Andrew Liptak

Cyril Kornbluth, Chester Cohen, John B. Michel, Robert A.W. Lowndes and Donald A. Wollheim, from left. (Photo by Jack Robins, Tarrytown, N.Y., July 1939.)

One of the interesting things that I came across recently was the story of the Futurians at the 1st WorldCon in 1939. The Futurians were a legendary group of fans – quite a few notable authors came out of their ranks over the years, and it looked like an interesting story, one that was far more complicated than I thought.

Fandom is really an artificially constructed thing – Gernsback helped jumpstart it alongside his magazines with his Science Fiction League clubs around the US, probably recognizing that if you keep your readers engaged, you’ll have a more reliable cash flow. Would fandom have emerged on its own, without those clubs? Maybe, but I’d bet that it helped define the identify of a science fiction fan far earlier, and from what I’ve seen, you really don’t have the same communities in other genres (although that’s just from my own observation, rather than any actual research.

I’ll admit, I have a bit of an ax to grind with this piece: the fan community can be infuriatingly annoying at times. It doesn’t matter if it’s amongst book reviewers, 501st members, authors, literature fans, movie fans, or any other community, there’s always drama. And, it looks like there’s always been drama. It’s something that I’m a bit tired of, and I’m beginning to just ignore people who are drama-prone in my own life. It’s a bit liberating, but isolating, at times.

Go read The Futurians and the 1939 World Science Fiction Convention here.

The Futurians, Damon Knight. This is probably the best place to go to read about the Futurians, written by one of their members. It’s certainly one-sided, but it’s an interesting read.
The Immortal Storm, Sam Moskowitz. This is an exhaustive, egotistical and defensive book, and I wonder if Moskowitz had some lingering resentment about the event. This book is a fairly exhaustive (and it’s utterly exhausting to read) look at fandom. I found myself very disheartened by what I read here: it’s a petty survey, but it does contain quite a bit of information about the early days.
Basement and Empire series, Frederik Pohl. Pohl talks a bit about early fandom in this series of blog posts for his website, The Way the Future Blogs. These, and the rest of his website, are a very, very interesting read.
The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, Frederik Pohl. Polh’s biography is a neat who’s who of the early science fiction days, but he doesn’t go into much detail about the events of the 1939 convention, simply noting that it happened, and who was involved.

One of the things that I’ve found distinctly interesting about the Golden Age of SF is how the authors shape the field that they’re in, but also how much one can extrapolate a larger picture out of an author’s life. An excellent example of this is Judith Merril, through whom one can find an excellent viewpoint of the shifts in publishing, as well as a number of similarly-high-profiled authors writing at the same time. This is the first of probably a couple of posts about Merril – her career as a whole will likely require more space. Indeed, the Futurians themselves warrant a couple of posts of their own.

Merril was an interesting author to research. I remember reading some of her short fiction when I was in high school (Including, I *think* ‘Only A Mother’), and rediscovering her was a rewarding process. Frustratingly, most of my usual sourses really didn’t examine Merril’s contributions to the field, or did so in passing. However, there are some very good sources on her that I was able to draw upon.

Go Read The Connections of Judith Merril over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:
Judith Merril, 74, Science Fiction Editor and Writer, Gerald Jonas. This is Merril’s obituary, and provided a good snapshot of her life.

Better to Have Loved: the Life of Judith Merril, Judith Merril & Emily Pohl-Weary. This autobiography is a fantastic look at the life of Merril, as well as an excellent source for reading up on the Furturians, the Golden Age and a wide smattering of authors. It’s a little scattered at points, but there’s a great number of letters, recollections and sections about her early life.

The Way the Future Was, Frederik Pohl. Pohl’s autobiography doesn’t discuss Merril in great depth, but it does mention her frequently and provide some good context for her work in the early 1950s.

The Futurians: The Story of the Great Science Fiction ‘Family’ of the 30′s that Produced Today’s Top SF Writers and Editors, Damon Knight. Knight was one of the Futurians, and the book is a good, personal look at the rise and fall of the group, and Merril shows up quite a bit.

