The New Improved Sun

The New Improved Sun, subtitled "An Anthology of Utopian S-F", is an anthology of science fiction stories edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in hardcover by Harper & Row in 1975. No later editions are reported. Many of the stories are original to the volume.

Contents

• "Introduction: Buck Rogers in the New Jerusalem", Thomas M. Disch
• "Heavens Below: Fifteen Utopias", John Sladek (original)
• "Repairing the Office", Charles Naylor (original)
• "What You Get for Your Dollar", Brian W. Aldiss (from The Shape of Further Things, 1970)
• "The People of Prashad", James Keilty (Quark/2 1971)
• "A Few Things I Know About Whileaway", Joanna Russ (The Female Man 1975)
• "Drumble", Cassandra Nye (original)
• "A Clear Day in the Motor City", Eleanor Arnason (New Worlds 6 1973)
• "Settling the World", M. John Harrison (original)
• "Instead of the Cross, the Lollipop", B. F. Skinner (from Walden Two 1948)
• "I Always Do What Teddy Says," Harry Harrison (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine 1965)
• "Pyramids for Minnesota: A Serious Proposal", Thomas M. Disch (Harper's Magazine 1974)
• "The Zen Archer", Jonathan Greenblatt (original)
• "The Hero as Werwolf", Gene Wolfe (original)
• "The Change", H. G. Wells (from In the Days of the Comet, 1906)

Each of the vignettes in Sladek's "Fifteen Utopias" carries an individual subtitle. "Cassandra Nye" is a pseudonym of Charles Naylor.^[1]

Reception

Writing in The New York Times, Gerald Jonas noted that while the anthology's contents contradicted its subtitle, being mostly satires and dystopias, "Disch knows exactly what he is doing: he points out in a brief introduction that prescriptive Utopias tend to be not only dull but also silly and repugnant."^[2]

References