Unicorn Variations

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Here is another collection of things written by me, drawn from various points over the past two decades. Some I recall fondly; others I had all but forgotten.

In reviewing the stories included here, I was surprised by the number of tales written to order, i.e., to go behind a magazine's cover painting (of which more anon) or to qualify for inclusion in a theme anthology.

I pause to reflect upon the phenomenon of the theme anthology: In the Old Days (circa forties and fifties) collections of science fiction stories were just collections of science fiction stories, none of them necessarily resembling any of the others in major particulars. In recent years, however, collections of stories possessed of a common theme have become the rule in the science fiction anthology. I cannot look upon writing such stories as a bad thing. Some very good work has appeared in theme anthologies. But such volumes might fairly be viewed as something of a constraint upon writers.

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