I came across an interesting tidbit a while ago, while reading something about Robert Heinlein: he served as a researcher during World War II, alongside fellow SF authors Isaac Asimov and L Sprague de Camp. It’s a neat intersection, and while their experiences don’t yield any major works or revelations to the science fiction field, it does demonstrate the real inter-connectivity between authors working in the field.

At the NAES, Asimov, Heinlein and de Camp all worked on various experimental projects, working in the high-tech, cutting edge of R&D that’s so often portrayed in the genre at the time. It’s a neat story, one that tells quite a bit about each of the authors.

Read Asimov, de Camp and Heinlein at the Naval Air Experimental Station over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources used:

I, Asimov, Isaac Asimov: this autobiography is an interesting one, and it’s still just as smug and self-deprecating as his other one that I’ve read, It’s Been A Good Life, but this one has quite a bit more when it comes to information.

It’s Been A Good Life, Isaac Asimov: this is a bit redundant, but it’s a decent, if annoying read on Asimov’s life. The man really was a bit of a twit.

Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century, Volume 1 (1907-1948), William Patterson: This biography is astonishingly good, and incredibly detailed and dense with information. Patterson does an excellent job getting Heinlein’s life (the first part!), in day by day detail.

Time and Change: An Autobiography: L Sprague de Camp: This autobiography from de Camp is an excellent one. Rich in detail, lacking the ego, and generally provides an excellent look at who de Camp was.

I came across something interesting in the last couple of years: The best of the Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back, was written by a longtime SF author, Leigh Brackett, who had written the film’s first draft before passing away. When I had been writing about C.L. Moore, I came across her name again, and because I’ve been wanting to look more closely at the women in the Golden Age of SF, there was no brainer: I had to look her up. Beyond Star Wars, she had a wealth of SF and Mystery novels and short stories on her resume, and was someone who really continued the planetary romance genre forward.

Go Read Leigh Brackett’s Planetary Romances over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here’s the sources that I used:

American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels, 1953-1956, edited by Gary K. Wolfe: This is part of an impressive collection of stories put together by the Library of America series. Brackett’s story, The Long Tomorrow is included, along with several other really awesome stories from the 1950s. At the back of the book, and linked here, is a short, biographical sketch.
Leigh Brackett: American Writer, by John L. Carr: This short booklet was a fantastic source of knowledge on Brackett and her life. It’s a bit disorganized at points, but it has a lot of information on her career and some analysis on her works.
Interview with Leigh Brackett, Experiences as a Writer, Youngtown State University Oral History Program by Juanita Rocerick and Hugh G. Ernhart: This was a cool thing to come across: an interview with Brackett, one that covers much of her life and her works. I have a feeling that a lot of the information that we know about her comes from this interview.
Leigh Brackett — An Audio Interview, by Tony Macklin: Reading an interview is cool, but listening to one is just as interesting. Brackett talks at length here about her works and life.

If I had to point to any one author that influenced my early years of science fiction, there’s no contest: Isaac Asimov is it. I practically lived in my high school library, which was well stocked with a wide range of Asimov stories. I distinctly remember borrowing, reading and re-reading I, Robot, and scouring anthologies for other stories of his. As a result, I’ve always had a fascination and appreciation for Asimov’s works. He’s certainly not without his flaws: reading Caves of Steel for the first time now reveals much about his writing style. But, it lends itself to a certain charm. When I covered John W. Campbell, I knew it would be a matter of time before I reached Asimov, and looking at his career through his Three Laws of Robotics proved to be an excellent trip down memory lane.

Go read Isaac Asimov and the 3 Laws of Robotics over on Kirkus Reviews

Sources used:

Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov: I purchased an omnibus copy of Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun at Boskone recently, and I’ve been reading through it, enjoying it. I wish that I’d picked it up as a teenager: I think I would have enjoyed it then, but I’m certainly enjoying it now.

I, Robot, Isaac Asimov: One thing that I hadn’t realized when I first read the book was that the stories had been edited and fixed up a bit to fit into a single story, composed of a bunch of short stories. This was helpful while I worked on piecing together the timeline of Asimov’s Robot stories.

