THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION: 22nd Series

by Edward L.--Ed. Ferman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 9, 1977

The latest F & SF collection covers the last three years or so and attempts a slightly varied format including samplings from the magazine's regular departments: film rundowns, Asimov's science column, Budrys on books, bawdy-limerick competitions, and so forth. The twelve stories range from good-but-tame to simply excellent. In the second category, Tom Reamy's novella, ""San Diego Lightfoot Sue,"" is worth the price of the whole collection: a witchcraft-gone-wrong yarn beautifully superimposed on a funky and ill-starred love story. James Tiptree, Jr. is in smashing form with a corrosive study in sexual perceptions and imperceptions, ""The Women Men Don't See."" Liz Hufford does a nifty variation on the genie-in-the-junkshop situation; Frederik Pohl completes a fragment of the late C. M. Kornbluth's about a medieval peasant trying to imagine a world beyond the stars; John Varley turns in a charming, inventive story of an amateur rockhound's Venusian prospecting tour with a resourceful teenaged ""medicanic"" and her pet otter. Not the most adventurous collection imaginable, but sound and pleasant.

Pub Date: Dec. 9, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION