The editor of this series, Gary K Wolfe, has experience with science fiction, having written several other works on the scifi genre and having co-hosted the Hugo-nominated Coode Street Podcast. He previously wrote two partner-volumes of this series covering the 1950s. Here he chose to write two volumes covering the 1960s, because that decade was a time of upheaval for science fiction writing. The decade said “bye-bye” to the pulp fiction of previous decades and “hello” to more literary and cross-genre novels that raised science fiction to new levels and with expanded readership.
Wolfe has selected these classics for this volume of American Science Fiction:
- The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
- Way Station by Clifford D Simak
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniele Keyes
- …And Call me Conrad (aka This Immortal by Roger Zelazny)
In spite of being a huge scifi buff, when I did a quick scan of the novels included in this volume I found that I’d only read one, Flowers for Algernon. It is a really amazing and moving novel about ethical and moral issues related to medical advances. A search for other titles in the volume brought up award finalists and winners and high accolades by reviewers. Seeing as in all four volumes I’d only read a few more of the novels, I’ve now got a much longer reading list. I think you might too. The American Science Fiction volumes would be a convenient place to start and we have them in the Andersen Library available to check o ut.
The books in the series are:
- American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels 1953-1956 (2012)
- The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl and CM Kornbluth
- More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
- The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
- The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
- American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels 1956-1958 (2012)
- Double Star by Robert Heinlein
- The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
- A Case of Conscience by James Blish
- Who? by Algis Budrys
- The Big Time by Fritz Leiber
- American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels, 1968-1969 (2019)
- Past Master by RA Lafferty
- Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ
- Nova by Samuel R Delany
- Emphyrio by Jack Vance
American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels: 1960-1966
edited by Gary K Wolfe
New Arrivals Island, 2nd Floor
PS648.S3 A5155 2019
