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The DAW Science Fiction Reader
DAW 200 1st edition 1976 paperback,vg Akers, Carter, Bradley, T Lee, Bradley, Norton, St In stock shipped from our UK warehouse
208 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 20, 1976
35 people want to read
About the author
Donald A. Wollheim
295 books34 followersDonald Allen Wollheim was a science fiction writer, editor, publisher and fan. He published his own works under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell.
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 6, 2021
This is an anthology that DAW edited to celebrate the 200th book from DAW books, the imprint that bore his name, obviously. It was an homage to the Ace Science Fiction Reader and Avon Fantasy Reader titles that he had produced earlier in his career for those companies. In this one (which he unfortunately chose to print with no cover illustration, just a river of type), he selected stories from seven of the most popular authors in his DAW stable. Two of the stories are reprints, a juvenile novel by Andre Norton called Fur Magic and a Dorsai novelette by Gordon R. Dickson. There are original stories by Tanith Lee, Brian M. Stableford, Lin Carter, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and a short Dray Prescott piece by the amazingly prolific Kenneth Bulmer under his Alan Burt Akers pseudonym. It's not a bad anthology, but I couldn't help believing that it should have been much more.
July 14, 2025
An anthology put together by DAW to celebrate it being the 200th book they published, featuring mostly original stories by seven of what were presumably their more popular and/or noteworthy authors at the time: Andre Norton, Gordon R. Dickson, Tanith Lee, Alan Burt Akers, Lin Carter, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Brian M. Stableford.
Most of the stories (the two exceptions being Norton and Dickson) are original to this anthology. And, for the most part, they're fine.
The bulk of the book (60%) is given over to a reprint in full of Andre Norton's short young readers' novel Fur Magic. I remember getting a number of her other Magic books from the elementary school library when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, but don't remember this specific book, which is about a boy named Cory who's summering on his uncle's horse ranch while his father is in Vietnam (kids! ask your parents), and who, through Circumstances, finds himself incarnated as an intelligent, talking beaver in a sort of Native American spirit world, trying to find somebody who can send him back home. And I am absolutely unqualified to speak as to the portrayal of Native culture and beliefs in the story, but it seemed at least reasonably respectful.
The Dickson story, also a reprint, is from his Dorsai universe, which I knew about but don't think I ever read anything from.
Tanith Lee's story is relatively short and has a twist I found not entirely surprising, but I'm always happy to read her work.
The Akers piece is an original story set in his (extremely long-running) Dray Prescott sword & planet series. It was the first Akers I ever read (despite having had a number of the books on my shelves for an embarrassingly long time) and honestly, while it was fine, I didn't really click for it -- on the one hand, there was plenty of fast-paced, Burroughsian action, but on the other hand, it was littered to the point of distraction with invented terms and in-universe similes like "gloom as deep as Cottmer's Caverns". Which, I presume, is a famously gloomy place, and I appreciate the effort, but I find a little of that can go a very long way.
Then we have a Lin Carter story, one of his SFnal Martian tales, and for Carter's fiction it's arguably above average. And the Bradley and Stableford are both original stories that, again, seemed fine to me as someone who's not actually familiar with either of their work.
All in all, a pleasant if not excessively memorable way to spend an afternoon.
Most of the stories (the two exceptions being Norton and Dickson) are original to this anthology. And, for the most part, they're fine.
The bulk of the book (60%) is given over to a reprint in full of Andre Norton's short young readers' novel Fur Magic. I remember getting a number of her other Magic books from the elementary school library when I was in 3rd or 4th grade, but don't remember this specific book, which is about a boy named Cory who's summering on his uncle's horse ranch while his father is in Vietnam (kids! ask your parents), and who, through Circumstances, finds himself incarnated as an intelligent, talking beaver in a sort of Native American spirit world, trying to find somebody who can send him back home. And I am absolutely unqualified to speak as to the portrayal of Native culture and beliefs in the story, but it seemed at least reasonably respectful.
The Dickson story, also a reprint, is from his Dorsai universe, which I knew about but don't think I ever read anything from.
Tanith Lee's story is relatively short and has a twist I found not entirely surprising, but I'm always happy to read her work.
The Akers piece is an original story set in his (extremely long-running) Dray Prescott sword & planet series. It was the first Akers I ever read (despite having had a number of the books on my shelves for an embarrassingly long time) and honestly, while it was fine, I didn't really click for it -- on the one hand, there was plenty of fast-paced, Burroughsian action, but on the other hand, it was littered to the point of distraction with invented terms and in-universe similes like "gloom as deep as Cottmer's Caverns". Which, I presume, is a famously gloomy place, and I appreciate the effort, but I find a little of that can go a very long way.
Then we have a Lin Carter story, one of his SFnal Martian tales, and for Carter's fiction it's arguably above average. And the Bradley and Stableford are both original stories that, again, seemed fine to me as someone who's not actually familiar with either of their work.
All in all, a pleasant if not excessively memorable way to spend an afternoon.
April 22, 2023
I found Gordon R. Dickson’s “Warrior” to be the only good story in this collection. And it’s not stellar, but it is above the other entries. As others have noted, I was disappointed that this special edition 200th DAW publication had such mediocre selections when they had such a strong author pool to pull from, including some of the featured authors’ works. .
July 26, 2008
This anthology is most notable to me because it contains the only available novella about Dray Prescot. There are also stories by Lin Carter and Andre Norton.
December 31, 2016
Good selection of stories, including a couple of authors I was not familiar with.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews