Search Results for: Wollheim

Lethal Vegetation and Nasty Christmas Presents: DAW’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series IV, edited by Gerald W. Page (1976)

The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series IV (DAW, July 1976). Cover by Michael Whelan The Year’s Best Horror Stories: Series IV was the fourth volume in DAW’s Year’s Best Horror, copyright and printed in 1976. This one introduced a different editor, American author Gerald W. Page (1939–). Page had edited the successful weird tales magazine Witches & Sorcery from 1971 to 1974, and some stories from his ‘zine had made the earlier volumes of Year’s Best Horror. My guess is…

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Killer Dolls and Murderous Dimensions: DAW’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories I (1972), edited by Richard Davis

The Year’s Best Horror Stories (DAW, 1972). Cover by Karel Thole The first Year’s Best Horror Stories, DAW No. 13, published in 1972, was edited by British author and editor Richard Davis, who would go on to produce many more horror and sci-fi anthologies throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He also edited the next two Year’s Best Horror Stories for DAW, but he primarily published through British outlets. The Year’s Best Horror Stories, No. 1, was first published by Sphere…

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Introduction to DAW Books’ The Year’s Best Horror Stories (1972–1994), edited by Richard Davis, Gerald W. Page, and Karl Edward Wagner

20 of the 22 volumes of The Year’s Best Horror Stories (DAW Books) Today I’m beginning a new series of posts investigating DAW Books’ Year’s Best Horror Stories series, which ran from 1971 to 1994. As a fan of literary horror, I’m excited to sequentially read through these volumes and share my thoughts with you. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to discover some great stories and authors, perhaps some we’ve never read before, and I’m also hoping that we…

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Vintage Treasures: Mars, We Love You edited by Jane Hipolito and Willis E. McNelly

Mars, We Love You (Pyramid Books, 1973) and its British reprint, The Book of Mars(Orbit, 1976). Covers: unknown (left), and Patrick Woodroffe (right) The 70s was the golden age of science fiction anthologies, and especially themed anthologies. You didn’t find a lot of books collecting SF cat tales, mermaid legends, or vampire love stories in those days (not that there’s anything wrong with those, I hasten to add). But take Mars, We Love You, for example. Originally published in hardcover…

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Vintage Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 edited by Terry Carr

The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 (Del Rey, July 1979) Terry Carr died 34 years ago, in 1987. A whole generation of fans has arrived since his death, discovered science fiction, argued over the Star War sequels, and settled comfortably into middle age to raise contentious young SF fans of their own. So fans today could be forgiven for not understanding how thoroughly Carr dominated the field during his lifetime. Before he died in 2018, Gardner Dozois was…

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Vintage Treasures: Year’s Finest Fantasy edited by Terry Carr

Year’s Finest Fantasy (Berkley Books, 1978). Cover by Carl Lundgren The first Year Best volume I ever read was Terry Carr’s The Best Science Fiction of the Year #6, published in paperback by Del Rey in 1977 and filled with stories that blew my 13-year old mind, including the fascinating gadget tale “I See You” by Damon Knight,  John Varley’s futuristic murder mystery “The Phantom of Kansas,” the raunchy and bizarre “Meathouse Man” by George R. R. Martin, and Isaac…

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Vintage Treasures: Invaders of Earth edited by Groff Conklin

Invaders of Earth (Tempo, September 1962). Cover artist unknown Before his untimely death in 2016, Bud Webster was Black Gate‘s poetry editor and one of our finest columnists. He wrote a number of Who? columns on forgotten SF writers for our print issues, and thoughtful pieces on selling books at conventions for our website. In his paean to the science fiction anthologies of his youth, Anthopology 101: Reflections, Inspections and Dissections of SF Anthologies, Bud wrote fondly about the great…

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Science Fiction is a Small Community

The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1953, edited by Everett F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty (Frederick Fell, 1953). Cover art uncredited. Two weeks ago I bought a handsome copy of The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1953, edited by Everett F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty, from a seller on eBay. As I carefully opened the package, I noticed the return address said “Stephen E. Fabian.” Huh. Like, Stephan Fabian, the artist? Naturally I did what any of you would have…

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Vintage Treasures: Nebula Award Stories 17 edited by Joe Haldeman

Nebula Award Stories 17 (Ace Books, 1985). Cover by Jeffrey Ridge I’ve covered a few noteworthy anthologies here in the last few weeks, including Isaac Asimov’s surprising Tin Stars, and Donald A. Wollheim’s excellent 1989 Annual World’s Best SF. It’s sharpened my appetite for good anthologies, and when I found Nebula Award Stories 17 in a small collection of vintage paperbacks I bought in eBay last month, I knew I’d found my next weekend read. The Nebula Awards anthologies have…

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Would You Spend $44 on a Collection of 30 Vintage DAW Paperbacks?

Would you spend $44 on these 30 vintage DAW paperbacks? I buy a lot of paperbacks on eBay.  I mean, a lot. But believe it or not, I don’t spend a lot of money. I’ve gotten in the habit of buying small collections; because shipping costs work out better and I spend much less per item. I haven’t done the math recently, but I budget anywhere from $0.25 to $0.50 per book when I go hunting, and usually stick to…

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