Best of
Science-Fiction

1972

The Ugly Swans


Arkady Strugatsky - 1972
    Soviet science fiction novel by the Strugatsky brothers.

Roadside Picnic


Arkady Strugatsky - 1972
    His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.

Again, Dangerous Visions


Harlan EllisonEdward Bryant - 1972
    It was edited by Harlan Ellison, illustrated by Ed Emshwiller. Like its predecessor, Again, Dangerous Visions and the 46 stories within it received many awards. The Word for World Is Forest, by Ursula K. Le Guin, won a Hugo for Best Novella. When It Changed by Joanna Russ won a Nebula Award for Best Short Story. For a 2nd time, Ellison received a special Hugo for editing the anthology. Again, Dangerous Visions was to be followed by a 3rd anthology, The Last Dangerous Visions. At this point, Ellison has said that it will probably never see the light of day.Introduction: An Assault of New Dreamers by Harlan Ellison The Counterpoint of View by John Heidenry Ching Witch! by Ross Rocklynne The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin For Value Received by Andrew J. Offutt Mathoms from the Time Closet: 1/Robot's Story, 2/Against the Lafayette Escadrille, 3/Loco Parentis by Gene Wolfe Time Travel for Pedestrians by Ray Nelson Christ, Old Student in a New School (poem) by Ray Bradbury King of the Hill by Chad Oliver The 10:00 Report Is Brought to You by... by Edward Bryant The Funeral by Kate Wilhelm Harry the Hare by James B. Hemesath When It Changed by Joanna Russ The Big Space Fuck by Kurt Vonnegut Bounty by T.L. Sherred Still-Life by K.M. O'Donnell (Barry N. Malzberg) Stoned Counsel by H.H. Hollis Monitored Dreams & Strategic Cremations: 1/The Bisquit Position, 2/The Girl with Rapid Eye Movements by Bernard Wolfe With a Finger in My I by David Gerrold In the Barn by Piers Anthony Soundless Evening by Lee Hoffman [█] by Gahan Wilson The Test-Tube Creature, Afterward by Joan Bernott And the Sea Like Mirrors by Gregory Benford Bed Sheets Are White by Evelyn Lief Tissue: At the Fitting Shop & 53rd American Dream by James Sallis Elouise and the Doctors of the Planet Pergamon by Josephine Saxton Chuck Berry, Won't You Please Come Home by Ken McCullough Epiphany for Aliens by David Kerr Eye of the Beholder by Burt K. Filer Moth Race by Richard Hill In re Glover by Leonard Tushnet Zero Gee by Ben Bova A Mouse in the Walls of the Global Village by Dean R. Koontz Getting Along by James Blish & Judith Ann Lawrence Totenbüch by Parra y FiguéredoThings Lost by Thomas M. Disch With the Bentfin Boomer Boys on Little Old New Alabama by Richard A. Lupoff Lamia Mutable by M. John Harrison Last Train to Kankakee by Robin Scott Empire of the Sun by Andrew Weiner Ozymandias by Terry Carr The Milk of Paradise by James Tiptree, Jr.

The Gods Themselves


Isaac Asimov - 1972
    But even free energy has a price. The transference process itself will eventually lead to the destruction of the Earth's Sun--and of Earth itself.Only a few know the terrifying truth--an outcast Earth scientist, a rebellious alien inhabitant of a dying planet, a lunar-born human intuitionist who senses the imminent annihilation of the Sun.  They know the truth--but who will listen?  They have foreseen the cost of abundant energy--but who will believe?  These few beings, human and alien, hold the key to the Earth's survival.

The Tar-Aiym Krang


Alan Dean Foster - 1972
    The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers -- a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest ... most of the time.In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn't really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn't quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place...

The Word for World Is Forest


Ursula K. Le Guin - 1972
    Terran greed spirals around native innocence & wisdom, overturning the ancient society. Humans have learned interstellar travel from the Hainish (the origin-planet of all humanoid races, including Athsheans). Various planets have been expanding independently, but during the novel it's learned that the League of All Worlds has been formed. News arrives via an ansible, a new discovery. Previously they had been cut off, 27 light years from home.The story occurs after The Dispossessed, where both the ansible & the League of Worlds are unrealised. Also well before Planet of Exile, where human settlers have learned to coexist. The 24th century has been suggested. Terran colonists take over the planet locals call Athshe, meaning "forest," rather than "dirt," like their home planet Terra. They follow the 19th century model of colonization: felling trees, planting farms, digging mines & enslaving indigenous peoples. The natives are unequipped to comprehend this. They're a subsistence race who rely on the forests & have no cultural precedent for tyranny, slavery or war. The invaders take their land without resistance until one fatal act sets rebellion in motion & changes the people of both worlds forever.

This Star Shall Abide: aka Heritage of the Star


Sylvia Engdahl - 1972
    Noren knew that his world was not as it should be—it was wrong that only the Scholars and Technicians could use metal and Machines. It was wrong that only they had access to the knowledge hidden in the mysterious City. He was a heretic. He defied the High Law and had no faith in the Prophecy’s promised fulfillment. But was defiance enough, or could some way be found to make it come true?

The Second Kind of Loneliness


George R.R. Martin - 1972
    

Strange Doings


R.A. Lafferty - 1972
    276 pages, 1972, SBN 684-12530-7; New York, America and Canada

The Fifth Head of Cerberus


Gene Wolfe - 1972
    It is said a race of shapeshifters once lived here, only to perish when men came. But one man believes they can still be found, somewhere in the back of the beyond.In The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Wolfe skillfully interweaves three bizarre tales to create a mesmerizing pattern: the harrowing account of the son of a mad genius who discovers his hideous heritage; a young man's mythic dreamquest for his darker half; the bizarre chronicle of a scientists' nightmarish imprisonment. Like an intricate, braided knot, the pattern at last unfolds to reveal astonishing truths about this strange and savage alien landscape.

The Worlds of Theodore Sturgeon


Theodore Sturgeon - 1972
    Stories like the one about: the man who read graves -- not gravestones, but graves . . . or The Pit, which insured peace on Earth, forever . . . Plus two of the great classics of science fiction -- The Sky Was Full Of Ships and Shottle Bop.These are the brilliant, fantastically imaginative WORLDS OF THEODORE STURGEON.Contents:From Plynck to Planck (1962)The Skills of Xanadu (1956)There Is No Defense (1948)The Perfect Host (1948)The Graveyard Reader (1958)The Other Man (1956)The Sky Was Full of Ships (1947)Shottle Bop (1941)Memorial (1946)Maturity (1947)

A Science Fiction Argosy


Damon Knight - 1972
    Green Jr storyAn Ornament to His Profession '66 Charles L. Harness storyIntroduction '72 Damon Knight essayHe Walked Around the Horses/Paratime '48 H. Beam Piper storyJourneys End '57 Poul Anderson storyJudgment Day '55 L. Sprague de Camp storyLight of Other Days '66 Bob Shaw storyMan in His Time '65 Brian W. Aldiss storyManna '49 Peter Phillips storyMore Than Human '53 Theodore Sturgeon novelOne Ordinary Day, with Peanuts '55 Shirley Jackson storyRump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee '58 Fritz Leiber storySea Wrack '64 Edward Jesby storySomerset Dreams '69 Kate Wilhelm storyThe Cure '46 Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore as by Lewis Padget storyThe Demolished Man '52 Alfred Bester novelThe Game of Rat & Dragon '55 Cordwainer Smith storyThe Red Queen's Race '49 Isaac Asimov storyThe Third Level '51 Jack Finney storyBernie the Faust '63 Wm Tenn story

The Ultimate Solution


Eric Norden - 1972
    The nightmare come-true novel of the last jew in Nazi America!

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, June 1972


Ben Bova - 1972
    Larson The Darkness to Come • novelette by Robert B. Marcus, Jr. Out, Wit! • shortstory by Howard L. Myers A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! (Part 3 of 3) • serial by Harry Harrison

Alpha 3


Robert SilverbergR.A. Lafferty - 1972
    Dick; Under Old Earth by Cordwainder Smith; Total Environment by Brian W. Aldiss; The Shadow of Space by Philip Jose Farmer; Rescue Party by Arthur C. Clarke; Nine Hundred Grandmothers by R. A. Lafferty; Day Million by Frederik Pohl; Come to Venus Melancholy by Thomas M. Disch; and Aristotle and the Gun by L. Sprague de Camp.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year 1


Terry Carr - 1972
    Clarke · The Frayed String on the Stretched Forefinger of Time · Lloyd Biggle, Jr. · How Can We Sink When We Can Fly? · Alexei Panshin · No Direction Home · Norman Spinrad · Vaster Than Empires and More Slow · Ursula K. Le Guin · All the Last Wars at Once · George Alec Effinger · The Fourth Profession · Larry Niven

Waiters on the Dance


Julian Jay Savarin - 1972
    

The Skills of Xanadu


Theodore Sturgeon - 1972
    

The Best Science Fiction of the Year


Terry CarrLloyd Biggle Jr. - 1972
    

New World Quarterly


Michael Moorcock - 1972