THE BEST OF This new series features work by outstanding women science fiction writers, both well-known and unfairly neglected. Many of the stories in these individual volumes have never before been collected in book form, making each of these works valuable as an overview of the author’s best work. The first two volumes are: The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Best of Margaret St. Clair. MARGARET ST. CLAIR has been writing professionally since 1945. She is best known for her shorter science fiction and fantasy, much of the latter written under the pen name of Idris Seabright. She has a remarkably ironic sense of humor, and many of her stories have social or philosophical themes. As Rosemary Herbert points out in Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers, a story like “Short in the Chest” which features a “philosophical robot” psychologist called a “huxley,” “…is remarkable for its portrayal of women and its grappling with questions of sexuality.” St. Clair has written more than 130 short stories and eight novels. This new collection of her best short fiction consists mainly of stories never before available in book form. Readers will find her writing extremely polished and her perceptions unusually sharp