Put it this way: You are not going to complain if a large number of sonnets sound, superficially, a good deal alike; you are fascinated by what each poet manages to do within the sonnet. But if all the free verse you read, from countless divers hands, sounds pretty much the same, you are justified in thinking that poetry is in a hell of a state.
A conventional, competent, uninspired murder novel or western is a perfectly reasonable commercial commodity. Conventional, competent, uninspired s-f has no reason for existing.
This is putting the case politely. As a matter of honest fact, most of 1961’s s-f novels were conventional, uninspired ... and incompetent. There were more novels in the field than in any previous year save one (1959); over half of them came from two publishers whose sole criterion of a novel seems to be a length of 50,000 words or less.
Among these many novels were at least a half dozen examples of what might be called the un-novel, composed of, say, two short stories, a novelette and a novella assembled from various magazines and presented as a novel. The practice is more advantageous to authors than to readers, though at its best it can result in, if not a novel, at least a memorable collection of stories, like Zenna Henderson’s Pilgrimage, which presents at last in permanent form the chronicle of those interstellar castaways, the People.
The year 1961 was not totally devoid of good s-f novels. At least two were genuine Golden Age stuff—stimulating thought fleshed in good fiction. A Fall of Moondust showed that Arthur C. Clarke, now writing mostly non-fiction, is still uniquely the master of immediate day-after-tomorrow realism; and Daniel F. Galouye’s Dark Universe brought off a virtuoso technical trick in writing plausibly of a culture which knew nothing of the sense of sight. Poul Anderson’s Three Hearts and Three Lions, skillfully expanded from its 1953 magazine version, was a splendidly enjoyable fantasy-romance, in the tradition of Tolkien or T. H. White, with a gimmick or two that might possibly justify its publication as science fiction. Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time, Andre Norton’s Star Hunter, Brian Aldiss’ The Primal Urge and especially John Wyndham’s Trouble with Lichen had their welcome distinctions.
Philip José Farmer’s The Lovers, sensationally controversial when it appeared in Startling a decade ago, proved somewhat disappointing in its long-awaited book form, largely because Farmer has, in the interval, done even better jobs of handling such provocative xeno-sexual-symbolic material. But the year’s major disappointment was Robert A. Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, in which Heinlein regrettably abandoned storytelling for sermonizing.
Particularly notable among books of short stories were Poul Anderson’s Strangers from Earth, for the high quality of these hitherto unreprinted stories from Anderson’s early days; Fredric Brown’s Nightmares and Geezenstacks, for the technical brilliance of its under-1,000-words vignettes; and Mildred Clingerman’s A Cupful of Space, the first book by s-f’s glowing prophetess of warmth and love. But these— like other good collections by Fritz Leiber, Richard Mathe-son and Kurt Vonnegut Jr.—were composed chiefly of stories published in magazines a number of years ago; the year’s anthologies of brand-new short material reflected s-f’s contemporary state of weariness.
A major event in non-scientific fantasy was the rediscovery, for the English-speaking, of Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895), whose Selected Tales, newly translated by David Magarshack, include the novel The Enchanted Wanderer, as rich in inventive incident, at once as intensely Russian and as broadly human as a mob scene by Mussorgsky.
Fantasy anthologies notable for their intelligent patterning include Things with Claws, by Whit and Hallie Burnett, on the intimate and perilous relation of man and beast; Tales of Love and Horror, by Don Congdon, on the even more intimate and perilous relation of man and woman; and The Unexpected, by Leo Margulies, an interesting archeological dig in the era between the death of Unknown Worlds and the birth of F & S F, when Weird Tales was the only magazine market for fantasy.
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HONORABLE MENTIONS
Abbreviations:
Amz Amazing Stories
ASF Analog Science Fact & Fiction
Aud Audit
Dude The Dude
Fant Fantastic Stories
F&SF Fantasy and Science Fiction
Gal Galaxy Science Fiction
Gent Gent
If If Science Fiction
LHJ The Ladies’ Home Journal
McC McCall’s
Metr Metronome
Mlle Mademoiselle
MN New Worlds (British)
Plby Playboy
Rog Rogue
SEP The Saturday Evening Post
SciF Science Fantasy (British)
Vog Vogue
“ACOS” A Cupful of Space, Mildred Clingerman (Ballantine, 1961)
“COTM” Call Out the Malicia, John Anthony West (Dutton, 1961)
“F&SF:11” The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Eleventh Series, ed. Robert P. Mills (Doubleday, 1961)
“Sard” Sardonicus and Other Stories, Ray Russell (Ballantine, 1961)
“SCTH” So Close to Home, James Blish (Ballantine, 1961)
“TIM” The Infinite Moment, John Wyndham (Ballantine, 1961)
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vance aandahl “Cogi Drove His Car Through Hell,” F&SF, Aug.
george sumner albee “Baby Was One,” McC, Apr.
Brian w. aldiss “Hothouse,” F&SF, Feb.
----------, “Moon of Delight,” NW, Mar.
poul Anderson “Hiding Place,” ASF, Mar.
----------, “Night Piece,” F&SF, Jul.
Christopher anvil “Identification,” ASF, May
----------, “No Small Enemy,” ASF, Nov.
russell a. apple “Astronaut Aweigh,” LHJ, Jan.
isaac asimov “Playboy and the Slime God,” Amz, Mar.
J. g. ballard “Deep End,” NW, May.
alan Barclay “Haircrack,” WW, May
----------, “The Scapegoat,” NW, Apr.
