The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF


science fiction awards database
Hartwell World Treasury <— Anthologies & Collections —> Hartwell Wolf Visions of Wonder
David G. Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer, eds.

Tor, 1994

Hartwell formally teams with Kathryn Cramer for this volume, the first to explore the meaning and development of "hard" science fiction, with stories ranging from Kipling and Poe to the present. Three long introductions by the editors and Gregory Benford sketch the history of hard SF and describe numerous examples both of stories and novels. An appendix, "Another Path Through the Book", groups the stories by theme or the approach to how science manifests itself.

  1. “Nine Lives”, Ursula K. Le Guin (World's Best Science Fiction: 1970, 1969)
  2. “Light of Other Days”, Bob Shaw (Analog Aug 1966)
  3. “Rappaccini's Daughter”, Nathaniel Hawthorne (United States Magazine and Democratic Review Dec 1844)
  4. “The Star”, Arthur C. Clarke (Infinity Science Fiction Nov 1955)
  5. “Proof”, Hal Clement (Astounding Jun 1942)
  6. “It's Great to Be Back”, Robert A. Heinlein (The Saturday Evening Post Jul 26 1947)
  7. “Procreation”, Gene Wolfe (The Omni Book of Science Fiction #4, 1985)
  8. “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”, Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore (Astounding Feb 1943)
  9. “Davy Jones' Ambassador”, Raymond Z. Gallun (Astounding Dec 1935)
  10. “The Life and Times of Multivac”, Isaac Asimov (The New York Times Jan 1975)
  11. “The Singing Diamond”, Robert L. Forward (Omni Feb 1979)
  12. “Down & Out on Ellfive Prime”, Dean Ing (Omni Mar 1979)
  13. “Send Me a Kiss By Wire”, Hilbert Schenck (F&SF Apr 1985)
  14. “The Xi Effect”, Philip Latham (Astounding Jan 1950)
  15. “A Descent into the Maelström”, Edgar Allan Poe (Graham's Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine May 1841)
  16. “Exposures”, Gregory Benford (IASFM Jul 6 1981)
  17. “The Planners”, Kate Wilhelm (Orbit 3, 1968)
  18. “Beep”, James Blish (Galaxy Feb 1954)
  19. “Drode's Equations”, Richard Grant (New Dimensions 12, 1981)
  20. “The Weather Man”, Theodore Thomas (Analog Jun 1962)
  21. “Transit of Earth”, Arthur C. Clarke (Playboy Jan 1971)
  22. “Prima Belladonna”, J. G. Ballard (Science-Fantasy #20 1956)
  23. “To Bring in the Steel”, Donald Kingsbury (Analog Jul 1978)
  24. “Gomez”, C. M. Kornbluth (The Explorers, 1954)
  25. “Waterclap”, Isaac Asimov (If Apr 1970)
  26. “Weyr Search”, Anne McCaffrey (Analog Oct 1967)
  27. “Message Found in a Copy of Flatland”, Rudy Rucker (The 57th Franz Kafka, 1983)
  28. “The Cold Equations”, Tom Godwin (Astounding Aug 1954)
  29. “The Land Ironclads”, H. G. Wells (The Strand Dec 1903)
  30. “The Hole Man”, Larry Niven (Analog Jan 1974)
  31. “Atomic Power”, John W. Campbell, Jr. (Astounding Dec 1934)
  32. “Stop Evolution in Its Tracks!”, John Sladek (Interzone #26 1988)
  33. “The Hungry Guinea Pig”, Miles J. Breuer (Amazing Jan 1930)
  34. “The Very Slow Time Machine”, Ian Watson (Anticipations, 1978)
  35. “The Beautiful and the Sublime”, Bruce Sterling (IASFM Jun 1986)
  36. “'The Author of the Acacia Seeds' and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics”, Ursula K. Le Guin (Fellowship of the Stars, 1974)
  37. “Heat of Fusion”, John M. Ford (IASFM Sep 1984)
  38. “Dolphin's Way”, Gordon R. Dickson (Analog Jun 1964)
  39. “All the Hues of Hell”, Gene Wolfe (Universe, 1987)
  40. “Occam's Scalpel”, Theodore Sturgeon (If Aug 1971)
  41. “giANTS”, Edward Bryant (Analog Aug 1979)
  42. “Time Fuze”, Randall Garrett (If Mar 1954)
  43. “Desertion”, Clifford D. Simak (Astounding Nov 1944)
  44. “Kyrie”, Poul Anderson (The Farthest Reaches, 1968)
  45. “The Person from Porlock”, Raymond F. Jones (Astounding Aug 1947)
  46. “Day Million”, Frederik Pohl (Rogue Feb/Mar 1966)
  47. “The Cage of Sand”, J. G. Ballard (New Worlds Jun 1962)
  48. “The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats”, James Tiptree, Jr. (New Dimensions 6, 1976)
  49. “In the Year 2889”, Jules Verne (The Forum Feb 1889)
  50. “Surface Tension”, James Blish (Galaxy Aug 1952)
  51. “No, No, Not Rogov!”, Cordwainer Smith (If Feb 1959)
  52. “In a Petri Dish Upstairs”, George Turner (Rooms of Paradise, 1978)
  53. “With the Night Mail”, Rudyard Kipling (McClure's Nov 1905)
  54. “The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told”, Arthur C. Clarke (Galaxy Oct 1966)
  55. “The Pi Man”, Alfred Bester (Star Light, Star Bright, 1959)
  56. “Relativistic Effects”, Gregory Benford (Perpetual Light, 1982)
  57. “Making Light”, James P. Hogan (Stellar, 1981)
  58. “The Last Question”, Isaac Asimov (Science Fiction Quarterly Nov 1956)
  59. “The Indefatigable Frog”, Philip K. Dick (Fantastic Story Magazine Jul 1953)
  60. “Chromatic Aberration”, John M. Ford (Ascent of Wonder, 1994)
  61. “The Snowball Effect”, Katherine MacLean (Galaxy Sep 1952)
  62. “The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck”, Hilbert Schenck (F&SF Sep 1978)
  63. “Tangents”, Greg Bear (Omni Jan 1986)
  64. “Johnny Mnemonic”, William Gibson (Omni May 1981)
  65. “What Continues, What Fails...”, David Brin (Interzone Dec 1991)
  66. “Mammy Morgan Played the Organ; Her Daddy Beat the Drum”, Michael F. Flynn (Analog Nov 1990)
  67. “Bookworm, Run!”, Vernor Vinge (Analog Mar 1966)
  68.  

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