The 6th Annual Edition: The Year’s Best S-F, marks Judith Merril’s series’ transition from cover art created by Richard M. Powers, to covers illustrations created by other artists, or, art agencies. Why? Unknown. Perhaps the reasons were budgetary on the part of Dell; perhaps Powers had other commitments; perhaps he simply wanted to move on, to other projects. Regardless, in aesthetic terms, the series lost the innovative and original “look” apparent from the covers of the first five issues. From this point forward, the cover art is vastly simpler and less original than Powers’, as a general rule featuring a single, hard-to-define “object” in the center of the cover, with no real background. As in this whatever-it-is / interstellar-yellowish-green ball-of-yarn, created by John Can Zwienen.
My favorite story within this edition is “The Fellow Who Married the Maxill Girl” by Ward Moore, the author of the superb alternate history of the American Civil War (and beyond), “Bring the Jubilee”, which is far less pure science fiction than it is historical, philosophical, and sociological speculation. Howard Fast’s “The Large Ant” is also a great story, albeit in the realm of classic science fiction (with a Fortean undertone), and ending on a note of mystery and unresolved paranoia. Fast’s story originally appeared in Fantastic Universe accompanied by an illustration by Virgil W. Finlay, which is included here. Otherwise, note that this edition, like other anthologies in this series, includes some works of non-fiction; even a cartoon.
Contents? – Contents!
Introduction (“The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F”), Essay by Judith Merril
“Double, Double, Toil and Trouble”, by Holley Cantine,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January, 1960
“The Never-Ending Penny”, by Bernard Wolfe [Variant “The Never Ending Penny”,
from Playboy, September, 1960], specifically for this volume
“The Fellow Who Married the Maxill Girl”, by Ward Moore,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February, 1960
“Something Invented Me”, by R.C. Phelan,
specifically for this volume
“A Sigh for Cybernetics”, by Felicia Lamport,
specifically for this volume
“Obvious!” (cartoon), by Michael Ffolkes,
specifically for this volume
“I Remember Babylon”, by Arthur C. Clarke,
from Playboy, May, 1960
“The Lagging Profession”, Essay by Leonard Lockhard [Theodore L. Thomas],
from Analog Science Fact -> Fiction, January, 1961
“The Distortion” (cartoon), by Shel Silverstein,
specifically for this volume
“Report on the Nature of the Lunar Surface”, by John Brunner,
from Astounding / Analog Science Fact & Fiction, August, 1960
“J.G.” (Excerpt from “J.G. the Upright Ape”), by Roger Price,
specifically for this volume
“Chief”, by Harry Slesar,
specifically for this volume
“Psalm”, by Lester del Rey,
specifically for this volume
“The Large Ant”, by Howard Fast,
from Fantastic Universe, February, 1960
“A Rose by Other Name”, by Christopher Anvil,
from Astounding Science Fiction, January, 1960
“Enchantment”, by Elizabeth Emmett,
from The Saturday Evening Post, October 1, 1960
“Thiotimoline and the Space Age”, by Isaac Asimov,
from Analog Science Fact -> Fiction, October, 1960
“Beach Scene”, by Marshall King,
from Galaxy Magazine, October, 1960
“Creature of the Snows”, by William Sambrot,
from The Saturday Evening Post, October 29, 1960
“Abominable”, by Fredric Brown,
from The Dude, March, 1960
“The Man on Top”, by Reginald Bretnor,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September, 1960
“David’s Daddy”, by Rosel George Brown,
from Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, June, 1960
“The Thinkers” (cartoon), by Walt Kelly,
specifically for this volume
“Something Bright”, by Zenna Henderson,
from Galaxy Magazine, February, 1960
“In the House, Another”, by Joseph Whitehill,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April, 1960
“A Serious Search for Weird Worlds”, Essay by Ray Bradbury,
specifically for this volume
“Ed Lear Wasn’t So Crazy!”, Poem by Hilbert Schenck, Jr.,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June, 1960
“Instructor” (Cartoon), by Thelwell [Norman Thelwell],
specifically for this volume
“The Brotherhood of Keepers, by Dean McLaughlin,
from Astounding / Analog Science Fact & Fiction, July, 1960
“Hemingway in Space” [Authors in Space series], by Kingsley Amis,
from Punch, December 21, 1960
“Mine Own Ways”, by Richard McKenna,
from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February, 1960
“Old Hundredth”, by Brian W. Aldiss,
from New Worlds Science Fiction #100, November, 1960
“Radiation Blues”, by Theodore R. Cogswell,
specifically for this volume
“Blowup Blues” (poem), by Theodore R. Cogswell,
specifically for this volume
“Ballad of the Shoshonu”, by Gordon R. Dickson,
specifically for this volume
How to Think a Science Fiction Story (excerpt), by G. Harry Stine,
specifically for this volume
The Year in S-F (“The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F”), Essay by Judith Merril
“S-F Books”, Essay Anthony Boucher,
specifically for this volume
Honorable Mentions (“The 6th Annual of the Year’s Best S-F”), Essay by Judith Merril
What else can we say?
(Still life with references)
Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Published Variants of This Book (Three I see, that’s easy!)