The Road to Science Fiction is a series of science fiction anthologies edited by American science fiction author, scholar and editor James Gunn. Composed as a textbook set to teach the evolution of science fiction literature, the series is now available as mass market publications. The six-volume set collects many of the most influential works of the genre. It was published originally by Signet and then by White Wolf Games Studio. Volumes 1 through 4 are currently being reprinted in paperback format by the company Scarecrow Press.
Everett Franklin Bleiler described the first two volumes as follow: "A historical anthology... A good selection, with good headnotes".[1]
Volume 1 and 2 was also reviewed by:[2]
Volume 3 was reviewed by:
Volume 4 was reviewed by:
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Neil Barron (1983) in Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review, #11, January-February 1983
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Frank Borsch (1994) in Blizz, #29 (in German)
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Clinton Lawrence (1997) in Science Fiction Weekly, 5 May 1997
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Thomas A. Easton [as Tom Easton] (1997) in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 1997
Volume 5 was reviewed by:
Volume 1: From Gilgamesh to Wells
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The anthology was published Signet in 1979 and reprinted by Scarecrow Press in December 2002.
Volume 2: From Wells to Heinlein
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Published by Signet, 1979, reptinted by Scarecrow Press, September, 2002.
Volume 3: From Heinlein to Here
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Contained work published between 1940 and 1977.
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"All You Zombies" by Robert A. Heinlein
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"Reason" by Isaac Asimov
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"Desertion"' by Clifford D. Simak
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"Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore)
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"The Million-Year Picnic" by Ray Bradbury
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"Thunder and Roses" by Theodore Sturgeon
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"That Only a Mother" by Judith Merril
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"Brooklyn Project," by William Tenn (Philip Klass)
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"Coming Attraction" by Fritz Leiber
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"The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke
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"Sail On! Sail On!" by Philip José Farmerr
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"Critical Factor" by Hal Clement
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"Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester
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"The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin
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"The Game of Rat and Dragon," by Cordwainer Smith
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"Pilgrimage to Earth" by Robert Sheckley
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"Who Can Replace a Man?" by Brian W. Aldiss
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"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
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"The Streets of Ashkelon" by Harry Harrison
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"The Terminal Beach" by J. G. Ballard
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"Dolphin's Way," by Gordon R. Dickson
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"Slow Tuesday Night" by R. A. Lafferty
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"Day Million," by Frederik Pohl
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"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," by Philip K. Dick
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"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," by Harlan Ellison
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"Aye, and Gomorrah," by Samuel R. Delany
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"The Jigsaw Man," by Larry Niven
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"Kyrie," by Poul Anderson
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"Masks," by Damon Knight
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Stand on Zanzibar (excerpt) by John Brunner
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"The Big Flash" by Norman Spinrad
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"Sundance," by Robert Silverberg
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The Left Hand of Darkness (excrpt) by Ursula K. Le Guin
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"When It Changed," by Joanna Russ
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"The Engine at Heartspring's Center," by Roger Zelazny
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"Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman
First published by Signet in 1979, reprinted by Scarecrow Press, May 2002.
Volume 4: From Here to Forever
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"Born of Man and Woman," by Richard Matheson
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"The Luckiest Man in Denv," by C. M. Kornbluth (not included in the Signet edition)
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"Common Time," by James Blish (not included in the Signet edition)
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"My Boy Friend's Name is Jello," by Avram Davidson
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"The First Canticle," by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
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"Nobody Bothers Gus," by Algis Budrys
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"Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes
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"The Moon Moth" by Jack Vance
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"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges
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Dune (excerpt) by Frank Herbert
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"Light of Other Days," by Bob Shaw
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"The First Sally (A), or Trurl's Electronic Bard" by Stanisław Lem
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"The Heat Death of the Universe," by Pamela Zoline
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"The Planners" by Kate Wilhelm
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"The Dance of the Changer and the Three" by Terry Carr
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"The Last Flight of Dr. Ain," by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
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"Where No Sun Shines" by Gardner Dozois
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"The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories" by Gene Wolfe
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"Angouleme" by Thomas M. Disch
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"Gather Blue Roses," by Pamela Sargent
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"With a Finger in My I," by David Gerrold
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"The Ghost Writer," by George Alec Effinger (Signet edition)
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"Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand," by Vonda N. McIntyre
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"Air Raid," by John Varley
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"Uncoupling," by Barry N. Malzberg
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"Rogue Tomato," by Michael Bishop
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"This Tower of Ashes," by George R. R. Martin
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"Particle Theory," by Edward Bryant
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"View from a Height," by Joan D. Vinge
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"The Word Sweep" by George Zebrowski
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"The World Science Fiction Convention of 2080" by Ian Watson
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"Abominable" by Carol Emshwiller
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"Exposures" by Gregory Benford
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"Schrödinger's Kitten," by George Alec Effinger (not included in the Signet edition)
First published by Signet, 1982, reprinted by White Wolf, January 1997 and Scarecrow Press, 2003)
Volume 5: The British Way
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(White Wolf, March 1998)
Influential British SF published prior to 1986'
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The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer (excerpt) by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Tomkyns Chesney
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Flatland (excerpt) by Edwin A. Abbott
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After London; or, Wild England (excerpt) by Richard Jefferies
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"The Doom of London," by Robert Barr
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"A Corner in Lightning," by George Griffith
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"The Country of the Blind" by H. G. Wells
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"As Easy as A.B.C." by Rudyard Kipling
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"A Negligible Experiment" by John D. Beresford
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"The Horror of the Heights" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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"The Rat" by S. Fowler Wright
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Star Maker (excerpt) by Olaf Stapledon
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"The Great Fog," by H. F. Heard
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"Hobbyist" by Eric Frank Russell
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"Dreams Are Sacred, by Peter Phillips
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"Made in U.S.A." by J. T. McIntosh
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"The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke
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"The Emptiness of Space," by John Wyndham
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"The Voices of Time," by J. G. Ballard
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"The Drowned Giant," by J. G. Ballard
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"The Totally Rich," by John Brunner
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"Mouth of Hell," by David I. Masson
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"The Discontinuous," by D. G. Compton
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"It's Smart to Have an English Address" by D. G. Compton
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"The Muse" by Anthony Burgess
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"The Nature of the Catastrophe," by Michael Moorcock
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"The Power of Time" by Josephine Saxton
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"Mason's Life" by Kingsley Amis
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"Settling the World" by M. John Harrison
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"Working in the Spaceship Yards," by Brian W. Aldiss
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"Appearance of Life" by Brian W. Aldiss
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"An Infinite Summer" by Christopher Priest
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"Custom Fitting" by James White
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"Written in Water" by Tanith Lee
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"The Great Atlantic Swimming Race" by Ian Watson
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"And He Not Busy Being Born" by Brian M. Stableford
Volume 6: Around the World
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(White Wolf, July 1998)
France
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Germany
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Scandinavia and Finland
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Eastern Europe
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Russia
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Italy
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Spain and Latin America
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India
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"Einstein the Second," by Laxman Londhe
China
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Japan
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