Best of
Speculative-Fiction

1972

The Earthsea Trilogy


Ursula K. Le Guin - 1972
    And then, the legends say, Sparrowhawk entered his boat, Lookfar, turned his back on land, and without wind or sail or oar moved westward over the sea and out of sight.Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore - Ursula Le Guin's brilliant and magical trilogy.Cover Illustration: Jonathan Field

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.

The Ugly Swans


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

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 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.

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.

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 Pumpkin Smasher


Anita Benarde - 1972
    When all the pumpkins are mysteriously smashed on three consecutive Halloweens, the townspeople of Cranbury almost decide to cancel the holiday.

Strange Doings


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

The Sheep Look Up


John Brunner - 1972
    In this nightmare society, air pollution is so bad that gas masks are commonplace. Infant mortality is up, and everyone seems to suffer from some form of ailment.

What Good Is a Glass Dagger?


Larry Niven - 1972
    In later years he regretted that. He had kept the secret of the Warlock's Wheel for several normal lifetimes. The demon-sword Glirendree and its stupid barbarian captive would have killed him, no question of that. But no mere demon could have been as dangerous as that secret. Now it was out, spreading like ripples on a pond. The battle between Glirendree and the Warlock was too good a tale not to tell. Soon no man would call himself a magician who did not know that magic could be used up. So simple, so dangerous a secret. The wonder was that nobody had noticed it before. A year after the battle with Glirendree, near the end of a summer day, Aran the Peacemonger came to Shayl Village to steal the Warlock's Wheel. Locus Poll Award Nominee

The Hero from Otherwhere


Jay Williams - 1972
    Two boys who are enemies at school find they must rely on each other when they are transferred to a strange world parallel to the one on earth.

Momotaro: Peach Boy


George Suyeoka - 1972
    With the help of a giant dog, a clever monkey, and a courageous pheasant, the young warrior fights to rescue his family and village from plunder. But will his strength and loyalty overcome the ogres' evil powers.

The Solar System and Back


Isaac Asimov - 1972
    

Beyond the Fields We Know


Lord Dunsany - 1972
    

ඉර හඳ තරු මැද


Arthur C. Clarke - 1972
    • (1951)All the Time in the World • (1952)An Ape About the House • (1962)Feathered Friend • [The Other Side of the Sky] • (1957)Green Fingers • [Venture to the Moon] • (1956)Hide and Seek • (1949)Into the Comet • (1960)Introduction • (1972) J.B. PriestleyNo Morning After • (1954)Robin Hood, F.R.S. • [Venture to the Moon] • (1956)Security Check • (1956)The Fires Within • (1947)The Forgotten Enemy • (1948)The Nine Billion Names of God • (1953)The Reluctant Orchid • [Tales from the White Hart] • (1956)The Sentinel • [A Space Odyssey] • (1951)Trouble with the Natives • (1951)Who's There? • (1958)Encounter at Dawn • [A Space Odyssey] • (1953)

Time to Go Back


Mabel Esther Allan - 1972
    A rebellious teen-ager goes back in time to Liverpool during World War II and views her own mother's adolescence and her aunt's tragic romance.

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!

A Dedicated Friend


Shirley Longford - 1972
    After the operation, Daisy is desperate to get back to her family, yet the days go by and she remains in the hospital; meanwhile, an old friend keeps visiting with news of home, and Daisy becomes increasingly uneasy.

Pua Pua Lena Lena and the Magic Kiha-Pu


Guy Buffet - 1972
    Educational, entertaining, tenderly told, the story of Puapualenalena has been reborn in a way that will delight children of all ages for years to come. Has a pictorial dictionary of Hawaiian terms at in the back.