FREDERIK POHL • WALTER M. MILLER, JR. • JAMES GUNN • JAMES H. SCHMITZ • THEODORE STURGEON • RAYMOND E. BANKS • PHILIP K. DICK • ERIC FRANK RUSSELL • CHARLES BEAUMONT • CORDWAINER SMITH • ARTHUR C. CLARKE • ALGIS BUDRYS • POHL ANDERSON • ISAAC ASIMOV

1955, the year of the first nuclear power plant and a time of satellite launches—and of the first Hugo Awards as well—was certainly a period when the world was ready and eager for science fiction. And such imagination-grabbing novels as THE BODY SNATCHERS, MOONRAKER, and MARTIANS, GO HOME heralded the year as a landmark one indeed.

So welcome back to 1955, when acting was no longer a job for humans…when for one unfortunate man a single day could last forever…when a supernova could mean death to one species and hope for another…when mankind had found the perfect parnter to help in the war against the deadly menace that prowled the starways…

For general comments on this series, see Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1, 1939.

I’m going to give this a “3” for the Asimov fan. That’s a bit of a stretch, since the one story included by the Good Doctor is “Dreaming is a Private Thing,” which I enjoy well enough but which isn’t exactly among Asimov’s first tier.

However, this anthology also includes three stories familiar to readers of The Hugo Winners, Volume One: Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s “The Darfsteller,” Eric Frank Russell’s “Allamagoosa,” and Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Star.” While the other stories are good enough, one can see why they didn’t win the Hugo.

A solid anthology, this, on the whole.

Contents

“Dreaming Is a Private Thing”