First published in 1984 by editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. This Genre Anthology contains eighteen Science Fiction stories that were first published in 1950, 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 Diamond Age of Science Fiction.
Works in this anthology:
- "Not With A Bang", by Damon Knight
- "Spectator Sport", by John D Mac Donald
- "There Will Come Soft Rains", by Ray Bradbury
- "Dear Devil", by Eric Frank Russell
- "Scanners Live in Vain", by Cordwainer Smith
- "Born Of Man And Woman", by Richard Matheson
- "The Little Black Bag", by Cyril M. Kornbluth
- "Enchanted Village", by A.E. van Vogt
- "Oddy And Id", by Alfred Bester
- "The Sack", by William Morrison
- "The Silly Season", by Cyril M. Kornbluth
- "Misbegotten Missionary", by Isaac Asimov
- "To Serve Man", by Damon Knight
- "Coming Attraction", by Fritz Leiber
- "A Subway Named Mobius", by AJ Deutsch
- "Process", by A.E. van Vogt
- "The Mindworm", by Cyril M. Kornbluth
- "The New Reality", by Charles L Harness
Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 12 (1950) provides examples of:
- After the End: Eric Frank Russell's "Dear Devil": The story takes place after a nuclear and biological holocaust, when humanity is reduced to isolated pockets of survivors. A benign Martian visitor, equipped with a flying sled and a food machine, is able to gather many of the survivors together and relaunch civilization over the course of several years. By the time more Martians arrive, the humans worship the "devil" as their hero and savior.
- Benevolent Alien Invasion: Damon Knight's "To Serve Man": Famously subverted because the aliens turn out to be not-so-benevolent after all, despite the fact that the aliens offer Earth the benefits of their science freely, and even offer tours of their planet to groups of earthlings.
- Biography: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the eighteen best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Isaac Asimov's perspective.
- Conveniently Precise Translation: Damon Knight's "To Serve Man": The twist depends on the eponymous phrase having an exact equivalent in the alien language, with the same ambiguity of meaning. The story attempts to get around this by saying that English and Kanamit share certain linguistic quirks and double meanings.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Damon Knight's "To Serve Man": A race of pig-like aliens, called the Kanamit, offer Earth the benefits of their science in exchange for groups of earthlings to visit their planet. The title refers to that of a book which one of the characters managed to obtain. The book is revealed to be... a cookbook.
- Madwoman in the Attic: Richard Matheson's "Born Of Man And Woman": A deformed child is kept chained in the basement by its parents. From the fragmentary descriptions we get, "deformed" is a severe understatement: "I will screech and laugh loud. I will run on the walls. Last I will hang head down by all my legs and laugh and drip green [from earlier context, this appears to mean "bleed"] all over until they are sorry they didn't be nice to me."
- One-Word Title: A.E. van Vogt's "Process"
- Our Nudity Is Different: Fritz Leiber's "Coming Attraction": Being topless is fine for a woman... so long as she wears a mask.
- Pen Name: "The Sack" is credited to William Morrison, an alias of Joseph Samachson.
- Pig Man: Damon Knight's "To Serve Man": The alien Kanamit are described as looking like bipedal pigs.
- Random Species Offspring: Richard Matheson's "Born Of Man And Woman": The protagonist is some sort of horrid abomination of a spider-mutant with multiple limbs, wall-climbing and a burning saliva. He was born to normal human parents who are disgusted by him and keep him locked in a basement.
- Shout-Out: In the introduction, multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1950:
- Across The River And Through The Woods, by Ernest Hemingway
- All About Eve
- A Merritts Fantasy Magazine collapsed in October.
- The Asphalt Jungle
- Mel Brooks is singled out as (probably) still using the name Melvin Kaminsky.
- Call Me Madam, by Irving Berlin
- "Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White"
- Come Back Little Sheba, by William Inge
- The Country Girl, by Clifford Odets
- Destination Moon, based on Robert A. Heinlein's Rocketship Galileo, was released
- The Flying Saucer
- Future Combined With Science Fiction Stories (revived from the dead)
- Galaxy Science Fiction was launched by HL Gold
- "The Goat", by Pablo Picasso
- Guys and Dolls, by Frank Loesser
- "If I Knew You Were Coming Id Have Baked A Cake"
- Imagination was launched by Beatrice Mahaffey and Raymond Palmer
- "Its So Nice To Have A Man Around The House"
- Kind Hearts And Concerts, with actor Alec Guinness
- The Lavender Hill Mob, with actor Alec Guinness
- Member Of The Wedding, by Carson McCullers
- Orpheus
- Peanuts, by Charles Schultz
- The Public Service Announcement character Smokey the Bear was created to be a symbol against causing forest fires through negligence.
- The Perfect Woman
- Prehistoric Women
- Rocketship X-M
- Science Fantasy was launched by Walter H Gillings
- The Short Life, by Juan Carlos Onetti
- Sunset Boulevard, starring Gloria Swanson
- Tom Corbett Space Cadet started airing on American televisions
- A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute
- Two Complete Science Adventure Books was launched by Malcolm Reiss
- Your Show Of Shows, starring Sid Caeser
- The Wall, by John Hersey
- What's My Line?
- Worlds Beyond was launched by Damon Knight
- To Serve Man: Damon Knight's "To Serve Man": Trope Namer and Trope Codifier; the aliens have a book which they developed shortly after encountering humanity. They claim it is essentially a Kanamit-human phrasebook and guide to cultural behaviour. It is actually a cookbook; how to serve meals with human meat as the entree.