First published in 1963, this book is an Anthology of Science Fiction stories edited by Robert P Mills. Each story contains a foreword by its respective author who explains why that story is one of their favourites. The selection of story types is intentionally broad to showcase the "many different worlds" that Science Fiction can lead to.
Works in the Anthology:
- "The First Men" by Howard Fast (1960)
- "A Work Of Art" by James Blish (1956)
- "Evening Primrose" by John Collier (1940)
- "Memento Homo" by Walter M Miller Jr. (1954)
- "A Miracle Of Rare Device" by Ray Bradbury (1962)
- "—All You Zombies—" by Robert A. Heinlein (1959)
- "Faq'" by George P Elliott (1952)
- "Babel II" by Damon Knight (1953)
- "A Saucer Of Loneliness" by Theodore Sturgeon (1953)
- "Night Piece" by Poul Anderson (1961)
- "Now Let Us Sleep" by Avram Davidson (1957)
- "The Strange Girl" by Mark Van Doren (1962)
- "The Quest For Saint Aquin" by Anthony Boucher (1951)
- "The War In The Air" by RV Cassill (1952)
- "The Ugly Little Boy" by Isaac Asimov (1958)
- (epilogue "My Private World of Science Fiction" by Alfred Bester)
Examples of Tropes in the Anthology:
- The Annotated Edition: Each story has a foreword added by their author to explain their inclusion in this Anthology. The authors explain
what makes this story their favourite. - Anthology: Fifteen stories from amazing Science Fiction writers. The overarching theme of which is Creator's Favorite.
- Back from the Dead: "A Work Of Art", by James Blish, features "mind-sculpting", where people long-dead can be brought back to life. Two sculptors recreate Richard Strauss (composer of Also sprach Zarathustra), in the hope that he might be able to create new masterpieces.
- Curse of Babel: "Babel II", by Damon Knight, ends with the realization that a dimension-traveling alien accidently eliminated humankind's capacity for language.
- Epistolary Novel: "The First Men", by Howard Fast, is told mostly by letters (and one telegram) between Harry Felton and his married sister, Jean Arbalaid. The last letter is set in a Framing Device of a conversation between Harry and Eggerton, the US Secretary of Defense.
- Framing Device: "The First Men", by Howard Fast, is told mostly by letters between Harry Felton and his married sister, Jean Arbalaid. However, the last letter isn't read until Harry and Eggerton, the US Secretary of Defense, are having a conversation. This conversation matches the condition of the last letter Jean wrote him, so Harry reads it to the Secretary.
- Hollywood Mirage: "A Miracle Of Rare Device", by Ray Bradbury, is about a "permanent" mirage of a large city in the middle of a desert. The characters debate over commercializing it and sponsoring tours to the mirage.
- Just One Second Out of Sync: "The First Men", by Howard Fast, has a forest that is suddenly replaced by a strange mist. A letter from the future explains that this mist is from the people inside having moved the forest less than a millisecond into the future.
- Literary Allusion Title: "Babel II", by Damon Knight, is named in reference to the biblical Tower of Babel. A dimension-traveling alien accidently eliminates humankind's capacity for language.
- Mechanical Horse: "The Quest For Saint Aquin", by Anthony Boucher, had the priest protagonist using an artificially intelligent "robass", whose atheism was an important plot element.
- Message in a Bottle: "A Saucer Of Loneliness", by Theodore Sturgeon, is about a woman who gets visited by a flying saucer. Naturally, she gets interrogated by many, including the military. She starts randomly throwing bottles with messages into the sea, until the narrator confronts her. It turns out the saucer was a high-tech version of the bottle.
- Most Writers Are Writers: "Evening Primrose", by John Collier, is told from the perspective of a tired poet who is trying to find somewhere to write in peace.
- Psychic Link: "The First Men", by Howard Fast, has a small group of children who have learned how to initiate telepathic links. They slowly induct every child in the program into the link, and become smarter than the adults taking care of them.
- Psychic Powers: In "Night Piece", by Poul Anderson, the protagonist has been working on developing Extra-sensory Perception. Unfortunately, these powers make him aware of the "Superiors" who exist in a different version of our world.
- Religious Robot: "The Quest For Saint Aquin", by Anthony Boucher, is a 1951 novelette set in a post-nuclear world where Christians are persecuted. A priest sets forth on an artificially created and intelligent "robass" (which happens to be an atheist) searching for the legendary Saint Aquin, who turns out to be an android who is a perfect theologian, able to convert unbelievers with his flawless proofs for the Faith.
- Taps: "Memento Homo", by Walter M Miller Jr, is about the death of protagonist Donegal. He holds onto life long enough to hear the launch of a spacecraft and then the sound of a single trumpet player playing the song to say good-bye to the shuttle.
- Wainscot Society: "Evening Primrose", by John Collier, has the main character discover a secret society of people who live inside department stores and pose as mannequins. They must avoid the attention of the night watchman to keep their secret, but one of their members has fallen in love with him, risking the end of the Masquerade.
