First published in 1991 by editors Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. This Genre Anthology contains eleven Science Fiction stories that were first published in 1960, 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, as the New Wave of Science Fiction begins.
Works in this anthology:
- "Mariana", by Fritz Leiber
- "The Day The Icicle Works Closed", by Frederik Pohl
- "The Fellow Who Married The Maxill Girl", by Ward Moore
- "Mine Own Ways", by Richard Mc Kenna
- "Make Mine ... Homogenized", by Rick Raphael
- "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul", by Cordwainer Smith
- "I Remember Babylon", by Arthur C. Clarke
- "Chief", by Henry Slesar
- "Mind Partner", by Christopher Anvil
- "The Handler", by Damon Knight
- "The Voices Of Time", by JG Ballard
Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great Science Fiction Stories, Volume 22 (1960) provides examples of:
- The Aloner: Fritz Leiber's "Mariana": The titular Mariana lives in the middle of the woods in an advanced technology home with her husband. One day, she finds a hidden control panel, with a switch labeled "Trees". Switching it off means she lives in the middle of a barren desert of rocks, in an advanced home, with her husband. When Jonathan comes home, she explains the accident, turning the new switch, "Home", off. The house disappears. The next switch is labeled "Jonathan", and she turns it off as well. He disappears. The last switch is labeled "Mariana".
- Author Avatar: Arthur C. Clarke's "I Remember Babylon": The main POV is a fictionalized account of Clarke, telling the reader about his predictions about satellite communication and a (fictional) meeting with Gene Hartford.
- Biography: Each story is prefaced by a short description of why this story (from this author) was chosen to represent one of the eleven best stories of the year along with a paragraph from Isaac Asimov's perspective.
- Distinguishing Mark: Ward Moore's "The Fellow Who Married The Maxill Girl": Josey Maxill has a large purple birthmark on the left side of her face, but it goes away after the fellow touches her face.
- Fantastic Drug: Christopher Anvil's "Mind Partner": Jim Calder has been asked to go undercover for the cops and try an unknown drug that they've been unable to get firm details on.
- Four-Fingered Hands: Ward Moore's "The Fellow Who Married The Maxill Girl": The titular fellow has only four fingers on each hand, eight fingers total, with no sign of deformity to explain it. The other characters all have ten fingers.
- Funetik Aksent: Rick Raphael's "Make Mine ... Homogenized": A few words of dialogue are written in onomatopoeia form, like "Miz" instead of "Miss", "Barneeey" instead of "Barney", or "coulda" instead of "could have". Everyone in this story uses misspelled words to represent colloquial speech to a slight degree.
- Inciting Incident: Frederik Pohl's "The Day The Icicle Works Closed": The titular event is also the cause of the problems faced by the characters. Milo Pulcher became a lawyer, and now he's defending half a dozen people for the crimes they've committed in order to afford staying alive since the major business of the planet closed down.
- Mocking Sing-Song: Cordwainer Smith' "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul": Helen is mocked as a child for being raised by a single mother by a playground rhyme; Helen, Helen, Fat and dumb, Doesn't know where Her daddy's from!
- Numbered Homeworld: Frederik Pohl's "The Day The Icicle Works Closed": Altair Nine is the setting for this story; an alien planet with pastel-coloured snow.
- One-Word Title:
- Henry Slesar's "Chief"
- Fritz Leiber's "Mariana"
- Parental Abandonment: Cordwainer Smith' "The Lady Who Sailed The Soul": Helen's mother deliberately obscured who Helen's father was, and didn't marry until just before she died. Helen had to arrange for college and her future on her own.
- Pen Name: Christopher Anvil: "Mind Partner" is attributed to Mr Anvil, a pseudonym used by Harry Crosby.
- Shout-Out: In the introduction, multiple works are mentioned as being first published or becoming hits in 1960:
- Advise & Consent, by Allan Drury
- And Then The Town Took Off, by Richard Wilson
- The Andy Griffith Show
- The Apartment
- The Atomic Submarine
- Battle in Outer Space
- Becket
- Beyond The Time Barrier
- The Bob Newhart Show
- Mel Brooks is referenced.
- Butterfield 8
- Bye Bye Birdie
- Camelot
- A Canticle for Leibowitz
- "Chain Gang", by Sam Cooke
- The Chapman Report, by Irving Wallace
- Groff Conklin edited Thirteen Great Stories Of Science Fiction and Six Great Short Science Fiction.
- The Conscience Of A Conservative, by Barry Goldwater
- A Decade Of Fantasy And Science Fiction, edited by Robert P Mills
- Dinosaurus!
- Drunkards Walk, by Frederik Pohl
- The Electronic Monster
- Elmer Gantry
- The End Of Ideology, by Daniel Bell
- An Evening With Mike Nichols And Elaine May
- Exodus (1960)
- The Fantasticks
- Fantastic Universe ended publication.
- Philip José Farmer's Flesh and Strange Relations.
- The Flintstones
- Future Science Fiction ended publication.
- Galaxies Like Grains Of Sand, edited by Brian W. Aldiss
- "Georgia On My Mind", by Ray Charles
- The Genetic General, by Gordon R. Dickson
- Hugo Gernsback receiving the Special Hugo Award for "The Father of Magazine Science Fiction".
- Guardians Of Time, edited by Poul Anderson
- Growing Up Absurd, by Paul Goodman
- Gunsmoke
- "Handy Man", by Jimmy Jones
- Have Gun – Will Travel
- Hawaii, by James Michener
- The High Crusade, by Poul Anderson
- Howdy Doody
- Into The Stone And Other Poems, by James Dickey
- Irma La Douce
- Last Woman On Earth
- Last Year at Marienbad
- The Lost World 1960
- The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner, by Allan Sillitoe
- Love And Death In The American Novel, by Leslie Fiedler
- The Magician Of Lublin, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
- The Magnificent Seven (1960)
- Man In The Moon
- Motown Records is founded by Berry Gordy.
- My Three Sons
- Never on Sunday
- New Maps Of Hell, a Non-Fiction work reviewing Science Fiction by Kingsley Amis.
- Out Of Bounds, edited by Judith Merril
- Psycho
- Franchise/Quatermass was broadcast on American television.
- Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
- The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by Wiliam L Shirer
- Rogue Moon, by Algis Budrys
- Route 66
- The Science Fictional Sherlock Holmes, edited by The Council of Four.
- The Sot Weed Factor, by Jogn Barth
- Spartacus
- The Stages Of Economic Growth, by Eugene Rostow
- The Time Machine
- To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
- The Tomorrow People, by Judith Merril
- Toys In The Attic
- 12 to the Moon
- "The Twist"
- The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
- The Unsinkable Molly Brown
- Venus Plus X, by Theodore Sturgeon
- Village Of The Damned
- Visit To A Small Planet
- Wagon Train
- The Wasp Woman, starring Susan Cabot
- The Worlds Of Clifford Simak
