The ten stories collected here are so compelling they’ll immediately pull you into the worlds they create. And after reading them, you’ll learn exactly why and how they do it…
These stories were chosen by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg as representative of the major subgenres within science fiction, including unabashed space opera, future history, if-this-goes-on, and cyberpunk. The stories illustrate the spectrum of major topics found in science fiction as it is today.
Each story begins with an introduction by Asimov, where he provides background on the story, defines the genre of which it is a part, and examines why it is representative of that genre. Then, following each story, you’ll find specific nuts-and-bolts commentary about the craft each author used in creating the story.
These stories in themselves offer quite a “good read.” Taken together with the explanations and analyses, these stories offer insight and inspiration that you can apply to your own writing.
If you love science fiction, whether as a reader or a writer, you’ll finish this book with a new understanding of the science fiction genre.
Author(s): Isaac Asimov, Martin Harry Greenberg
Edition: 1
Publisher: Writers Digest Books
Year: 1990
Language: English
Pages: 197
Advice... 1
by Isaac Asimov
Neutron Star. . . 7
by Larry Niven
Premise: The irresistible force meets the immovable object; OR gravity near a neutron star would be intense enough to generate catastrophic tidal pull on anything orbiting it.
Rock On... 28
by Pat Cadigan
Premise: Instead of musical synthesizers, rock and roll metamorphoses to use human synthesizers, “sinners,” who amplify and coordinate the musical and rhythmic impulses of others by technological means.
Transstar... 39
by Raymond E. Banks
Premise: After repeated, brutal provocations by militaristic aliens who refuse all reasonable compromise, the overwhelming might of distant Earth’s imperial armada is put under the control of the lone agent in the field to teach that low-life slime not to mess with Earthmen.
Billenium... 68
by J. G. Ballard
Premise: World population continues unchecked but food supplies remain adequate, so that people are allocated decreasing amounts ofspace for living quarters.
Grandpa... 86
by James H. Schmitz
Premise: A seemingly harmless alien lifeform can undergo unexpected and initially inexplicable changes which render it dangerous.
The Last Question... in
by Isaac Asimov
Premise: A powerful enough computer has the potential to become God.
In the Circle of Nowhere... 128
by Irving E. Cox, Jr.
Premise: Before white races discovered America, Native Americans discovered Europe and debauched and enslaved the inhabitants, becoming the dominant people of twentieth- century North America.
The Silk and the Song... 146
by Charles L. Fontenay
Premise: Descendants of human explorers, kept as riding animals by aliens, reactivate their spacecraft and inform Earth of the problem.
Dial F tor Frankenstein... 177
by Arthur C. Clarke
Premise: Sufficient interlinkages of telecommunications equipment can act as neural connections of brain-like complexity —and dangerous nonhuman consciousness.
Carcinoma Angels... 187
by Norman Spinrad
Premise: By means of drugs and sufficient determination, a fight against cancer can become a literal battle on the cellular level.
