Best Science Fiction of the Year 3. ed Terry Carr. Ballantine. 1974.

click to search Alibris for a copy
clickme Alfred Bester. Something Up There Likes Me.
clickme R.A. Lafferty. The World as Will and Wallpaper.
clickme Robert Silverberg. Breckenridge and the Continuum.
clickme Jack Vance. Rumfuddle.
clickme F.M. Busby. Tell Me All About Yourself.
clickme Harlan Ellison. The Deathbird.
clickme Vonda N. McIntyre. Of Mist and Grass and Sand.
clickme Gene Wolfe. The Death of Dr. Island.
clickme Ursula K. Le Guin. The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas.
clickme Philip Jose Farmer. Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind.
clickme James Tiptree Jr. The Women Men Don't See.
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Alfred Bester. Something Up There Likes Me.
Originally in : Astounding

A satellite which develops a technical problem after launch is given an electrical jolt in order to make it work properly. The electrical surge has a more dramatic effect, and the satellite does a particularly good monitoring job.

R.A. Lafferty. The World as Will and Wallpaper.
Originally in : Future City

A world-encircling city is patterned after William Morris (he of the Arts and Crafts movement). The protagonist searches for the meaning of life.

Robert Silverberg. Breckenridge and the Continuum.
Originally in : Showcase

Breckenridge and colleagues trudging across endless wasteland, debating the nature of mythology

Jack Vance. Rumfuddle.
Originally in : Three Trips in Time and Space

Successfully blends alternate worlds, matter transporters, and a mystery/thriller.

F.M. Busby. Tell Me All About Yourself.
Originally in : New Dimensions 3

Dale reluctantly tries a necro house, and tries to find love, when only a more basic need can be fulfilled.

Harlan Ellison. The Deathbird.
Originally in : Fantasy & Science Fiction

The DeathBird is unfurling its wings to encircle the Earth.

Vonda N. McIntyre. Of Mist and Grass and Sand.
Originally in :

On a desert world, a Healer tries her snake-magic on an ailing boy.

Gene Wolfe. The Death of Dr. Island.
Originally in : Universe 3

Adults and children with severe psychiatric disorders are put into a virtual environment.

Ursula K. Le Guin. The Ones Who Walk Away from the Omelas.
Originally in : New Dimensions 3

What price happiness for the majority?

Philip Jose Farmer. Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind.
Originally in : Nova 3

An alien artefact circling the Earth causes increasing memory loss for the population of the Earth.

James Tiptree Jr. The Women Men Don't See.
Originally in : Fantasy & Science Fiction

A small plane crashes in a mangrove swamp, leaving the pilot, the protaganist, and two women, to survive. The women achieve a survival beyond that of the two men.

28thApril 2002
review copyright Mark Watson 2002
n.b. story summaries written sometime between 1990-1999