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The Best of Analog
Fifteen stories from 1972-78. “Child Of All Ages”-P.J.Plauger.-Melissa is twelve years old. She claims to be twenty-four hundred years old. “A Thing Of Beauty”-Norman Spinrad.- America has been destroyed by an insurrection. Mr.Ito of Japan wants to buy an artifact of historical interest to take back to his estate. He turns down a headless Statue of Liberty. His hunt continues. “Home Is The Hangman”-Roger Zelazny.-An A.I. robot named The Hangman is designed to explore other planets. It’s later thought his ship has come back to Earth empty. Then it looks like he’s back to kill the four who designed him. This story won the Hugo and Nebula awards. Other authors in the anthology Scott W. Schumack, David Lewis, Alfred Bester, Gene Wolf, George R.R. Martin, Hayford Peirce, Joe Haldeman, Gordon R. Dickson, Larry Niven, Vonda N. McIntyre, Joe Allred and Tim Joseph.
418 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Ben Bova
715 books1,039 followersBen Bova was born on November 8, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1953, while attending Temple University, he married Rosa Cucinotta, they had a son and a daughter. He would later divorce Rosa in 1974. In that same year he married Barbara Berson Rose.
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
Bova was an avid fencer and organized Avco Everett's fencing club. He was an environmentalist, but rejected Luddism.
Bova was a technical writer for Project Vanguard and later for Avco Everett in the 1960s when they did research in lasers and fluid dynamics. It was there that he met Arthur R. Kantrowitz later of the Foresight Institute.
In 1971 he became editor of Analog Science Fiction after John W. Campbell's death. After leaving Analog, he went on to edit Omni during 1978-1982.
In 1974 he wrote the screenplay for an episode of the children's science fiction television series Land of the Lost entitled "The Search".
Bova was the science advisor for the failed television series The Starlost, leaving in disgust after the airing of the first episode. His novel The Starcrossed was loosely based on his experiences and featured a thinly veiled characterization of his friend and colleague Harlan Ellison. He dedicated the novel to "Cordwainer Bird", the pen name Harlan Ellison uses when he does not want to be associated with a television or film project.
Bova was the President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past President of Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
Bova went back to school in the 1980s, earning an M.A. in communications in 1987 and a Ph.D. in 1996.
Bova has drawn on these meetings and experiences to create fact and fiction writings rich with references to spaceflight, lasers, artificial hearts, nanotechnology, environmentalism, fencing and martial arts, photography and artists.
Bova was the author of over a hundred and fifteen books, non-fiction as well as science fiction. In 2000, he was the Author Guest of Honor at the 58th World Science Fiction Convention (Chicon 2000).
Hollywood has started to take an interest in Bova's works once again, in addition to his wealth of knowledge about science and what the future may look like. In 2007, he was hired as a consultant by both Stuber/Parent Productions to provide insight into what the world is to look like in the near future for their upcoming film "Repossession Mambo" (released as "Repo Men") starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker and by Silver Pictures in which he provided consulting services on the feature adaptation of Richard Morgan's "Altered Carbon".
http://us.macmillan.com/author/benbova
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 31, 2021
This is an excellent anthology in which Bova selected his picks of the best short science fiction from Analog magazine from 1972-1976, during which time he was the editor. I particularly remember good stories by Joe Haldeman, Gene Wolfe, Alfred Bester, Larry Niven, Norman Spinrad, and a classic by Vonda N. McIntyre. My favorites were Home is the Hangman by Roger Zelazny and A Song For Lya by George R.R. Martin.
October 8, 2024
After the death of long-time editor John W. Campbell in 1971, Analog Science Fiction and Fact needed a new person at the helm. The winner of the selection process was Ben Bova (1932-2020), who intended to stay only a few years, those years winding up as 1972-1978, after which Stanley Schmidt (1944-present) was persuaded to take over. This volume collects fifteen of Mr. Bova’s favorite pieces from the magazine from the first five years of his award-winning run.
After a brief introduction by Ben Bova explaining why he picked these particular pieces, the volume begins with “Persephone and Hades” by Scott W. Schumack. After World War Three made the surface of Earth uninhabitable, effectively immortal cyborg Robert Carver believed that he was the last human being alive in his underground research vault. The damage had also caused the cryogenically preserved terminal patients to thaw just enough to kill them.
Except, as it happened, one that had been in a new model cryochamber that was able to sustain her until the power was turned back on, and was accidentally woken up by Carver some years later. Carver had gone a bit nuts from the isolation and decided that Carol Armendez was a threat to his plan to restart life on Earth from the stored genetic material in the vault. She recognized he was unbalanced, and they started a cat and mouse game that eventually causes Carver to realize where he’d gone wrong, and how much he needs Armendez.
“Home is the Hangman” by Roger Zelazny is the closing story. It’s part of a series he did about a Twenty-First Century in which most of humanity has been entered into a central Data Bank. The protagonist was present at the creation of that data bank and somehow contrived to have none of his personal information or history entered into it, making him effectively a “non-person” as far as the government or other large entities that rely on computers are concerned.
