Rob Latham sent the following announcement and table of contents to the SFRA email list for The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction. It looks like an amazing lineup of stories, and I can’t wait to see the final product when it is released late Summer 2010.
The editors of Science Fiction Studies are pleased and proud to announce the imminent publication of a project we have been working on for some years. The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction is designed to provide a historical survey of the genre and includes 52 works ranging from Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” published in 1844, to Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation”(2008). The chronological table of contents follows; the anthology will also include a thematic table of contents that divides the stories into nine themes: Alien Encounters, Apocalypse and Post-Apocalypse, Artificial/Posthuman Lifeforms, Computers and Virtual Reality, Evolution and Environment, Gender and Sexuality, Time Travel and Alternate History, Utopias/Dystopias, and War and Conflict. An introduction offers historical and theoretical guidance to readers of sf, and individual headnotes for each text provide an overview of each author’s life and characteristic concerns as a writer, as well as historical/contextual information.
While we believe that the Wesleyan Anthology of SF will supply an abundance of reading pleasure for anyone interested in the genre, the work is geared for classroom use as well. Concurrent with the book’s publication, we will be launching a website to provide supplementary materials, including study questions for each story, possible topics for essays and exams, sample syllabi based on the anthology’s contents, and links to other online resources. Wesleyan has announced the book for August 2010, so we believe that it will be available for use in classes beginning in the Fall. If you are scheduled to teach a course in sf during the coming year, we hope that you will consider adopting the book; the paperback edition will be priced at $39.95.
Table of Contents
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844)
Jules Verne, excerpt from Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864)
H. G. Wells, “The Star” (1897)
E. M. Forster, “The Machine Stops” (1909)
Edmond Hamilton, “The Man Who Evolved” (1931)
Leslie F. Stone, “The Conquest of Gola” (1931)
C. L. Moore, “Shambleau” (1933)
Stanley Weinbaum, “A Martian Odyssey” (1934)
Isaac Asimov, “Reason” (1941)
Clifford Simak, “Desertion” (1944)
Theodore Sturgeon, “Thunder and Roses” (1947)
Judith Merril, “That Only a Mother” (1948)
Fritz Leiber, “Coming Attraction” (1950)
Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains” (1950)
Arthur C. Clarke, “The Sentinel” (1951)
Robert Sheckley, “Specialist” (1953)
William Tenn, “The Liberation of Earth” (1953)
Alfred Bester, “Fondly Fahrenheit” (1954)
Avram Davidson, “The Golem” (1955)
Cordwainer Smith, “The Game of Rat and Dragon” (1955)
Robert Heinlein, “All You Zombies—” (1959)
J.G. Ballard, “The Cage of Sand” (1962)
R. A. Lafferty, “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
Harlan Ellison, “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (1965)
Frederik Pohl, “Day Million” (1966)
Philip K. Dick, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” (1966)
Samuel R. Delany, “Aye, and Gomorrah…” (1967)
Pamela Zoline, “The Heat Death of the Universe” (1967)
Robert Silverberg, “Passengers” (1968)
Brian Aldiss, “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” (1969)
Ursula K. Le Guin, “Nine Lives” (1969)
Frank Herbert, “Seed Stock” (1970)
Stanislaw Lem, “The Seventh Voyage” from The Star Diaries (1971)
Joanna Russ, “When It Changed” (1972)
James Tiptree, Jr., “And I Awoke and Found Me Here On the Cold Hill’s Side” (1973)
John Varley, “Air Raid” (1977)
Carol Emshwiller, “Abominable” (1980)
William Gibson, “Burning Chrome” (1981)
Octavia Butler, “Speech Sounds” (1983)
Nancy Kress, “Out of All Them Bright Stars” (1985)
Pat Cadigan, “Pretty Boy Crossover” (1986)
Kate Wilhelm, “Forever Yours, Anna” (1987)
Bruce Sterling, “We See Things Differently” (1989)
Misha Nogha, “Chippoke Na Gomi” (1989)
Eileen Gunn, “Computer Friendly” (1989)
John Kessel, “Invaders” (1990)
Gene Wolfe, “Useful Phrases” (1992)
Greg Egan, “Closer” (1992)
James Patrick Kelly, “Think Like a Dinosaur” (1995)
Geoff Ryman, “Everywhere” (1999)
Charles Stross, “Rogue Farm” (2003)
Ted Chiang, “Exhalation” (2008)
Dynamic Subspace 