A strong little period anthology from the American science fiction mainstream at the point where the field had become formally ambitious, politically strange, and far less interested in gadget worship than older pulp traditions.

Because Le Guin is editing rather than authoring the whole thing, the appeal here is mixed: it gives a cross-section of award culture, taste, and argument inside the genre. The contents page matters more than the title aura alone — Fritz Leiber, Joe Haldeman, Peter Nicholls, Roger Zelazny, P. J. Plauger, Vonda N. McIntyre, Harlan Ellison, and Tom Reamy, authors of real substance rather than bargain-bin anthology energy.

Truly a handsome, browseable SF object: lurid old Corgi cover, late-70s paper, Nebula framing, perfect for readers who like anthologies as maps of a moment rather than just story-delivery devices.

Corgi Science Fiction paperback, 1978 Corgi edition.