Custer leads a parachute assault on another Native American tribe\u2019s settlement (even though they are, unknown to Custer, a Union ally). Custer massacres the natives and, when Crazy Horse visits the scene after the Union troops have left, Custer\u2019s fate is sealed.
\nThe next section is a Collier\u2019s Magazine<\/em> article called Custer\u2019s Last Jump<\/em>, which describes The Battle of the Little Big Horn:<\/p>\n

Few events in American history have captured the imagination so thoroughly as the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer\u2019s devastating defeat at the hands of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in June 1876 has been rendered time and again by such celebrated artists as George Russell and Frederic Remington. Books, factual and otherwise, which have been written around or about the battle, would fill an entire library wing. The motion-picture industry has on numerous occasions drawn upon \u201cCuster\u2019s Last Jump\u201d for inspiration; latest in a long line of movieland Custers is Erroll Flynn [see photo], who appears with Olivia de Havilland and newcomer Anthony Quinn in Warner Brothers\u2019 soon-to-be-released They Died with Their Chutes On<\/em>.\u00a0 p. 42<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The penultimate part is a more detailed account written by Mark Twain, composed after his interview of one of the battle\u2019s participants, Black Man\u2019s Hand. He tells Twain that Custer lost the fight because (spoiler) Crazy Horse\u2019s monoplanes attacked the 7th<\/sup> Cavalry\u2019s dirigibles, and brought most of them down.
\nThere follows a short, vainglorious extract from a history of the 7th<\/sup> Cavalry (written by Edgar Rice Burroughs), just before an extensive bibliography of alternate historical texts.
\nThis is not only a very good parallel world story, with every section making this world more detailed and convincing, it\u2019s an entertaining one too.<\/p>\n

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Air Raid<\/em><\/strong> by John Varley5<\/sup> is about a raiding party from the future who time-travel to an aircraft in our time which is going to crash. It has a good opening hook:<\/p>\n

I was jerked awake by the silent alarm vibrating my skull. It won\u2019t shut down until you sit up, so I did. All around me in the darkened bunkroom the Snatch Team members were sleeping singly and in pairs. I yawned, scratched my ribs, and patted Gene\u2019s hairy flank. He turned over. So much for a romantic send-off.
\nRubbing sleep from my eyes, I reached to the floor for my leg, strapped it on, and plugged it in. Then I was running down the rows of bunks toward Ops.\u00a0 p. 58-59<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bulk of the story tells of the team disguising themselves as cabin crew members, before going through the time-gate to the plane. There they incapacitate as many people as possible before they are discovered, and feed them through the time-gate to the future. During these events we learn that in the future humanity is doomed because of problems with the environment, genetics, and disease.
\nEventually, trouble breaks out on the plane and they have to put down a passenger mutiny with a mixture of information about the imminent crash, threats, and force. They just make it out in time (although they leave behind \u201cwimps\u201d\u2014brain-dead humans\u2014as body doubles):<\/p>\n

I hate wimps. I really hate \u2019em. Every time I grab the harness of one of them, if it\u2019s a child, I wonder if it\u2019s Alice. Are you my kid, you vegetable, you slug, you slimy worm? I joined the Snatchers right after the brain bugs ate the life out of my baby\u2019s head. I couldn\u2019t stand to think she was the last generation, that the last humans there would ever be would live with nothing in their heads, medically dead by standards that prevailed even in 1979, with computers working their muscles to keep them in tone. You grow up, reach puberty still fertile\u2014one in a thousand\u2014rush to get pregnant in your first heat. Then you find out your mom or pop passed on a chronic disease bound right into the genes, and none of your kids will be immune. I knew about the para-leprosy; I grew up with my toes rotting away. But this was too much. What do you do?
\nOnly one in ten of the wimps had a customized face. It takes time and a lot of skill to build a new face that will stand up to a doctor\u2019s autopsy. The rest came pre-mutilated. We\u2019ve got millions of them; it\u2019s not hard to find a good match in the body. Most of them would stay breathing, too dumb to stop, until they went in with the plane.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story ends with the rescued passengers being told of their various life options, the best of which is a fresh start as settlers on Centauri 3. The narrator and her partner watch as the survivors are briefed:<\/p>\n

