Anthology Deathmatch

[jwgh]

This idea is stolen with permission from secritcrush.

I've got a bunch of anthologies sitting on the bookshelf that I haven't read in years, so perhaps it's time to read them again. It's time for an anthology smackdown!

As with secritcrush's, there will be three rounds where two anthologies go head to head, and then I'll pick the overall winner.

To make things sporting, I'm leaving out The Hugo Awards Volumes I & II (edited by Isaac Asimov), because that won secritcrush's Anthology Thunderdome and would almost certainly win mine. So here is a poll! Do not let not lack of knowledge of the books keep you from voting in it.

[Poll #924556]

Comments

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

woo! more polls is better for the internet!

[jwgh]

I'm impressed that the first two people have voted exactly the same!

[plant-geek.livejournal.com]

i've never read any of these, but it sounds like i should read women of wonder

how long do you think this is going to take?

[jwgh]

I don't know! It took secretcrush a couple of weeks, during the course of which she moved to a different country, so that might be a reasonable estimate.

I'll loan you the Women of Wonder books when I'm done with them if you'd like. I originally got them on the recommendation of my sister, who is not normally a big reader of science fiction.

[jwgh]

...although it might take me a little longer, because I'm not normally a very analytical or critical reader and I'm trying to take notes as I go to spur my latent judgmentalness.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the second Women of Wonder volume, but the first volume is one of the best SF anthologies I've ever read (though I think the flip cover painting of retro-ironic spaceladies in strapless evening gowns and glass dome helmets is a bit disrespectful to the material, which is sophisticated SF regardless of its age).

I think that those books are actually best-of collections from Sargent's earlier, longer-running Women of Wonder anthology series, which we have one volume of somewhere.

[plorkwort.livejournal.com]

I heartily endorse &c &c Fantasia Mathematica, unless you've read all the good stories before in other anthologies.

[jwgh]

I vaguely remember there being a sequel collection too. Do I remember correctly? If so, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be on my shelves.

[plorkwort.livejournal.com]

Y, "The Mathematical Magpie". IIRC, it was out of print for longer than Fantasia, but I think it is available again.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

What I enjoyed even more than those two was Rudy Rucker's similarly themed anthology "Mathenauts", though it may be hard to find.