Wondrous Beginnings

Editors	Steven H. Silver Martin H. Greenberg
Language	English language
Series	Beginnings
Genre	Science fiction
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	2003
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	316
ISBN	0-7564-0098-8
Followed by	Magical Beginnings

Wondrous Beginnings is ananthology ofscience fictionshort stories edited bySteven H. Silver andMartin H. Greenberg, first published in paperback byDAW Books in January 2003. It is a compilation of the first published stories of seventeen prominent authors in the genre, and features introductions to the stories provided (in most instances) by the authors of those stories.^[1]Wondrous Beginnings was the first of three similarly-themed anthologies, its companions beingMagical Beginnings andHorrible Beginnings, compiling the first published stories of authors writing in thefantasy andhorror genres, respectively.^[2] The book follows the example of the earlierFirst Flight: Maiden Voyages in Space and Time, edited byDamon Knight (Lancer Books, 1963)^[3] andFirst Voyages, edited by Damon Knight, Martin H. Greenberg andJoseph D. Olander (Avon Books, 1981).^[4] which did not include individual introductions. The content ofWondrous Beginnings has little overlap in content with these earlier anthologies, however, as only the stories byde Camp,Clement andClarke are repeated from them.

• "Introduction" (Steven H Silver)
• "Introduction to 'The Runaway Skyscraper'" (Betty Dehardit)
• "The Runaway Skyscraper" (1919) (Murray Leinster)
• "Introduction to 'The Isolinguals'" (L. Sprague de Camp)
• "The Isolinguals" (1937) (L. Sprague de Camp)
• "Introduction to 'Freedom of the Race'" (Anne McCaffrey)
• "Freedom of the Race" (1953) (Anne McCaffrey)
• "About 'Proof,' of Course" (Hal Clement)
• "Proof" (1942) (Hal Clement)
• "Introduction to 'Loophole'" (Arthur C. Clarke)
• "Loophole" (1946) (Arthur C. Clarke)
• "Deadeye: Writing 'The Dead Man'" (Gene Wolfe)
• "The Dead Man" (1965) (Gene Wolfe)
• "Introduction to 'We're Coming Through the Window'" (Barry N. Malzberg)
• "We're Coming Through the Window" (1967) (Barry N. Malzberg)
• "Introduction to 'The Hero'" (George R. R. Martin)
• "The Hero" (1971) (George R. R. Martin)
• "My (Other) World and Welcome to it: Writing 'Lunchbox'" (Howard Waldrop)
• "Lunchbox" (1972) (Howard Waldrop)
• "The Origin of 'Ender's Game'" (Orson Scott Card)
• "Ender's Game" (1977) (Orson Scott Card)
• "Introduction to 'The Emerson Effect'" (Jack McDevitt)
• "The Emerson Effect" (1981) (Jack McDevitt)
• "The Writing of 'Much Ado About Nothing'" (Jerry Oltion)
• "Much Ado About Nothing" (1982) (Jerry Oltion)
• "Introduction to 'Barter'" (Lois McMaster Bujold)
• "Barter" (1985) (Lois McMaster Bujold)
• "Introduction to 'The Xeelee Flower'" (Stephen Baxter)
• "The Xeelee Flower" (1987) (Stephen Baxter)
• "Introduction to 'Dance in Blue'" (Catherine Asaro)
• "Dance in Blue" (1993) (Catherine Asaro)
• "Introduction to 'TeleAbsence'" (Michael A. Burstein)
• "TeleAbsence" (1995) (Michael A. Burstein)
• "Introduction to 'First Contact Inc.'" (Julie E. Czerneda)
• "First Contact Inc." (1997) (Julie E. Czerneda)
• "About the Authors"

• 2003 anthologies
• Science fiction anthologies
• Martin H. Greenberg anthologies
• DAW Books books