It’s Been A Good Life, Isaac Asimov: A condensed version of Isaac Asimov’s 3 volume autobiography. I read this years ago, and re-reading it now, all that I can say is: holy hell, that man has an ego. This particular book isn’t all that useful: it’s edited down and very brief. I’ll need to look up his longer work before I do more with him.

Robot Visions, Isaac Asimov: This collection of Robot stories contains a favored story: The Bicentennial Man. I might be one of the only people to enjoy the film, and the story is fantastic. This particular volume is helpful for its introduction.

Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 1 & 2, Frank Magill: Magill has come through time and time again, this time, for the entries on I, Robot and Caves of Steel. The entries aren’t as helpful as some of the others, but they do shed some good light on the subject.

The Way the Future Was, Frederik Pohl: Frederik Pohl’s autobiography sees Asimov appear several times, which makes sense, given that Asimov published several stories with Pohl’s publications (although he was published with Campbell’s publications more often.)

Brave New Worlds, Jeff Prucher: This wonderful book is a dictionary of science fiction words, and was helpful when it came to looking up the roots of the words for Robot and Robotics.

The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts: Roberts has a fantastic section on Asimov, split between his Foundation and Robot series, with a good look at the philosophy behind the stories.

Last year, I largely covered the formation of the Science Fiction genre, going from some of the notable early authors, and running up to the pulp era. There’s a lot that I haven’t covered, and at some point, I’m going to be going back and filling in some of the holes behind me. There’s an enormous number of authors and editors out there, and there’s always going to be new things to add and explore.

I’d intended to go right from Gernsback to John W. Campbell Jr., but took a detour through some of the pulp authors, such as Edgar Rice Burroughs, E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith and C.L. Moore. Now, we’re set up the Golden Age of SF, which a lot of people feel begin with John Campbell Jr.’s work at Astounding Magazine, which is this week’s topic over at Kirkus Reviews. He was a pretty fascinating character, and one who wielded enormous influence on the genre.

Go read John Campbell Jr., Astounding Magazine and the Golden Age over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here’s the sources that I referenced for this post:

A Requiem for Astounding, Alva Rogers: This book is an excellent resource on the history of Astounding Magazine, and was invaluable for helping me set up and figure out what happened at Astounding prior to Campbell’s hiring, as well as what he did right after he began.

The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, Frederik Pohl: I love how I got this book. I went to Barnes and Noble to buy a gift card from someone, and this book was sitting on top of the used book table at the front door. Pohl is an excellent author, and it’s worth checking out his blog as well. He recounts several meetings with Campbell here, which was very useful in understanding how the man worked.

Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss: One of my usual sources, Aldiss has an excellent section on Campbell’s influence and time at Astounding Magazine.

The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts: Another usual source, Roberts doesn’t really devote as much time to Campbell, but he does highlight the man’s legacy and the authors that he worked with at the magazine.

Ages of Wonders: Exploring the World of Science Fiction, David G. Hartwell: I came across this book at ReaderCon: Hartwell signed the copy for me after I bought it. This looks to be a really interesting book, and Campbell pops up a couple of times here, with some good information on how he worked and a bit about his influence, which was very helpful.

It’s Been A Good Life, Isaac Asimov & Janet Jeppson Asimov: Asimov wrote a number of biographies: this is one of the shorter ones. It’s a good thumbnail of his life, very readable and well-rehersed. There’s a good section on Asimov’s first meetings with Campbell.

Robert A. Heinlein: Learning Curve 1907-1948, William H. Patterson, Jr.: This is an exhaustive volume on part of Heinlein’s life, one where Campbell pops up quite a bit. I didn’t use this source as much, but there were some very good parts that talked about Heinlein and Campbell’s dealing.

Collected Editorials from Analog, John Campbell Jr. and Harry Harrison: This is a free download from Archive.org, and it’s an interesting read. Harrison has some good biographical elements in his introduction, but there’s also an invaluable thing here: Campbell’s own words. I tell you, primary sources are the best.