The Year's Best Science Fiction 9

Part of an editor’s job, ordinarily, is to find things that go together.

But it is unusual to find two stories (especially from such widely separate sources) that “go together” (in several senses) quite the way “Mr. Waterman” and “Mrs. Pigafetta” do.

“Mr. Waterman” was called to my attention by Carol Emshwiller (whose work has appeared in earlier annuals); otherwise I should hardly have thought to look for material in the Paris Review. “Mrs. Pigafetta” appeared in Fantasy and Science Fiction—my most frequent source for many volumes.

Peter Redgrave is a British scientist and poet, living in Leeds; Mr. Bretnor is a California litterateur (critic, essayist, fictionist, translator, humorist) and Orientalist (consultant on occasion to the U. S. Government). They have this much in common: both writers’ literary interests are divided primarily between the “quality” publications and s-f. In Mr. Redgrove’s words: “Science fiction is one of the modes of poetry in our age, and vice versa too, if either has any guts.”