Subtitled "The Science Fiction Research Association Anthology", this book is designed to serve as a textbook of current SF and fantasy (as of the mid-1990s). Selections include works by popular authors -- McCaffrey, Norton, Jordan -- and deliberately avoid most classic stories from the 1960s and before, given their appearance in so many earlier anthologies. The book features introductory critical essays to each section, by John W. Campbell, Jr., Judith Merril, Algis Budrys, and others, and concludes with "A Selective Guide to Scholarship" by Gary K. Wolfe.