Gregory Feeley (link here) August 7
The anthology begins with “The Second Inquisition” by Joanna Russ and ends with “The Asian Shore” by Thomas M. Disch. In between are “Goslin Day” by Avram Davidson, “Entire and Perfect Chrysolite” by R.A. Lafferty, “The End” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “Where No Sun Shines” by Gardner R. Dozois, and “Debut” by Carol Emshwiller.
In terms of sheer quality, this may be one of the very best original anthologies ever published, Harlan Ellison’s not excepted.
Anthology Title: Orbit 6 • [Orbit • 6] • anthology by Damon Knight
Contents (view Concise Listing)
- 1 • The Second Inquisition • [Alyx] • novelette by Joanna Russ
- 40 • Remembrance to Come • (1970) • short story by Gene Wolfe
- 55 • How the Whip Came Back • (1970) • short story by Gene Wolfe
- 75 • Goslin Day • (1970) • short story by Avram Davidson
- 83 • Maybe Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, Was a Little Bit Right • (1970) • short story by Robin Scott Wilson [as by Robin S. Scott]
- 92 • The Chosen • (1970) • short story by Kate Wilhelm
- 115 • Entire and Perfect Chrysolite • (1970) • short story by R. A. Lafferty
- 131 • Sunburst • (1970) • short story by Roderick Thorp
- 142 • The Creation of Bennie Good • short story by James Sallis
- 146 • The End • (1970) • short story by Ursula K. Le Guin (variant of Things)
- 158 • A Cold Dark Night with Snow • (1970) • short story by Kate Wilhelm
- 171 • Fame • (1970) • short story by Arthur Jean Cox [as by Jean Cox]
- 184 • Debut • (1970) • short story by Carol Emshwiller
- 191 • Where No Sun Shines • (1970) • short story by Gardner Dozois
- 203 • The Asian Shore • (1970) • novelette by Thomas M. Disch
Rich Horton
"The Creation of Bennie Good" isn't my favorite early Sallis story, when he was at his weirdest, but I think it's at least intriguing. And of the two Wolfe stories, I think "How the Whip Came Back" is pretty good -- for me it's the earliest of his stories to really make an impression (though I do like "Trip Trap".)
Definitely a remarkable original anthology. The next issue is pretty strong too, with two of Lafferty's best stories, one of Wolfe's very best and another good one, one of the best early Sallis stories, a strong Wilhelm novella, very good stories from Disch, Emshwiller, and Dozois, and probably the only Laumer story that stands out in my memory.
Knight really knew what he was doing. And so of course the old farts in SF got really ticked off at him, and pulled stunts liking voting for No Award in the Nebulas to keep Gene Wolfe from winning.
[in response to a Brett Cox conjecture on the No Award "winner" in a Hugo ballot at the height of New Wave/Old Guard hostility in SF; at the 1971 SFWA Nebula Awards ceremony, MC Isaac Asimov, reading from the list of various nominees and winners, assumed that "No Award" getting the most votes in the short fiction category must be a transcription error, and read off Gene Wolfe, whose story "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories" received the second-highest number of votes, as the winner:]
Brett Cox For Jo Walton's "Revisiting the Hugos" project, I made a comment about that particular controversy repeating the "confusing ballot instructions" explanation, and Gardner Dozois, who was there, responded as follows:
'There’s no “supposedly” about it, Rich. I was there, sitting at Gene Wolfe’s table, in fact. He’d actually stood up, and was starting to walk toward the podium, when Isaac was told about his mistake. Gene shrugged and sat down quietly, like the gentleman he is, while Isaac stammered an explanation of what had happened. It was the one time I ever saw Isaac totally flustered, and, in fact, he felt guilty about the incident to the end of his days.
'It’s bullshit that this was the result of confusing ballot instructions. This was the height of the War of the New Wave, and passions between the New Wave camp and the conservative Old Guard camp were running high. (The same year, Michael Moorcock said in a review that the only way SFWA could have found a worse thing than RINGWORLD to give the Nebula to was to give it to a comic book). The fact that the short story ballot was almost completely made up of stuff from ORBIT had outraged the Old Guard, particularly James Sallis’s surreal “The Creation of Benny Hill”, and they block-voted for No Award as a protest against “non-functional word patterns” making the ballot. Judy-Lynn del Rey told me as much immediately after the banquet, when she was exuberantly gloating about how they’d “put ORBIT in its place” with the voting results, and actually said “We won!”
'All this passion and choler seems far away now, as if we were arguing over which end of the egg to break.'
Damon’s story selection model made him open to getting great stories from not just established writers but new voices. He took unsolicited submissions (I have the rejection slips!), but I’m guessing he also invited Milford [Writer's Workshop] and other writers to submit.
If he stumbled upon a good story he also grabbed it, as when he bought Kim Stanley Robinson’s Clarion [Writer's Workshop] application story. I think it was Damon who suggested Stan use his full name so as to not be confused with Spider Robinson.
Buggerly Otherly
Ian McDowell notes that the Roderick Thorp listed on the cover is the same Thorp who might be best-remembered for such novels as THE DETECTIVE (adapted to a Frank Sinatra film) and NOTHING LASTS FOREVER (the novel source for the film DIE HARD).
(aka Michael Moorcock, among other tasks editor of New Worlds magazine in the latter '60s/early '70s)
ORBIT & NEW WORLDS were publishing similar authors sometimes almost simultaneously -- Sallis and Wolfe for instance -- and occasionally even taking stories which for some reason were not quite suitable for our respective markets. I think ORBIT was, indeed, the best original anthology series.
Steve Rhodes
Orbit 6 & 13 others in the series can be checked out at Internet Archive
Ian McDowell notes that the Roderick Thorp listed on the cover is the same Thorp who might be best-remembered for such novels as THE DETECTIVE (adapted to a Frank Sinatra film) and NOTHING LASTS FOREVER (the novel source for the film DIE HARD).
