First published in 1979 by editors Theodore W Hipple and Robert G Wright, this Science Fiction Genre Anthology contains twenty stories by amazing authors.
Works collected in The Worlds of Science Fiction:
- "Harrison Bergeron", by Kurt Vonnegut (1961)
- "The Last Of The Romany", by Norman Spinrad (1963)
- "New Apples In The Garden", by Kris Neville (1963)
- "A Scarab In The City Of Time", by Marta Randall (1975)
- "The Shrines Of Earth", by Robert Silverberg (1957)
- "The Weapon", by Fredric Brown (1951)
- "The Good Provider", by Marion Gross (1952)
- "The Walls", by Zenna Henderson (1971)
- "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke (1960)
- "Misbegotten Missionary", by Isaac Asimov (1950)
- "The Father Thing", by Philip K. Dick (1954)
- "Deaf Listener", by Rachel Cosgrove Payes (1973)
- "Minister Without Portfolio", by Mildred Clingerman (1952)
- "The Fly", by Arthur Porges (1952)
- "Sweet Dreams Melissa", by Stephen Goldin (1968)
- "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr (1953)
- "Final Exam", by Chad Oliver (1952)
- "Mariana", by Fritz Leiber (1960)
- "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe (1846)
- "Usher II", by Ray Bradbury (1950)
Tropes appearing in this collection:
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: In "The Last Of The Romany", by Norman Spinrad, the spaceman is about to explain what happens when someone like Miklos goes to a playground to sings songs and tell stories to the children, and interrupts himself to clarify that he is speaking from experience.
- Binary Suns: In "The Shrines Of Earth", by Robert Silverberg, the Albiero system supposedly has a yellow star and blue star in a binary arrangement, along with a habitable planet named New Gallia.
- Casual Interstellar Travel: In "The Shrines Of Earth", by Robert Silverberg, tourists from New Gallia (a habitable planet in the Albiero system) are visiting pastoral Earth and the alien Hrossai are expected to invade in five or six years.
- Character Narrator:
- In "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, the story is told mostly from the first-person perspective of a robot.
- In "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke, the story is in first-person perspective of an astronaut who accidentally got stuck on an asteroid.
- Driven to Suicide: In "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, the robot protagonist is convinced to self-destruct on the basis that dying would be like sleeping, and they like to dream of becoming human.
- I, Noun: "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, is written in the First-Person Perspective of a robot who enjoys dreaming of becoming a human.
- Job-Stealing Robot: In "The Last Of The Romany", by Norman Spinrad, the characters discuss how automation has removed many aspects of jobs, but there is still a need for human analysis and decision-making. The job that machines have completely eliminated, however, is the Romany, or gypsies.
- Let's You and Him Fight: In "The Shrines Of Earth", by Robert Silverberg, humanity has spread to the stars. Terrans manipulate the three strongest colonies into sending spaceships to defend their respective homelands from each other. They manipulated them in order to create a standing army to defend Earth from the alien Hrossi's expected invasion because the colony planets would otherwise ignore Earth's claim to defense.
- Multiple Narrative Modes: In "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, the first few paragraphs are presented in limited third person (and this perspective is shown in italics). The perspective is limited to a very young baby. The perspective changes to the protagonist telling the story in first person. Later in the story we learn that both the baby and the "robot" are probably the same person.
- Nameless Narrative: In "The Last Of The Romany", by Norman Spinrad, the title character is named Miklos, but no name is given for the bartender, the spaceman, either cop, or any of the children who talk and interact with him.
- One-Word Title: "Mariana", by Fritz Leiber.
- Painting the Medium: In "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, the first few paragraphs are presented in limited third person and in italics until the narration changes to normal text and first-person perspective.
- Race Against the Clock: In "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke, the main character is an astronaut on an asteroid close to the sun with only an hour left until dawn. Dawn, this close to the sun, will burn them alive. The plot is about their efforts to avoid that very painful death.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: In "I Dreamer", by Walter M Miller Jr, even the robot telling the story notices the ridiculously human traits that have been included. It concludes that the ability to be illogical was deliberately programmed in to make it a more effective weapon for war.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: In "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke, the astronaut decides to kill himself rather than endure the metal-melting heat of sunside Icarus. Unfortunately for him, the mechanism was damaged when his shuttle crashed.
- Shout-Out: "Summertime On Icarus", by Arthur C. Clarke, has the main character narrating to himself how the myth of Icarus and Daedalus inspired the name of the asteroid they're on.
- Space Nomads: In "The Last Of The Romany", by Norman Spinrad, the spaceman suggests to Miklos that the Romany might be exploring outer space, where automation and laws have structured away human creativity.