Charles beaumont “Blood Brother,” Plby, Apr.
thomas berger “Professor Hyde,” Plby, Dec.
john berry “The One Who Returns,” F&SF, Mar.
lloyd biggle, jr. “Monument,” ASF, Jun.
charles minor blackford “The Valley of the Masters,” If, Sep.
james blish “A Dusk of Idols,” Amz, Mar.
----------, “The Abattoir Effect,” “SCTH.”
robert bloch “Crime Machine,” Gal, Oct.
----------, “Philtre-Tip,” Rog, Mar.
neal brooks “The Peacemaker,” Rog, Oct.
rosel george brown “The Ultimate Sin,” F&SF, Oct.
john brunner “The Analysts,” SciF, Aug.
algis budrys “Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night,” Gal, Dec.
Walter bupp “Card Trick,” ASF, Jan.
OTIS KIDwell burger “The Zookeeper,” F&SF, Jul.
harold calin “A Time to Die,” Amz, Jun.
Arthur c. clarke “At the End of the Orbit,” If, Nov.
----------, “Before Eden,” Amz, Jun.
----------, “Death and the Senator,” ASF, May.
mildred clemgerman “A Red Heart and Blue Roses,”
----------, “The Gay Deceiver,” “ACOS.”
avram davidson “The Sources of the Nile,” F&SF, Jan.
Kathleen davttt “ ‘Come on in, Mrs. Farrick!’,” Mile, Aug.
miriam allen deford “The Cage,” F&SF, Jun.
cordon dickson “An Honorable Death,” Gal, Feb.
----------, “Rehabilitated,” F&SF, Jan.
----------, “The Haunted Village,” F&SF, Aug.
Jeremy dole “The Year the Yankees Won the Pennant,” Plby, Oct.
william eastlake “What Nice Hands Held,” F&SF, Jan.
harlan ellison & joe l. hensley “Do-It-Yourself,” Rog, Feb.
david ely “The Last Friday in August,” Fant, Dec.
carol emshwILLER “Adapted,” F&SF, May.
jack finn
ey “Where the Cluetts Are,” McC, Jan.
daniel f. galouye “Spawn of Doom,” Fant, Dec.
james garrett “Gentlemen Be Sated,” Dude, Jan.
randall garrett “The Highest Treason,” ASF, Jan.
Herbert gold “The Day They Got Boston,” Metr, Jan.
david cordon “The Foreign Hand-Tie,”ASF, Dec.
henry hasse “The Beginning,” Amz, May.
zenna Henderson “Return,” F&SF, Mar.
frank Herbert “Try to Remember!,” Ami, Oct.
philip e. high “Fallen Angel,” ASF, Jun.
----------, “Survival Course,” NW, Dec.
gary jennings “Buy Now, Die Later,” Gent, Aug.
teddy keller “The Plague,” ASF, Feb.
john kippax. “Blood Offering,” SciF, Jun.
Herbert kubly “ ‘They Think I’m Mad,’ Said the Marquise,” Fog, Sep. 15.
r.a. lafferty “Rainbird,” Gal, Dec.
george langelaan “Cold Blood,” NW, Oct.
keith laumer “The King of the City,” Gal, Aug.
fritz leiber “Scylla’s Daughter,” Fant, May.
Murray leinster “Doctor,” Gal, Feb.
art lewis “Vassi,” If, Jan.
willard marsh “My Cosmic Valentine,” Aud, Jan.
Arthur mayse “The Haunted Dancers,” SEP, Jul. 8.
winona mcclintoc “Four Days in the Comer,” F&SF, Sep.
fred mc morrow “The Big Wheel,” SEP, Jul. 29.
robert murphy “The Phantom Setter,” SEP, Jun. 17.
nils t. peterson “Pecking Order,” F&SF, Sep.
frederik pohl & c. m. kornbluth “The World of Myrion Flowers,” F&SF, Oct.
aRthur forces “One Bad Habit,” Fant, Jun.
tom purdom “The Green Beret,” ASF, Jan.
kit reed “Piggy,” F&SF, Aug.
john REESE “The Cat That Vanished,” SEP, Mar. 4.
mack Reynolds “Black Man’s Burden,” ASF, Dec.
----------, “Farmer,” Gal, Jun.
leigh Richmond “Prologue to an Analogue,” ASF, Jun.
david rome “Time of Arrival,” NW, Apr.
ray russell “Sardonicus,” “Sard.”
fred saberhagen “Seven Doors to Education,” If, May.
Margaret ST. clair “Lochinvar,” Gal, Aug.
william sambrot “The Cathedral of Mars,” SEP, Jun. 24.
jack sharkey “No Harm Done,” Fant, Jul.
robert silverberg “Company Store,” NW, Aug.
Clifford d. simak “Horrible Example,” ASF, Mar.
cordwainer smith “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard,” F&SF, Jun.
d. d. stewart “Junior Partner,” NW, Jul.
Theodore sturgeon “Tandy’s Story,” Gal, Apr.
Joseph tinker “Tinker’s Dam,” ASF, Jul.
jack vance “I-C-a-BeM,” Amz, Oct.
kurt vonnegut, jr. “Harrison Bergeron,” Fi&F, Oct.
edward wellen “IOU,” If, Mar.
john anthony west “George,”
----------, “The Fiesta at Managuay,” “COTM.”
george whitley “Change of Heart,” NW, Sep.
will worthington “The Food Goes in the Top,” SciF, Aug.
john wyndham “How Do I Do?,” “TIM.”
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The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 7 - [Anthology] Page 45