The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction – Ninth Series, Edited by Robert P. Mills – 1958 (1959) [Edmund A. Emshwiller] [Revised post…]

Great cover art by Emsh (Edmund Emshwiller) from 1959: Colorful, directly representational, complex, and dynamic.  Not tied to any specific story in the anthology, the art seems (?) to imply a kind of progression: from chimpanzee, to man-in-gray-flannel-suit (Don Draper in an off moment?), to an astronaut, to a kind of fearsome, glowing, lightningy, greenish-blue energy-dragon looking thing.  

The astronaut especially stands out: In his left hand he’s carrying some kind of weapon, as if arrayed for battle, or, an ambiguously sciencey probe.  If you look closely at the blue and red buttoned-box on his chest, you’ll notice the letters EMSH – as individual letters on the box – which represents Emshwiller’s logo.  This was typical of Emshwiller, for he cleverly and unobtrusively incorporated this abbreviation into all his compositions, in lieu of an actual signature at bottom.    

Like other Ace science-fiction anthologies, the title page includes a composition – this one by Jack Gaughan.

(The cover scan in this post is an update from the original, which appeared in June of 2017 and featured a rather worn and creased cover.  You can see the original image at the bottom of the post.)    

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

A Different Purpose, by Kim Bennett

Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge: A Memoir, by Ron Goulart

“All You Zombies- ”, by Robert A. Heinlein

Casey Agonisties, by R.M. McKenna

Eastward Ho!, by William Tenn

Soul Mate, by Lee Sutton

What Rough Beast, by Damon Knight

Far From Home, by Walter S. Tevis

Invasion of the Planet of Love, by George P. Elliott

Dagon, by Avram Davidson

Fact, by Winston P. Sanders

No Matter Where You Go, by Joel Townsley Rogers

The Willow Tree, by Jane Rice

The Pi Man, by Alfred Bester

The Man Who Lost the Sea, by Theodore Sturgeon

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June 19, 2017 – 134

A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Robert P. Mills – 1962 [Richard Powers]

Here’s a nice Richard Powers cover from 1962, with elements typical of his art: Multicolored, curved, geometric, mobile-like shapes; a weird, irregularly-shaped, dented, floating, metallic king of thingy; a figure garbed in a space-suit.  (Well, it looks like a space-suit!) 

Like many of the images of “people” in Powers’ art, the space explorer’s outfit looks detailed and ornate, but on closer inspection, this arises from a series of rings or ridges covering the garment, giving it the suggestion rather than the reality of detail. 

But, it still looks cool.

The “lower” of the two images, appearing on the book’s back cover, is simply a reproduction of the art on the front cover, sans text.

As for the stories within the book?  Though I have read them all (some years ago!), none particularly currently stand out in memory.  Yet, in a larger sense, I was always impressed by the works of Zenna Henderson (“The People” series), Ward Moore (author of one of the best time travel stories I’ve ever read; fully worthy of a mini-series on Netflix or Amazon Prime (hint, hint, Mr. Bezos!): “Bring the Jubilee”), and, Manly Wade Wellman. 

Contents

Walk Like A Mountain, by Manly Wade Wellman, June, 1955

Men of Iron, by Guy Endore, Fall, 1949

Rabbits to The Moon, by Raymond E. Banks, July, 1959

The Certificate, by Avram Davidson, March, 1959

The Sealman, by John Mansfield, July, 1955

The Sky People, by Poul Anderson, March, 1959

The Causes, by Idris Seabright, June, 1952

The Hypnoglyph, by John Anthony, July, 1953

A Tale of The Thirteenth Floor, by Ogden Nash, July, 1955

Spud and Cochise, by Oliver La Forge, December, 1957

Unto The Fourth Generation, by Isaac Asimov, April, 1959

Jordan, by Zenna Henderson, March, 1959

Will You Wait?, by Alfred Bester, March, 1959

Proof Positive, by Graham Greene, August, 1952

Shock Treatment, by J. Francis McComas, April, 1956 (From 9 Tales of Space and Time, May, 1954)

Gandolphus, by Anthony Boucher, June, 1952

The Last Shall Be First, by Robert P. Mills, August, 1958

A Trick Or Two, by John Novotny, July, 1957

Lot’s Daughter, by Ward Moore, October, 1954

Saturnian Celia, by Horace Walpole, April, 1957 (May, 1774.  First known to have been published in The Letters of Horace Walpole, 1903)

Fear Is A Business, by Theodore Sturgeon, April, 1956

Meeting of Relations, by John Collier, January, 1959 (From The Yale Review, December, 1941)

First Lesson, by Mildred Clingerman, December, 1956

To Fell A Tree, by Robert F. Young, July, 1959

Reference

A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction, at Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction – Eleventh Series, Edited by Robert P. Mills – 1960 (1961, 1962) [Bob Schinella]

The Sources of The Nile, by Avram Davidson

Somebody To Play With, by Jay Williams

Softly While You’re Sleeping, by Evelyn E. Smith

The Machine That Won The War, by Isaac Asimov

Go For Baroque, by Jody Scott

Time Lag, by Poul Anderson

George, by John Anthony West

Shotgun Cure, by Clifford D. Simak

The One Who Returns, by John Berry

The Captivity, by Charles G. Finney

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard, by Cordwainer Smith

Effigy, by Rosser Reeves

E=MC2, by Rosser Reeves

Harrison Bergeron, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

The Haunted Village, by Gordon R. Dickson

The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction – Tenth Series, Edited by Robert P. Mills – 1959 (1960, 1961) [Jack Gaughan]

Nikita Eisenhower Jones, by Robert F. Young

Who Dreams of Ivy, by Will Worthington

Mine Own Ways, by Richard McKenna

The Rainbow Gold, by Jane Rice

Crazy Maro, by Daniel Keyes

Something, by Allen Drury

It’s a Great Big Wonderful Universe, by Vance Aandahl

Man Overboard, by John Collier

The Blind Pilot, by Charles Henneberg (translated by Damon Knight)

A Divvil With The Women, by Niall Wilde

The Martyr, by Poul Anderson

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble, by Holley Cantine

Apres Nouse, by Avram Davidson

Interbalance, by Katherine MacLean

Infinity, by Rosser Reeves

The Replacement, by Robert Murray

The Fellow Who Married the Maxill Girl, by Ward Moore