The Best from Orbit 1-10

Orbit

by Damon Knight (editor), Richard McKenna, Robert Silverberg

A collection of 28 short pieces from the first 10 volumes of Orbit. Stories by Richard Wilson, Mother to the World, Robert Silverberg's Passengers, Harlan Ellison's Shattered Like a Glass Goblin, and Norman Spinrad's The Big Flash, and many more.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

404 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic.
Knight's first professional sale was a cartoon drawing to a science-fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. He is best known as the author of "To Serve Man", which was adapted for The Twilight Zone. He was a recipient of the Hugo Award, founder of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. Knight lived in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife Kate Wilhelm.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Orbit was a series of original anthologies edited by Damon Knight from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. It lasted for twenty-one volumes, far more and longer than most such series. His purpose was to champion stories of an experimental (New Wave was the popular label at the time), and more character-driven, mature, and literary nature than what was to be found in the digest-sized genre magazines of the time, which were practically the only markets open to science fiction short work of the time. He published this book in 1976 with his selection of the best stories from the first ten volumes of the series. Naturally, as with any "Best Of" title, half the fun is disagreeing with the choices; how could he have included that boring story and left out this classic? He picked the wrong Effinger story... etc. The thing one can't argue is that there are some fine works here, at least a few that are still completely relevant and enjoyable to all readers. I'm still partial to the Gene Wolfe's The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories, the stories by Carol Carr and Robert Silverberg and Norman Spinrad, and Richard McKenna's The Secret Place. My favorites remain the pair by Harlan Ellison: Shattered Like a Glass Goblin and One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty.

[John Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Orbit" was a series of anthologies of original speculative fiction stories edited by Damon Knight in the 60s and 70s. His aim was to expand the genre and select literary stories that would avoid the stereotypical spaceships and ray guns of pulp science fiction. The series was quite successful and attracted some of the best writers in the field; the stories themselves won numerous awards.

I myself, as a young writer and avid reader of speculative fiction, followed the "Orbit" series for many years. I didn't always like or even understand all the stories, but there were enough gems therein to retain my interest.

I didn't buy this anthology as an exercise in nostalgia. In fact, I sought out and bought this anthology - which after some years I found affordable used on Amazon - mainly due to one of its stories, a story that is in the list of my ten favorite short stories of all time: "The Big Flash" by Norman Spinrad. This story is not so easy to find, and I hadn't read it in years. It's a Cold War story. The government decides to use tactical nukes in Vietnam, and to stoke up popular opinion they raise up a rock group, The Four Horsemen, to promote nuclear warfare. The gambit "succeeds" far beyond their expectations. Though it would seem the idea, in these more complex times, would be dated, such is not the case. The story reads as fresh now as it had forty years ago when I first read it.

Concerning the rest of the stories, as with all anthologies, it is a mixed bag. Some stories are dated, extremely so. Some are joke pieces, some are slow and go nowhere. But most are at least readable, and there are some other gems in the mix, such as "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" by Harlan Ellison, "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg, and "Mother to the World" by Richard Wilson.

It's easy to see as you read through that Damon Knight had a predilection for a certain type of story. By today's standards some of his selections might seem odd, but at the time he was fighting the general stultification and decay rampant in the field. It was an era in which good literature was regarded with suspicion and taboos were numerous. "Orbit" was part of the trend in the speculative fiction field which became known as "the new wave". It was a much-needed blast of fresh air, a wake-up call to writers that science fiction and fantasy could be taken seriously as literature and could be written as serious literature.

Nowadays, some of the stories that at the time seemed so radical appear tame, and the literary pretensions of others are no longer considered pretentious. But overall there are enough good stories to make it worth the price of admission. And for me, the Spinrad story alone was worth the long search and the price of the book.

[Rach · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s always hard to rate anthologies because of the potential variety of enjoyment in the numerous stories. And this book has 29 stories in it. Some of them I really liked, others not so much.

There were some sexist tropes utilized in a handful or so of these stories, which... I guess makes sense for something published in 1976? And containing stories from the 60’s as well? But at the same time it did damper my enjoyment of the stories that there seemed to be so much of it.

My favorites, in the order that they appear in the book, are: “The Doctor,” “I Gave Her Sack and Sherry,” “Continued On Next Rock,” “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories,” and “One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty.” If I ever come back to this book, it’ll probably be to just read these favorites again.

Overall, this book took a lot of time for me to read but it’s still a good enough experience that if you’re interested in seeing what scifi was like back in the 60’s and 70’s, I highly recommend it. There are still some great ideas explored in these pages.

[Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is easily one of the top ten best SF anthologies of all time. It contains multiple award winners, stories from such as Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, R. A. Lafferty, and a host of others.
You will meet the "Loolies" in a remarkable and charming tale by Allison Rice, and Ted Thomas' "Doctor". You'll find out what's in "The Hole On The Corner", get ridden as a "Passenger" in the fabulous Robert Silverberg story...in short, you'll be amazed, enthralled, laugh, cry. One thing you won't be is bored. Damon Knight is a superior editor and the between-stories anecdotes and comments are well-chosen. Recommended.