First published in 1989 by editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. This Genre Anthology contains fifteen Science Fiction stories that were first published in 1957, 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.
Works in this anthology:
- "Strikebreaker", by Isaac Asimov
- "Omnilingual", by H. Beam Piper
- "The Mile Long Spaceship", by Kate Wilhelm
- "Call Me Joe", by Poul Anderson
- "You Know Willie", by Theodore R Cogswell
- "Hunting Machine", by Carol Emshwiller
- "World Of A Thousand Colors", by Robert Silverberg
- "Lets Be Frank", by Brian W. Aldiss
- "The Cage", by A. Bertram Chandler
- "The Education Of Tigress Mc Cardle", by Cyril M. Kornbluth
- "The Tunesmith", by Lloyd Biggle Jr.
- "A Loint Of Paw", by Isaac Asimov
- "Game Preserve", by Rog Phillips
- "Soldier", by Harlan Ellison
- "The Last Man Left In The Bar", by Cyril M. Kornbluth
Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 19 (1957) provides examples of:
- Aliens Speaking English: H. Beam Piper's "Omnilingual": A female archaeologist faces the skepticism of her colleagues when she tries to translate the long dead language of Martian, despite the fact that there could be no possible 'Rosetta Stone' (a message with a known language paired with the same message in the unknown language). She finds it anyway when they come across the Periodic Table of Elements in a Martian university.
- Artificial Human: Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe": The titular character is the pseudojovian lifeform atrificially constructed by humans to live on the surface of Jupiter and act as a puppet controlled by a human on Ganymede. Joe specifically is controlled by Edward Anglesey, a cripple. They created dozens of others, as well, for teams of esmen to control and conduct experiments on Jupiter's surface.
- Biography: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the fifteen best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Isaac Asimov's perspective.
- Common Tongue: H. Beam Piper's "Omnilingual": Science turns out to be something of a universal language. Archaeologists studying Martian ruins first begin to make progress on translating their language from their scientific publications, with a periodic table being equivalent to the Rosetta Stone.
- First-Contact Math: H. Beam Piper's "Omnilingual": This novelette uses the Periodic Table as a universal key. It helps that the Martian language tends to make new words by combining existing ones, so that (for example) the word for "metal" is part of the names of various metallic elements.
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: Kate Wilhelm's "The Mile Long Spaceship": The story switches between Allen, recovering in a hospital room on Earth, and the aliens aboard the titular starship in intergalactic space. The aliens are seeking out other lifeforms, and Earth's ability to utilize atomics and travel between the planets in the solar system make humanity/Earth rate as an excellent find. However, it is difficult to locate humanity's solar system from the knowledge of the average person, so they "encourage" him to study and go back to school.
- Karmic Transformation: Theodore R Cogswell's "You Know Willie": Willie McCracken, a klansman who shot an African-American to death, is transformed by Aunt Hattie, a very old and very black witch, into the body of the dead man. The people who had been his fellow klansmen hunt him down and kill him (again).
- The Klan: Theodore R Cogswell's "You Know Willie": Willie McCracken is a Thrice High Warlock of the local chapter of The Knights of the Flaming Sword. In other words, a klansman. He and his fellow klansmen kill the same African-American twice (the second time was Willie after a Karmic Transformation).
- Mile-Long Ship: Kate Wilhelm's "The Mile Long Spaceship": Although implied by the title, only one line in the story indicates the size of the titular ship; "the mile-long spaceship in his dream".
- Not Disabled In VR: Poul Anderson's "Call Me Joe": "Joe" is the character played by Edward Anglesey, on Jupiter. Joe is a pseudojovian manufactured to live on the surface of Jupiter. Since Anglesey was paralyzed as a young man, he operates an esprojector that conveys his thoughts along a psibeam to fully immerse himself in the pseudojovian's mind. He eventually leaves his human body and lives entirely in his pseudojovian body.
- One-Word Title:
- "Omnilingual", by H. Beam Piper
- "Soldier", by Harlan Ellison
- Robot Dog: Carol Emshwiller's "Hunting Machine": The titular hunting machine is referred to as a dog by its human owners. The third-person narration occasionally shows what passes for thought by the machine; heartbeat normal, respiration normal. It's designed to be grey-green to camouflage itself in temperate forest environments and was built with six legs.
