The Science Fiction Roll of Honor

by Frederik Pohl (editor), Robert Bloch (Contributor), John W. Campbell Jr. (Contributor)

The Science Fiction Roll of Honor.An Anthology of Fiction and Nonfiction by Guest of Honor at the World Science Fiction Conventions.Authors include Poul Anderson; Issac Asimov; James Blish; Robert Bloc; John W. Campbell; Arthur Clark; Lester del Rey; Lloyd Eshback; Hugo Gernsbach; Robert Heinlein; Fritz Leiber; Willie Ley; Frank Paul; E.E.Smith Ph.D; and Theodore Sturgeon

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

264 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1975

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology edited by Frederik Pohl with the interesting gimmick that each of the authors had been the Guest of Honor at one of the annual World Science Fiction Conventions. The contents are arranged alphabetically by author rather than chronologically by convention year, but that's not too terribly annoying. Some of the GoHs were not sf writers, so some nice non-fiction pieces are included from artist Frank R. Paul, scientist Willy Ley, and editor/father-of-the-field Hugo Gernsback. Edward E. "Doc" Smith was known almost exclusively as a novelist, so Pohl included an extract from The Skylark of Space to represent him. The list of authors of the stories, by definition, includes the biggest names of the early days of the field, and Pohl selected some real classics. Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., (who was a GoH three times) was the basis for two famous sf films, and there are good stories from Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Robert Bloch, Arthur C. Clarke, Lester del Rey, Lloyd Eshbach (not too well remembered now, sadly, though he founded the small-press publishing concept for the field), and Fritz Leiber. The only collaboration in the book is one of the Blord stories by A.E. van Vogt and E. Mayne Hull, a husband and wife writing team who were co-GoHs in 1946. My favorites were How Beautiful With Banners by James Blish (one of his very best pieces, The Long Watch by Robert A. Heinlein, and one of my all-time favorites, The Hurkle is a Happy Beast by Theodore Sturgeon, a great humorous piece. There are interesting, anecdotal introductions through-out the book that tries to explain the concept of fandom to the uninitiated. It's a shame he was never able to produce a second volume.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at American science fiction in its incipient days in the first half of the 20th century.

The stories in this volume are entertaining, some more so than others, but there's no real context given as to what makes them standouts of the genre and worthy of inclusion here (other than that their authors were all guests of honor at a prestigious sci-fi convention, the first of its kind).

The essays that are included actually take away from the book as a whole. They're written by different authors but they all take the same defensive yet self-congratulatory tone: "We know what we love is looked down upon in some circles. That's ok though because we're actually smarter as well as more open-minded and individualistic than they are. So big fat lemons to them." It's a reminder that until quite recently nerd culture, of which science fiction has always been a huge part, was a source of hurt feelings and wounded pride for so many.

[Fred Snyder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Masters of Science Fiction are highlighted in this collection from 1975.
Some of the stories, decent. A couple clunkers. A couple speeches -about-science fiction, which I found a little droll. The Heinlein story I already owned in a different collection.

Certainly some of what we now know about certain authors shaded my opinions. Especially John Campbell, what a racist jerk.

But two stories surprised me so deeply that I had trouble focusing on them. Not because of their content, but because I couldn't stop thinking about their later adaptations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Las... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Goe...

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Collection of short pieces. Each story or essay is referenced to the World Convention at which the author was Guest of Honor. Pohl's introduction describes the history of the World Science Fiction Convention events.

[Cevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great short stories from SciFi's early masters.