For decades beginning in the 1950s the US men's magazine
Playboy was the source of more SF and fantasy stories than any magazine outside the genre. It included genre stories only occasionally, but paid well and thus attracted top writers; there are classic stories in the list below by Ballard, Bradbury, Clarke, Knight, Le Guin, and others. (At the same time, Clarke's longish "A Meeting with Medusa" has never been included in any of these anthologies.)
In the mid-1960s the magazine's own book publishing arm released three anthologies, two hardcover and one paperback, all credited anonymously to "the editors of Playboy" though both SFE and Isfdb credit Ray Russell. Then in 1971 eight mass market paperbacks with matching cover designs were released, reprinting some of the stories in the earlier books and adding many more, again anonymously edited. (Five are shown in the photo.)
Finally in 1998 long-time
Playboy fiction editor Alice K. Turner published an anthology of 25 stories from 1965 to 1997, half of them from years following 1971, with Harper Prism.
Authors most often reprinted: Robert Sheckley (13), then Charles Beaumont, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Russell, and Henry Slesar (9 each).
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The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, (Playboy, 1966)
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The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural, (Playboy, 1967)
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Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange, (Playboy, 1969)
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Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge, (Playboy, 1971)
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Weird Show, (Playboy, 1971)
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Transit of Earth, (Playboy, 1971)
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From the "S" File, (Playboy, 1971)
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Last Train to Limbo, (Playboy, 1971)
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Masks, (Playboy, 1971)
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The Fiend, (Playboy, 1971)
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The Dead Astronaut, (Playboy, 1971)
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The Playboy Book of Science Fiction, Alice K. Turner, ed. (HarperPrism, 1998)
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Combined Contents by Author and Title
Vance Aandahl
Adam Frost
(Playboy Apr 1962)
-- The Fiend
John Atherton
Waste Not, Want Not
(Playboy Jun 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Transit of Earth
Asa Baber
Last Train to Limbo
(Playboy Jul 1970)
-- Last Train to Limbo
J. G. Ballard
The Dead Astronaut
(Playboy May 1968)
-- The Dead Astronaut
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Souvenir
(The Terminal Beach, 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Transit of Earth
Thomas Baum
On Location
(Playboy Jul 1970)
-- Last Train to Limbo
Charles Beaumont
Black Country
(Playboy Sep 1954)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Blood Brother
(Playboy Apr 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Crooked Man
(Playboy Aug 1955)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Fiend
The Dark Music
(Playboy Dec 1956)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
The Monster Show
(Playboy May 1956)
-- Last Train to Limbo
Perchance to Dream
(Playboy Oct 1958)
-- Masks
Sorcerer's Moon
(Playboy Jul 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
You Can't Have Them All
(Playboy Aug 1956)
-- The Fiend
Thomas Berger
Professor Hyde
(Playboy Dec 1961)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Terry Bisson
An Office Romance
(Playboy Feb 1997)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Robert Bloch
Beelzebub
(Playboy Dec 1963)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
I Like Blondes
(Playboy Jan 1956)
-- The Fiend
The Traveling Salesman
(Playboy Feb 1957)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Word of Honor
(Playboy Aug 1958)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Last Train to Limbo
Ray Bradbury
Heavy-Set
(Playboy Oct 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
The Illustrated Woman
(Playboy Mar 1961)
-- Last Train to Limbo
The Life Work of Juan Diaz
(Playboy Sep 1963)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
The Lost City of Mars
(Playboy Jan 1967)
-- Last Train to Limbo
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
The Machineries of Joy
(Playboy Dec 1962)
-- Transit of Earth
The Man in the Rorschach Shirt
(Playboy Oct 1966)
-- Transit of Earth
A Miracle of Rare Device
(Playboy Jan 1962)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
The Vacation
(Playboy Dec 1963)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Fredric Brown
Double Standard
(Playboy Apr 1963)
-- The Fiend
It Didn't Happen
(Playboy Oct 1963)
-- Transit of Earth
Nasty
(Playboy Apr 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Puppet Show
(Playboy Nov 1962)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Last Train to Limbo
T. K., Brown III
Man with a Past
(Playboy May 1963)
-- Last Train to Limbo
Algis Budrys
The Ultimate Brunette
(Playboy Sep 1965)
-- The Fiend
Italo Calvino
The Origin of Everything
(Playboy Mar 1968)
-- Last Train to Limbo
John Cheever
The Yellow Room
(Playboy Jan 1968)
-- Masks
John Christopher
Rendezvous
(Playboy Sep 1966)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Arthur C. Clarke
Dial "F" for Frankenstein
(Playboy Jan 1965)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Last Train to Limbo
The Food of the Gods
(Playboy May 1964)
-- Last Train to Limbo
I Remember Babylon
(Playboy May 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Fiend
Let There Be Light
