Literature / Operation Future

First published in 1955 by editor Groff Conklin, this Genre Anthology contains nineteen stories.

Works in this anthology:

• "The Education Of Drusilla Strange", by Theodore Sturgeon (1954)
• "c/o Mr. Makepeace", by Peter Phillips (1954)
• "Technical Slip", by John Beynon (1949)
• "Short In The Chest", by Idris Seabright (1954)
• "Cure For A Ylith", by Murray Leinster (1949)
• "Exposure", by Eric Frank Russell (1950)
• "Worrywart", by Clifford Simak (1953)
• "The Day Is Done", by Lester del Rey (1939)
• "Quit Zoomin Those Hands Through The Air", by Jack Finney (1951)
• "Hilda", by HB Hickey (1952)
• "Bloods A Rover", by Chad Oliver (1952)
• "Call Me Adam", by Winston K Marks (1954)
• "Special Delivery", by Damon Knight (1954)
• "The Garden In The Forest", by Robert F Young (1953)
• "The Sorcerers Apprentice", by Malcolm Jameson (1941)
• "Games", by Katherine Mac Lean (1953)
• "The Holes Around Mars", by Jerome Bixby (1954)
• "Project", by Lewis Padgett (1947)
• "The Fun They Had", by Isaac Asimov (1951)

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Tropes appearing in this work:

• In Space, Everyone Can See Your Face: The cover has a person in a spacesuit with a sorta-bubble helmet (large clear visor bolted onto a metal helmet).
• One-Word Title:
  • "Exposure", a Short Story by Eric Frank Russell.
  • "Games", a Short Story by Katherine Mac Lean.
  • "Hilda", a Short Story by HB Hickey.
  • "Project", a Short Story by Lewis Padgett.
  • "Worrywart", a Short Story by Clifford Simak.
• Pen Name:
  • "Technical Slip" is credited to John Beynon, a pseudonym for John Wyndham.
  • "Short In The Chest" is credited to Idris Seabright, a name Margaret St Clair used for any stories she published in The Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction.
  • "Project" is credited to Lewis Padgett, a name used by the team of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore when co-authoring a story.
• Psychological Torment Zone: In "The Education Of Drusilla Strange", a Novelette by Theodore Sturgeon, Drusilla is not only sent to Earth as a prison planet, she's also exposed to psychic memories to punish her transgressions. She's punished with memories/visions/pictures of things she'll never have because she was sent to Earth.
• Raygun Gothic: The cover is addicted to bubbles and circles, also having a preference to metal-looking spacesuits rather than fabric, drawing inspiration from the Mercury 7 styles popular at the time of publication.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: In "c/o Mr. Makepeace", a Short Story by Peter Phillips, Tristram Makepeace is a war veteran who is under strict orders to write to the Ministry of Pensions if his stress has any new developments. When he appeared to have a Split Personality that was Gaslighting himself, he was sent to an insane asylum.
• Split Personality: In "c/o Mr. Makepeace", a Short Story by Peter Phillips, the doctors conclude that Mr Makepeace is suffering from a form of dissociated personality disorder, brought on by his experiences in war. His other identity is Ezreel Grabcheek Esquire, who is quite happy to have the house to himself, now that Makepeace is under observation at Seaton Mental Hospital.
• Switching P.O.V.: In "The Education Of Drusilla Strange", a Novelette by Theodore Sturgeon, the story is told in Third-Person omniscient, but shifts into First-Person Perspective temporarily to show the audience what her torture is like.
• Tagline: "17 stories and 2 short novels about the world of tomorrow by the greatest names in science fiction".
• Telepathy: In "The Education Of Drusilla Strange", a Novelette by Theodore Sturgeon, features a woman called Drusilla Strange who initially communicates by thinking at Chandler Behringer. She's able to send and receive thoughts, picking her name from his mind.
• Tulpa: In "c/o Mr. Makepeace", a Short Story by Peter Phillips, the doctors conclude that Mr Makepeace is suffering from a form of dissociated personality disorder, one which manifests outward as a poltergeist/thanai. Tibetan monks and Abominable Snowmen are referenced to explain Mr Makepeace's delusions.
• Vicariously Ambitious: In "The Education Of Drusilla Strange", a Novelette by Theodore Sturgeon, Drusilla learns that many women have been sent to Earth for the purpose of teaching their husband how to be better people.

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