Line #81 Literature/IsaacAsimovPresentsTheGreatScienceFictionStoriesVolume101948


1	First published in 1983, by editors Creator/IsaacAsimov and Creator/MartinHGreenberg. This GenreAnthology contains sixteen ScienceFiction stories that were first published in 1948, ranging in length from ShortStory to {{Novelette}}. The introduction describes "the world outside reality" first, marking significant historical events, sports trivia, and literary publications. The "real world" is the science fiction and fantasy pop culture; the Diamond Age of Science Fiction.
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4	!!Works in this anthology:
5	[[index]]
6	* "Literature/DontLookNow", by Creator/HenryKuttner
7	* "Literature/HeWalkedAroundTheHorses", by Creator/HBeamPiper
8	* "Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfJohnKingman", by Creator/MurrayLeinster
9	* "Literature/ThatOnlyAMother", by Creator/JudithMerril
10	* "Literature/TheMonster", by Creator/AEVanVogt
11	* "Literature/DreamsAreSacred", by Creator/PeterPhillips
12	* "Literature/MarsIsHeaven", by Creator/RayBradbury
13	* "Literature/{{Thang}}", by Creator/MartinGardner
14	* "Literature/BrooklynProject", by Creator/WilliamTenn
15	* "Literature/RingAroundTheRedhead", by Creator/JohnDMacDonald
16	* "Literature/PeriodPiece", by Creator/JJCoupling
17	* "Literature/{{Dormant}}", by Creator/AEVanVogt
18	* "Literature/InHiding", by Creator/WilmarHShiras
19	* "Literature/{{Knock}}", by Creator/FredricBrown
20	* "Literature/AChildIsCrying", by Creator/JohnDMacDonald
21	* "Literature/LateNightFinal", by Creator/EricFrankRussell
22	[[/index]]
23	----
24	!!''Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 10 (1948)'' provides examples of:
25	* {{Biography}}: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the sixteen best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Creator/IsaacAsimov's perspective.
26	* ButterflyOfDoom: Hilariously lampshaded/satirized in "Literature/BrooklynProject", which opens with the acting secretary to the executive assistant on press relations explaining to a group of journalists that the project to send a probe four billion years into Earth's past -- and then two billion, and then one billion and so forth -- is perfectly safe, that nothing that happens in the past can change the present. In brief vignettes we see the probe condensing moisture on its outer surface, the probe destroying microorganisms with its weight, the probe crushing tiny trilobites... and the story ends with "the thing that had been the acting secretary to the executive assistant on press relations" spreading his tentacles and explaining that ''as they can all see'', nothing has changed.
27	* CaughtInTheRipple: "Literature/BrooklynProject" ends with an official demonstrating that the experiment had changed absolutely nothing... except that the reader is fairly certain that neither him not the audience were {{Blob Monster}}s when the demonstration started.
28	* ChildProdigy: The main characters of both "Literature/InHiding" and "Literature/AChildIsCrying" are these, belonging to the "{{Mutant}} with SuperIntelligence" kind.
29	* ConspiracyTheorist: Satirized in "Literature/DontLookNow".
30	* ForWantOfANail: In "Literature/BrooklynProject", the "acting secretary to the executive assistant on public relations" describes a government TimeTravel experiment to a group of journalists, explaining that some scientists were foolishly concerned that a probe sent into the past might by its very presence inadvertently change the present. But this is a ridiculous notion, of course: the story ends with the journalists dissolving themselves into liquid and flowing up to examine the time travel apparatus, while the acting secretary extends [[BlobMonster his fifteen purple blobs]] and exclaims, "Nothing has changed!"
31	* TheLastManHeardAKnock: Creator/FredricBrown's "{{Literature/Knock}}": The story begins by quoting a FlashFiction often known as the world's shortest horror story; "The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door." It continues by [[SubvertedTrope subverting the horror]], making the knock a hopeful sign: [[spoiler:it's the return of the last woman on Earth]].
32	* ANuclearError: Creator/AEVanVogt's "{{Literature/Dormant}}": A scary, scary SF ShortStory, describing a robotic nuclear weapon that landed on Earth from a long-ago war. The robot is activated by fallout from nuclear bomb tests. On detonation, it almost thrusts the Earth into the Sun, because it doesn't know it's not the same war and would have had no choice even if it had.
33	* OneWordTitle:
34	** "Literature/{{Dormant}}", by Creator/AEVanVogt
35	** "Literature/{{Knock}}", by Creator/FredricBrown
36	** "Literature/{{Thang}}", by Creator/MartinGardner
37	* PenName:
38	** "Literature/DontLookNow" is credited to Creator/HenryKuttner, however in his introduction to ''Literature/MyBestScienceFictionStory'', he claims that it was the work of his wife, Creator/CLMoore. The editors of ''Literature/TheGreatSFStories'' admit that the husband-and-wife team wrote under each other's name and shared pseudonyms often enough that it is difficult to determine how much each contributed to any given story.
