Generation: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction

by David Gerrold (editor), Stephen Goldin (editor), Piers Anthony

Introduction essay by David Gerrold
Every Fourth House story by Evelyn Lief
Up Schist Crick story by Piers Anthony
Through a Lass Darkly story by James Tiptree Jr
The Birthday Boy story by James A. Stevens
Reprisal story by Alice Laurance
It's Very Clean story by Gene Wolfe
Psychedelic Flight story by Robert Ray
Stubborn story by Stephen Goldin
The Lady Was for Kroinking story by David R. Bunch
After They've Seen Paree story by Dennis O'Neil
The Shortest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told story Roger Deeley
The Recreation story by Robert E. Toomey
Vidi Vici Veni story by Barry N. Malzberg
Amberjack story by James Tiptree
The Galactic Clock story by Vonda N. McIntyre
Constitution in E Flat story by Paul A. Carter
One Ordinary Day, with Box story by Kathleen Sky
Beside Still Waters story by Edward Bryant & James Sutherland
Nova Morning story by Jody Harper & Edward Bryant
Here's a Health Unto His Majesty story by Roger Deeley
Everything that Begins with an M story by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Conditioned Reflex story by Gardner R. Dozois
The Porter of Hell-Gate story by Joseph F. Pumilia
A Sense of Thyme story by C.F. Hensel
All of Them Were Empty story by David Gerrold

Genres: Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

236 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an anthology of twenty-five original short stories that was slated for publication in 1969 but didn't actually appear until 1972. It's subtitled "an anthology of speculative fiction," which was a signal that the stories were of the New Wave variety; at the time there was a lot of rivalry in the field between traditional nuts'n'bolts science fiction that was mainly concerned with science and adventure, and character-driven experimental literature from new, younger writers. It's something of a companion volume to another Gerrold-edited volume, Protostars, which was published by Ballantine. As one might expect, some of the writers here didn't accomplish much more in the field, several had respectable if unremarkable careers, and a few (Gene Wolfe, Piers Anthony, James Tiptree, Jr., for example) reached superstar status. Gerrold included a much higher percentage of female writers than was normal for the time, but then included kind of creepy comments in his individual story introductions. Evelyn Lief, he says, "is an innocent-looking woman with a deceptively pleasant smile," Kathleen Sky "is a supple and delicious creature. There may be girls in this world who are prettier than Kathleen Sky- but certainly not sexier." (and he goes on at some length), Jody Harper is "...a strikingly handsome woman, she once worked as a go-go dancer at a club in Beirut, Lebanon," Chelsea Quinn Yarbro "is a cuddly little lump of blonde femininity. She has a cute nose, a smile that never quits..." and C.F. Hensel is "soft, lovable, sexy, eager, stubborn, feminine, responsive, and a number of other things." If that attitude represented the Avant Garde minority, heaven help the staid traditionalists. Most of the stories are interesting, though many are somewhat slight, single-noted, or somewhat opaque and obscure. Piers Anthony's story is amusing, I didn't care for Gerrold's story at all (which he says was written under the influence of hallucinogens), and my favorite was The Galactic Clock by V.N. McIntyre.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Gerrold edited anthology is a companion piece to Protostars, which I also read. This book was published one year later, but assembled at least one year prior, according to Gerrold. The reason for its delay is publisher vagaries. The two anthologies have considerable overlap in authors. At least a third appear in both anthologies.

I bought this anthology because I am trying to read all of Stephen J. Goldin's works in chronological order and one of his stories was included. I wasn't disappointed; it's excellent. Stephen J. Goldin is also listed as an assistant editor, just as he was for Protostars. It's not specified, but I suspect his role was in helping to solicit and/or select the included stories. Gerrold, I imagine, chose the order and wrote the introductions.

I like the stories featured in this anthology even better than the ones in Protostars. The stories are generally shorter, which may have given them less time to be experimental, and therefore seem to work better, at least from a linear storytelling standpoint, which is my preferred storytelling mode. The only aspect of this anthology that's inferior is Gerrold's introductory comments. What were probably meant as insider jokes between editor and authors who were personal friends comes off as wildly inappropriate and extremely sexist comments delivered in a very piggish way from an objective outside reader's point of view. As if I could possibly care what a female author looks like rather than how well she writes. The comments are also nowhere near as generally helpful here as they were in Protostars. Gerrold clearly matured from adolescence to young adult between the editing of these two books.

The story quality in this anthology is strangely front loaded for some reason. Music artists did the same thing with album releases during this time too. When you bought an album you generally only listened to the A side, so artists put all their best songs there. Side B was for experiments that by and large failed, but needed to be there to bring the album to ten songs so it could be sold. I think this anthology was compiled on the same principle.

