First published in 1979 by editor Susan Morris, this Genre Anthology contains six Science Fiction stories, ranging in length from Short Story to Novelette.
Works in this anthology:
- "Preface", by Susan Morris
- "Jokester", by Isaac Asimov (1956)
- "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr (1952)
- "An Alien Agony", by Harry Harrison (1962)
- "The Tunnel Under The World", by Frederik Pohl (1955)
- "The Monkey Wrench", by Gordon R. Dickson (1951)
- "The Wall Around The World", by Theodore R Cogswell (1953)
Tropes appearing in this work:
- Brain Uploading: In "The Tunnel Under The World", by Frederik Pohl, Guy Burckhardt is creeped out by the robots at the factory. His business partner tells him that each of the machines there operates with the uploaded memories and minds of actual human beings. When the inhabitants of Tylerton were killed in a chemical explosion, including Guy, their minds were transferred into miniature robots the same way. Now Dorchin uses them as advertising test subjects.
- Fantastic Science: In "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr, Kenneth Grearly is calls themselves a psychophysicist, someone who studies the physics of things like Telepathy. They chose that field of study because they have the ability to share feelings and thoughts with other people.
- Gone Horribly Right: In "The Monkey Wrench", a Short Story by Gordon R. Dickson, one of the characters demonstrates that their computer is susceptible to distraction by paradoxes. They decide to make their demonstration in the arctic, where the subsequent shutdown means the characters freeze to death.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: In "The Tunnel Under The World", by Frederik Pohl, Guy Burckhardt lives in a town where June 15th is repeated every day, but the inhabitants don't realize. It is later revealed that everyone in the town is a miniature robot who was imprinted with the mind-pattern of a citizen from the real town, which was destroyed on June 14th. An advertising executive now uses them to test various marketing techniques.
- Logic Bomb: In "The Monkey Wrench", a Short Story by Gordon R. Dickson, one of the characters claims they can shut down the computer of the meteorologic arctic station with a paradox. To prove their point, they suggest a paradox to the machine, making it incapable of doing anything than computing the paradox. Ironically, this condemns him and his partner to freeze to death, as all the vital controls of the station were provided by the machine.
- Master of Illusion: In "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr, Kenneth Grearly has practiced his telepathy enough to conjure false images into another person's mind. He tries to control Lisa Waverly with this until she turns it around, making him believe in phantom cars, causing him to leap into the path of a real car.
- The Missionary: In "An Alien Agony", by Harry Harrison, Father Mark has been sent by the Missionary Society of Brother, representing Christianity, so that they might save the souls of the aliens by bringing the Good News of God to them. Garth, believing that Religion Is Wrong, is angry at Father Mark's arrival, and tries threatening, assaulting, and finally cajoling that the man doesn't try teaching religion to the Weskers.
- Mocking Sing-Song: In "The Wall Around The World", by Theodore R Cogswell, Porgie mocks his cousin and his friends while flying around in his gliding machine by calling out an annoying sound; "Nyah, nyah, nyah"."Nyah, nyah, nyah, you can't catch me!"
- Mutants: In "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr, Kenneth and Lisa are humans who have developed telepathy, and Kenneth points out in a dream sending that they are probably the result of a similar mutation.
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance: In "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr, Kenneth Grearly sends her his vision of her appearance while placing one hand to his temple.
- Red Baron: In "The Wall Around The World", by Theodore R Cogswell, characters speak of the Black Man, who has fire in his eyes, who can bring midnight at noon, and who cannot be beaten by any magic spell. The Black Man will take away anyone who tries to cross the titular wall.
- Religion Is Wrong: In "An Alien Agony", by Harry Harrison, the planet Wesker has a stone-age tribe that has never created any superstition before. The arrival of Father Mark, representing Christianity, destroys this "innocence". In order to prove the existence of God, the Weskers need a miracle, so they imitate the foundational miracle of Christianity by crucifying Father Mark. It didn't work. One of the Weskers warns Garth that if he doesn't leave the planet, the rest will want to try crucifixion again.
- Secret Test: In "The Wall Around The World", by Theodore R Cogswell, the people inside The Wall are learning how to cast magic, honing their minds for generations. However, there's occasionally someone who is willing to ignore magic and builds a machine instead to help them over the wall. If they do that, the Black Man takes them away to learn about the Outside, with the high-tech machines humans have made.
- Small, Secluded World: In "The Tunnel Under The World" by Frederik Pohl, Mr. Burckhardt wakes up from a terrible nightmare on June 15th. The next day, he wakes up from a terrible nightmare on June 15th. He finally realizes the loop when he falls asleep in his basement and isn't "reset". When he confronts the person responsible for this situation, he learns that the entire town was destroyed by a chemical plant explosion and everyone's minds were put in robot bodies to test Advertising strategies. They repeat the same day over and over again to avoid spoiling the experiment. Mr. Burckhardt is incensed about the lack of ethics from this exercise, and demands to be allowed to leave the city. Upon leaving the city, he learns that robots are all miniatures, and the entire recreated town is basically on a tabletop.
- Telepathy: In "Command Performance", by Walter M Miller Jr, Lisa and Kenneth meet by virtue of being able to inadvertently send thoughts and ideas by being in the same area.
- Title Drop Anthology: This Genre Anthology takes its name from "The Wall Around The World" by Theodore R Cogswell.
- Tomato in the Mirror: In "The Tunnel Under The World" by Frederik Pohl, Guy Burckhart is convinced that some sinister conspiracy is keeping the citizens of his town stuck in a "Groundhog Day" Loop by erasing their memories every night. He eventually learns he and everyone else in the town were killed in an explosion, and their consciousnesses have been installed into tiny androids in a scale model town where they repeat their final day over and over while researchers use them to test the effectiveness of Advertising jingles and political slogans.
- The Wall Around the World: "The Wall Around The World", a Novelette by Theodore R Cogswell, is the Trope Namer. The wall separates a smaller magic-dominated world from the larger science-dominated one.
