Friday, March 9, 2007

The Best From Fantasy And Science Fiction, Nineteenth Series, Edward L. Ferman

Title: The Best From Fantasy And Science Fiction, Nineteenth Series
Editor: Edward L. Ferman
Rating: Neutral

This is going to be a short review.

I know I read this book. In fact, I just finished it. But I can remember just about nothing from it. Fourteen short stories, all published in Fantasy And Science Fiction magazine in about 1969 or 1970, but nothing stuck with me in any detail.

Perhaps the problem is that these stories are really a product of their time: two mention (or feature) recreational drug use; two discuss Bigfoot. How 1960's.

Most are by authors I've never heard of, but for the record, here's the list from the back cover:
  • Gone Fishin' by Robing Scott Wilson
  • Selectra Six-Ten by Avram Davidson
  • Longtooth by Edgar Pangborn
  • Sundance by Robert Silverberg
  • The Brief, Swinging Career Of Dan And Judy Smythe by Carter Wilson
  • Dream Patrol by Charles Runyon
  • Calliope And Gherkin And The Yankee Doodle Thing by Evelyn E. Smith
  • Notes Just Prior To The Fall by Barry N. Malzberg
  • Confessions by Ron Goulart
  • Get A Horse! by Larry Niven
  • The Man Who Learned Loving by Theodore Sturgeon
  • Litterbug by Tony Morphett
  • An Adventure In The Yolla Bolly Middle Eel Wilderness by Vance Aandahl
  • Starting From Scratch by Robert Sheckley
  • Benji's Pencil by Bruce McAllister
  • And six cartoons by Gahan Wilson
This volume just didn't hold up. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good. It just wasn't. Oh well.