The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories

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Science fiction is one of the twentieth century's most characteristic - and dominant - literary forms. Despite critical disparagement and misunderstanding it has established itself at the heart of popular literary culture and its readers are now numbered in millions worldwide. In all its many variations, science fiction can be seen as a prominent example of 'fabril' literature - urban, disruptive, future-oriented, eager for novelty - whose central image is the 'faber' (the smith or blacksmith in older usage), ...
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More About This Book

Overview

Science fiction is one of the twentieth century's most characteristic - and dominant - literary forms. Despite critical disparagement and misunderstanding it has established itself at the heart of popular literary culture and its readers are now numbered in millions worldwide. In all its many variations, science fiction can be seen as a prominent example of 'fabril' literature - urban, disruptive, future-oriented, eager for novelty - whose central image is the 'faber' (the smith or blacksmith in older usage), extended in science fiction to mean the creator of artefacts in general: metallic, crystalline, genetic, or even social. In the quest for a respectable ancestry for SF, commentators have pointed to a range of precursors from More's Utopia of 1516 to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). But the critical historical moment came in the late nineteenth century, when the early stories of H. G. Wells began to appear against a recent background of popular 'scientific romances'. Beginning with Wells's story 'The Land Ironclads' of 1903, Tom Shippey's selection charts the development of science fiction in the twentieth century through a wide range of practitioners - well-known figures (Rudyard Kipling, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederik Pohl, Brian Aldiss, Ursula Le Guin, J. G. Ballard, and Harry Harrison) as well as less familiar writers, and also the most recent arrivals of the 1980s and 1990s, such as Bruce Sterling, Paul McAuley, and David Brin. Taken together, the 30 stories assembled here offer a potent blend of familiar landmarks juxtaposed with more elusive examples that even devotees may have missed. In a stimulating introduction, Professor Shippey analyses the main lines of thematic and technical development of SF over the last 90 years. The result is an outstanding anthology that will appeal to established science fiction readers as well as to students and other readers coming to the form for the first time.
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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
These 30 SF tales, arranged chronologically from 1903 to 1990, cover a typically wide and uneven range in the genre. The omission of some authors might raise eyebrows--notably Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, and Robert A. Heinlein, all known for their short fiction. Only three women are represented: C. L. Moore (whose The Piper's Son is written under the collaborative pseudonym Lewis Padgett), Ursula K. Le Guin and Racoona Sheldon (Alice Sheldon, better known under the James Tiptree Jr. pseudonym). Only Sheldon's The Screwfly Solution, a devastatingly scary story about misogyny gone mad, dates from the past 20 years, during which women have made serious progress in the genre; thus, the final third of the book is less representative than it might be. Standouts include Le Guin's 0. Henry-esque The Dowry of the Angyar, Gene Wolfe's frightening How the Whip Came Back, H. G. Wells's anticipation of modern weapons in The Land Ironclads, Thomas M. Disch's insightful Problems of Creativeness, George R.R. Martin's fascinating religious study The Way of Cross and Dragon and Frederik Pohl's The Tunnel Under the World, which opens with the now-classic line, On the morning of June 15th, Guy Burckhardt woke up screaming out of a dream. (Oct.)
Library Journal
From H.G. Wells's ``The Land Ironclads'' (1903) to David Brin's ``Piecework'' (1990), this collection of 30 sf stories gives a chronological sampling of 20th-century speculative fiction.
Booknews
A collection of 30 stories spanning the period from 1903 (H.G. Wells) to 1990 (David Brin). Shippey (English language and medieval lit., U. of Leeds) has chosen well and reflects upon the genre in a longish introduction. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Roland Green
This stout volume covers modern sf in 30 stories about as well as can reasonably be expected. Editor Shippey has cast his net widely as to themes, schools of sf writing, and authors, although he demonstrates a bias in favor of more experimental stories as his chronological presentation approaches the last generation. He has also provided a generous and useful bibliography, making his effort a fine one for smaller collections and classroom use. Collections catering to the well-read sf aficionado might check their holdings before writing their checks, although the cachet of the designation "Oxford Book" may bring the book more non-sf readership than most sf collections entice.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780192142047
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
  • Publication date: 9/17/1992
  • Pages: 624
  • Product dimensions: 5.88 (w) x 8.75 (h) x 1.51 (d)

Meet the Author

Tom Shippey inherited J. R. R. Tolkien's Chair of Medieval English Language at the University of Leeds, and now holds the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at St Louis University, Missouri, specializing in Medieval Literature, Old English Arthurian and Romance Literature, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. He has written and edited numerous books, including J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century (2001).

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Table of Contents

Introduction
The Land Ironclads 1
Finis 22
As Easy as ABC 33
The Metal Man 59
A Martian Odyssey 70
Night 95
Desertion 115
The Piper's Son 127
The Monster 154
The Second Night of Summer 171
Second Dawn 198
Crucifixus Etiam 228
The Tunnel Under the World 247
Who Can Replace a Man? 278
Billennium 287
The Ballad of Lost C'mell 302
Semley's Necklace 322
How Beautiful with Banners 340
A Criminal Act 350
Problems of Creativeness 363
How the Whip Came Back 385
Cloak of Anarchy 400
A Thing of Beauty 420
The Screwfly Solution 435
The Way of Cross and Dragon 454
Swarm 472
Burning Chrome 496
Silicon Muse 516
Karl and the Ogre 535
Piecework 550
Select Bibliography 577
Sources 583
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