The Road to Science Fiction

Mentor ME2136 edition: This is the fourth volume of James Gunn's critical anthology series, The Road to Science Fiction, and like its predecessors it is packed with some of the best stories ever published. There are 33 pieces in all, written by acknowledged masters such as Walter M. Miller, Stanislaw Lem, James Tiptree Jr., Thomas M. Disch and Gregory Benford. In this volume Gunn has dropped the theme of "importance to the genre" and instead favored "quality of writing" because, he says, it's too soon to say what far-reaching impact these stories will have. If Gunn's any judge, they will have quite a bit. From a suburban American basement where the family "monster" is hidden, to a distant, sandswept planet where water is far more precious than gold, to a future Earth where time can be captured in a thin sheet of glass, here are thirty-one glimpses into the infinite worlds of the imagination explored by daring men and women who, with each new story they write, are continuously changing and expanding the meaning of the words "science fiction." Robots and rockets, cultures and creatures beyond human comprehension, humans more alien than any extraterrestrial--these are just few of the creations that await you as you journey along the Road to Science Fiction #4.