Soviet Science Fiction

Overview:

• Title: Soviet Science Fiction
• Editor: Anonymous
• Year: 1966
• Catalog ID: #01655
• Publisher: Collier Books (4th printing)
• Price: $0.95
• Pages: 189
• Binding: Paperback
• Type: Anthology
• Title Reference: Cover: Soviet Science Fiction
• Notes: Stated "First Collier Books edition 1962 / Fourth Printing 1966". The image for this ISFDB record is of 6th printing but appears identical to the 4th. Translated from Russian by Violet L. Dutt. The spine says “Asimov Soviet Science Fiction,” and the cover plus title page have “With a new introduction by Isaac Asimov” but no one is credited as the editor. The fact that this is a reprint of an earlier Russian publication is not clear at all. The only hint of this is in the printing history says "First Collier Books edition" rather than just "first edition." The introduction mentions that the ''A Visitor from Outer Space'' had a footnote that was longer than the original story and that it "… has been mercifully omitted from the present edition” implying there may be more changes than just a new introduction. Adding to the confusion though is that the copyright is 1962 and so it's not clear if the new introduction and dropping of the footnote was done in 1962, 1966 (the date of this publication), or some date in between. The structure of the publication is unusual in that it has an introduction on page 7 followed by the table of contents on page 15 (which lists the introduction on page 7). The story Hoity-Toity is credited as by A. Belayev on the table of contents and body of the book. The back cover credits Alexander Belayev but in keeping with ISFDB conventions A. Belayev was credited and a variant title was set up to link the story to the author's full name. The story Infra Draconis is credited as by G. Gurevich on the table of contents and body of the book. The back cover credits Georgy Gurevich but in keeping with ISFDB conventions G. Gurevich was credited and a variant title was set up to link the story to the author's full name. With the remaining stories the table of contents credits the authors by first initial and last name while the full name was used on the title pages in the body of the book.