GEORGE R.R. MARTIN • TOM SULLIVAN • BOB SHAW • JACK VANCE • PIERS ANTHONY • SUZETTE ADEN ELGIN • NORMAN SPINRAD • CHARLES NUETZEL • ROBERT SHECKLEY • ALAN DEAN FOSTER • L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP • MIKE RESNICK • ARTHUR C. CLARKE • BILL PRONZINI • BARRY MALZBERG • GEORGE ALEC EFFINGER • NICHOLAS YERMAKOV • WALTER F. MOUDY

From interstellar matches that could decide the fate of planets, to a time when top athletes are built not born, to a future where only the best or the luckiest survive an afternoon spin on the freeway—here is your ticket to a universe where the events, the rules, and the contestants are always changing, so that one microsecond’s loser can become the next millennium’s champion.

ISAAC ASIMOV’S

WONDERFUL WORLDS OF SCIENCE FICTION

It really is incredible. Absolutely, positively incredible.

Here we have a book, an anthology entirely dedicated to how science fiction handles the concept of the Olympics or sports competition in general—and Asimov, Waugh, and Greenberg have the audacity to leave out Asimov’s own “Profession”? What on Earth was going through their minds when they started editing this book?

Sheesh.

Not having “Profession” is almost an unforgivable sin here, but fortunately they make up for it (in part) by including some very nice stories, notably Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Wind from the Sun,” “Prose Bowl” by Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg, and “Why Johnny Can’t Speed” by Alan Dean Foster. Some of the other stories are very good, too—which means that the volume is, in the end, actually worth reading.

Just ignore the fact that “Profession” wasn’t included.