Gene and I looked at each other and laughed. Listen to this, folks. Five percent of you will suffer nervous breakdowns in the next few days and never leave. About the same number will commit suicide, here and on the way. When you get there, sixty to seventy percent will die in the first three years. You will die in childbirth, be eaten by animals, bury two out of three of your babies, starve slowly when the rains don\u2019t come. If you live, it will be to break your back behind a plow, sun-up to dusk. New Earth is Heaven, folks!<\/em>
\nGod, how I wish I could go with them.\u00a0 p. 72<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That final yearning line almost recasts this action SF piece into an elegy.
\nThis is generally a fast paced, engrossing (and very Heinleinesque) piece, but there are a few parts of the tale that are hard to follow, and another draft might have helped.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen, This Is Your Crisis<\/em><\/strong> by Kate Wilhelm starts with a couple arriving home from work on Friday, whereupon they start watching a game show which involves five people dumped in the wilderness\u2014the group is undergoing \u201ccrisis therapy\u201d as well as competing against each other, and they have to reach a perimeter checkpoint to win. The story alternates between the couple (a doormat wife and a lazy, unwashed, and generally disobliging husband) and the experiences of the contestants\/patients as they encounter various natural hazards (bears, dogs, rivers, cliffs, etc.)
\nThis probably had an \u201cif this goes on\u201d vibe at the time of publication, but I think we are already in a world where people are more than happy to spend their own existence watching other people\u2019s.
\nThis is a well enough done, if plotless, slice-of-life but it has a rather pious ending\u2014when the show ends the couple\u2019s temperament and attitude to each other improves markedly. Presumably the moral of the story is that watching reality TV actively makes you a bad person.<\/p>\n

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Back to the Stone Age<\/em><\/strong> by Jake Saunders gets off to an intriguing, atmospheric start during which a number of civilians get on a B-29 bomber for a wartime mission to Japan. The first half is mostly a mood piece where information about the people on board slowly trickles out: we have the narrator\u2014a reporter\u2014and his photographer; a war veteran; an obnoxious rich young man and his pretty blonde fianc\u00e9e; and an old farmer going to see where his son died. We also learn that the aircraft isn\u2019t American but a Bolivian ally that sells tickets to civilians (and, in the case of the war veteran, bombs too).
\nOnce the aircraft gets over the devastated island we learn that, in this alternate world, Japan was not nuked but a long conventional bombing campaign begun:<\/p>\n

So we kept pounding the islands while resistance literally burned away on the ground. Anti-aircraft fire became rare, then ceased altogether. Our air force took full title to the Jap skies. But still no one wanted to see a million American boys go down the tube in an invasion of Japan. So we waited, hoping for a surrender that must surely be near.
\nBut fanatics in the Jap military wanted to make surrender impossible. Thus it was that Japan burned all her bridges by executing the prisoners she still held, both military and civilian. And that did it. The decision was made to isolate Japan, to bomb her back to the stone age. There\u2019d be no invasion. Why waste a million lives when the Navy and Air Force could neutralize, even obliterate, the islands for a fraction of the cost?
\nTime passed. In Manchuria, the Kwangtung Army was defeated by Russia, which had entered the war against Japan in February of forty-six. The British, with American help, retook Burma, Rangoon, and other Crown possessions. China nibbled at the Japanese forces on the Asian mainland, then began to rip away great chunks after the death of Mao, and the union that followed under Chiang Kai-shek. In the Pacific, the Allies, led by the United States, pursued mopping up operations. By 1950, Japan was truly isolated.\u00a0 p. 94<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The colonel in charge of the flight eventually locates a small undamaged village in the midst of all the devastation and the aircraft begins its bombing run.
\nUp until this point the story is quietly chilling, but from there on it becomes something else entirely\u2014after releasing their bombs, they hear over the radio that Japan has surrendered but (spoiler) the aircraft is then attacked and damaged by a kamikaze aircraft. The bomber crash lands on the Japanese mainland, and armed villagers try to storm the aircraft and kill the survivors. Just as it looks as if they will be overrun, a rescue helicopter arrives.
\nThe final revelation is that the narrator previously investigated an accident at Oak Ridge, where \u201cthe world\u2019s largest munitions factory exploded\u201d (an explanation for this worlds\u2019 lack of nuclear weapons).
\nThe first part of this is impressive, but the second half has too much going on, and some of it seems overly contrived. In particular, the Japanese surrender and having the aircraft brought down is both having your cake and eating it in terms of plot possibilities\u2014it\u2019s a pity the writer didn\u2019t let the story develop organically.<\/p>\n

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Armaja Das<\/em><\/strong> by Joe Haldeman is set in a near future world where a computer\/AI expert called John Zold is cursed by a gypsy woman. She does this because she objects to the cultural assimilation schemes that Zold (of Romany stock himself before he was orphaned) funds\u2014\u201cstealing their children,\u201d as the old woman sees it. The curse soon produces results:<\/p>\n

