Literature / Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 5 (1943)

First published in 1981 by editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. This Genre Anthology contains twelve Science Fiction stories that were first published in 1943, ranging in length from Short Story 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 birth of what many in the 1970s were calling the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

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Works in this anthology:

• "The Cave", by P Schuyler Miller
• "The Halfling", by Leigh Brackett
• "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", by Lewis Padgett
• "QUR", by Anthony Boucher
• "Clash By Night", by Lawrence O'Donnell
• "Exile", by Edmond Hamilton
• "Daymare", by Fredric Brown
• "Doorway Into Time", by C. L. Moore
• "The Storm (1943)", by A.E. van Vogt
• "The Proud Robot", by Lewis Padgett
• "Symbiotica", by Eric Frank Russell
• "The Iron Standard", by Lewis Padgett

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Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 5 (1943) provides examples of:

• As the Good Book Says...: Lawrence O'Donnell's "Clash By Night": Amoung the books quoted here is The Book of Common Prayer, which is a common name for several different books, mostly published by the Anglican Church. The quoted line is "We eat and drink our own damnation".
• Biography: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the twelve best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Isaac Asimov's perspective.
• The Freakshow: Leigh Brackett's "The Halfling": Most of the story takes place in/with Jade Green's Interplanetary Carnival, The Wonders of the Seven Worlds Alive Before Your Eyes. They've got a Martian dancer, a Cat-man from Callisto, a Venusian deep-jungle man, and more halflings from all over the solar system.
• Funetik Aksent: Creator/Anthonyboucher's "QUR": All Martians have a difficulty in pronouncing English words, particularly in saying their "t" and "p" sounds, making the drink "Three Planets" sound like "Bree Blanedz".
• The Namesake: P Schuyler Miller's "The Cave": Most of this story takes place in a cavern on Mars where a human colonist finds several Martian natives taking cover from the storm.
• One-Word Title:
  • "Daymare", by Fredric Brown
  • "Exile", by Edmond Hamilton
  • "QUR", by Anthony Boucher
  • "Symbiotica", by Eric Frank Russell
• Pen Name:
  • "Clash By Night" was first published under the pseudonym of Lawrence O'Donnell, and how much of it was written by Henry Kuttner, and how much influence C. L. Moore had, is debated.
  • "The Iron Standard" is credited to Lewis Padgett, a penname used by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore.
  • "The Proud Robot" is credited to Lewis Padgett, a pseudonym for the writing team of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. It is speculated, however, that this was written solely by Kuttner (and Moore said as much in her foreword when it was collected in Robots Have No Tails).
• "The Proud Robot", by Lewis Padgett
  • "QUR": When it was first published in Astounding, this story was credited to HH Holmes. When it was republished in Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 5 (1943), it was credited to Anthony Boucher. Both names are pseudonyms used by William Anthony Parker White.
• Shout-Out: In the introduction, multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1943:
  • Astonishing Stories published their last issue.
  • The Book Of Ptath, by A.E. van Vogt
  • Mel Brooks is singled out as still using the name Melvin Kaminsky.
  • Caught, by Henry Green
  • Donovans Brain, by Curt Siodmak
  • Eighth Symphony, by Dmitri Shostakovich
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls
  • Gather Darkness, by Fritz Leiber
  • "Greenface", by James H Smith
  • Jane Eyre
  • Judgement Night, by C. L. Moore
  • The Lost Traveller, by Ruthven Todd
  • "Madonna And Child", by Henry Moore
  • New Poems, by Dylan Thomas
  • Oklahoma!, by Rodgers and Hammerstein
  • Perelandra, by C. S. Lewis
  • The Pocket Book Of Science Fiction, by Donald A Wollheim, is the first-ever paperback anthology.
  • Frank Sinatra became a hit this year.
  • Unknown Worlds published their last issue in October.
• Trapped in TV Land: Edmond Hamilton's "Exile": One of the Science Fiction writer characters, Carrick, tells a story about how he had once imagined a setting so real that he imagined himself into that world by accident. He's still stuck here.

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