"EB - Edward L. Ferman - The Best From Fantasy & Science Fiction 23rd EditionUC - SS" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine)

The Best from F & SF, #23 Copyright й 1976,1977,1978, 1979,1980 by Mercury Press, Inc.
The editor hereby makes grateful acknowledgment to the following authors and authors1 representatives for giving permission to reprint the material in this volume:
Damon Knight for "I See You"
Virginia Kidd for "The Detweiler Boy" by Tom Reamy
Curtis Brown Ltd. for "Zorphwar!" by Stan Dryer and
"Brother Hart" by Jane Yolen Edward Bryant for "Stone"
Scott Meredith Uterary Agency for "Nina" by Robert Bloch Joanna Russ for "In Defense of Criticism" Isaac Asimov for "Clone, Clone of My Own" John Varley for "In the Hall of the Martian Kings" Stcven Utley for "Upstart" Lee Killough for "A House Divided" Baird Searles for "Multiples"; Copyright й 1980 by Baird
Searles
Thomas M. Disch for "The Man Who Had No Idea" Robert F. Young for "Project Hi-Rise" Samuel R. Delany for "Prismattca"
AH rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Dedication
For my mother
An Ace Book by Arrangement with Doubleday, Inc.
First Ace printing: November 1981 Published Simultaneously in Canada
2468097531 Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS
I See You by Damon Knight 1
From Competition 13: Excerpts from myopic early sf novels 15
The Detweiler Boy by Tom Reamy 17
Books: In Defense of Criticism by Joanna Russ 51
Zorphwar! by Stan Dryer 59
From Competition 14: SF "What's the question" jokes 69
Stone by Edward Bryant 71
From Competition 15; Retranslated sf titles 89
Nina by Robert Block 91
Science: Clone, Clone of My Own by Isaac Asimav 101
In the Hall of the Martian Kings by John Varley 113
From Competition 18: Transposed sf titles 155
Upstart by Steven Utley 157
A House Divided by Lee Kitloagh 161
From Competition 19: SF limericks 183
Brother Hart by Jane Yolen 185
Films: Multiples by Baird Searles 193
The Man Who Had No Idea by Thomas M. Disch 197
Project Hi-Rise by Robert F. Young 231
Pramatica by Samuel R. Delany 243
INTRODUCTION
In this, the twenty-third volume in a series, I have continued the practice begun in number 22 of including non-fiction material from F&SF's regular departments. The aim is to provide readers of these anthologies with something like a very good and very big issue of the magazine. Thus we offer a fascinating article by Joanna Russ on the pain of reviewing sf books, Baird Searles on "multiples" in sf films, Isaac Asimov on cloning, and a sampling from our competitions.
The stories in this book cover the period from our November 1976 issue through the middle of 1979, a period of great growth in the science fiction field, at least in terms of numbers. If you're the sort who likes to sniff the air for trends, you may have detected a smell of old attics, as much sf seemed to swing back to traditional, even old-fashioned themes and forms. Compare 2001 to Star Wars.
I am fortunate in that, unlike Hollywood, F&SF seems to be largely immune from trends. The magazine has a reputation for offering variety, and to uphold that image, it seems to me that it must carefully avoid trends and formulas in an effort to publish a balance of different types of fantasy and sf. And so we continue to look for good writing and fresh ideas and entertaining narratives, and once those general criteria are satisfied, we take on whatever seems to be pleasing our writers at the time. That's the best way I know of pleasing our leaders.
ЧEdward L. Ferman
THE BEST FROM FANTASY & SCIENCE HCTION
"I See You" is the first new Damon Knight story in many yean; it was the feature story in FASFs special Damon Knight issue (November 1976). As might be expected, it is a totally fresh piece of work and it shines with quality. Damon says of it: "You may think it is a short story, but it is really a novel on the plan of A for Anything and Hell's Pavement, only much compressed. i
I See You
by DAMON KNIGHT
Yon are five, hiding in a place only you know. You are covered with bark dust, scratched by twigs, sweaty and hot. A wind sighs in the aspen leaves. A faint steady hiss comes from the viewer you hold in your hands; then a voice: "Lone, I see youЧunder the bam, eating an apple!" A silence. "Lone, come on out, I see you." Another voice. "That's right, she's in there." After a moment, sulkily: "Oh, okay."
You squirm around, raising the viewer to aim it down the hill. As you turn the knob with your thumb, the bright image races toward you, trees hurling themselves into red darkness and vanishing, then the houses in the compound, and now you see Bruce standing beside the corral, looking into his viewer, slowly turning. His back is to you; you know you are safe, and you sit up. A jay passes with a whir of wings, settles on a branch. With your own eyes now you can see Bruce, only a dot of blue beyond the gray shake walls of the houses. In the viewer, he is turning toward you, and you duck again. Another voice: "Children, come in and get washed for dinner now.** "Aw, Aunt Ellie!" "Mom, we're playing hide and seek. Can't we just stay fifteen minutes more?" "Please, Aunt EUiel" "No, come on in nowЧ
2 Damon Knight
you'll have plenty of time after dinner." And Brace: "Aw, okay. All cut's in free." And once more they have not found you; your secret place is yours alone.