Visions of Wonder: The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology

Visions of Wonder is one of my most prized books! I've had it for years now, after initially buying it for an SF class I took in university. I often re-read stories in the anthology, and look up the authors' other works and read them as well. If you are a lover of quality SF and Fantasy, this is a must-have volume of fascinating stories and ideas. I couldn't recommend it more highly!

David G. Hartwell has been a rather well-known editor in the science fiction field for quite a long time, and in Visions of Wonder he collects quite a few fine stories and authors, which include such contemporary luminaries as Lucius Shepard, James Patrick Kelly, Greg Bear, Terry Bisson, and Nancy Kress, along with an older crowd consisting of Brian Aldiss, Algis Budrys, Kate Wilhelm, and Philip Jose Farmer. A series of essays (my favorite of which, probably, is Samuel R. Delany's) is also included in this book, which examines the state that science fiction was in, is now in, and postulates various theories about what science fiction might become in the future. Does the collection work as a whole? Generally speaking (with a few rough areas), yes. With standout stories such as "Mr. Boy" by the very excellent J.P. Kelly, this anthology includes some very interesting and genre-spanning fiction, and, in the end, is an anthology that I am very willing to recommend.

This is a memorable collection. From new stories like "Blood Music" and "Bears Discover Fire" to classics like "The Girl Who was Plugged In," the stories are sometimes disturbing but always engrossing. The scholarly articles are insightful from an academic standpoint, especially "What do you mean, 'human'?" This is definitely a "keeper." If scholarly articles bore you, don't read them. But you'll never know what you missed!

Actually it is quite intent on the reader saying it's peculiar. Ostensibly for sf classes it nevertheless says its for non-academics like myself. Actually the choices weren't as peculiar as I'd expected. It is slanted towards recent stories though. Science fiction is starting to throw the old authors off too much for my taste. For instance the first story I read in this was Bears Discover Fire by Bisson. Although good ,maybe even great, the sf sites on the web made it sound like the best short science fiction story ever. I feel bad that I expected that because it is enjoyable even if it isn't the best. Still there were good stories (including Bears...)in here & good essays. I have no interest in reading any Delaney, but his essay was interesting. Especially when he talked about the proper way to visualize spaceports in the original Foundation trilogy. I always thought I was visualizing them wrong. Knight's essay appealed to my love of history, & of what I know educated men of the past snickered as much at tales of distant lands in much the same way some snicker at sf. Meanwhile Merril's had a trippy Beatles' feel that was uninformative, but amusing. Worth reading, but maybe not worth buying considering the price. One last thing I'm sad to see how few comments anthologies receive. I hope that's not because noone's reading them. Outside magazines like F & Sf, Sf Age, Analog, & Asimov anthologies are the thing for sf short stories. I hope that "message" didn't ruin my review since this was largely a book about short fiction & anthologies.