The Infinity Box is a collection of science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 stories by Kate Wilhelm

Kate Wilhelm

Kate Wilhelm is an American writer whose works include science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.- Career :Wilhelm was born in Toledo, Ohio....

, published in hardcover

Hardcover

A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...

 by Harper & Row in 1975. It was reprinted in paperback

Paperback

Paperback, softback or softcover describe and refer to a book by the nature of its binding. The covers of such books are usually made of paper or paperboard, and are usually held together with glue rather than stitches or staples...

 by Pocket Books

Pocket Books

Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...

 in 1976; a British edition was published by Arrow Books in 1979, and a French translation, Le Village, appeared in 1987. It placed ninth in the annual Locus Poll

Locus (magazine)

Locus, subtitled "The Magazine Of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field", is published monthly in Oakland, California. It reports on the science fiction and fantasy publishing field, including comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genre. It is considered the news organ and trade...

 for best story collection. Four of the nine stories were nominated for the Nebula Award

Nebula Award

The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...

.

Contents

• "Introduction"
• "The Infinity Box" [N] (Orbit 9 1971)
• "The Time Piece" (original)
• "The Red Canary" (Orbit 12 1973)
• "Man of Letters" (original)
• "April Fool’s Day Forever" [N] (Orbit 7 1970)
• "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?" (Quark/3
  Quark/3
  Quark/3 is a 1971 anthology of short stories and poetry edited by Samuel R. Delany and Marilyn Hacker. It is the third volume in the Quark series. The stories and poems are original to this anthology.-Contents:* Continuous Landscape, by Donald Simpson...
  
  1971)
• "The Fusion Bomb"· (Orbit 10 1972)
• "The Village
  The Village (short story)
  "The Village" is a science fiction short story by Kate Wilhelm. It was first published in the 1973 anthology Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings edited by Thomas M. Disch...
  
  " [N] (Bad Moon Rising
  Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings
  Bad Moon Rising: An Anthology of Political Forebodings was a science fiction short story anthology edited by Thomas M. Disch, published in 1973. The title is taken from the 1969 song Bad Moon Rising by the folk band Creedence Clearwater Revival....
  
   1973)
• "The Funeral" [N] (Again, Dangerous Visions
  Again, Dangerous Visions
  Again, Dangerous Visions is the sequel to the science fiction short story anthology Dangerous Visions, first published in 1972. It was edited by Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Ed Emshwiller....
  
  1972)

[N] designates Nebula-nominate stories.

Reception

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson

Spider Robinson is an American-born Canadian Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction author.- Biography :Born in the Bronx, New York City, Robinson attended Catholic high school, spending his junior year in a seminary, followed by two years in a Catholic college, and five years at the State...

 declared that Wilhelm "is one of the best practitioners of the short story in or out of sf" and rated all but one of the stories as "thoroughly satisfying, some of them superb." The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

described the book as a "collection of innovative short stories."