Epoch

Rating:
Summary: One of the finest SF collections
Review: This is one of my favorite collections of science fiction stories. I had a copy of it in the 1970s, when it was first published, and I recently got around to replacing my copy.

If you enjoy the _Science Fiction Hall of Fame_ collections, you'll enjoy this one too. At the time of its publication, it was one of very few collections of all-new SF. And Robert Silverberg and Roger Elwood selected (almost) nothing but the best. (There are a couple I don't particularly care for, but at least none of them are real stinkers.)

There is, for example, Harry Harrison's "Run From the Fire," a great parallel-universe tale. There's Clifford Simak's bittersweet "The Ghost of a Model T," which just drips with nostalgia. There's R.A. Lafferty's "For All Poor Folks at Picketwire" (and if you know who R.A. Lafferty is, the mention of his name is all you'll need here). There's a full novella by Jack Vance.

There's also my personal favorite in the book, and one of my favorite SF short stories ever: George R.R. Martin's ". . . for a single yesterday." This is one of the most haunting pieces of fiction you're ever going to read. It takes place on a rural hippie commune after The Blast has destroyed the cities. The title is, of course, a line from the Kris Kristofferson/Fred Foster song "Me and Bobby McGee," which figures into the tale. I won't spoil it for you by telling you anything more; just read it. (It was memories of this particular story that led me to hunt down a used copy of this book in the first place.)

If you like good SF, scare up a copy of this collection. It's one of the best ever assembled.