Best SF: 1968


Best SF: 1968 is the second in the Best SF series edited by Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss, first published in a British edition in January 1969 by Sphere Books. The first American edition was released later that year by Putnam, with a Berkley paperback following shortly thereafter. Severn House issued a British hardcover edition in 1977.

Background

Stories were selected from the magazines Analog Science Fiction / Science Fact, Galaxy Science Fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, New Worlds, Playboy, and others. Among the authors are Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, John D. MacDonald, J. R. Pierce, Mack Reynolds, Bob Shaw, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, and Theodore Sturgeon.

Contents

Reception

In 1969, Publishers' Weeklys Barbara A. Bannon called it "a must for SF readers." In its paperback edition, Publishers' Weeklys Leonore Fleischer opined "We find it difficult to keep up with all the annual anthologies of science-fiction claiming "best" in their titles. So we'll just tell you that this one contains the usual number of impressive names." Cosmos: A Science-Fantasy Reviews Geoffrey Giles wrote "At today's rising prices, considering you are getting the cream of the year's crop gathered from all sides, these 207 pages are excellent value for money—probably the best buy on the market." Analog Science Fiction / Science Facts P. Schuyler Miller appraised it as "down a notch in my estimation from last year's. I think it's the effect of the "New Wave," which finds virtue in incoherence for confusion's sake." In 1970, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fictions Joanna Russ said Best SF: 1968 was "a fair mixed bag of stories framed by an Introduction and Afterword that indirectly—and unfortunately—lead one to expect more from the stories than they manage to give."