The Best of Gregory Benford

Featuring more than sixty groundbreaking short stories by modern science fiction's most important and influential writers, The Ascent of Wonder offers a definitive and incisive exploration of the SF genre's visionary core.From Poe to Pohl, Wells to Wolfe, and Verne to Vinge, this hefty anthology fully charts the themes, trends, thoughts, and traditions that comprise the challenging yet rich literary form known as "hard SF."

Contents

15 • Real Science, Imaginary Worlds • (1994) • essay by Gregory Benford

24 • On Science and Science Fiction • (1994) • essay by Kathryn Cramer

30 • Hard Science Fiction • (1994) • essay by David G. Hartwell

43 • Nine Lives • (1969) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin

61 • Light of Other Days • [Slow Glass] • (1966) • shortstory by Bob Shaw

68 • Rappaccini's Daughter • (1844) • novelette by Nathaniel Hawthorne

86 • The Star • (1955) • shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke

91 • Proof • (1942) • shortstory by Hal Clement

103 • "It's Great to Be Back!" • [Future History] • (1947) • shortstory by Robert A. Heinlein

116 • Procreation • (1983) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe

122 • Mimsy Were the Borogoves • (1943) • novelette by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore [as by Lewis Padgett ]

144 • Davey Jones' Ambassador • (1935) • novelette by Raymond Z. Gallun

166 • The Life and Times of Multivac • (1975) • shortstory by Isaac Asimov

174 • The Singing Diamond • (1979) • shortstory by Robert L. Forward

180 • Down & Out on Ellfive Prime • (1979) • novelette by Dean Ing

196 • Send Me a Kiss by Wire • (1985) • shortstory by Hilbert Schenck

208 • The Xi Effect • (1950) • shortstory by R. S. Richardson [as by Philip Latham ]

222 • A Descent into the Maelstrom • (1841) • shortstory by Edgar Allan Poe (aka A Descent into the Maelström)

233 • Exposures • (1981) • shortstory by Gregory Benford

243 • The Planners • (1968) • shortstory by Kate Wilhelm

254 • Beep • (1954) • novelette by James Blish

278 • Drode's Equations • (1981) • novelette by Richard Grant

288 • The Weather Man • (1962) • novella by Theodore L. Thomas

313 • Transit of Earth • (1971) • shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke

323 • Prima Belladonna • [Vermilion Sands] • (1956) • shortstory by J. G. Ballard

333 • To Bring in the Steel • (1978) • novelette by Donald Kingsbury

360 • Gomez • (1954) • novelette by C. M. Kornbluth

377 • Waterclap • (1970) • novelette by Isaac Asimov

398 • Weyr Search • [Dragonriders of Pern] • (1967) • novella by Anne McCaffrey

434 • Message Found in a Copy of Flatland • (1983) • shortstory by Rudy Rucker

442 • The Cold Equations • (1954) • novelette by Tom Godwin

459 • The Land Ironclads • (1903) • novelette by H. G. Wells

474 • The Hole Man • (1974) • shortstory by Larry Niven

484 • Atomic Power • (1934) • shortstory by John W. Campbell, Jr. [as by Don A. Stuart ]

494 • Stop Evolution in Its Tracks! • (1988) • shortstory by John Sladek

499 • The Hungry Guinea Pig • (1930) • shortstory by Miles J. Breuer, M.D.

514 • The Very Slow Time Machine • (1978) • novelette by Ian Watson

528 • The Beautiful and the Sublime • (1986) • novelette by Bruce Sterling

547 • "The Author of the Acacia Seeds" and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics • (1974) • shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin (aka The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics)

553 • Heat of Fusion • (1984) • shortstory by John M. Ford

564 • Dolphin's Way • (1964) • shortstory by Gordon R. Dickson

576 • All the Hues of Hell • (1987) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe

585 • Occam's Scalpel • (1971) • novelette by Theodore Sturgeon

600 • giANTS • (1979) • shortstory by Edward Bryant

612 • Time Fuze • (1954) • shortstory by Randall Garrett

616 • Desertion • [City] • (1944) • shortstory by Clifford D. Simak

627 • Kyrie • (1968) • shortstory by Poul Anderson

635 • The Person from Porlock • (1947) • shortstory by Raymond F. Jones

651 • Day Million • (1966) • shortstory by Frederik Pohl

656 • The Cage of Sand • (1962) • novelette by J. G. Ballard

672 • The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats • (1976) • novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.

689 • In the Year 2889 • (1889) • shortstory by Jules Verne (aka La Journée d'un journaliste américain en 2890 1891 )

700 • Surface Tension • [Pantropy] • (1952) • novelette by James Blish

724 • No, No, Not Rogov! • [The Instrumentality of Mankind] • (1959) • shortstory by Cordwainer Smith

737 • In a Petri Dish Upstairs • (1978) • novelette by George Turner

758 • With the Night Mail • (1905) • novelette by Rudyard Kipling

788 • The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told • (1966) • shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke

790 • The Pi Man • (1959) • shortstory by Alfred Bester

803 • Relativistic Effects • (1982) • novelette by Gregory Benford

818 • Making Light • (1981) • shortstory by James P. Hogan

826 • The Last Question • (1956) • shortstory by Isaac Asimov

835 • The Indefatigable Frog • (1953) • shortstory by Philip K. Dick

843 • Chromatic Aberration • (1984) • novelette by John M. Ford

864 • The Snowball Effect • (1952) • shortstory by Katherine MacLean

873 • The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck • (1978) • novelette by Hilbert Schenck

892 • Tangents • (1986) • shortstory by Greg Bear

904 • Johnny Mnemonic • (1981) • shortstory by William Gibson

917 • What Continues, What Fails . . . • (1991) • novelette by David Brin

937 • Mammy Morgan Played the Organ, Her Daddy Beat the Drum • (1990) • novella by Michael F. Flynn

967 • Bookworm, Run! • (1966) • novelette by Vernor Vinge

989 • Appendix: Another Path Through the Book (The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF) • (1994) • essay by Kathryn Cramer