YA SF anthology

[jazzfish]

I'm looking for a YA SF anthology that I read in (US) elementary school in the late-eighties, though it felt kind of dated even at the time. (Likely published late-seventies or early-eighties.) Of the stories I can remember:

- One was about a post-apocalyptic city, with the not-too-bright protagonist (a mutant) being chased by a group of normal people. The story ended with the protagonist trapped atop a tower with the chasers coming up after him, so he jumped out of a window, and the last lines were "I can fly! I can fly!"

- One was about a kid whose father had invented a sort of time machine: it shows you what your life will be like if you make certain choices. The kid snuck in to try out the machine to see what his life would be like as a football player, and then a couple of other career options. It ended with him getting a talking-to from his father, and then deciding that he wanted to be a scientist.

- This may have been the book that included a story about an alien who goes to an all-you-can-eat buffet and eats all the food they have, teleporting it back to his starving home planet, and in exchange gives the Earth all kinds of scientific knowledge, but leaving the buffet owner broke.

- The last story in the book was about a teenager whose parents had just died in a car crash, and a kid from the middle ages turns up claiming that they're his parents too... they're time-travellers, who go around having kids who will grow up to be world-changing.

Thanks!

Comments

[conuly]

Do you mind if I crosspost this elsewhere?

[jazzfish]

Please do, as long as you report back with any answer you get!

[conuly]

Fingers crossed!

https://old.reddit.com/r/whatsthatbook/comments/e8yhpr/looking_for_a_ya_sf_anthology_read_in_us/

[fred_mouse]

I recognise the description of the third story, but not the other three, suggesting that it wasn't in the same book. There is a slim chance I can find that one by poking through my collection, but I suspect I read it in a library book.

[fred_mouse]

I've done a bit of trawling through my catalogue. Likely suspects are collections by Margaret Mahy and Nicholas Fisk, and anthologies by Mary Danby, Christine Bernard, and Richard Davis. The latter three all contributed to series of horror/sf/fantasy anthologies for children, so checking out those series might also be useful.

[jazzfish]

Thank you! I'll take a look, hopefully later this week.

[fred_mouse]

I've looked through the handful of likely suspects on my shelf, with no luck. So, not "Sweets from a Stranger" by Fisk, and some others which I wasn't smart enough to note down before I reshelved them.

[ironed_orchid]

The first one made me think of Nicholas Fisk.

[fred_mouse]

The third story is "All you can eat" by Audrey L. Bilker and Harvey L. Bilker, details of the anthology "Children of Infinity" that it was included in are at http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?68025. You can get a story listing for the anthology from that page, but I don't recognise any of the others.

[fred_mouse]

I'm having a lovely time reading about time travel short stories, as I see what I can find for #2 or #4.

Stackexchange has a query that looks like #2 and might help - not only does it have the title, but also some suggestions on how to find which publication you are after, as it looks like it was reprinted a lot. Link:
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/147194/time-travel-story-from-text-book-where-a-boy-explores-possible-futures

Unfortunately, the listing at isfdb only has it in one book, where it is the last one - see http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?31505