Dr. Maas called it impetigo; gave him a special kind of soap and some antibiotic ointment. He told John to make another appointment in two weeks, ten days. If there was no improvement they would take stronger measures. He seemed young for a doctor, and John couldn\u2019t bring himself to say anything about the curse. But he already had a doctor for that end of it, he rationalized.
\nThree days later he was back in Dr. Maas\u2019s office. There was scarcely a square inch of his body where some sort of lesion hadn\u2019t appeared. He had a temperature of 101.4 degrees. The doctor gave him systemic antibiotics and told him to take a couple of days\u2019 bed rest. John told him about the curse, finally, and the doctor gave him a booklet about psychosomatic illness. It told John nothing he didn\u2019t already know.
\nBy the next morning, in spite of strong antipyretics, his fever had risen to over 102.\u00a0 p. 110-111<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After conventional treatment fails, Zold turns to a white witch\u2014who is quickly warned off by the old woman before she can treat him. As his health continues to worsen, he asks the AI\/computer at his workplace for help. The computer does some research and tells Zold what to do (he buys a black finch, and reads an incantation before killing it). He is cured, but subsequently discovers (spoiler) the computer cannot be contacted. When Zold finally manages to speak to the AI, it says it wants to die\u2014Zold realises that the curse has been transferred.
\nThe remainder of the story sees matters spiral even more badly out of control.
\nA slickly written and highly entertaining piece, if not a great one.<\/p>\n

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If the Haldeman story is straightforward and direct in its exposition, Mary Margaret Road-Grader<\/em><\/strong> by Howard Waldrop is perhaps more oblique, at least to begin with: narrator Billy-Bob Chevrolet\u2019s account hints that this tale takes place in an (unspecified) post-apocalyptic word where Native American tribes now trade in cars:<\/p>\n

We pulled in with our wrecker and string of fine cars, many of them newly stolen. You should have seen Freddy and me that morning, the first morning of the Sun Dance. We were dressed in new-stolen fatigues and we had bright leather holsters and pistols. Freddy had a new carbine, too. We were wearing our silver and feathers and hard goods. I noticed many women watching us as we drove in. There seemed to be many more here than at the last Sun Ceremony. It looked to be a good time.
\nThe usual crowd gathered before we could circle up our remuda. I saw Bob One-Eye and Nathan Big Gimp, the mechanics, come across from their circles. Already the cook fires were burning and women were skinning out the cattle that had been slaughtered early in the morning.
\n\u201cHoa!\u201d I heard Nathan call as he limped to our wrecker. He was old; his left leg had been shattered in the Highway wars, he went back that far. He put his hands on his hips and looked over our line.
\n\u201cI know that car, Billy-Bob Chevrolet,\u201d he said to me, pointing to an old Mercury. \u201cThose son-a-bitch Dallas people stole it from me last year. I know its plates. It is good you stole it back. Maybe I will talk to you about doing car work to get it back sometime.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019ll have to drink about it,\u201d I said.\u00a0 p. 119<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most of the story takes place at the annual Sun Dance, a tribal gathering where they trade, party, and generally celebrate. The main event is The Big Tractor Pull, a tug of war between those that have the appropriate machines. This competition is disrupted, however, by the arrival of Mary Margaret Road-Grader:<\/p>\n

The truck stopped with a roar and a squeal of brakes. It had a long lumpy canvas cover on the back. Then a woman climbed down from the cab. She was the most gorgeous woman I\u2019d ever seen\u2014and I\u2019d seen Nellie Firestone two summers ago.
\nNellie hadn\u2019t come close to this girl. She had long straight black hair and a beautiful face. She was built like nothing I\u2019d seen before. She wore tight coveralls and had a .357 Magnum strapped to her hip.
\n\u201cWho runs the Pulls?\u201d she asked, in English, of the first man who reached her.
\nHe didn\u2019t know what to do. Women never talk like that.
\n\u201cWinston Mack Truck,\u201d said Freddy at my side, pointing.
\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked one of the young men. \u201cWhy do you want to know?\u201d
\n\u201cBecause I\u2019m going to enter the Pull,\u201d she said.
\nTribal language mumbles went around the circle. Very negative ones.\u00a0 p. 124-125<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After some acrimonious debate at a Tribal Council (women have never entered the tractor pull before), they reluctantly allow her to take part.
\nThe rest of the story details the contest and (spoiler) the violent, society-changing event that occurs. Thereafter, future Sun Dances and pulls are abandoned and a there is an eventual changeover from trading cars to trading horses. These latter changes are ironically lamented by the narrator, and the story ends on a perhaps overly bitter note (for the story, if not our own reality):<\/p>\n

