NEW VOICES IN SCIENCE FICTION

Another entry in the madly lucrative game of Pin The Raison d'Etre on The SF Anthology. Editor Martin has commissioned six original stories from the six nominees (including himself) for the first John W. Campbell, Jr. award. This institution, here described as "science fiction's most prestigious award," has been around for about three years and is specifically earmarked for newcomers to the field. Ah, dust-jacket facts are wonderful things. In any case, it's a perfectly pleasant little collection, with a fine George Alec Effinger (the quiet, Muzak-lulled disintegration of a highway-cloverleaf designer) and good contributions from Robert Thurston, Martin himself, and Jerry Pournelle (a frankly conservative exploration of Cicero's remark about war silencing law). Nice enough stories, but the flimsiness of the anthology-peg is annoying.