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austinbeeman's review
5.0
Utopia was on Donald Wolheim’s mind in 1975 and from that focussed mentality came an excellent best of the year anthology. A great many of the stories in this anthology touch on themes of alien Utopia and how human ruin it. Yet rarely are the stories simplistic or moralistic, they do much of what SF does best; paint a world and let us thin about it. Two of these stories “Twig” and “A Song for Lya” achieve real greatness.
More unbelievable that the fiction is the introduction, which makes for interesting reading from the perspective of 2020.
“Unfortunately most of us didn’t know we were living through the world’s Utopian Age when it was on. …
What we are saying is that the period of the Sixties represented the highest technological level of society ever achieved and the most unlimited expenditure of the planet’s resources and energy for the whim and pleasure of those who could afford it. …
We are coming down the slopes of Mount Utopia with increasing rapidity and we are all busy trying to figure out what is to done.”
Is the creation of a Best of the Year list an act of curation or creation? Are the stories already great and waiting to be discovered? Or is it the act of curation that makes them great.
The 1975 Annual World’s Best SF is rated 90%.
2 great / 6 good / 2 average / 0 poor.
A Song for Lya by George R. R. Martin
Great. A married couple of telepaths arrive on a planet to investigate why humans are adopting a suicidal alien religion. Brilliant world, complex insightful characters, and haunting scenes. The best thing I’ve read from GRRM.
Deathsong by Sydney J. Van Scyoc
Good. Haunting flutes, alien temples, a dying race of aboriginals, and scientists trapped by their own hubris.
A Full Member of the Club by Bob Shaw
Good. When his girlfriend inherits great wealth, a man starts to notice her unusual, futuristic tech gadgets.
The Sun's Tears by Brian Stableford
Average. In order to buy the woman he desires (?!) a spaceman is tasked with an nearly impossible quest.
The Gift of Garigolli by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl
Average. Very small beings observe a family with crippling debt.
The Four-Hour Fugue by Alfred Bester
Good. Corporate intrigue as investigators are hired to discover why a top executive is no longer at his best … and where he disappears to at night.
Twig by Gordon R. Dickson
Great. A human girl was raised by a planetwide plant-based society. Now, she must struggle to stop other human settlers from killing her Plant-Grandfather, her Human-Father-Figure, and maybe the entire Plant-Species. Suspenseful with very believable characters - both human and plant-based. Riveting and poignant.
Cathadonian Odyssey by Michael Bishop
Good. A story in conversation with the SF classic “A Martian Odyssey.” A strange tale of vengeance and connection between a crashed explorer and a alien of the planet Cathadonia.
The Bleeding Man by Craig Strete
Good. A horrific tale of a Native American man who has bled since birth and the unpleasant scientists and governmental figures that study him.
Stranger in Paradise by Isaac Asimov
Good. In a future where siblings are seen as an abomination, two brothers at different ends of science spectrum must work together to create a robot to explore Mercury.
More unbelievable that the fiction is the introduction, which makes for interesting reading from the perspective of 2020.
“Unfortunately most of us didn’t know we were living through the world’s Utopian Age when it was on. …
What we are saying is that the period of the Sixties represented the highest technological level of society ever achieved and the most unlimited expenditure of the planet’s resources and energy for the whim and pleasure of those who could afford it. …
We are coming down the slopes of Mount Utopia with increasing rapidity and we are all busy trying to figure out what is to done.”
Is the creation of a Best of the Year list an act of curation or creation? Are the stories already great and waiting to be discovered? Or is it the act of curation that makes them great.
The 1975 Annual World’s Best SF is rated 90%.
2 great / 6 good / 2 average / 0 poor.
A Song for Lya by George R. R. Martin
Great. A married couple of telepaths arrive on a planet to investigate why humans are adopting a suicidal alien religion. Brilliant world, complex insightful characters, and haunting scenes. The best thing I’ve read from GRRM.
Deathsong by Sydney J. Van Scyoc
Good. Haunting flutes, alien temples, a dying race of aboriginals, and scientists trapped by their own hubris.
A Full Member of the Club by Bob Shaw
Good. When his girlfriend inherits great wealth, a man starts to notice her unusual, futuristic tech gadgets.
The Sun's Tears by Brian Stableford
Average. In order to buy the woman he desires (?!) a spaceman is tasked with an nearly impossible quest.
The Gift of Garigolli by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl
Average. Very small beings observe a family with crippling debt.
The Four-Hour Fugue by Alfred Bester
Good. Corporate intrigue as investigators are hired to discover why a top executive is no longer at his best … and where he disappears to at night.
Twig by Gordon R. Dickson
Great. A human girl was raised by a planetwide plant-based society. Now, she must struggle to stop other human settlers from killing her Plant-Grandfather, her Human-Father-Figure, and maybe the entire Plant-Species. Suspenseful with very believable characters - both human and plant-based. Riveting and poignant.
Cathadonian Odyssey by Michael Bishop
Good. A story in conversation with the SF classic “A Martian Odyssey.” A strange tale of vengeance and connection between a crashed explorer and a alien of the planet Cathadonia.
The Bleeding Man by Craig Strete
Good. A horrific tale of a Native American man who has bled since birth and the unpleasant scientists and governmental figures that study him.
Stranger in Paradise by Isaac Asimov
Good. In a future where siblings are seen as an abomination, two brothers at different ends of science spectrum must work together to create a robot to explore Mercury.
lordofthemoon's review
3.0
Another collection of short stories, which, if it doesn't contain the best of that year, certainly makes a good stab at it. All the stories in the collection are good but there are a couple of real gems that continued to haunt me well after I had finished them. In particular, A Song for Lya by George RR Martin which has a pair of telepaths (a married couple) brought in to investigate why humans are joining an alien cult where everyone commits suicide was a wonderful read. It was, in essence, a story about the nature of love, hope and life and very memorable.
The loose theme connecting the stories is utopia, what it means to us, how fragile it could be and how one man's utopia is another's hell. 1975 seems to have been a good year for that.
The loose theme connecting the stories is utopia, what it means to us, how fragile it could be and how one man's utopia is another's hell. 1975 seems to have been a good year for that.
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