We have each other, we have the village, we have cattle, we have this hill over the river where we smoke and get drunk.
\nBut the rest of the world has changed.
\nAll this, all the old ways . . . gone.
\nThe world has turned bitter and sour in my mouth. It is no good, the taste of ashes is in the wind. The old times are gone.\u00a0 p. 134<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Samurai and the Willows <\/em><\/strong>by Michael Bishop is one of the writer\u2019s \u201cUrban Nucleus\u201d series, which takes place on a future Earth where mankind has largely retreated into huge domed cities, in this case Atlanta. The two main characters are Simon Fowler and Georgia Cawthorn (their nicknames for each other are Banji and Queequeg). Simon is of Japanese heritage, in his late thirties, and runs a bonsai shop; Georgia is a young black woman who works as a glissador, a roller-blading courier. They are reluctant roommates:<\/p>\n

How they had come to be cubicle mates was this: Simon Fowler was [. . .] a man on the way down, a nisei whose only skills were miniature landscaping and horticulture. Georgia Cawthorn was [. . .], as she saw it, certainly only a temporary resident of the Big Bad Basement, the donjon keep of the Urban Nucleus. Fowler, it seemed, was trying to bury himself, to put eight levels of concrete (as well as the honeycombing of the dome) between himself and the sky. She, on the other hand, was abandoning the beloved bosom of parents and brothers, who lived in one of those pre-Evacuation \u201curban renewal\u201d slums still crumbling into brick dust surfaceside. And thus it was that both Simon Fowler and Georgia Cawthorn had applied for living quarters under, he perversely specifying Level 9 (having already worked down from the towers and four understrata), she ingenuously asking for whatever she could get. A two-person cubicle fell vacant on Level 9. The computer-printed names of Georgia Cawthorn and Simon Fowler headed the UrNu Housing Authority\u2019s relocation list, and the need for a decision showered down on them like an unannounced rain (the sort so favored by the city\u2019s spontaneity-mad internal meteorologists). Georgia didn\u2019t hesitate; she said yes at once. Simon Fowler wanted an umbrella, a way out of the deluge; but since the only out available involved intolerable delay and a psychic house arrest on the concourses of 7, he too had said yes. They met each other on the day they moved in.
\nThey had now lived together for four months. And most of the time they didn\u2019t like each other very much, although Queequeg [Georgia] had tried.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the course of the story we find out that Simon still grieves for his dead mother (his feelings of guilt and betrayal are gone into in more detail later), and is slowly shutting himself off from the world; Georgia is outgoing and friendly, even towards Simon\u2014although he mostly rebuffs her, even when she takes an interest in his bonsai and visits the shop:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou again,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d
\n\u201cYou sweet, Basenji. You damn sweet.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d He didn\u2019t call her Queequeg. That wasn\u2019t a good sign; no sir. Not a good sign at all.
\nShe thought a minute, hand on hip, her green wraparound clinging to the curve of her stance. She was a head taller than he.
\n\u201cI wanna see that little bush you had out here last time.\u201d
\n\u201cYou saw it last time, you know. I\u2019m busy.\u201d
\n\u201cYou busy. You also ain\u2019 no easy man to do bidness with, Basenji. I thinkin\u2019 \u2019bout buyin\u2019 that bush. What you think of that?\u201d
\n\u201cThat you probably won\u2019t be able to afford it.\u201d
\n\u201cI a saver, Basenji. Since I come on bidness, you boun\u2019 to show me what I come to see. You has to.\u201d
\n\u201cThat willow\u2019s worth\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cUh-uh,\u201d she said. \u201cNo, sir. I gonna see it before you sen\u2019 me packin\u2019 with yo\u2019 prices.\u201d
\nWhat could he do? A black Amazon with grits in her mouth and something a little more substantial than that beneath her scalp cap of neo-nostalgic cornrows; elegant, artificial braidwork recalling an Africa that probably no longer existed. (The same went for his mother\u2019s homeland, the very same.) Poor Basenji. These were the very words he thought as he stoically motioned Queequeg around the counter: Poor Basenji. He had even begun to call himself by the name she had given him.\u00a0 p. 139-140<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite this friction they grow closer and closer together (even though Georgia has a boyfriend), and they eventually wind around each other like the bonsai that Simon grows. One of the final scenes (spoiler) has them sleep together shortly before she gets married to the boyfriend; after their coupling we learn much more about Simon\u2019s mother, and it seems like Simon may finally have extirpated his grief and will stop his descent. However, he later commits suicide, and we realise that all Georgia did was shrive, not save, him.
\nThe ending of this surprised me when I first read it decades ago (and not in a good way), but reading it now\u2014perhaps without the optimism of youth\u2014it seems an entirely obvious ending.
\nSo, a desperately sad story, but a lovely one too, and you can see why Dozois says in his introduction that is \u201cis one of the best SF stories I have read in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Introduction<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<\/em><\/strong>Summation: 1976<\/em><\/strong> by Gardner Dozois is a much shorter version of the longer pieces he would do in his second series of \u2018Best of the Year\u2019 anthologies, but is still a hugely interesting review of the year. It begins with a short disclaimer that his tastes aren\u2019t the same as Lester del Rey, the editor of the first five volumes of this series, and he makes no claim to present anything other than the stories he most liked (and adds that the volume would be better titled Gardner Dozois Picks the Stories He Liked Best This Year<\/em>).6, 7<\/sup> He goes on to survey the various magazines and anthologies published, looks at the the films that were released, comments on various publishing deals, and adds an obituary or two as well. This essay is not only informative but, in places, is hilariously blunt, and I could have quoted pages of it:<\/p>\n

