Orbit (anthology series)

Orbit is a long-running series of anthologies of new fiction edited by Damon Knight; often featuring work by such writers as Gene Wolfe, Joanna Russ, R. A. Lafferty, and Kate Wilhelm, who was married to Knight. The anthologies tended toward the avant-garde edge of science fiction, but by no means exclusively; occasionally the volumes would feature some nonfictional critical writing or humorous anecdote-gathering by Knight. Inspired by Frederik Pohl's Star Science Fiction series, and in its turn an influence on Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions volumes and many others, it ran for over a decade and eighteen volumes, including a double-volume but excluding a "Best-of" collection which covered the years1966-1976.

Orbit 1

Published 1966 edited by Damon Knight

The Disinherited

A short story by Poul Anderson written 1966 republished under the title "Home"

How Beautiful with Banners

A Short story by James Blish

Kangaroo Court

Written by Virginia Kidd republished under the title "Flowering Season".

Orbit 2

published 1967 edited by Damon Knight

full sun

A short werewolf story by Brian W Aldiss written in 1967. Republished in 1968 World's Best Science Fiction fourth edition. and Creatures from beyond: Nine stories of science fiction and fantasy

Trip, Trap

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

Orbit 3

Published 1968 edited by Damon knight

Why They Mobbed the White House

a short story written by Doris Pitkin Buck

Don't Wash the Carats

a short story written by Philip José Farmer

Here Is Thy Sting

a short story written by John Jakes

The Changling

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

Orbit 5

published September 1969 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. Republished in: October 1969 by Putnam, December 1969 by Berkley Medallion, and November 1970 by Rapp & Whiting. Edited by Damon Knight

Somerset Dreams

A short story by Kate Willhelm

The Roads, The Roads, The Beautiful Roads

A short story by Avram Davidson written in 1969 republished in the anthology Car Sinister The protagonist Craig Burns is the head of a state highway department whose highest passion in life is designing highways even if they are not needed. While driving on one of the highways he built he takes the wrong exit and ends up in a closed off tunnel where a highway minotaur attacks him.

Notable Quotes

"The roads, the roads were engineered beautifully. It was the stupid bastard people who were engineered wrong"

Look, You Think you've Got Troubles

A short story by Carol Carr dealing with a non-religious Jewish family whose daughter marries an alien. Who subsequently converts to Judaism.

Winter's King

A Short story by Ursula K. LeGuin

The Time Machine

A short story by Langdon Jones Involving a prisoner reminiscing about an affair he had with a married women.

Configuration of the North Shore

A short story by R.A. Lafferty involving a man obsessed about finding this certain beach somewhere in the southern hemisphere.

Paul's Treehouse

A short story by Gene Wolfe

The Price

A short story by Belcher C. Davis republish under the title "Just Dead enough" The narrator is a local newspaper reporter who follows the case where a Mr. Tanker dies in a car accident and his organs are transplanted into other people in the town. The case because interesting because one of the organ recipient kills someone in a car accident and doesn't have insurance. The lawyer tries to make the argument that the organ recipient is the heir of Mr. Tanker. Then the heirs sue the hospital for getting them involved in the case to begin with.

The rose Bowl-Pluto hypothesis

A short story by Robert S. Richardson written under the pen name Philip Latham A professor Zinner notices that raceing scores have dramatically improved and purposes that it is do to space shrinking.

Winston

A short story by Kit Reed written in 1969 republished in the 1976 in the anthology The Killer Mice and 1981 in the collection Other Stories and...The Attack of the Giant Baby involving a family that purchases a child bred for intelligence but neglect it and beat it until it suffers irreparable brain damage. In its brain damaged state the mother of the family finally views it as an actual child.

The History Makers

A short story by James Sallis written 1969. The story is told in a series of letters from a person known as Jim to his brother John. He writes about his stay on an alien planet. The beings there live in an "alternate time span" whereby interaction with humans is nearly impossible. Over the course of the planet's "day" the inhabitants build a city from a rude village. Over the course of the day of city gains in size until it becomes a major metropolises. Than as the day ends the inhabitants began to go through a change. Most go comatose, while others began insanely destroying their city. Eventually the entire city, nicknamed siva, including ruins is destroyed.

Quotes

"All my faces had run together like cheap watercolor."

The Big flash

A short story by Norman Spinrad. Which won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette The pentagon hatches a plan to use atomic warfare in Vietnam conflict. It had been determined that a single nuclear attack would destroy 2/3 of the enemy's fighting force. In order to get the American population to go along with the idea of nuclear warfare, the pentagon gets a band formed called the four horseman. The band's theme is advocacy of nuclear warfare By funneling money to them the military is able to get them very popular.

Orbit 6

Edited by Damon Knight

Remembrance to Come

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

How the Whip Came Back

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

Orbit 7

Edited by Damon Knight

Eyebem

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories

a short story written by Gene Wolfe

The Pressure of Time

a short story written by Thomas M.Disch

Orbit 8

Published 1970 by G.P. Putnam's Sons and editied by Damon Knight

Horse of Air

Written by Gardner Dozois and published in orbit 8 Nebula Award Stories, The Best from Orbit, and the book The Visible Man This story involves a man surviving the end of the world inside of his apartment in the city.

A Method Bit in "B"

Written by Gene Wolfe A story about a police sergeant who discovers while investigating a murder realises that he is actually a bit character in a B-movie

Interurban Queen

Written by R.A. Lafferty featured in orbit 8 http://www.locusmag.com/index/s421.htm and republished in the book RINGING CHANGES in the book Days of Grass, Days of Straw http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/Speccoll/collections/lafferty/index5.htm and in the book Lafferty in Orbit http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/RAL/fiction-anthology.html A (possibly starical) story about an alternative America where light rail systems become the norm http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=laffinteru and cars were outlawed. http://blogs.salon.com/0001811/ It is portrayed as a paradise with all cities small, unique, and mostly for entertainment. Cars still exist and are built by so-called "Sly klunker makers". Being caught driving a car is a capital offense without trial.

Notable quotes

"A man in an automobile is worth a thousand men on foot"

"Consider the man on horseback, and I have been a man on horseback for most of my life. Well, mostly he is a good man, but there is a change in him as soon as he mounts. Every man on horseback is an arrogant man, however gentle he may be on foot. The man in the automobile is one thousand times as dangerous. I tell you, it will engender absolute selfishness in mankind if the driving of automobiles becomes common. It will breed violence on a scale never seen before. It will mark the end of the family as we know it, the three or four generations living happily in one home. It will destroy the sense of neighborhood and the true sense of Nation. It will create giantized cankers of cities, false opulence of suburbs, ruinized countryside, and unhealthy conglomerations of specialized farming and manufacturing. It will make every man a tyrant." http://www.quotegarden.com/car-free-day.html

orbit 11

Edited by Damon Knight published 1973

To Plant a Seed

A short story by Hank Davis

Quotes

"If the human race ever stops acting on the basis of what it thinks it knows, paralyzed by fear that its knowledge may be wrong, then Homo sapiens will be making its application for membership in the dinosaur club." http://www.todayinsci.com/D/Davis_Henry/DavisHenry-Quotations.htm

Father's in the Basement

A short story by Philip José Farmer

References

http://www.hycyber.com/SF/orbit_index.html