"Aldiss, Brian W - Afterward - This Year in SF 1966" - читать интересную книгу автора (Aldiss Brian W)

Lensman, Children of the Lens), and they must have their
reasons. Perhaps it is possible to agree with the critic who
argues that, after the opening sentence, "Two thousand mil-
lion or so years ago two galaxies were colliding," we are in
for six volumes of anticlimax, and, at the same time, to
remain fascinated by Doc's workthe longest of the hard-
core SF sagas. This was fine stuff in the golden days of our
youth, and it still remains fresh in a rather charming and
wooden way, and must certainly produce some feeling of
satisfaction in the youngsters of today.
Not quite as hoary, but certainly as enduring, is the
Foundation series by Isaac Asirnov, also a Ph.D., though he
misses being referred to as "Doc" on his covers. If anything
proves that magazine and paperback readers are essentially
two different groups, the publication of this series does. For
years beyond counting the Science Fiction Book Club has
been enticing new members with the offer of this trilogy for
the sum of 10have elected to publish Foundation, Second Foundation, and
Foundation and Empire in three volumes in a new edition for
a total sum of $1.80. It is to be assumed that they know what
they are doing, for they did it also with James Blish's Cities in
Flightthe Okiesseries. Once more in They Shall Have
Stars, Life for the Stars, Earthman, Come Home and The
Triumph of Time the spin-dizzies whine and the cities fly off

to the far reaches of the galaxy. Heady stuff this, and all three
series certainly deserve some place in a.scientifictional hall of
fame, not only. for their intrinsic interest but certainly for
their durability.
Good science fiction wears well, that is obvious; though it is
immensely difficult to find out in just what ratio new and old
books appear. The situation is complex, to say the least. To
take an example: one major paperback publisher released
twenty-two titles during the year, thirteen of these were new
booksand of this number three were first bookswhile five
were reprints of hardbound volumes. The remaining four
were reissues of earlier titles. To further confuse the situation,
some of the new books were anthologies of previously pub-
lished stories and the reissues had new covers to entice old
readers.
In addition to good old books, a number of good new
books were published. We do not pretend impartiality or
completeness, other than the complete statement that the
following titles impressed and left their mark and memory
behind them. The following list is, can only be, partial and
partisan.
Who Can Replace a Man? by Brian W. Aldiss (Harcourt,
Brace and World). The original English title of this book was
The Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss, and that
is most descriptive. These stories compare favorably with any

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