Isaac Asimov & Martin H. Greenberg - SS Anthology -The Great Science Fiction Stories.pdf - Isaac Asimov - Planetar81

Isaac Asimov

Presents

The Great

Science Fiction

Stories

Volume 11, 1949

Edited By

Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

* * * *

CONTENTS

Introduction

THE RED QUEEN’S RACE Isaac Asimov

FLAW John D.

MacDonald

PRIVATE EYE

Lewis Padgett

MANNA Peter

Phillips

THE PRISONER IN THE SKULL Lewis

Padgett

ALIEN EARTH Edmond

Hamilton

HISTORY LESSON Arthur C.

Clarke

ETERNITY LOST Clifford

D. Simak

THE ONLY THING WE LEARN C. M.

Kornbluth

PRIVATE—KEEP OUT Philip MacDonald

THE HURKLE IS A HAPPY BEAST Theodore

Sturgeon

KALEIDOSCOPE Ray

Bradbury

DEFENSE MECHANISM Katherine

MacLean

COLD WAR Harry

Kuttner

THE WITCHES OF KARRES

James H. Schmitz

* * * *

Introduction

In the world outside reality it was a most important year, one that saw the

Soviet Union detonate a nuclear weapon and the victory of the Communists

in China. On January 20 President Truman urged in “Point Four” of his

inaugural address that the United States share its technological and

scientific knowledge with “underprivileged areas.” NATO (the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization) came into being formally on April 4 and would soon be

a major factor in American foreign policy. The Republic of Eire officially

came into existence on April 18. In a relatively rare state name-change,

Siam became Thailand on May I1, one day before the Berlin blockade was

ended by the Soviets. West (the German Federal Republic) and East (the

German Democratic Republic) Germany were established on May 23 and

October 7.

The defeated Chinese Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek be-gan to

evacuate their remaining forces to Formosa on July 16; the People’s

Republic of China, ruled by Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai, was proclaimed

on October 1.

President Truman announces on September 23 that the Soviets have

successfully tested a nuclear weapon.

The American domestic economy undergoes a series of major

strikes, including a bitter dispute in the coal fields. Congress raises the

minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents an hour.

During 1949 Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex, a work

that greatly influenced the postwar feminist movement. The great Selman

Waksman isolated neomycin, giving yet an-other important antibiotic to the

world. Jackie Robinson was the Most Valuable Player in the National

League, batting an impres-sive .342, while Ralph Kiner led the majors in

home runs with 54. Hit songs included “Dear Hearts and Gentle People,” “I

Don’t Care if the Sun Don’t Shine,” “ Scarlet Ribbons,” and “Rudolph the

Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

The Volkswagen automobile was introduced in the American market

but it got off to a very slow start—only two were sold in 1949. A gallon of

gas cost 25 cents. Marc Chagall painted “Red Sun,” while The Goldbergs,

sometimes called American TV’s first situation comedy, became a hit. Joe

Louis retired as heavy-weight boxing champion and Ezzard Charles

became the new champ by defeating Jersey Joe Walcott. Nelson Algren

published his powerful The Man with the Golden Arm, while important and

popular films included Adam’s Rib, the tremendous White Heat, All the

King’s Men, Sands of Iwo Jima, Twelve O’Clock High (war pictures were

particularly popular), and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

Pancho Gonzales was U.S. Tennis Champion. Anai’s Nin pub-lished

The House of Incest. Top Broadway musicals included South Pacific

starring Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with

the wonderful Carol Channing. Ponder won the Kentucky Derby. Jacob

Epstein produced his sculpture of “Lazarus.” Silly Putty was introduced and

became a big success. The New York Yankees won the World Series by

beating the Brooklyn Dodgers (sorry again, Isaac) four games to one. A

pack of cigarettes cost 21 cents. The legitimate stage was graced by

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller and Detective Story by Sidney

Kingsley. Graham Greene published The Third Man. Amos ‘n Andy came

to television.

A loaf of bread cost 15 cents. The National Football League and the

All-America Conference merged, bringing the Cleveland Browns into the

NFL, which they were to dominate for the next decade. Alger Hiss was

convicted of spying against the United States for the Soviet Union.

The record for the mile run was still the 4:01.4 set by Gunder Haegg

of Sweden in 1945.

Mel Brooks was (probably) still Melvin Kaminsky.

In the real world it was another outstanding year as a large number of

excellent (along with a few not so excellent) science fiction and fantasy

novels and collections were published (again, many of these had been

serialized years earlier in the magazines), including the titanic 1984 by

George Orwell, Lords of Creation by Eando Binder, A Martian Odyssey by

Stanley G. Weinbaum, Exiles of Time by Nelson Bond, Skylark of Valeron

by E. E. (Doc) Smith, What Mad Universe by Fredric Brown, The Fox

Woman by A. Merritt, The Incredible Planet by John W. Campbell, Jr.,

Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein, The Sunken World by Stanton A.

Coblentz, and The Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton. Two important

anthologies were The Best Science Fiction Stories, 1949, the first annual

“Best of” anthology, edited by E. F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty, and The Girl

with the Hungry Eyes and Other Stories, one of the first “original

anthologies,” edited by our own Donald A. Wollheim.

Important novels that appeared in magazines in 1949 included

Seetee Shock by Jack Williamson, Flight into Yesterday by Charles L.

Harness, and Needle by Hal Clement.

Super Science Fiction reappeared on the newsstands, this time

edited by Eijer Jacobsson. Other sf magazines that began publica-tion in

1949 were Other Worlds Science Stories, edited by Raymond A. Palmer,

and A. Merritt’s Fantasy Magazine. However, all these paled beside the

launching in October of The Magazine of Fantasy, published by Mercury

Press and edited by Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas—with its

name changed to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, it would

soon become a major rival to Astounding and certainly one of the most

important sf magazines of all time.

More wondrous things were happening in the real world as five writers

made their maiden voyages into reality: in February, John Christopher

(Christopher Youd) with “Christmas Tree”; in July, Kris Neville with “The

Hand From the Stars”; in the Fall issue of Planet Stories, Roger Dee with

“The Wheel is Death”; in October, Katherine MacLean with “Defense

Mechanism”; and in the Winter issue of Planet Stories, Jerome Bixby, with

“Tubemonkey.”

Gnome Press, under the leadership of David Kyle and Martin

Greenberg (the other Marty Greenberg) began publication dur-ing 1949.

The Captain Video TV series took to the airways.

The real people gathered together for the seventh time as the World

Science Fiction Convention (Cinvention) was held in Cincinnati. Notable sf

films of the year were Mighty Joe Young and The Perfect Woman, the

latter based on a play by Wallace Geoffrey and Basil Mitchell.

Death took Arthur Leo Zagat at the age of 54.

But distant wings were beating as Malcolm Edwards was born.

Let us travel back to that honored year of 1949 and enjoy the best

stories that the real world bequeathed to us.

* * * *

THE RED QUEEN’S RACE

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