39	** "Literature/PeriodPiece" is credited to Creator/JJCoupling, an alias occasionally used by Creator/JohnRPierce.
40	* PlanetEater: Creator/MartinGardner's "{{Literature/Thang}}": The titular creature is large enough to grasp Earth between two fingers. It clears off all water and ice before chewing the planet, core and all. It, in turn, is also eaten by a planet-eater eater.
41	* ShoutOut: In the introduction, several important political developments are described, and multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1948:
42	** ''Theatre/AnneOfAThousandDays''
43	** "Music/BabyItsColdOutside"
44	** ''Literature/TheBlackFlame'', by Creator/StanleyGWeinbaum
45	** Creator/MelBrooks is singled out as (probably) still using the name Melvin Kaminsky.
46	** ''Literature/TheCarnelianCube'', by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and Creator/FletcherPratt
47	** ''Literature/TheCityAndThePillar'', by Creator/GoreVidal
48	** The term UsefulNotes/ColdWar is [[{{Neologism}} coined]] by Bernard Baruch to describe the growing [=U.S.-Soviet=] tensions.
49	** ''{{Literature/Cybernetics}}'', by Creator/NorbertWiener
50	** ''Literature/DarkerThanYouThink'', by Creator/JackWilliamson
51	** Creator/LSpragueDeCamp's novels:
52	*** ''Literature/DivideAndRule''
53	*** ''Literature/TheWheelsOfIf''
54	** ''Series/TheEdSullivanShow''
55	** ''Literature/TheHeartOfTheMatter'', by Creator/{{Graham Greene\|Author}}
56	** The introduction mentions the assassination of UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi on January 30th.
57	** Creator/CharlesLHarness published his first story, "Literature/TimeTomb" in August.
58	** Creator/RobertAHeinlein
59	*** ''Literature/{{Space Cadet\|Heinlein}}''
60	*** ''Literature/BeyondThisHorizon''
61	** ''Series/HopalongCassidy''
62	** "Music/IllBeHomeForChristmas"
63	** ''Literature/IntruderInTheDust'', by Creator/WilliamFaulkner
64	** The introduction mentions {{UsefulNotes/Israel}}'s War of Independence which began this year and ended next year.
65	** ''Film/KeyLargo'', starring Creator/LaurenBacall and Creator/HumphreyBogart
66	** ''Theatre/KissMeKate''
67	** ''Film/TheLadyFromShanghai'', starring Creator/RitaHayworth
68	** Creator/JudithMerril published her first story, "Literature/ThatOnlyAMother" in June.
69	** ''Theatre/MrRoberts''
70	** ''Literature/TheNakedAndTheDead'', by Creator/NormanMailer
71	** The UsefulNotes/OlympicGames were held for the first time since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII began.
72	** "Music/OnceInLoveWithAmy"
73	** ''Series/TheOriginalAmatuerHour'', hosted by Creator/TedMack
74	** Creator/PeterPhillips published his first story, "Literature/DreamsAreSacred" in September.
75	** ''{{ComicStrip/Pogo}}''
76	** ''Film/PortraitOfJennie''
77	** ''Literature/TheRadioMan'', by Creator/RalphMilneFarley
78	** ''Film/RedRiver'', starring Creator/JohnWayne
79	** "Music/RedRosesForABlueLady"
80	** Creator/EEDocSmith published two novels:
81	*** ''[[Literature/SkylarkSeries Skylark Three]]''
82	*** ''[[Literature/{{Lensman}} Triplanetary]]''
83	** ''Literature/AndSomeWereHuman'', by Creator/LesterDelRey
84	** ''Theatre/SummerAndSmoke''
85	** ''Literature/TheSunkenWorld'', by Creator/StantonCoblentz
86	** "Music/TennesseeWaltz"
87	** ''Film/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'', starring Creator/HumphreyBogart
88	** ''Literature/TheTreasuryOfScienceFiction'', a GenreAnthology edited by Creator/GroffConklin.
89	** ''Literature/WaldenTwo'', by Creator/BFSkinner
90	** ''Literature/TheWellOfTheUnicorn'', by Creator/FletcherPratt
91	** ''Theatre/WheresCharlie''
92	** ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'', by Creator/JohnWCampbell
93	** ''Literature/WithoutSorcery'', by Creator/TheodoreSturgeon
94	** ''Literature/TheWorldOfNullA'', by Creator/AEVanVogt
95	** ''Literature/TheYoungLions'', by Creator/IrwinShaw
96	** Several future ScienceFiction writers were born this year, including Creator/MichaelAshley, Creator/RobertPHoldstock, Creator/JonathanFast, Creator/VondaMcIntyre, Creator/MartaRandall, Creator/RobertReginald, Creator/SpiderRobinson, Creator/PamelaSargent, Creator/BrianStableford, Creator/StevenUtley, Creator/JoanVinge, and Creator/LaurenceYep.

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