Hollywood continues to produce big-budget SF films, most of which are very poor. One of the biggest celluloid turkeys of the year was The Man Who Fell to Earth<\/em>, an asinine, pretentious, boring, and fundamentally incoherent film. Logan\u2019s Run<\/em> managed to be less actively offensive, without attaining to any real merit. It\u2019s an earnest, silly, and hackneyed movie with lots of extras in the background, and it conforms to the seemingly universal Hollywood assumption that the future is going to look just like a shopping center in Dallas.\u00a0 p. xiv
\n.<\/span>
\n[As most current] magazines struggled to stay alive (If<\/em> and Vertex<\/em> both folded within the past couple of years), three or four new SF magazines were in the planning stage.
\nFirst out, and first to fail, was Odyssey<\/em>, edited by Roger Elwood, which lasted for two quarterly issues consisting mainly of second or third-rate work by first-rate authors. It was also an ugly, shoddy-looking magazine, printed on cheap paper and jampacked with offensive pulp ads of the \u201cMen, Throw Away That Truss!\u201d variety. Poor distribution and limited newsstand display were other nails in Odyssey<\/em>\u2019s coffin.
\nAnother new magazine, and another bitter disappointment, was Galileo<\/em>, a subscription-only quarterly edited by Charles C. Ryan. Galileo<\/em> was somewhat more handsome than Odyssey<\/em>, but if anything the quality of its fiction was even lower. The magazine will have to improve enormously with subsequent issues if it is to have any chance of establishing itself.
\nOf all the year\u2019s new magazines, the only other one that need be taken seriously, and the only one to achieve any real measure of success, was Isaac Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction Magazine<\/em>, edited by George H. Scithers. The first quarterly issue appeared late in the year.
\nYou may, if you like, dismiss my opinion in this case as prejudiced; I am associate editor of ASF<\/em>. And, of course, I\u2019m not even going to try to pretend that the first issue of IASF<\/em> was flawless: the magazine is gray and dingy, and, like all issues of all magazines, it contains some mediocre fiction. Nevertheless, it also contains a high percentage of first-rate stories and is at least as good as most good issues of Analog<\/em> or F&SF<\/em>. IASF<\/em> deserves to survive, and I have hopes that it may, if the luck is with it.\u00a0 p. xviii
\n.<\/span>
\nSleeper of the year in the nonseries original anthology category was Lone Star Universe<\/em> (Heidelberg Publishers, Inc.), an anthology of SF stories by Texans. Lone Star Universe<\/em>, unfortunately, besides being the most expensive anthology of the year, is also likely to be a difficult book to find. There\u2019s some very good material here by Saunders, Utley, Tuttle, Sterling, Waldrop, and a few others, but there\u2019s some appalling crud here as well, making for an amazingly uneven book.
\nOn the other hand, in Faster Than Light<\/em> (Harper & Row) edited by Jack Dann and George Zebrowski almost every story is of exactly the same quality: good, solid, competent stuff that would be snapped up instantly and gratefully by any SF magazine to be used as second-string backup material behind the lead novelette.
\nWith one possible exception (Harlan Ellison\u2019s original script for The Starlost<\/em>, a superior example of its kind), nothing in Faster Than Light<\/em> is really outstanding, and the book is doomed to the gray fate of sitting squarely in the middle of the scale.\u00a0 p. xix<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I strongly recommend the whole essay if you need of a memory jogger for 1976.
\nAt the back of the book is Honorable Mentions<\/em><\/strong>\u2014<\/em><\/strong>1976<\/em><\/strong>, which is a three page list of around eighty recommended stories (there are six<\/em> by John Varley alone, not counting his story here, which should give you an idea of his prominence in the field at the time; James Tiptree Jr.\/Racoona Sheldon is the runner-up with five citations; Jack Dann (one collaboration with George Zebrowski), Felix Gotschalk, and Gene Wolfe have three.<\/p>\n

