SFWA Grand Masters: Andre Norton, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, and Ray Bradbury, Vol. 2

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Lester Del Rey, Frederik Pohl, Damon Knight, A. E. Van Vogt, Jack Vance

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented, by active members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. The Grand Master Award is given to a living author for a lifetime's achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.

Frederik Pohl, an eminent figure in science fiction, has been authorized by the SFWA to edit an anthology in three big volumes featuring substantial selections of the work of all the first fifteen Grand Masters. These are the seminal writers of the modern SF field, whose works are of dominant importance and influence. This series of collections is a permanent record of greatness in SF.

Volume Three, presenting the last five writers to receive the Grand Master award, features the fiction of Lester Del Rey, Frederik Pohl, Damon Knight, A. E. Van Vogt, Jack Vance

FROM THE CRITICS

Science Fiction Weekly

If anything, The SFWA Grand Masters: Volume 2 is even stronger than its predecessor, which was a very good book. Pohl is doing a wonderful job assembling a series that's long overdue.

Locus

On the basis of the...pieces...one can conclude that [some of the authors] were having a degree of sheer imaginative fun that may no longer be available to SF writers in today's market.

KLIATT

The Grand Master award is given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America to a living author for a lifetime's achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy. This is the second in a series of three big volumes to anthologize the work of the first 15 Grand Master award winners. Included here are: Andre Norton; Arthur C. Clarke; Isaac Asimov; Alfred Bester; and Ray Bradbury. (Actually, Alfred Bester received his award posthumously, as is noted in Pohl's introduction to his works here.) As in the first volume, for each author there is an introduction by Pohl, at least four stories, and a short list of recommended reading. The copyrights span from 1946-1989. This represents a major undertaking and another priceless volume. While Asimov's "Robbie" robot story is missing here, the others chosen are equally brilliant and not as well known. This will serve as a solid introduction to these classic writers and hopefully open doors for a new readership. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Tor, 432p., $15.95. Ages 13 to adult. Reviewer: Sherry S. Hoy; Libn., Tuscarora Jr. H.S., Mifflintown, PA , September 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 5)

Library Journal

This is the beginning of a three-volume anthology of selected works by the first 15 recipients of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Associations Grand Master award, which recognizes a lifetime body of work, of a quality that helped to shape the entire course of science fiction writing. Pohl, himself a Grand Master, has selected four to five works, mostly short stories, from the first five recipients: Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Williamson, Clifford D. Simak, L. Sprague de Camp, and Fritz Leiber. He introduces each group with a short history of the writers career and anecdotes from Pohls personal acquaintance with him. The short stories, while not always the authors best works, are representative of their styles and motifs and the early days of sf writing. Pohl has also included some extracts from novels, autobiographies, and essays, which, unfortunately, feel fragmented. Still, this is a good choice for sf collections.Devon Thomas, Highland Twp. Lib., MI

Locus