Synopsis

Successfully used at over one hundred schools nationwide, these sixty-seven stories offer compelling evidence that science fiction is a source of the most thoughtful, imaginative-indeed, literary-fiction being written today.

Readers will be introduced to some rarely anthologized gems from well-known authors-Poul Anderson, Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Joanna Russ, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Gene Wolfe, Roger Zelazny-as well as starling work by today's rising stars. Students and teachers alike will appreciate the sophisticated range of voices exploring the nature of reality and the condition of the human spirit.

Publishers Weekly

With the help of SF author Karen Joy Fowler (billed as ``consultant''), editors Le Guin ( Tehanu ) and Attebery ( Strategies of Fantasy ) have assembled a massive volume of admirable scope and ingenuity that includes most--no one could include all --of the influential North American science fiction writers of the past 30 years. From Fritz Leiber and Samuel R. Delany through Zenna Henderson, James Tiptree Jr. and Barry N. Malzberg to Harlan Ellison, Joanna Russ, John Varley, Octavia Butler, Orson Scott Card and Connie Willis, the table of contents reads like an SF Who's Who. But the editors have collected ``rarely anthologized gems,'' an approach that may not serve readers unfamiliar with the genre: by and large, they've chosen lesser-known works by these well-known authors, rather than the stories that best exemplify their contributions to the field. All the selections are quite good, but in many cases they don't demonstrate what makes these writers important: for instance, William Gibson is represented by ``The Gernsback Continuum'' instead of one of the cyberpunk tales that made him famous. For those well-versed in futuristic fiction, this volume offers a treasure trove of more obscure but eminently worthwhile stories. For the newcomer, it will serve as only a partial introduction to the subject. (Oct.)

Biography

Ursula K. Le Guin has written over fifty books of prose and poetry. Winner of many prizes including a National Book Award, she is perhaps best known for her six Books of Earthsea which have sold millions of copies and been translated into sixteen languages.