Today I begin my look at science fiction short stories from 1980, as presented in the anthology Donald A. Wollheim Presents The 1981 Annual World's Best SF, featuring the editor's picks from the previous year. 1980 was marked by two major ongoing news stories: the 1980 presidential election and the Iranian hostage crisis. I remember living at La Mancha Apartments back then, about three blocks from the University of Florida campus. Just before the contentious Florida Primary between Ronald Reagan and then-surging George Bush, Bush's son Neil gave a speech for his father at nearby Norman Hall. Putting down "Voodoo Economics" and the former California governor's politics in general, Neil did a pretty good job...but his dad lost the pivotal primary anyway and Reagan rode a surge of disaffection about the hostages and slumping economy to an easy November victory while picking his former primary opponent as his running mate. But back to those stories...here are my reactions to the first two...
VARIATION ON A THEME FROM BEETHOVEN by Sharon Webb
Humanity, through its advances in medical science in a future era, has conquered disease and aging, giving people their cherished dream of immortality. One catch, though: without the pressure of eventual death, the arts have suffered. The remedy is to take a tiny portion of the population from birth and take away the immortality treatments, allowing those few chosen to excel in their chosen field. A boy is selected and taken to a rural location where he can grow in music, with the company of others selected for their talents. They are given the option, though, at a certain time of deciding to return to immortality if they so with...the boy decides against what I would do, given the recent number of people I know who have died recently...
BEATNIK BAYOU by John Varley
Humanity has been exiled from Earth after an alien invasion...for generations the small remnant live within the moon, and their science has advanced tremendously, allowing for people to change their own sexes on whims...as well as their biological age...while living very long life spans. In this setting a young teenage boy receives his education through teachers who live alongside him, chronologically much older but whose bodies have been regressed to his level. This story plays a lot with your mind and what it means to be an individual with a specific identity. H-m-m, maybe life under the aliens wouldn't be so bad after I read about the moon society's capital punishment for what we would consider as minor crimes...
Next week: more about 1980 science fiction short stories...
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