Ben Bova - The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two B: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of The Science Fiction Writers of America (Sf Hall of Fame)

CONTENTS

This two-book set is the second volume of the ScienceFiction Hall of Fame, and consists of stories of longer lengths than thosepublished in the highly acclaimed Volume One.

These stories have been selected by the members of theScience Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), the organization of some fourhundred professional science fiction writers. Thus, the Science Fiction Hall ofFame is the definitive anthology in this field, the collective choice of thepractitioners of the science fiction art themselves.

Founded in 1965, each year since 1966 SFWA has givenachievement awards for the best stories of the year. The awards are calledNebulas, and are chosen on the basis of a vote by SFWA's members. The purposeof the Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthologies is to bestow a similarrecognition on stories that were published prior to 1966, and thus never had a chanceto earn a Nebula.

Like the annual Nebula awards themselves, election to theHall of Fame anthology is based on a poll of SFWA's members. Volume One wasrestricted to short stories; Volume Two is devoted to novelettes and novellas.

The voting procedure began with recommendations. For nearlya full year, SFWA members sent in suggestions for stories that were worthy ofinclusion in the Hall of Fame. As editor, I quickly began to see that it wasgoing to be a heartbreaking job to rule out any of these fine tales.Almost every title recommended brought back a powerful memory of the first timeI had read that particular piece. And the authors! H. G. Wells, John W.Campbell, Jr., Robert Heinlein, Cyril Kornbluth... how could any of them beruled out?

A ballot was finally prepared, consisting of seventy-sixrecommended stories. The SFWA members were asked to vote for ten stories out ofthe seventy-six. Since many authors had more than one story on the ballot, andwe didn't want any individual author to be represented more than once in theanthology, the members were further asked to vote for only one story perauthor.

Many of the ballots came back with screams of despair andfrustration scribbled over them. "How can I pick only ten of 'em?"was the typical cry. Most of the members wanted most of the recommended storiesto go into the final anthology.

When the votes were counted, the top ten stories were: who goes there? by John W. Campbell,Jr. A canticle for leibowitz byWalter M. Miller, Jr. with folded hands byJack Williamson the time machine byH. G. Wells baby is three by Theodore Sturgeon vintage season by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore the marching morons byC. M. Kornbluth universe byRobert A. Heinlein by his bootstraps byRobert A. Heinlein nerves byLester del Rey

Since several authors had more than one story on the ballot,and thus were in the unhappy position of competing with themselves, I slicedthe pie in the other direction, too, and looked for the ten most popularauthors: Robert A. Heinlein Theodore Sturgeon John W. Campbell, Jr. Walter M.Miller, Jr. Lester del Rey C. M. Kornbluth Jack Williamson H. G. Wells PoulAnderson Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore

The procedure for picking the stories to go into theanthology, then, was fairly straightforward, since most of the top authors werealso represented among the most popular stories. I prepared a list of storiesthat included the highest vote-getters among the stories and the most popularauthors. For any individual author, I picked the story of his that had receivedthe most votes.

It was much easier to start the list than end it. There wasalways the temptation to sneak in just one more storyafter all, I would tellmyself, this one's really too good to be left out. I ended with a listof twenty-two stories, totaling more than 400,000 words. Far too much for asingle book.

I took my problem to Larry Ashmead, the editorial mastermindwho presides over Doubleday's science fiction publications. It was a shamefuldereliction of duty, but I didn't have the heart to cut out any of thosetwenty-two stories. Thankfully, neither did Larry. After one look at the list,he suggested making a two-book set so that all the stories could be included.

Unfortunately, two of the storiesMiller's A Canticle forLeibowitz, and Ray Bradbury's The Firemanwere unavailable for thisanthology. Both are currently available in book form, however.

So here is the second volume of the Science Fiction Hall ofFame. It represents the best that science fiction has to offer, by some of thebest writers working in this or any field of literature.

One final note of acknowledgment and thanks. Much of theonerous work of tracking down publication dates and magazines, toting upwordage lengths, and finding copies of the original stories, was done byAnthony R. Lewis. Without his aid, this volume might still be little more thanan unfulfilled promise.