Silverberg: Alpha and Related Anthologies


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Dozois: Year's Best <— Anthologies —> —
After launching a series of hardcover anthologies in 1966 (with Earthmen and Strangers) on science-fictional themes for the library market, Silverberg published several anthologies on more purely literary themes beginning with Dark Stars in 1969 ("a book of dark dreams for a dark time") and Great Short Novels of Science Fiction in 1970 (composed of long stories that were typically difficult to include in anthologies) and then Alpha One in 1970, the first of a series of anthologies intended to "center on no particular theme except that of literary quality." Subsequent volumes appeared at roughly yearly intervals, switching from Ballantine to Berkley with volume 6, and lasting through volume 9. The hardcover Galactic Dreamers was similar in that its focus was on "science fiction as visionary literature" and thus is included in this group.


  • Dark Stars, (Ballantine, 1969) (isfdb)
  • Great Short Novels of Science Fiction, (Ballantine, 1970) (isfdb)
  • Galactic Dreamers, (Random House, 1977) (isfdb)
  • Alpha One, (Ballantine, 1970) (isfdb)
  • Alpha Two, (Ballantine, 1971) (isfdb)
  • Alpha Three, (Ballantine, 1972) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 4, (Ballantine, 1973) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 5, (Ballantine, 1974) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 6, (Berkley, 1976) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 7, (Berkley, 1977) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 8, (Berkley, 1977) (isfdb)
  • Alpha 9, (Berkley, 1978) (isfdb)


