Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF, The

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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