Questions

Terrifying questions, impossible questions, delightful questions, astounding questions—and answers too—in a remarkable array of dazzing stories by the riddle-solving elite of science fiction.

ROBERT SILVERBERG • BRIAN W. ALDISS
ARTHUR C. CLARKE • JAMES TIPTREE, JR.
KATE WILHELM • THEODORE STURGEON
JAMES BLISH • DAMON KNIGHT
FREDERICK POHL • JOHN W. CAMPBELL, JR.
RON GOULART • ALFRED BESTER
EDMOND HAMILTON • ROBERT SHECKLEY
WILLIAM TENN • MARK CLIFTON

AND

ISAAC ASIMOV

Several of the “theme” anthologies edited by Asimov, Greenberg (and somebody else, usually) are based on literary conceits—a selection of stories of a particular literary form. This is the first; the technique would also be used for the two Space Mail books and The Future I.

Here we have stories whose title is a question, with the exception of the final, climactic story which is called “The Last Question” and is (I believe) perhaps the very best sf story ever written. That makes this anthology strong indeed. In addition, we’ve got classic tales like John Campbell’s “Who Goes There?,” haunting stories like Edmond Hamilton’s “What’s It Like Out There?,” and disturbing and moving stories like “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” by James Tiptree, Jr., “Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?” by Kate Wilhelm, and Theodore Sturgeon’s “If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister?”

This is definitely one of the strongest of the anthologies edited by Asimov, Greenberg, and company.

Contents

“The Last Question”