Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939)

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Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1
IsaacAsimovPresentsTheGreatSFStories1.jpg
First edition cover
Editors Isaac Asimov
Martin H. Greenberg
Cover artist Jack Gaughan
LanguageEnglish
SeriesIsaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories
Genre Science fiction
Publisher DAW Books
Publication date
March 1979
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Followed by Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940)  

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) is an American collection of short stories, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, originally published by DAW books in March 1979. [1] It contains science fiction stories selected by the editors that were published in the year 1939. The book is part of a 25 volume series. Each successive volume in the series contains stories from the next year, continuing through 1963. The series starts with 1939 because Asimov had previously published a three volume anthology series titled, "Before the Golden Age", covering years 1931 - 1938, which he considered to be definitive for those years. According to DAW, The Great SF Stories 1 (1939) "is the first in what Isaac Asimov plans to be a definitive series of sf anthologies, covering year by year the truly memorable stories that have progressively brought science fiction to its present prominence". [2] The second volume of the series is Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940) .

Contents

Each volume in the series begins with a two part introduction that describes the important events of 1939 "in the world outside reality" (normal historical events) and "in the real world" (event within the science fiction community). Each stories also features a short introduction by each editor.

Contents

Reception

Writing for Strange Horizons in 2010, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro described the series as essential read for modern SF fans, stating that "if we wish to fully understand today's work, we need to be at least somewhat familiar with its ancestry." He goes on to review the various stories individually, discussing how they have aged and their value to the modern reader. [3] AsimovReviews.net describes this volume as "an excellent volume in an excellent series." [4]

Related Research Articles

The Golden Age of Science Fiction, often identified in the United States as the years 1938–1946, was a period in which a number of foundational works of science fiction literature appeared. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the "pulp era" of the 1920s and 1930s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 1970s. The 1950s are, in this scheme, a transitional period. Robert Silverberg, who came of age then, saw the 1950s as the true Golden Age.

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and anthologist in many genres, including mysteries and horror, but especially in speculative fiction. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. He was also a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel. Greenberg was also an expert in terrorism and the Middle East. He was a longtime friend, colleague and business partner of Isaac Asimov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnome Press</span> Defunct American small-press publishing company

Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan — many considered classic works of SF and Fantasy today. Gnome was important in the transitional period between Genre SF as a magazine phenomenon and its arrival in mass-market book publishing, but proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many of the major SF authors, and in some cases, as with Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was responsible for the manner in which their stories were collected into book form.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2</i> (1940) 1979 anthology of short stories edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940) is an English language anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. The series attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 1 (1939).

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 3</i> (1941) 1980 collection of short stories edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 3 (1941) is an English language collection of science fiction short stories, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. The series attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the first half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Second Series with the second half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 4 (1942).

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 4</i> (1942) 1942 anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 4 (1942) is a science fiction anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It is the fourth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, a series of short story collections that attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Second Series with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 3 (1941). This volume was originally published by DAW books in 1980.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 5</i> (1943)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 5 (1943) is the fifth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the first half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Third Series with the second half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 6 (1944). This volume was originally published by DAW books in March 1981.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 6</i> (1944)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 6 (1944) is the sixth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Third Series with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 5 (1943). This volume was originally published by DAW books in December 1981.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 7</i> (1945) 1982 short story collection edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 7 (1945) is an English language science fiction short story collection, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It is part of a series which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the first half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fourth Series with the second half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946).

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8</i> (1946) 1982 science fiction story collection edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 8 (1946) is an English language science fiction story collection, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It is part of a series which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fourth Series with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 7 (1945).

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 9</i> (1947) 1983 science fiction anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 9 (1947) is a science fiction anthology edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. It is the ninth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, a series of short story collections, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the first half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fifth Series with the second half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 10 (1948). This volume was originally published by DAW books in February 1983.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 10</i> (1948)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 10 (1948) is the tenth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Fifth Series with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 9 (1947). This volume was originally published by DAW books in August 1983.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 12</i> (1950)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 12 (1950) is the twelfth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. The book was later reprinted as the second half of Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction, Sixth Series with the first half being Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 11 (1949). It was the last book in the series to be reprinted as part of the Isaac Asimov Presents The Golden Years of Science Fiction series. This volume was originally published by DAW books in September 1984.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 14</i> (1952)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 14 (1952) is the fourteenth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in January 1986.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 18</i> (1956)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 18 (1956) is the eighteenth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in August 1988.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 20</i> (1958)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 20 (1958) is the twentieth volume of Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories, which is a series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in February 1990.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 22</i> (1960)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 22 (1960) is an American science fiction anthology, the twenty-second volume in the Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories series, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in February 1991.

<i>Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 25</i> (1963)

Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 25 (1963) is an American collection of science fiction stories, the last regular volume of the Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories series of short story collections, edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, which attempts to list the great science fiction stories from the Golden Age of Science Fiction. They date the Golden Age as beginning in 1939 and lasting until 1963. This volume was originally published by DAW books in July 1992.

<i>World of Wonder</i> (anthology)

World of Wonder is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories edited by Fletcher Pratt, published in hardcover by Twayne in 1951. No subsequent editions were issued.

In a writing career spanning 53 years (1939–1992), science fiction and popular science author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) wrote and published 40 novels, 383 short stories, over 280 non-fiction books, and edited about 147 others.

References

  1. ↑ The Great Science Fiction Stories Volume 1, 1939 at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  2. ↑ The Great SF Stories, Vol 1 (1939). DAW Books, Inc.
  3. ↑ Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1 Archived 2016-08-08 at the Wayback Machine at Strange Horizons.
  4. ↑ Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 1, 1939 at AsimovReviews.net


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