Wondrous Beginnings

Edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg.

The writers included in this volume are a real "who was and is who" in the field of science fiction, from such masters of science fiction's Golden Age as:  Murray Leinster, L. Sprague de Camp, Hal Clement, and Arthur C. Clarke, to a number of today's hottest-selling and award-winning authors such as Anne McCaffrey, Gene Wolfe, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Lois McMaster Bujold and Stephen Baxter.

How and where did these writers get their start? Now you can find out by reading the stories that began their careers, some well-known classics, others long unavailable.  Each story includes an introduction by the author – or in the case of Murray Leinster, by his daughter – which offers insight into the genesis of both the particular story and the individual writer's career. And all of them serve as fascinating examples of just what makes science fiction the popular genre it has long been and still remains today.

Contents:

• Murray Leinster, The Runaway Skyscraper, 1919
• L. Sprague de Camp, The Isolinguals, 1931
• Anne McCaffrey, Freedom of the Race, 1953
• Hal Clement, Proof, 1942
• Arthur C. Clarke, Loophole, 1946
• Gene Wolfe, The Dead Man, 1965
• Barry N. Malzberg, We're Coming Through the Windows, 1967
• George R.R. Martin, The Hero, 1971
• Howard Waldrop, Lunchbox, 1972
• Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game, 1977
• Jack McDevitt, The Emerson Effect, 1981
• Jerry Oltion, Much Ado About Nothing, 1982
• Lois McMaster Bujold, Barter, 1985
• Stephen Baxter, The Xeelee Flower, 1987
• Catherine Asaro, Dance in Blue, 1993
• Michael A. Burstein, TeleAbsence, 1995
• Julie E. Czerneda, First Contact, Inc., 1997