(Dundee Sunday Telegraph Sep 5 1957)
-- Transit of Earth
Maelstrom II
(Playboy Apr 1965)
-- The Dead Astronaut
Transit of Earth
(Playboy Jan 1971)
-- Transit of Earth
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
John Collier
Softly Walks the Beetle
(Playboy Jan 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Robert Coover
The Hat Act
(Playboy Feb 1968)
-- Masks
Billy Crystal
Earth Station Charlie
(Playboy Dec 1986)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Avram Davidson
The Invasion
(Playboy Jul 1965)
-- Transit of Earth
The Sensible Man
(Playboy Feb 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Dead Astronaut
Philip K. Dick
Frozen Journey
(Playboy Dec 1980)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Roger Dionne
Accidents of a Country Road
(Playboy Nov 1970)
-- Weird Show
Thomas M. Disch
Cephalotron
(Playboy Dec 1966)
-- Transit of Earth
Frank Dobinson
The Master Copy
(Playboy May 1966)
-- The Fiend
Stan Dryer
The Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
(Playboy Jul 1968)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
David Duncan
Requiem on the Moon
(Playboy Oct 1964)
-- The Dead Astronaut
George Alec Effinger
Slow, Slow Burn
(Playboy May 1988)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Harlan Ellison
All the Birds Come Home to Roost
(Playboy Mar 1979)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
David Ely
The Academy
(Playboy Jun 1965)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Jack Finney
Double Take
(Playboy Apr 1965)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Hey, Look at Me!
(Playboy Sep 1962)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Hugh G. Foster
The Taste of Fear
(Playboy Sep 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Bruce Jay Friedman
A Foot in the Door
(Playboy Oct 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
The Investor
(Playboy Feb 1962)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
The Killer in the TV Set
(Playboy Aug 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Herbert Gold
Weird Show
(Playboy Apr 1958)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Ron Goulart
A Man's Home Is His Castle
(Playboy Mar 1969)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
The Trouble with Machines
(Playboy Aug 1968)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Gerald Green
The Dispatcher
(Playboy Aug 1967)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
Walt Grove
John Grant's Little Angel
(Playboy Jul 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Joe Haldeman
More Than the Sum of His Parts
(Playboy May 1985)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Gerald Kersh
Somewhere Not Far from Here
(Playboy Mar 1965)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
Stephen King
The Word Processor
(Playboy Jan 1983)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Damon Knight
Masks
(Playboy Jul 1968)
-- Masks
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Arthur Koestler
The Chimeras
(Playboy May 1969)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
George Langelaan
The Fly
(Playboy Jun 1957)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ursula K. Le Guin
Nine Lives
(Playboy Nov 1969)
-- The Dead Astronaut
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Doris Lessing
Report on the Threatened City
(Playboy Nov 1971)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
John D. MacDonald
The Annex
(Playboy May 1968)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
Richard Matheson
Button, Button
(Playboy Jun 1970)
-- Transit of Earth
By Appointment Only
(Playboy Apr 1970)
-- Weird Show
First Anniversary
(Playboy Jul 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
No Such Thing as a Vampire
(Playboy Oct 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
The Splendid Source
(Playboy May 1956)
-- Last Train to Limbo
Patrick McGivern
Number Eight
(Playboy Jun 1970)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Jeremiah McMahon
Mr. Swift and His Remarkable Thing
(Playboy Oct 1968)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Robert McNear
Death's Door
(Playboy Mar 1969)
-- Masks
R. K. Narayan
A Breath of Lucifer
(Playboy Jul 1969)
-- Masks
H. C. Neal
Who Shall Dwell...
(Playboy Jul 1962)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Last Train to Limbo
Hugh Nissenson
The Mission
(Playboy Dec 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Fiend
Larry Niven
Leviathan!
(Playboy Aug 1970)
-- Last Train to Limbo
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
William F. Nolan
Papa's Planet
(Playboy Apr 1968)
-- Last Train to Limbo
The Party
(Playboy Apr 1967)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Alan E. Nourse
Hard Bargain
(Playboy May 1958)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Frederik Pohl
The Fiend
(Playboy Apr 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Fiend
Lovemaking
(Playboy Dec 1966)
-- The Fiend
Punch
(Playboy Jun 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
The Schematic Man
(Playboy Jan 1969)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Speed Trap
(Playboy Nov 1967)
-- Transit of Earth
Ken W. Purdy
The Convert
(Playboy Mar 1970)
-- Weird Show
For the Rich They SingSometimes
(Playboy May 1962)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
The Golden Frog
(Playboy Jan 1963)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
The Noise
(Playboy Mar 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Untitled
(Playboy Oct 1966)
-- Masks
John Reese
Double Exposure
(Playboy Feb 1965)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Brian Rencelaw
Skin-Deep
(Playboy Jun 1963)
-- The Dead Astronaut
Mack Reynolds
Burnt Toast
(Playboy Nov 1955)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Frank M. Robinson
A Life in the Day Of
(Playboy Jun 1969)
-- Weird Show
The Wreck of the Ship John B.
