George Zebrowski launched Synergy in 1987 as a twice-annual anthology of "fine writing wedded to critical speculation" in original paperbacks from Harcort Brace Jovanovich. The introduction to the first volume reviews the history of science fiction as context for the need to pursue more ambitious SF than was often seen in the decade since Star Wars. Each of the four volumes includes a state of the art essay, by Brian W. Aldiss, Andrew Joron (on poetry), Ian Watson, and Pamela Sargent respectively. The stories are often longer than typical in original anthologies, and authors included veterans like Charles Harness and Chad Oliver.

Fifteen years after the fourth volume, a final volume appeared in hardcover from a different publisher, again with stories by a range of authors, and with essays by William Tenn and the editor, and interviews with Cele Goldsmith Lalli and Ray Bradbury.

Robert Frazier and Andrew Joron appeared three times, all poems, two in collaboration with each other.