The Playboy Book of Science Fiction

Despite (or perhaps because of) its once taboo subject matter, Playboy magazine has garnered a reputation as a market for daring, innovative short fiction since its inception in 1953. In particular, science fiction authors used Playboy as a forum for stories in which they explored literary themes and adult situations that would have rendered them unpublishable by mainstream SF magazines then aimed at teenagers. Alice K. Turner, Playboy's fiction editor, has collected a remarkable set of science fiction stories for this anthology. The list of prestigious, award-winning authors whose stories graced the magazine's pages between those (in)famous photos reads like a science fiction hall of fame: Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. Le Guin, Norman Spinrad, Damon Knight, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., J.G. Ballard, Frederick Pohl, Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Harlan Ellison, Philip K. Dick, Robert Silverberg, Joe Haldeman, and more. The stories span from the late 1960s through the late 1990s, with several SF subgenres such as new wave and cyberpunk represented. Some of these works are reprints, some are original, but each provides a glimpse into a fascinating sidebar in SF publishing. (Adult content and situations)