Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction: 36 Stories and Novellas by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is just what it says: an anthology of the outstanding science fiction short stories from 1939 and 1940, chosen by Martin Greenberg and Isaac Asimov. Actually that’s not quite right; it includes some fantasy stories as well, which I think is a mistake; not only is it in contradiction with the title, the fantasy stories conflict with the tone of the book.
Regardless, there are some great stories in here. Not all are excellent, but they are still worth reading if you’re interested in the history of science fiction (in English, anyway).
I read this as a kind of sequel to Before the Golden Age, and I miss the autobiographical aspect Asimov brought to that book, with little personal vignettes before and after each story. But that stuff is covered in The Early Asimov for this period anyway, so I shouldn’t complain. Both Greenberg and Asimov preface every story (except those by Asimov, which are prefaced by Asimov alone) with interesting tidbits, and each volume (of the two included in this book) is preceded by a little historical background regarding what was going on both in and outside of the world of science fiction at the time. It’s nice to get a little of the feel of what it might have been like to read these when they were published, but I would have liked more of the same. In particular, since John Campbell was such an instrumental figure in the Golden Age—indeed the instrumental figure by all accounts—I would have liked more discussion of his practices and how these stories differed from those published previously.
So if you’re interested in getting a feel for the kinds of stories that were being published in the early days of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, this is an essential read. If you only want to read the true “classics” of the era, perhaps another anthology would serve you better—there are timeless classics here, but they are interspersed among more forgettable stories. And if you’re looking for information on why the Golden Age was the Golden Age, I’d advise you look elsewhere (and if you find such a book, let me know); information on that topic is sparse in this work.
A couple of administrative notes:
First, this volume is a combination of two previous works: Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1, 1939 and Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2, 1940. It is the first volume in its own series, Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction. The second book in the series is Isaac Asimov Presents the Golden Years of Science Fiction, Second Series, covering 1941 and 1942. I mention this because I was confused, and thought others might be as well. This book contains Volume 1 and Volume 2, and further books are labeled with “Series.” I wasn’t sure if the next book was Series Three, or what, especially when I couldn’t seem to find Series Two. But no, the next book is Series Two, and this is Series One, even though not labeled as such.
Second, the Forward to the combined volume is signed “JHR.” Does anyone have an idea of who that might be?
I was going to include a short description and review/discussion of every included story, as well as some random thoughts I had while reading, as much for my reference as it is for the benefit of prospective readers of this book (I wish there was a Goodreads for short stories!). But I ran out of space, so I posted them under the individual volumes: Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1, 1939 and Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2, 1940.
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