Orbit was a series of anthologies of new science fiction edited by Damon Knight, often featuring work by such writers as Gene Wolfe, Joanna Russ, R. A. Lafferty, and Kate Wilhelm.
The anthologies tended toward the avant-garde edge of science fiction, but by no means exclusively; occasionally the volumes featured nonfiction critical writing or humorous anecdotes by Knight.
21), Knight wrote: A series of original anthologies, like Fred Pohl's Star Science Fiction, if it had hardcover, paperback, and book-club editions, could easily pay its way.
I made up a proposal, called it Orbit more or less at random, and my agent sent it around ... Thomas A. Dardis, then editor-in-chief of Berkley, bought it, and we worked out the details.
My thesis was that there was no inherent reason why science fiction could not meet ordinary literary standards, but that the pulp tradition of forty years has enouraged ideas at the expense of writing skill.
It seemed to me that the only way to cure this was to set high standards at the beginning, even if it meant pubishing a lot of fantasy and marginal material because most hard-core s.f.
Algis Budrys praised Knight's skills as editor and critic but said that the compilation "represents science fiction well but not to any extraordinary extent", with no story "clearly and obviously the 'best' of anything".
Barry N. Malzberg wrote that the anthology "doesn't, somehow, seem to be at the same high level of ambition or accomplishment as the earlier volumes," but singled out "The Big Flash" for praise, declaring "The last pages of this story may be one of the strongest experiences available in modern American fiction.
[32] Spider Robinson dismissed the anthology as minor and disappointing, noting that most of the stories were "manifestly by newcomers, first sales or nearly so.