This is a more than worthwhile anthology, especially for those interested in stories that have a more character-driven and literary bent than normal. Highly recommended. \u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

1. According to ISFDB, there appears to be only one review of this volume, and that was by Charles N. Brown (of Locus<\/em> fame), who reviewed it along with the Carr and Wollheim volumes in the January-February 1978 edition of Isaac Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction Magazine<\/em>:<\/p>\n

There are now three \u201cbest of the year\u201d volumes published (down from four last year). The Best Science Fiction of the Year<\/em> #6<\/em> edited by Terry Carr is the longest and best with four stories I consider excellent: \u201cI See You\u201d by Damon Knight, \u201cThe Phantom of Kansas\u201d by John Varley, \u201cSeeing\u201d by Harlan Ellison, and \u201cThe Bicentennial Man\u201d by Isaac Asimov. There are seven others, including four I\u2019d rate as \u201cB\u201d and only three I didn\u2019t care for. The 1977 Annual World\u2019s Best SF<\/em> edited by Donald Wollheim is nearly as good with six of the ten stories rates \u201cB\u201d or better. The Asimov and Knight stories also appear here as do two other \u201cA\u201d stories, \u201cAppearance of Life\u201d by Brian W. Aldiss and \u201cThe Hertford Manuscript\u201d by Richard Cowper. Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Sixth Annual Collection<\/em> has a new editor, Gardner Dozois, replacing Lester del Rey. I\u2019d rate only two of the eight stories as excellent, \u201cThe Samurai and the Willows\u201d by Michael Bishop and \u201cThe Diary of the Rose\u201d by Ursula K. Le Guin. There is also a good summary of the year. (There\u2019s also one in the Carr volume, but I\u2019m prejudiced since I wrote it.) On the whole, all three volumes are worth having although you should probably wait for the paperback on the Dozois book.\u00a0 p. 128<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. The stories in this anthology were first published in Future Power<\/em> (Le Guin), Universe 6<\/em> (Utley\/Waldrop), Isaac Asimov\u2019s Science Fiction Magazine<\/em> (Varley), Orbit 18<\/em>, (Wilhelm, Waldrop), Lone Star Universe<\/em> (Sanders), Frights<\/em> (Haldeman), and F&SF<\/em> (Bishop).
\nThere is nothing from Analog<\/em>, Galaxy<\/em>, Amazing<\/em>, or Fantastic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

3. I assume that Lester del Rey handed over the editorship as he and Judy Lynn del Rey were in the process of launching Del Rey Books at the time.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 The ISFDB page<\/a> with the \u201cSouth America\u201d quote for The Diary of the Rose<\/em>.<\/p>\n

5. Air Raid<\/em> appeared in the Spring 1977 issue of IASFM<\/em>, so it is not really a 1976 story.<\/p>\n

6. In his introduction Dozois says:<\/p>\n

I selected the novella I felt was the year\u2019s best, Michael Bishop\u2019s The Samurai and the Willows<\/em>, but if I had included all of the other deserving novellas that I would have liked to include\u2014Gene Wolfe\u2019s brilliant The Eyeflash Miracles<\/em>, James Tiptree, Jr.,\u2019s Houston, Houston, Do You Read?<\/em>, Gregory Benford\u2019s and Gordon Eklund\u2019s The Anvil of Jove<\/em>, Vonda N. Mclntyre\u2019s Screwtop<\/em>, Richard Cowper\u2019s Piper at the Gates of Dawn<\/em>\u2014I would have ended up with a book twice as long as the present volume and no room for novelettes or short stories at all.\u00a0 p. xii<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He should have asked Dutton if he could edit a Best SF Short Novels of the Year<\/em> as well.<\/p>\n

7. If you want a better idea of how this book measures up against what I might pick for a 1976 \u2018Year\u2019s Best\u2019, or learn what other anthologists chose, look at the table below (this is the same one which will appear at the end of the reviews of the Carr and Wollheim volumes). This will be updated as and when I find stories I like, or citation sources that should be included (for more on the latter see below).<\/p>\n

