Right makes light—the cosmic radiance that humankind has thirsted for down the long, dark centuries. But the way is hard, full of evil pitfalls and hellish temptations. So it is written in

The 7 Cardinal Virtues of Science Fiction

For those who doubt, goodness has everything to do with it—if only we keep the…

Faith

There is something that resists despair—even when imprisoned by an overwhelmingly superior force on a forbidding, faraway planet…

Hope

Loving the unloved is tough—the unlovable tougher still. But love, in a world where the ancient past and the far future collide with a roar, is the most exquisite, treacherous art of all…

Charity

This anthology is a companion to the slightly earlier Seven Deadly Sins of Science Fiction and is slightly better. For one thing, it includes Asimov’s “The Ugly Little Boy”, which is about as good as they come. It also includes strong stories like Eric Frank Russell’s “Nuisance Value,” Gordon R. Dickson’s “Jean Dupres,” Norman Spinrad’s “Riding the Torch,” and Alexei Panshin’s “The Sons of Prometheus.” The remaining three stories (”Superiority” by Arthur C. Clarke, “Whosawhatsa?” by Jack Wodhams, and “The Nail and the Oracle” by Theodore Sturgeon) are themselves quite good, if not quite as good.

This is definitely, however, a very strong and very worthwhile collection.

Contents

“The Ugly Little Boy”