This one's a big old bastard...
The Science Fiction CenturyEdited by David G. Hartwell
(Quality Paperback Book Club / Robinson 1997)
(illustration by John Harris)
BLURB:
"Science fiction is the characteristic literary genre of the century. It is the genre that stands in opposition to literary modernism." So says David G. Hartwell in his introduction to 'The Science Fiction Century', an anthology spanning a hundred years of science fiction to the future it predicted.
'The Science Fiction Century' includes stories from the founding fathers of the field, such as H.G. Wells, C.S. Lewis, Jack London and Rudyard Kipling; beloved mainstays of the genre such as Philip Jose Farmer, Roger Zelanzy, Jack Vance and Poul Anderson; noted female writers, including Connie Willis, Nancy Kress and James Tipree Jr. *; and writers who have hit their stride in the last two decades, such as Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Michael Swanwick, and James Morrow. Hartwell has also included writers widely recognised outside the genre, such as E.M. Forster, Michael Shaara, and John Crowley; and translations of foreign writers' formative works, including Dino Buzzati and Wolfgang Jeschke. This is a must-have anthology for all literary interests.
*Yep, female - it was a pen-name for a certain Alice B. Sheldon, a psychologist and former CIA employee who, in her seventies killed her terminally ill husband, and then herself.
Contains:Introduction - David G. Hartwell
Beam Us Home - James Tipree Jr
Ministering Angels - C.S. Lewis
The Music Master of Babylon - Edgar Pangborn
A Story of the Days to Come - H.G. Wells
Hot Planet - Hal Clement
A Work of Art - James Blish
The Machine Stops - E.M. Forster
Brightness Falls from the Air - Margaret St Claire
2066: Election Day - Michael Shaara
The Rose - Charles Harness
The Hounds of Tindalos - Frank Belknap Long
The Angel of Violence - Adam Wisniewski-Snerg
Nobody Bothers Gus - Algis Budrys
The Time Machine - Dino Buzzati
Mother - Philip Jose Farmer
As Easy as ABC - Rudyard Kipling
Ginungagap - Michael Swanwick
Minister Without Portfolio - Mildrid Clingerman
Time in Advance - William Tenn
Good Night, Sophie - Lino Aldani
Veritas - James Morrow
Enchanted Village - A.E. van Vogt
The King and the Dollmaker - Wolfgang Jeschke
Fire Watch - Connie Willis
Goat Song - Poul Anderson
The Scarlet Plague - Jack London
Drunkboat - Cordwainer Smith
Another World - J.H. Rosny aine
If the Stars are Gods - Gordon Eklund & Gregory Benford
I Still Call Australia Home - George Turner
Liquid Sunshine - Alexander Kuprin
Great Work of Time - John Crowley
Sundance - Robert Silverberg
Greenslaves - Frank Herbert
Rumfuddle - Jack Vance
The Dimple in Draco - Philip Latham
Consider Her Ways - John Wyndham
Something Ending - Eddy C. Bertin
He Who Shapes - Roger Zelanzy
Swarm - Bruce Sterling
Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress
Johnny Mnenomic - William Gibson
"Repent, Harlequin!" said the Ticktock Man - Harlan Ellison
Blood's a Rover - Chad Oliver
Sail the Tide of Mourning - Richard A. Lupoff
Weighing in at just over 1000 pages of small print, this is certainly the lagest SF antho I have ever read! Concentrating on lesser known but quality work, there are all sorts of reasons to disagree with some choices and moan about omissions - but this is a great book, because it isn't made up of loads of stories that many SF readers would have encountered elsewhere, time and time again.
Oh, the stories are presented in a non-chronological order, so it is a smooth varied read from start to finish, if a bit hard on the arms...
Apparently there is a second volume which has been published in the last year or so, but I haven't got round to that one yet.