- Shout-Out: In the introduction, multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1957:
- 20 Million Miles to Earth
- The27th Day
- The Abominable Snowman Of The Himalayas
- The Amazing Colossal Man
- American Bandstand
- And God Created Woman, starring Brigitte Bardot and directed by Roger Vadim.
- Isaac Asimov's books, The Naked Sun and Earth is Room Enough
- Astounding Science Fiction earned the Hugo Award for best American magazine.
- Attack of the Crab Monsters
- Beginning of the End
- Big Planet, by Jack Vance
- The Black Scorpion
- Pat Boone's song, "Love Letters in the Sand".
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- Mel Brooks is referenced.
- By Love Possessed, by James Gould Cozzens
- Marc Chagall painted his self-portrait, entitled "Self-Portrait".
- Arthur C. Clarke's books, The Deep Range and Tales from the White Hart.
- Colonial Survey, by Murray Leinster
- Compulsion, by Meyer Levin
- The Cosmic Puppets, by Philip K. Dick
- The Curse of Frankenstein
- Cycle Of Fire, by Hal Clement
- The Cyclops
- The Deadly Mantis
- Doomsday Morning, by C. L. Moore
- Earthmans Burdern, by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson
- Enemy From Space
- The Giant Claw
- Gimpel The Fool, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
- The Green Odyssey, by Philip José Farmer
- Have Gun – Will Travel
- The Hunger And Other Stories, by Charles Beaumont
- The Incredible Shrinking Man
- I Was A Teenage Frankenstein
- I Was a Teenage Werewolf
- Kids Say The Darndest Things!, by Art Link Letter
- Kronos
- Leave It to Beaver
- Maverick
- Master Of Life And Death, by Robert Silverberg
- The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham
- The Monolith Monsters
- The Music Man, and its song "Seventy-Six Trombones".
- New Worlds earned the Hugo Award for best British magazine.
- Occams Razor, by David Duncan
- On the Beach, by Nevil Shute
- Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick
- Perry Mason
- Pilgramage To Earth, by Robert Sheckley
- Frederik Pohl's Slave Ship and The Case Agaisnt Tomorrow
- Elvis Presley's songs, "All Shook Up" and "Jailhouse Rock".
- The Prince and the Showgirl, starring Marilyn Monroe
- Rodan
- Rogue In Space, by Fredric Brown
- Saturn The Magazine Of Science Fiction, edited by Donald A Wollheim, began publication.
- Science Fiction Times earned the Hugo Award for best fan magazine.
- The Shores Of Space, by Richard Matheson
- The Shouded Planet, by Robert Randall (a Pen Name for Randall Garrett and Robert Silverberg).
- Star Born, by Andre Norton
- Space Science Fiction Magazine, edited by Lyle Kenyon Engel, began publishing, but didn't successfully complete the year.
- Theyd Rather Be Right, by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley
- Theory Of Criticism, by Northrop Frye
- The Third Level, by Fritz Leiber
- Things Of The World, by Richard Wilbur, for winning the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
- Those Idiots From Earth, by Richard Wilson
- 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda
- A.E. van Vogt's books, Empire Of The Atom and The Mind Cage.
- Venture Science Fiction, edited by Robert P Mills, began publication.
- Wagon Train
- The Wapshot Chronicle, by John Cheever
- Wasp (1957), by Eric Frank Russell
- West Side Story, and its songs "Tonight" and "Maria".
- The Winds Of Time, by Chad Oliver
- Witness for the Prosecution, directed by Billy Wilder
- X the Unknown
- Title Drop: Kate Wilhelm's "The Mile Long Spaceship": When Allan falls asleep, he travels (telepathically) to a starship that strives to explore all of known space (including other galaxies) to discover other forms of life. Of course, he thinks it's a dream, while the aliens are aware of his Psychic Powers; "the mile-long spaceship in his dream".
- Tools of Sapience: A. Bertram Chandler's "The Cage": Survivors from a crashed starship (on a planet where clothes don't survive due to some aggressive fungus) are captured by aliens and put in a zoo. Attempts to convince the aliens they are sentient by making baskets or demonstrating mathematics fail. But when they build a cage and put an alien mouse into it... well, only sentient beings are bastards enough for that.