Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 21

Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia), the son of a Jewish family of millers. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2. His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York and opened a candy store when he was three years old. He taught himself to read at the age of five. He began reading the science fiction pulp magazines that his family's store carried. Around the age of...

Martin Harry Greenberg (March 1, 1941 – June 25, 2011) was an American academic and anthologist in many genres, including mysteries and horror, but especially in speculative fiction. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. He was also a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel. Greenberg was also an expert in terrorism and the Middle East. He was a longtime friend, colleague and busine...

American crime writer

Marion Zimmer was born on a farm in Albany, New York, during the Great Depression. As a child, she enjoyed reading adventure fantasy stories. She began writing them herself in 1949 and sold her first story to Vortex in 1952. She also married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. Early in her career, she used pseudonyms for stories she wrote outside the speculative fiction genre, including some gay and lesbian pulp fiction novels such as I Am a Lesbian (1962). In 1964 she divorced her first husband...

Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger is a writer whose work often explores the science fiction genre. He is known for his contributions to collections like Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 12.

Damon Knight was born in Baker City, Oregon. He graduated from the WPA Art Center in Salem, Oregon, then moved to New York City. His first story, "Resilience", was published in 1941. In 1943 he went into publishing, first with Popular Publications, then editing Beyond in 1950-51 and If in 1959-60. He became a science fiction critic in 1945, but gave that up in 1954. In 1956 he co-founded the Milford Science Fiction Writers' Conference. Also in 1956, he received the Hugo Award for science f...

Philip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novel — especially the World of Tiers (1965–93) and Riverworld (1971–83) series. He is noted for the pioneering use of sexual and religious themes in his work, his fascination for — and reworking of — the lore of celebrated pulp heroes, and occasional tongue-in-cheek pseudonymous works written as if by fictional char...

Carol Emshwiller is a writer whose work has appeared in collections like McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales. She's known for her contributions to science fiction and fantasy.

William Tenn is a science fiction writer whose work is celebrated for its wit and sharp observations. You'll find his stories collected in Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales, a great place to start if you enjoy clever, thought-provoking science fiction.

Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. Nominated for Hugo and Nebula Awards, Sheckley was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001.

Theodore Sturgeon was born Edward Hamilton Waldo in Staten Island, New York. He changed his name in 1929, choosing Sturgeon to match his mother's surname after her second marriage, and "Theodore" to match his nickname, "Teddy." His mother, Christine Hamilton Dicker Sturgeon, was a well-educated writer, watercolorist, and poet who published journalism, poetry and fiction under the pseudonym Felix Sturgeon. As an adolescent, Sturgeon wanted to be a circus acrobat, but then had an episode of r...

Clifford Donald Simak (August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award.The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master,[4] and the Horror Writers Association made him one of three inaugural winners of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement.[5] He is associated with the pastoral science fiction subgenre.

Alfred Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books. Though successful in all these fields, he is best remembered for his science fiction, including The Demolished Man, winner of the inaugural Hugo Award in 1953. - Wikipedia

Jack Sharkey is the author of Dangerous Vegetables, a book that explores the surprising world of edible plants. He writes with a clear, engaging style that makes even the most unusual topics accessible.

Mark Clifton was a writer whose work appeared in the science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. He's known for his contributions to the genre.

Chandler Davis is the author of The Golden Years of Science Fiction -- Fifth Series. This work explores the science fiction genre.