The first to fourth column give the story titles, authors, lengths and place of publication (see below the table for abbreviation legend).
\nThe \u2018T\u2019 column lists Terry Carr\u2019s choices with an \u2018x\u2019.
\nThe \u2018D\u2019 column lists Gardner R. Dozois\u2019 choices with an \u2018x\u2019.
\nThe \u2018W\u2019 column lists Donald A. Wollheim\u2019s choices with an \u2018x\u2019.
\nThe \u2018S\u2019 column shows my current choices an \u2018x\u2019 (historical choices are an \u2018o\u2019). A dash means read but passed over (I only select stories better than \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+ and above, and not all of them). Blank means unread.
\nThe \u2018C\u2019 column shows how many of the anthologies and\/or polls used in the Classics of Science Fiction list included the story in their collections or lists (note that COSF is SF only and skews against fantasy), minus the anthology or award citations which have their own column (Carr, Dozois, Wollheim, Hugo, Nebula, etc.).
\nThe \u2018O\u2019 column shows the number of inclusions in other major anthologies or recommendation lists which are not on the CoSF (Classics of SF) list. These are selected by me (usually to include fantasy retrospectives or awards that CoSF doesn\u2019t include) but I may not yet have done this for some\/all of the stories.
\nThe \u2018H\u2019 column shows the story\u2019s 1977 Hugo award placing (F for finalist, W for winner).
\nThe \u2018N\u2019 column shows the story\u2019s 1977 Nebula award placing (F for finalist, W for winner).
\nThe \u2018U\u2019 column shows the 1977 Locus Poll\u2019s top ten short stories, novelettes, and novellas.
\nThe \u2018TO\u2019 column shows the total points that each story gets (they get a point for being in each column and for each of the CoSF and other anthology citations).<\/p>\n

The titles, names, lengths, publications, and overall score columns are sortable.<\/p>\n

A good way to sample 1976\u2019s best short fiction may<\/em> be to start at the top of the table and work down until you get to the last of the 2-point stories. Bear in mind that this is all statistically invalid, wildly so, but will give you something to aim at. Enjoy.<\/p>\n

Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories 1976<\/h3>\n
\n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n\n Title<\/th> Author<\/th> L<\/th> P<\/th> T<\/th> D<\/th> W<\/th> A<\/th> S<\/th> C<\/th> O<\/th> H<\/th> N<\/th> U<\/th> TO<\/th> <\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
I See You<\/td>\n Damon Knight<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Phantom of Kansas<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Seeing<\/td>\n Harlan Ellison<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AND<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Death of Princes\u00a0<\/td>\n Fritz Leiber<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Psychologist Who Wouldn't [. . .]<\/td>\n James Tiptree, Jr.<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n NED<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Eyeflash Miracles<\/td>\n Gene Wolfe<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FUT<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
An Infinite Summer<\/td>\n Christopher Priest<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AND<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Highest Dive\u00a0<\/td>\n Jack Williamson<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n SFM<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Meathouse Man<\/td>\n George R. R. Martin<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n ORB<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Custer's Last Jump<\/td>\n S. Utley\u00a0&\u00a0H. Waldrop<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n UNI<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Bicentennial Man<\/td>\n Isaac Asimov<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n STE<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n W<\/td>\n W<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Diary of the Rose<\/td>\n Ursula K. Le Guin<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FUT<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n W<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 7<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Air Raid (1)<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ASI<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Ladies and Gentlemen [. . .]<\/td>\n Kate Wilhelm<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ORB<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Back to the Stone Age<\/td>\n Jake Saunders<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n LON<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Armaja Das<\/td>\n Joe Haldeman<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FRI<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Mary Margaret Road-Grader<\/td>\n Howard Waldrop<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ORB<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Samurai and the Willows<\/td>\n Michael Bishop<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Appearance of Life<\/td>\n Brian W. Aldiss<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n AND<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank\u00a0<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Those Good Old Days of Liquid Fuel<\/td>\n Michael G. Coney<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Hertford Manuscript<\/td>\n Richard Cowper<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Natural Advantage<\/td>\n Lester del Rey<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Cabinet of Oliver Naylor<\/td>\n Barrington J. Bayley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n NEW<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
My Boat<\/td>\n Joanna Russ<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Houston, Houston, Do You Read?<\/td>\n James Tiptree, Jr.<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n AUR<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n <\/td>\n W<\/td>\n W<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 11<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
By Any Other Name<\/td>\n Spider Robinson<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n ANA<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n W<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Piper at the Gates of Dawn<\/td>\n Richard Cowper<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 6<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 5<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Tricentennial<\/td>\n Joe Haldeman<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ANA<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n W<\/td>\n F<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
A Crowd of Shadows<\/td>\n Charles L. Grant<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n W<\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 4<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Custom Fitting<\/td>\n James White<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n STE<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 3<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
In the Bowl (2)<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
His Hour Upon the Stage<\/td>\n Grant Carrington<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Stone Circle<\/td>\n Lisa Tuttle<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Breath's a Ware That Will Not Keep<\/td>\n Thomas F. Monteleone<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n DYS<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n -<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n F<\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Anvil of Jove<\/td>\n G. Benford & G. Eklund<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Weather War<\/td>\n William Cochrane<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n ANA<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Media Man<\/td>\n Joan D. Vinge<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n ANA<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Birthdays<\/td>\n Fred Saberhagen<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Greenhouse Defect<\/td>\n Andrew J. Ouffutt<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n STN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Bagatelle<\/td>\n John Varley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Paradise Beach<\/td>\n Richard Cowper<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Tower of Ashes<\/td>\n George R. R. Martin<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ANB<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Barrow<\/td>\n Ursula Le Guin<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Codemus<\/td>\n Tor Age Bringsvaerd<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ROW<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Dead in Irons<\/td>\n Chelsea Quinn Yarbo<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FTL<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Pairpuppets<\/td>\n Manuel Van Loggem<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ROW<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Party Line<\/td>\n Gerald Klein<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n ROW<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Screwtop<\/td>\n Vonda N. McIntyre<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n TCS<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Seventh Voyage<\/td>\n Stanislaw Lem<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n TSV<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Spider Silk<\/td>\n Andre Norton<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FLA<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Strange Wine<\/td>\n Harlan Ellison<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
A Case of the Stubborns<\/td>\n Robert Bloch<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Ladies of Beetlegoose Nine<\/td>\n Reginald Bretnor<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Incredible Umbrella<\/td>\n Marvin Kaye<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
A Beast for Norn<\/td>\n George R. R. Martin<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AND<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Giant Killers<\/td>\n Andrew M. Stephenson<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AND<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Eudoric's Unicorn (1)<\/td>\n L. Sprague de Camp<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n YBF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Shadow of a Demon<\/td>\n Gardner F. Fox<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n DRA<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Ring of Black Stone<\/td>\n Pat McIntosh<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n ANU<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr<\/td>\n George R. R. Martin<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Two Suns Setting<\/td>\n Karl Edward Wagner<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Stairs in the Crypt<\/td>\n L. Carter\u00a0&\u00a0C. A. Smith<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Goblin Blade (1)<\/td>\n Raul Garcia Capella<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n YBF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Dark King (1)<\/td>\n C. J. Cherryh<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n YBF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Black Moonlight<\/td>\n Lin Carter<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Snout in the Alcove (1)<\/td>\n Gary Myers<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n YBF<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 0<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Pool of the Moon<\/td>\n Charles R. Saunders<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n x<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Journey to the Heartland<\/td>\n Brian W. Aldiss<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n UNI<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Jamie's Smile<\/td>\n Alan Bennert<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n IOT<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Second Soul<\/td>\n Alan Brennert<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n GAL<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
How You See It, How You Don't<\/td>\n Rich Brown<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Cinderella Machine<\/td>\n Michael G. Coney<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n FSF<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 2<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
O, Brave Old World<\/td>\n Avram Davidson<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n BET<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
In the House of the Worm<\/td>\n George R. R. Martin<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n IOT<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Skirmish on a Summer Morning<\/td>\n Bob Shaw<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n COK<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
In the Land of Clear Colors<\/td>\n Robert Sheckley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n NEC<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
The Never-Ending Western Movie<\/td>\n Robert Sheckley<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n SFD<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Under the Generator<\/td>\n John Shirley<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n UNI<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Predators<\/td>\n Steven Utley<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n IOT<\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Beneath the Hills of Azlaroc<\/td>\n Fred Saberhagen<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n ODY<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
When I Was Ming the Merciless<\/td>\n Gene Wolfe<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n IOT<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Men of Greywater Station<\/td>\n H. Waldrop & G. Martin<\/td>\n nv<\/td>\n AMZ<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Bloody Man<\/td>\n Avram Davidson<\/td>\n na<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
Tharquest and the Lamia Orbiquita<\/td>\n Brian Lumley<\/td>\n ss<\/td>\n FAN<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n o<\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n <\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody> \n\n \n <\/table>\n\n Generated by wpDataTables<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>