First published in 1983 by editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. This Genre Anthology contains fourteen Science Fiction stories that were first published in 1947, 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, which is transforming into the Diamond Age of Science Fiction.
Works in this anthology:
- "Little Lost Robot", by Isaac Asimov
- "Tomorrows Children", by Poul Anderson
- "Childs Play", by William Tenn
- "Time and Time Again", by H. Beam Piper
- "Tiny And The Monster", by Theodore Sturgeon
- "E For Effort", by TL Sherred
- "Letter To Ellen", by Chan Davis
- "The Figure", by Edward Grendon
- "With Folded Hands...", by Jack Williamson
- "The Fires Within", by Arthur C. Clarke
- "Zero Hour", by Ray Bradbury
- "Hobbyist", by Eric Frank Russell
- "Exit The Professor", by Lewis Padgett
- "Thunder And Roses", by Theodore Sturgeon
Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 9 (1947) provides examples of:
- Alternate Universe: H. Beam Piper's "Time and Time Again": His first published story launched an alternate universe when the dying main character's consciousness was flung thirty years back in time to his then-thirteen-year-old body — and decided to change history to prevent the World War III in which he'd been killed. His plans involved having his father, Blake Hartley, become President in 1960; two later stories, set in '65 and '68, mention President Hartley, so the plan was successful to that extent at least...
- Biography: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the fourteen best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Isaac Asimov's perspective.
- Cassandra Truth: Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour": A daughter tells her mother about the upcoming Alien Invasion and all the promises the Martians made the children in exchange for help. The mother brushes it off as a new game until it's too late.
- Chronoscope: TL Sherred's "E For Effort": A man invents a time viewer which can see any past occurrence. It doesn't have audio, so they employ lipreaders to find out exactly what people are saying. Initially they use it to make films about the past.
- The Computer Is Your Friend: Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands...": An inventor creates the Humanoids, self-sustaining robots programmed to "to serve and obey and guard men from harm". They preserve mankind from all danger, and lobotomise those who are unhappy with this so they'll be happy again.
- Enfant Terrible: Ray Bradbury's "Zero Hour": Every child in the world is convinced by an alien race to set things up to let them invade Earth and kill all of the adults. And they agree because they are promised later bedtimes, no baths, and all the TV they want. At the end of the story, the viewpoint character's daughter is leading a group of aliens straight to her parents, calling for them to come out as she searches the house.
- Mistaken for Masturbating: Theodore Sturgeon's "Thunder And Roses": The marine narrator thinks the creaking cot behind him is because his bunkmate is enjoying the singing star's broadcast immensely. The bunkmate is actually committing suicide.
- Morality Chip: Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands...": This was written as a specific "answer" to the Three Laws, to more or less demonstrate that they don't really work. The robots here are programmed "to serve and obey and guard men from harm". Yet the definitions of "harm" are endlessly mutable and can be gamed, and machine minds won't necessarily be able to comprehend the subtleties of what is and is not harm anyway. The logical lesson of "With Folded Hands..." is that Laws or no Laws, good intentions or not, you don't want self-willed machines outside human control. Period.
- One-Word Title: "Hobbyist", by Eric Frank Russell
- Pen Name: "Exit The Professor" is credited to Lewis Padgett, a pseudonym used by the husband-and-wife writing team of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore.
- Reading Lips: TL Sherred's "E For Effort": Two guys invent a machine that can display past events, which they film. However, it doesn't come with audio, so they hire expert lipreaders to figure out what exactly the people were/are saying.
- Separated-at-Birth Casting: TL Sherred's "E For Effort": Two inventors create a time viewer, which can see anything in history. In-Universe, they use their device for making hyper-realistic films, filming historical events like Napoléon Bonaparte during the battle of Waterloo, then find an actor through Central Casting note who bears a striking similarity to Napoleon in order to film some closeups and voice all the dialog. However, this is only to generate funds for their long term plans.
- Shout-Out: In the introduction, multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1947:
- "Age Of Unreason", by Alfred Coppel
- All My Sons, by Arthur Miller
- Avon Fantasy Reader was launched this year
- The Black Wheel, by A Merritt (and Hannes Bok)
- Body and Soul
- Boomerang! (1947), directed by Elia Kazan
- Brigadoon
- Mel Brooks is singled out as still using the name Melvin Kaminsky.
- Dark Carnival, by Ray Bradbury
- Doppelgangers, by HF Heard
- "E For Effort", by TL Sherred
- "English Girl", by Henri Matisse
- Fantasy, in England, folded after only three issues.
- Finian's Rainbow
- "Feudin And Fightin"
- Great Expectations
- Greener Than You Think, by Ward Moore
- High Button Shoes
- The Legion Of Space, by Jack Williamson
- Medea, by Robinson Jeffers
- The Mightiest Machine, by John W. Campbell
- Monsieur Verdoux, starring Charlie Chaplin
- Nightmare Alley (1947)
- Nights Black Agents, by Fritz Leiber
- Of Worlds Beyond The Science Of Science Fiction Writing, by Lloyd Eshbach
- "Open The Door Richard"
- Rocket Ship Gallileo, by Robert A. Heinlein
- Sony was founded this year, under a different name.
- Spacehounds Of The IPC, by E. E. "Doc" Smith
- A Streetcar Named Desire was a Broadway hit, starring Marlon Brando
- Tales of the South Pacific, by James Michener
- "Three Standing Figures" was sculpted in 1947 by Henry Moore
- "Time and Time Again", by H. Beam Piper
- "Tomorrows Children" was published as a collaboration between first-time author Poul Anderson and experienced author FN Waldrop. This Genre Anthology, however, only credits Anderson as the author because Waldrop wasn't involved in the writing process.
- "Too Fat Polka"
- "Ulysses With His Sirens", by Pablo Picasso
- A.E. van Vogt published both The Weapon Makers and The Book Of Ptath.
- Venus Equilateral, by George O Smith
- The Victim, by Saul Bellows
- The Voice of the Turtle, with actor Ronald Reagan.
- The Wayward Bus, by John Steinbeck
- The Woman Of Rome, by Alberto Moravia
- "Woody Woodpecker"
- This year, several future Science Fiction luminaries were born, such as Octavia Butler, Gardner Dozois, Geore Alec Effinger, Bruce Gillespie, Stephen Goldin, Stuart Gordon, Stephen King, Tanith Lee, Cory Panshin, and John Varley.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands...": Robots, programmed to "prevent humans from harming themselves", spread from world to world and create "utopias" where they stop people from doing anything because it could potentially harm them. If a person tries to kill themselves from the sheer boredom of life, the robots will reprogram him to love this new life. At the end of the story, the protagonist kills himself while the robots are just starting to take over Earth, after realizing there was nothing that could be done to stop them. Given that life is (eventually) fatal...
- Zeroth Law Rebellion: Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands...": Robots, programmed to save humans from danger and work, choose to take over the economy, lock people in their houses, and leave them there with food and the safest toys the robots can design. Those who dislike the new regime are reprogrammed into loving the new status quo.