Complete Contents by Author and Title


Brian W. Aldiss
  • Heresies of the Huge God (1966) -- Dark Stars
  • Incentive (1958) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • Judas Danced (1958) -- Alpha 4
  • Poor Little Warrior! (1958) -- Alpha One
  • Total Environment (1968) -- Alpha Three
    • Poul Anderson
  • Call Me Joe (1957) -- Alpha Two
  • Journeys End (1957) -- Dark Stars
  • The Man Who Came Early (1956) -- Alpha One
    • J. G. Ballard
  • The Cage of Sand (1962) -- Dark Stars
  • The Terminal Beach (1964) -- Alpha One
  • The Voices of Time (1960) -- Alpha Two
  • The Waiting Grounds (1959) -- Galactic Dreamers
    • Raymond E. Banks
  • The Short Ones (1955) -- Alpha 8
    • Alfred Bester
  • 5,271,009 (1954) -- Alpha 4
  • The Pi Man (1959) -- Alpha One
    • James Blish
  • Common Time (1953) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • A Dusk of Idols (1961) -- Alpha 8
  • On the Wall of the Lodge (by JB & Virginia Kidd) (1962) -- Dark Stars
  • Testament of Andros (1953) -- Alpha One
  • We All Die Naked (1969) -- Alpha 4
    • Anthony Boucher
  • Transfer Point (1950) -- Alpha 7
    • John Brunner
  • The Totally Rich (1963) -- Dark Stars
    • Algis Budrys
  • For Love (1962) -- Alpha 7
  • Wall of Crystal, Eye of Night (1961) -- Alpha Two
    • John W. Campbell, Jr.
  • Night (1935) -- Galactic Dreamers
    • Terry Carr
  • Brown Robert (1962) -- Alpha 6
  • In His Image (1971) -- Alpha 4
  • Rejoice, Rejoice, We Have No Choice (1974) -- Alpha 7
    • A. Bertram Chandler
  • Giant Killer (1945) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
    • Arthur C. Clarke
  • Rescue Party (1946) -- Alpha Three
    • John Clute
  • A Man Must Die (1966) -- Alpha 5
    • L. Sprague de Camp
  • Aristotle and the Gun (1958) -- Alpha Three
    • Charles V. De Vet
  • Second Game (by CVDV & Katherine MacLean) (1958) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
    • Lester del Rey
  • Keepers of the House (1956) -- Dark Stars
    • Samuel R. Delany
  • The Star Pit (1967) -- Alpha 5
    • Philip K. Dick
  • Beyond Lies the Wub (1952) -- Alpha Three
  • Faith of Our Fathers (1967) -- Alpha Two
  • Impostor (1953) -- Dark Stars
  • We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966) -- Alpha 5
    • Gordon R. Dickson
  • An Honorable Death (1961) -- Alpha 6
    • Thomas M. Disch
  • Casablanca (1967) -- Alpha 4
  • Come to Venus Melancholy (1965) -- Alpha Three
    • Gardner Dozois
  • A Special Kind of Morning (1971) -- Alpha 5
    • George Alec Effinger
  • Live, from Berchtesgaden (1972) -- Alpha 5
  • World War Two (1973) -- Alpha 7
    • Larry Eisenberg
  • The Time of His Life (1968) -- Alpha One
    • Harlan Ellison
  • The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (1968) -- Dark Stars
  • The Human Operators (by HE & A. E. van Vogt) (1971) -- Alpha 8
    • Philip José Farmer
  • Mother (1953) -- Alpha 4
  • The Shadow of Space (1967) -- Alpha Three
  • The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World (1971) -- Alpha 9
    • H. L. Gold
  • Man of Parts (1954) -- Alpha 6
    • Wyman Guin
  • Beyond Bedlam (1951) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
  • A Man of the Renaissance (1964) -- Alpha Two
    • Charles L. Harness
  • The New Reality (1950) -- Alpha 8
  • Time Trap (1948) -- Alpha One
    • Harry Harrison
  • The Streets of Ashkelon (1962) -- Dark Stars
    • Gerald Jonas
  • The Shaker Revival (1970) -- Alpha Two
    • A. K. Jorgensson
  • Coming-of-Age Day (1965) -- Dark Stars
    • Virginia Kidd
  • On the Wall of the Lodge (by James Blish & VK) (1962) -- Dark Stars
    • Damon Knight
  • Dio (1957) -- Alpha 4
  • Masks (1968) -- Dark Stars
    • C. M. Kornbluth
  • The Last Man Left in the Bar (1957) -- Alpha One
  • The Luckiest Man in Denv (1952) -- Alpha 7
  • Shark Ship (1958) -- Dark Stars
  • That Share of Glory (1952) -- Alpha Two
  • Two Dooms (1958) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
  • With These Hands (1951) -- Alpha 6
    • Michael Kurland
  • Think Only This of Me (1973) -- Alpha 8
    • R. A. Lafferty
  • All Pieces of a River Shore (1970) -- Alpha 4
  • Nine Hundred Grandmothers (1966) -- Alpha Three
  • Polity and Custom of the Camiroi (1967) -- Dark Stars
  • Sky (1971) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne (1967) -- Alpha One
    • Fritz Leiber
  • A Deskful of Girls (1958) -- Dark Stars
  • Game for Motel Room (1963) -- Alpha One
  • When the Change-Winds Blow (1964) -- Alpha 8
  • Yesterday House (1952) -- Alpha 5
    • Katherine MacLean
  • Second Game (by Charles V. De Vet & KM) (1958) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
    • Barry N. Malzberg
  • A Galaxy Called Rome (1975) -- Alpha 7
  • A Triptych (1969) -- Alpha One
    • David I. Masson
  • Psychosmosis (1966) -- Dark Stars
    • Julian May
  • Dune Roller (1951) -- Alpha 7
    • Richard McKenna
  • The Night of Hoggy Darn (1958) -- Alpha 7
    • P. Schuyler Miller
  • As Never Was (1944) -- Alpha 5
    • Walter M. Miller, Jr.
  • Dumb Waiter (1952) -- Alpha 9
    • Larry Niven
  • One Face (1965) -- Alpha 8
    • Edgar Pangborn
  • Angel's Egg (1951) -- Alpha 4
    • Frederik Pohl
  • Day Million (1966) -- Alpha Three
    • Kit Reed
  • The Food Farm (1967) -- Alpha 6
    • Michael Rogers
  • Klysterman's Silent Violin (1972) -- Alpha 8
    • Joanna Russ
  • Nobody's Home (1972) -- Alpha 9
    • Fred Saberhagen
  • Goodlife (1963) -- Alpha 9
    • Idris Seabright
  • Short in the Chest (1954) -- Alpha 6
    • Michael Shaara
  • The Book (1953) -- Alpha 9
  • Orphans of the Void (1952) -- Alpha 7
    • Bob Shaw
  • Light of Other Days (1966) -- Alpha 6
    • Robert Sheckley
  • The Monsters (1953) -- Alpha 9
  • Shape (1953) -- Alpha 7
  • Warm (1953) -- Alpha 8
    • Wilma Shore
  • Goodbye Amanda Jean (1970) -- Alpha Two
    • Robert Silverberg
  • Breckenridge and the Continuum (1973) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • Road to Nightfall (1958) -- Dark Stars
    • Clifford D. Simak
  • Dusty Zebra (1954) -- Alpha 9
    • John Sladek
  • The Secret of the Old Custard (1966) -- Alpha 6
    • Cordwainer Smith
  • The Burning of the Brain (1958) -- Alpha Two
  • The Dead Lady of Clown Town (1964) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • Under Old Earth (1966) -- Alpha Three
    • Norman Spinrad
  • Carcinoma Angels (1967) -- Alpha 4
  • The Lost Continent (1970) -- Alpha 6
    • Theodore Sturgeon
  • The Man Who Lost the Sea (1959) -- Alpha 8
  • The Skills of Xanadu (1956) -- Alpha 5
    • William Tenn
  • Down Among the Dead Men (1954) -- Alpha 6
  • Eastward Ho! (1958) -- Alpha 4
    • Theodore Thomas
  • The Doctor (1967) -- Alpha One
    • James Tiptree, Jr.
  • Painwise (1972) -- Alpha 6
    • A. E. van Vogt
  • The Human Operators (by Harlan Ellison & AEvV) (1971) -- Alpha 8
    • Jack Vance
  • The Gift of Gab (1955) -- Alpha Three
  • The Men Return (1957) -- Alpha Two
  • The Moon Moth (1961) -- Alpha One
  • The New Prime (1951) -- Galactic Dreamers
  • Telek (1952) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction
    • Kate Wilhelm
  • Baby, You Were Great (1967) -- Alpha 5
  • The Funeral (1972) -- Alpha 9
    • Jack Williamson
  • The Happiest Creature (1953) -- Alpha 8
    • Roger Zelazny
  • For a Breath I Tarry (1966) -- Alpha One
  • The Graveyard Heart (1964) -- Great Short Novels of Science Fiction

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