Here are the stories (the Side A, B, and C categorizations are mine):

Side A
15 • Every Fourth House • short story by Evelyn Lief • 4 • So interesting that I stopped reading the anthology to buy and then read Lief's only published novel: The Clone Rebellion. The novel was different but not written to as high a standard as this story. "Every Fourth House" is about how a woman deals with (or fails to) being in a tragic car accident.
20 • Up Schist Crick • novelette by Piers Anthony • 5 • Typical early, pervy Anthony. I love the clever premise this longest-in-the-book short story is based on. It's an idea only Anthony could come up with that still makes me smile whenever I think about it.
41 • Through a Lass Darkly • short story by James Tiptree, Jr. • 3 • I'm sure this is yet another groovy Tiptree story I don't fully grok. I liked it anyway, but it won't stay in the memory banks long.
47 • The Birthday Boy • short story by James A. Stevens [as by James Stevens] • 4 • Great birthday story about that neighborhood kid we all knew that was horribly spoiled by his parents. This one has a good twist though.
54 • Reprisal • short story by Alice Laurance • 4 • A different take on what it is to be a witch. This was my first Alice Laurance story. She's the one author in this collection I'd like most to read more of.
73 • It's Very Clean • short story by Gene Wolfe • 5 • A profound however unflattering statement on human nature. It's easy from this story to see Wolfe's future potential. It's emotionally pitch perfect.
79 • Psychedelic Flight • short story by Robert Ray • 3
88 • Stubborn • short story by Stephen Goldin • 5 • A clever short short about a kid who has everything except...

Side B
91 • The Lady Was for Kroinking • short story by David R. Bunch • 2 •
97 • ... After They've Seen Paree • short story by Dennis O'Neil • 2 • Comic book writer tries too hard to be "woke" in his short stories too.
112 • The Shortest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told • short story by Roger Deeley • 2 •
113 • The Re-Creation • short story by Robert E. Toomey, Jr. • 3 •
115 • Vidi Vici Veni • short story by Barry N. Malzberg [as by Barry Malzberg] • 2 •
122 • Amberjack • short story by James Tiptree, Jr. • 3 •
125 • The Galactic Clock • short story by Vonda N. McIntyre [as by V. N. McIntyre] • 4 • When bad luck is for a reason is it still luck? This Star Trek writer proves she always could write a scene.

Side C
146 • Constitution in E Flat • short story by Paul A. Carter • 2 •
153 • One Ordinary Day, with Box • short story by Kathleen Sky • 4 • Sky's delightful take on being granted the three wishes.
161 • Beside Still Waters • short story by Edward Bryant and James Sutherland [as by Ed Bryant and James Sutherland] • 2 •
171 • Nova Morning • short story by Edward Bryant and Jody Harper [as by Ed Bryant and Jody Harper] • 2 •
178 • Here's a Health Unto His Majesty • short story by Roger Deeley • 2 •
185 • Everything That Begins with an "M" • short story by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro • 2 •
193 • Conditioned Reflex • short story by Gardner Dozois [as by Gardner R. Dozois] • 2 •
201 • The Porter of Hell-Gate • short story by Joseph F. Pumilia • 2 •
209 • A Sense of Thyme • short story by C. F. Hensel • 4 • Wonderful take on the Death coming to claim someone and being cheated subgenre. It never gets tiring.
221 • All of Them Were Empty • short story by David Gerrold • 3 • The editor is more impressed with his story than I was. Glorifies drugs somewhat, which does nothing for me. It did have some good dialog and the protagonist's girlfriend was interesting.

[Karen Eichler]

A good variety of very interesting scifi, published in 1972, though the stories were selected in 1969. There were quite a few I really enjoyed like "One Ordinary Day, With Box" by Kathleen Sky, "Everything That Begins with an 'M'" by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, "A Sense of Thyme" by C. F. Hensel", and "The Shortest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told" by Roger Deeley--and it totally is! Each story begins with editor David Gerrold discussing the author. There are no spoilers, which is good, but... David Gerrold is a bit of a pig when it comes to describing some of the female authors. Kathleen Sky, for example, is described as "a supple and delicious creature" and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro as "a cuddly little lump of blonde femininity". Umm, okay. Gerrold also ends the anthology with his own story, written, as he says, while under the influence of drugs. Maybe I didn't enjoy the story as much as I should have since I thought it was a little arrogant to publish his story as the finale, especially in a book full of what were supposed to be up-and-coming authors. ANYway, he still put together a great anthology of insightful stories, so I can ignore a little insensitivity and arrogance.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

i thought it might be interesting to read some vintage sf from the 70's, unfortunately, many of these stories read as if written when the authors were on drugs, there was only one story that was really science fiction: The Porter of Hell-Gate(my favorite of the collection) most come off as really dated and/or incoherent

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent collection of short science fiction stories.