He stays off the grid most of the time, but his special skills and anonymity make him useful for an old friend who runs a private security agency from time to time. In this case, a self-aware “robot” that was being used to explore other planets in the solar system appears to have returned to Earth. One of the four operators who trained it has been brutally murdered, and another one, now a United States Senator, believes that the Hangman has come back for revenge (though he won’t explain for what.)
The protagonist takes on the name John Donne and begins investigating. Can he stop the Hangman? Should in fact the Hangman be stopped?
This one’s heavy on the literary allusions (the title is a riff on a Robert Louis Stevenson poem) and philosophical musings about the nature of intelligence and free will. (I remember really liking the cover of the Analog issue this story appeared in.)
Other standouts include:
“How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion” by Gene Wolfe is an amusing alternate history story in which a wargamer participates in a “parking race” to prevent Adolf Hitler from flooding the British automobile market with “People’s Wagons.” The “science” part comes in from the properties of transistors, a new technology invented years earlier in this timeline. This was the story that reminded me I’d read this volume years ago. It may not be the best, but it’s very memorable.
“A Song for Lya” by George R.R. Martin was his first story accepted by Analog, and won him a Hugo award. A pair of romantically involved psychics are summoned to a colony world where humans are adopting the native religion. Which might not be a problem, except that the worshippers allow themselves to be slowly eaten by an alien organism, eventually being absorbed into it. But it might not be the suicide it seems. The ending is melancholy.
“A Thing of Beauty” by Norman Spinrad is about ten years ahead of its time in its “Japan takes over the world” future. The United States’ economy took a nosedive and a sketchily-mentioned “insurrection” made the formerly proud America a third-world nation. The main character is an antiquities dealer who’s selling off bits and pieces of his country’s heritage to the still prosperous Japanese. In this case, a fabulously wealthy industrialist, Mr. Ito, is in the market for a thing of beauty to impress his snooty in-laws.
The dealer tries several pieces that do not please Mr. Ito, but then a surprise item presents itself, and the story ends with a final esoteric joke.
The general quality of stories (plus one poem and a fictitious article) is high; this was a strong run of the magazine. I do have to put in a content note for “Child of All Ages” by P.J. Plauger, which has discussion of what amounts to pedophilia.
This doesn’t seem to have been reprinted since 1979, so you may have to search used bookstores or check to see if a particular story that sounds good was reprinted elsewhere. Recommended to science fiction fans with an interest in the early 1970s state of the field.
After a brief introduction by Ben Bova explaining why he picked these particular pieces, the volume begins with “Persephone and Hades” by Scott W. Schumack. After World War Three made the surface of Earth uninhabitable, effectively immortal cyborg Robert Carver believed that he was the last human being alive in his underground research vault. The damage had also caused the cryogenically preserved terminal patients to thaw just enough to kill them.
Except, as it happened, one that had been in a new model cryochamber that was able to sustain her until the power was turned back on, and was accidentally woken up by Carver some years later. Carver had gone a bit nuts from the isolation and decided that Carol Armendez was a threat to his plan to restart life on Earth from the stored genetic material in the vault. She recognized he was unbalanced, and they started a cat and mouse game that eventually causes Carver to realize where he’d gone wrong, and how much he needs Armendez.
“Home is the Hangman” by Roger Zelazny is the closing story. It’s part of a series he did about a Twenty-First Century in which most of humanity has been entered into a central Data Bank. The protagonist was present at the creation of that data bank and somehow contrived to have none of his personal information or history entered into it, making him effectively a “non-person” as far as the government or other large entities that rely on computers are concerned.
He stays off the grid most of the time, but his special skills and anonymity make him useful for an old friend who runs a private security agency from time to time. In this case, a self-aware “robot” that was being used to explore other planets in the solar system appears to have returned to Earth. One of the four operators who trained it has been brutally murdered, and another one, now a United States Senator, believes that the Hangman has come back for revenge (though he won’t explain for what.)
The protagonist takes on the name John Donne and begins investigating. Can he stop the Hangman? Should in fact the Hangman be stopped?
This one’s heavy on the literary allusions (the title is a riff on a Robert Louis Stevenson poem) and philosophical musings about the nature of intelligence and free will. (I remember really liking the cover of the Analog issue this story appeared in.)
Other standouts include:
“How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion” by Gene Wolfe is an amusing alternate history story in which a wargamer participates in a “parking race” to prevent Adolf Hitler from flooding the British automobile market with “People’s Wagons.” The “science” part comes in from the properties of transistors, a new technology invented years earlier in this timeline. This was the story that reminded me I’d read this volume years ago. It may not be the best, but it’s very memorable.
“A Song for Lya” by George R.R. Martin was his first story accepted by Analog, and won him a Hugo award. A pair of romantically involved psychics are summoned to a colony world where humans are adopting the native religion. Which might not be a problem, except that the worshippers allow themselves to be slowly eaten by an alien organism, eventually being absorbed into it. But it might not be the suicide it seems. The ending is melancholy.