(Playboy Jun 1967)
-- The Dead Astronaut
Rick Rubin
Winter in This Latitude
(Playboy Dec 1962)
-- Masks
Ray Russell
The Better Man
(Playboy Jul 1966)
-- The Fiend
Comet Wine
(Playboy Mar 1967)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Here Comes John Henry
(Playboy Sep 1968)
-- The Dead Astronaut
Put Them All Together, They Spell Monster
(Playboy Oct 1956)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Ripples
(Playboy Oct 1967)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
The Room
(Playboy Feb 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Sardonicus
(Playboy Jan 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Space Opera
(Playboy Dec 1961)
-- Fully Automated Love Life of Henry Keanridge
Xong of Xuxan
(Playboy Oct 1970)
-- Weird Show
William Sambrot
Control Somnambule
(Playboy May 1962)
-- From the "S" File
-- Transit of Earth
Charles Schafhauser
I'm Yours
(Playboy Dec 1954)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Allan Seager
Colorless in Limestone Caverns
(Playboy Nov 1968)
-- Masks
Jack Sharkey
Conversation with a Bug
(Playboy Oct 1961)
-- From the "S" File
The Pool
(Playboy Nov 1964)
-- From the "S" File
Irwin Shaw
The Mannichon Solution
(Playboy Dec 1967)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
Robert Sheckley
Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?
(Playboy Aug 1969)
-- From the "S" File
-- The Fiend
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Cordle to Onion to Carrot
(Playboy Dec 1969)
-- From the "S" File
Duplication
(Playboy May 1959)
-- From the "S" File
Judication
(Playboy May 1959)
-- From the "S" File
Love, Incorporated
(Playboy Sep 1956)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Fiend
Lubrication
(Playboy May 1959)
-- From the "S" File
The Same to You Doubled
(Playboy Mar 1970)
-- From the "S" File
Spy Story
(Playboy Sep 1955)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Dead Astronaut
The World of Heart's Desire
(Playboy Sep 1959)
-- From the "S" File
Lucius Shepard
Fire Zone Emerald
(Playboy Feb 1986)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Robert Silverberg
Gianni
(Playboy Feb 1982)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
John Sladek
The Man from Not-Yet
(Playboy Jun 1968)
-- From the "S" File
Henry Slesar
After
(Playboy Jun 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- From the "S" File
Examination Day
(Playboy Feb 1958)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- From the "S" File
I Do Not Like Thee, Dr. Feldman
(Playboy Jun 1969)
-- Weird Show
The Jam
(Playboy Nov 1958)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- From the "S" File
Melodramine
(Playboy Aug 1965)
-- From the "S" File
Victory Parade
(Playboy Apr 1957)
-- From the "S" File
Norman Spinrad
Deathwatch
(Playboy Nov 1965)
-- From the "S" File
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Theodore Sturgeon
The Nail and the Oracle
(Playboy Oct 1965)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- From the "S" File
G. L. Tassone
Room 312
(Playboy Aug 1967)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
William Tenn
Bernie the Faust
(Playboy Nov 1963)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Transit of Earth
The Ghost Standard
(Playboy Dec 1994)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Walter S. Tevis
The Apotheosis of Myra
(Playboy Jul 1980)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Theodore Thomas
December 28th
(Playboy Dec 1959)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- Last Train to Limbo
John Tomerlin
Side by Side
(Playboy Sep 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Calvin Tomkins
Virginia
(Playboy Mar 1967)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Welcome to the Monkey House
(Playboy Jan 1968)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange
-- The Fiend
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Howard Waldrop
Heirs of the Perisphere
(Playboy Jul 1985)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Leland Webb
A Man for the Moon
(Playboy Aug 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
-- The Dead Astronaut
Donald Westlake
Interstellar Pigeon
(Playboy May 1982)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Charles Willeford
The Machine in Ward Eleven
(Playboy Mar 1961)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
-- Weird Show
Tennessee Williams
A Recluse and His Guest
(Playboy Jan 1970)
-- Weird Show
Chet Williamson
Sen Yet Babbo & the Heavenly Host
(Playboy Aug 1987)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction
Gahan Wilson
The Manuscript of Dr. Arness
(Playboy Aug 1966)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be
(Playboy May 1967)
-- The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural
Bernard Wolfe
The Dot and Dash Bird
(Playboy Dec 1964)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Never-Ending Penny
(Playboy Sep 1960)
-- The Playboy Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy
John Wyndham
Wise Child
(Argosy (UK) Nov 1962)
-- Playboy's Stories of the Sinister & Strange