Beginning, Tuesday November 28th, I’ll be moderating Group Read 67 “The Best SF Short Stories of 1956” on the Facebook group Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction. We’ll start reading and discussing one story every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. People leave comments whenever they want after the start date, sometimes that day, sometimes a day later, a week, or even a year later. Here’s the schedule:
I chose the stories based on the number of citations each 1956 short received in the Classics of Science Fiction database. I started by selecting all stories from 1956 that received at least three citations using the list builder function.
For our Classics of Science Fiction Short Stories v. 2 list, we use a cutoff of eight citations, which meant only two stories got on that list: “The Country of the Kind” by Damon Knight and “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov. Stories with 3-7 citations are somewhat remembered, but I also wondered about possibly good stories that never got much recognition. It’s always a thrill to rediscover a forgotten great story.
I then looked at the stories with just one or two citations to see if any stood out for consideration. I picked any story that had been reprinted in two best-of-the-year anthologies, or one best-of-the-year and significant retrospective anthology or was a Hugo award finalist that year. I also included a famous Philip K. Dick story, “The Minority Report” and one of Rich Horton’s recommended stories that had only gotten one citation each. I figured the following stories might contain a forgotten gem that the group should consider.
- “And Now the News …” by Theodore Sturgeon [Rich Horton favorite]
- “Clerical Error” by Mark Clifton [Dikty, Asimov/Greenberg]
- “Compound Interest” by Mack Reynolds [Merril, Asimov/Greenberg]
- “The Doorstop” by Reginald Bretnor [Merril, Asimov/Greenberg]
- “Horrer Howce” by Margaret St. Clair [Galaxy 30 Years, Asimov/Greenberg]
- “Silent Brother” by Algis Budrys (Merril, Asimov/Greenberg]
- “The Assistant Self” by F. L. Wallace [Hugo finalist]
- “The Dragon” by Ray Bradbury [Hugo finalist]
- “Legwork’ by Eric Frank Russell [Hugo finalist]
- “The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick [ISFDB Most Viewed Short Stories]
So, join us on Facebook. I’m going to try and review each of the stories individually on this blog, so if you don’t like Facebook, you can comment here. I also plan to talk about science fiction and 1956 in general.
James Wallace Harris, 11/22/23