“A Thing of Beauty” by Norman Spinrad is about ten years ahead of its time in its “Japan takes over the world” future. The United States’ economy took a nosedive and a sketchily-mentioned “insurrection” made the formerly proud America a third-world nation. The main character is an antiquities dealer who’s selling off bits and pieces of his country’s heritage to the still prosperous Japanese. In this case, a fabulously wealthy industrialist, Mr. Ito, is in the market for a thing of beauty to impress his snooty in-laws.
The dealer tries several pieces that do not please Mr. Ito, but then a surprise item presents itself, and the story ends with a final esoteric joke.
The general quality of stories (plus one poem and a fictitious article) is high; this was a strong run of the magazine. I do have to put in a content note for “Child of All Ages” by P.J. Plauger, which has discussion of what amounts to pedophilia.
This doesn’t seem to have been reprinted since 1979, so you may have to search used bookstores or check to see if a particular story that sounds good was reprinted elsewhere. Recommended to science fiction fans with an interest in the early 1970s state of the field.
October 3, 2018
This is a very good book on every aspect of light you can imagine. I enjoyed the book, except for the annoying rambling on about evolution. I have enjoyed many of Bova's science fiction books and recommend this book if you are interested in knowing more about light.
July 14, 2024
A snapshot of American SF in the mid-70s. There are good stories from Alfred Bester, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman and Roger Zelazny, uncharacteristically dumb ones from Gordon R Dickson and Gene Wolfe, just one from a woman (Vonda McIntyre), and an exotic oddity from a young chap called George Martin; it's a shame he doesn't write fiction any more.
The two best stories are quiet ones: A Thing Of Beauty from Norman Spinrad and Child Of All Ages from PJ Plauger. All of the stories from writers you've never heard of serve only to illustrate why you've never heard of them.
The two best stories are quiet ones: A Thing Of Beauty from Norman Spinrad and Child Of All Ages from PJ Plauger. All of the stories from writers you've never heard of serve only to illustrate why you've never heard of them.
August 21, 2017
A very good collection of stories, many of them winners or nominees of major awards. The only problem is that now, forty years after they were originally published, a good percentage will probably already be familiar to long-term science fiction readers.
My favorites are "How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion" by Gene Wolfe, "A Song for Lya" by George R. R. Martin, "Child of All Ages" (a very clever title) by P. J. Plauger, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" by Vonda N. McIntyre, "A Thing of Beauty" by Norman Spinrad, and "Home Is the Hangman" by Roger Zelazny.
There is a good introduction by the editor, Ben Bova. The cover is by Alex Schomburg.
My favorites are "How I Lost the Second World War and Helped Turn Back the German Invasion" by Gene Wolfe, "A Song for Lya" by George R. R. Martin, "Child of All Ages" (a very clever title) by P. J. Plauger, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand" by Vonda N. McIntyre, "A Thing of Beauty" by Norman Spinrad, and "Home Is the Hangman" by Roger Zelazny.
There is a good introduction by the editor, Ben Bova. The cover is by Alex Schomburg.
March 10, 2011
Although not all the stories in this collection are exactly to my taste, they do deserve the moniker of Best of Analog. All are extremely well-written with intriguing plots and interesting characters.
I did keep this book in my purse for reading in queues and waiting rooms, so I don't remember much of the beginning stories. I do remember that the very first story in the book, "Persephone and Hades" is my favorite. It's about an android who thinks he is the last conscious being on earth. A female human is unfrozen accidentally from a cryogenic state and they need to learn how to live together and maybe spawn a new era of humanity.
I was touched, deeply, by "A Song for Lya." A planet administrator is concerned because quite a few humans are joining the local 'alien' religion, which ultimately requires suicide of its devotees. He hires a couple of psychics to come investigate why humans are drawn to this seemingly horrible faith. What they learn about "God," the collective conscious, and love is immensely thought-provoking. The most entertaining story was "A Child of All Ages." I can't say anything more about it without giving it away, but it's a must-read.
I can't recall any that I actively disliked, and looking back through the table of contents now I don't see any others that I have a strong opinion about. I would recommend this collection to any fan of science fiction or short stories.
I did keep this book in my purse for reading in queues and waiting rooms, so I don't remember much of the beginning stories. I do remember that the very first story in the book, "Persephone and Hades" is my favorite. It's about an android who thinks he is the last conscious being on earth. A female human is unfrozen accidentally from a cryogenic state and they need to learn how to live together and maybe spawn a new era of humanity.
I was touched, deeply, by "A Song for Lya." A planet administrator is concerned because quite a few humans are joining the local 'alien' religion, which ultimately requires suicide of its devotees. He hires a couple of psychics to come investigate why humans are drawn to this seemingly horrible faith. What they learn about "God," the collective conscious, and love is immensely thought-provoking. The most entertaining story was "A Child of All Ages." I can't say anything more about it without giving it away, but it's a must-read.
I can't recall any that I actively disliked, and looking back through the table of contents now I don't see any others that I have a strong opinion about. I would recommend this collection to any fan of science fiction or short stories.
November 25, 2008
One of the best short story collections I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews