The Influential Pulp Career of Francis Stevens

Over the course of writing this column for Kirkus Reviews, I've found that the early women authors writing in the genre were some of the most influential, producing some incredible stories over their careers. I've looked at quite a few who were incredibly influential: Margaret St. Clair, Judith Merrill, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, and Mary Shelley. This week, we finally get to the woman who was considered one of the very first professionals in the pulp field: Gertrude Barrows Bennett, who wrote under the name Francis Stevens. She only wrote for a couple of years, but proved to be an incredible influence on the authors who followed her.

Go read The Influential Pulp Career of Francis Stevens over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965, Eric Leif Davin - Stevens' active publishing period falls before this time, but she does get some good mentions throughout this book, which poists that discrimination in the SF world wasn't entirely accurate on an industry level, which runs counter to current perceptions of SF's roots. It's an interesting theory, one which he breaks down quite a bit. Under the Moons of Mars: A History and Anthology of the "Science Romance in the Munsey Magazines, 1912-1920, Sam Moskowitz - This is a fantastic hybrid of anthology and history. Moskowitz is to be handled with care, but in this instance, he seems to be mostly accurate (he does continue the idea that Augusust Swift was H.P. Lovecraft - he wasn't), but presents a nice history of the Munsey Magazines along with some solid biographical information on Stevens. American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps, edited by Peter Straub - Like all other Library of America volumes, this contains a short, updated biography, alongside her story Unseen-Unfeared. The Nightmare, and Other Tales of Dark Fantasy, edited by Francis Stevens, Gary Hoppenstand - You can read the introduction here, and it's an interesting read with some good biographical points about Bennett/Stevens and her life that don't show up in many other places. Stevens, Francis, SF Encyclopedia - There's a short entry on Stevens here, with some notes about her impact.

The Unauthorized Lord of the Rings

I bought my first copy of The Hobbit at a library sale in Quechee, VT when I was a kid. At the time, I remember noticing that the cover was graced with an 'The Authorized Edition', and it's been something that I've noticed over the years. A couple of months ago, I wrote a column on Ace Books and their double novels, and came across the reason for the words: Ace had published an unauthorized version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, citing a publishing loophole and sparking a publishing row that had some pretty profound implications on the fantasy publishing field.

There's the common narrative that the book was stolen outright, but digging a little deeper finds that there's quite a bit more to the story than Ace's edition.

Go read The Unauthorized Lord of the Rings over on Kirkus Reviews.

• Trillion Year Spree, Brian W. Aldiss - Aldiss recounts this incident briefly, and notes that the impact that it had on fantasy: that it generally heightened the profile of the fantasy trilogy.
• J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, Humphrey Carpenter - Carpenter's biography comes out of Tolkien's camp, and it's understandably tilted more towards Tolkien's views of how this happened, but it does provide some good details as to what his reactions and motivations where here.
• J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography, Wayne Hammond and Douglas A. Anderson - This book is a detailed look at the publication history of Tolkien's works, and they provide a good look at the Ace and Ballantine editions.
• The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien - My recent copy of Fellowship of the Ring (the hardcover boxed set with art from Alan Lee) contains a note that talks a bit about the text of the books, including (but not naming Ace) and their editions.
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien - My 1966 edition of the Hobbit features the 'Authorized Edition' and a note from Tolkien in the back of the book.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text, Pat Reynolds - This site has some good additional information on the incident.
• Betsy Wollheim: The Family Trade, Locus - Wollheim's daughter, Betsy, now the president of DAW books has a couple of good quotes on just how her father came to the decision to publish his own version of Lord of the Rings.
• Donald Wollheim, Betsy Wollheim - Betsy was an invaluable help here, pointing me to her father's side of the argument, which was largely overlooked. She provided me with a copy of her essay about her father that provided some very helpful insights into his character and personality.
• Eisen, Durwood & Co., Inc. v. Tolkien: This is the 1993 court ruling that ruled on the legality of Wollheim's actions many years after this happened.
• ISFDB Bibliography - The Internet Speculative Fiction Database provides a comprehensive listing of the releases for Tolkien's books, along with dates, which was very helpful.

Book Sale: History of SF to Jurassic London

I'm very happy to announce that I've sold the rights to a book on SF History to British publisher Jurassic London! Since April 2012, I've been writing a column on the subject for Kirkus Reviews, which has been a fantastic experience thus far. Since starting with them, my end goal has always been to collect the columns together into a larger work, and Jared has been a vocal and enthusiastic proponent for it. (Seriously, he calls it required reading!)

I'm pretty thrilled to have this land here. I'm a big fan of the books that Jurassic London has put out, especially their short fiction anthologies: The Lowest Heaven was a fantastic read, and I'm eagerly getting ready to read their latest, Book of the Dead.

This book isn't going to be a collection of the columns, but they are going to form a bit of the backbone. My aim here is to look at the history of the genre and its relationship with the readers and authors, but also the relationship between society and technology. In my work with Kirkus, I've been trying to emphasize some of the important, but lesser known authors and editors working within the genre, and I'm hoping that it'll be a nice addition to some of the other popular works on SF history.

This is going to be Jurassic London's first foray into original non-fiction, and while we don't have a title for this book yet, we are aiming for an early 2015 release. Read their release here.

Tom Swift and the Stratemeyer Syndicate

I never read the Tom Swift novels as a kid; I was always more obsessed with the Hardy Boys series. Over the years, I've read bits and pieces about Edward Stratemeyer, the man who was behind the long-running book series, as well as those of Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins (a favorite of my mother's), The Rover Boys and Tom Swift. He conceived of a character, put together a formula, and had a freelancer ghost write the novel before editing it. The process has always fascinated me, but when it came to looking into his background, an entire segment of early science fiction comes to light: the Dime Store novels, which created entire subgenres in their own right. More than that, they carried with them some real kernels of thematic material which have since propagated far into the future, which surprised and delighted me.

Another fun fact? TASER isn't a word: it's an acronym that stands for Tom A Swift's Electric Rifle.

Go read Tom Swift and the Stratemeyer Syndicate over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here's the sources that I used:

• Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss - Aldiss talks about the edisonade stories briefly, noting the larger movement and announcing it as the first real American SF.
• Science Fiction: The Early Years, Richard Bleiler - This book contains some biographical information on Victor Appleton (Howard R. Garis), as well as plot summaries of a number of the Tom Swift books.
• Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, James Gunn - Gunn provides some small bits about Tom Swift here and there, which helped me connect the dots, but what's more interesting is how the character and juvenile fiction is largely overlooked.
• Science Fiction after 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon - This was a very interesting book that talked quite a bit about the early SF, especially when it comes to Dime novels and where Tom Swift fits into all this.
• Cultural History of Literature: Science Fiction, Robert Luckhurst - Luckhurst has some good contextual information on Tom Swift, mainly backing up Aldiss and Landon's texts.
• Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her, Melanie Rehak - This was a particularly good read when it came to Stratemeyer himself, recounting his early life and how he came to become a major publisher.
• Edisonade, John Clute - this article on the SF Encyclopedia is a good summary of Edisonade and an overview of some of its history.

America's First Fantasist: Washington Irving

A couple of years ago, I came across an article about Washington Irving that noted his campaign against the piracy of his works during the 1700s. Somewhere else, I came across a mention of how he used startlingly modern methods to help promote his book - posting notices in newspapers, in a clever campaign that helped make his first book a resounding success and helped to cement his status as America's first professional writer.

I've long enjoyed Irving's New York stories,and I love his Dutch Catskills (and the feeling of driving through them in the fall), someone who really helped bring fantastic literature to America, and bridged the gap between some of the earlier works of Gothic fiction into a new era and a new world.

Irving is someone I've wanted to write about for a while now, and with the release of Fox's latest television show, Sleepy Hollow, the time seems right. The show itself is pretty ridiculous, but over the top fun. But beyond the timing of a popular television show, he's an author that should be remembered, studied and read widely.

Go read America's First Fantasist: Washington Irving over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

The Original Knickerbocker: The life of Washington Irving, by Andrew Bernstein: I've had this book for a couple of years now, and I've read parts of it off and on. It's a dense, but very interesting biography on Irving, going into great detail on his life and work. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, volume 4, Frank N. Magill: This volume has a fantastic essay on Irving's short fiction and a good critical analysis of his work and how it fits into the fantastic canon. American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates: This is a fantastic anthology of Gothic fiction that I've been picking away at over the years. This book contains Irving's famous 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow', a good read for this time of the year. American Fantastic Tales, edited by Peter Straub: I've long been a fan of the Library of America's collections, and this volume (the first of two) contains a short blurb on Irving's life, as well as a story of his, 'The Adventures of a German Student', which is quite an interesting read.

The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine

When the fall arrives, I get into the mood for darker fiction, particularly H.P. Lovecraft. I've written about Lovecraft before, but I didn't quite realize how important the magazine was, despite its general flaws in quality, to the genre. Authors such as C.L. Moore, and quite a few others passed through its pages, and it's clear that it's a publication that's just as important as Astounding or Amazing Stories.

Go read The Troubled History of Weird Tales Magazine over on Kirkus Reviews. Sources Used:

The Time Machines: The Story of science-fiction pulp magazines from the beginning to 1950, Mike Ashley: Ashley's fairly comprehensive history touches on Weird Tales, and provided some excellent details on the operations of the magazine, in context with the rest of the pulp magazine market. Lovecraft: A Look Behind the 'Cthulhu Mythos', Lin Carter: Carter's book talks about Lovecraft's interactions with the magazine, which provided some crucial details. The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, Paul A. Carter: This book is another history of speculative fiction magazines, and it provided some good details and context on Weird Tales' place in the market. The Pulps, edited by Tony Goodstone: This is actually a neat anthology of stories from the pulp era, prefaced with a blurb about the magazines. Weird Tales has a whole section, along with stories from Tennessee Williams, Page Cooper, Frank Belknap Long Jr., Mary Elizabeth Counselman, Malcom Jameson, Virgil Finley, Clark Ashton Smith and H.P. Lovecraft. A Dreamer and a Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft in His Time, S. T. Josti: Another book on Lovecraft that shed some interesting details on Lovecraft's interactions with the magazine. The Man from Mars: Ray Palmer's Amazing Pulp Journey, Fred Nadis: This is a recent biography that talked a bit about Fransworth Wright, one of the major editors at the magazine. Conversations with the Weird Tales Circle, John Pelan: This astonishing book is a tome, with an impressive, excited survey of Weird Tales authors and editors (although interestingly, Dorothy McIlwraith is missing.) with a lot of primary source information. This was particularly helpful with Wright, but also with primary source impressions from the authors who wrote for the magazine. The Weird Tales Story, Robert E. Weinberg: This book is an exhuberant, editorialized history of the magazine, which helped put some of the major events into place.

The Fantastic Worlds of Lord Dunsany

It's fall, and I've been once again shifting from the usual topic of science fiction to horror and fantasy. Last year, I wrote about H.P. Lovecraft, and in my last column, I wrote about Robert E. Howard. As I've researched these guys, I continually came up with a common name: Lord Dunsany, and I've been looking to write about him and his works.

Dunsany's not an author that I'd come across before, and until I picked up a copy of The King of Elfland's Daughter I hadn't read or owned any of his works. Digging into his past helps to shine a real light on some of my own gaps in the fantasy side of my knowledge. He was an interesting, dramatic figure, intersecting with a number of other authors, and influencing a ton of others.

Go Read The Fantastic Worlds of Lord Dunsany on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss: Aldiss points to Dunsany's influence briefly here. Lord Dunsany: A Biography, Mark Amory: This is a detailed, somewhat dense biography of the author, going into great depth on his life. Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers, L. Sprauge de Camp: I've had some issues with de Camp's work at history, but this book has a decent section on Dunsany, which served as a good guide. The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany: My copy of Dunsany's well known book is an interesting read, but for these purposes, it has a very good quote from Lovecraft about the author. Lord Dunsany, S.L. Joshi and Darrell Scheitzer: Comprehensive bibliography that was helpful for figuring out the timing of some of Dunsany's books and stories. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature, Volumes 2 and 3, Frank Magill: These two volumes contain several detailed reviews of Dunsany's collections, novels and short fiction. Pathways to Elfland: The Writings of Lord Dunsany, Darrell Schweitzer: This book is a good literary analysis on Dunsany's works. The Hills of Far Away: A Guide to Fantasy, Diana Waggoner: Waggoner's book is a good overview of notable fantastic works, and this one served as a good guidepost.

Lord Dunsany also wrote a 3-volume autobiography, but sadly, I wasn't able to get a copy.

The Untimely Death of Robert E. Howard

Back in April, I had been doing some reading on the Lovecraft Circle, and came across an interesting fact about one of the authors, Robert Howard. At the age of 30, he killed himself upon learning that his mother was in a coma and would never wake up again. It was interesting, because before that time, he had created a couple of well known characters, namely, Conan the Conqueror one of the pulp era's defining heroes. A couple of weeks ago, I came across one of his more Lovecraftian stories, The Black Stone, and was reminded of his short life and influence. Beyond just Conan, he helped to influence an entire subgenre of fantasy, Sword and Sorcery.

Go read The Untimely Death of Robert E. Howard over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

• The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction Paperback, Paul Allen Carter. This source had mentioned Howard at points, but what was really helpful was some information about Weird Tale's cover artist, and the general (split) attitudes towards Howard's stories and the artwork that accompanied them.
• Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard, by L. Sprague de Camp. This is the first definitive biography of Howard, although I've been told that there's points where it's to be taken with a grain of salt. There's some factual information that's apparently wrong, and de Camp spents a lot of time speculating on Howard's psyche, chiefly towards his sexuality and the role in which his mother played in his life. I'm sure there's some Freudian things going on here, but I don't know how much to buy it completely.
• American Fantastic Tales, Poe to the Pulps, edited by Peter Straub. As with other Library of America books, there's a short bio about Howard, as well as his story, The Black Stone.
• Echoes of Valor II, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. This anthology contains both fiction and some lengthly introductions. This particular one has some good information on Howard's stories.

Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers & The Cold War

I make it no secret that I really enjoy Military Science Fiction. It's been on my mind lately, as I'm in the middle of preparing an anthology of Military SF stories for launch. When I was in college, I studied History and eventually earned my master's in Military History, and I've found that the sub genre has been an interesting place to read and rant about.

Starship Troopers, for all of its issues, remains a favorite story of mine, and as I've been reading a number of stories from new authors about warfare, I was interested in seeing where the modern sub genre came from. Unsurprisingly, it's the product of both the 2nd World War, the Cold War and the style of American politics that emerged from that era.

I think that it would be safe to say that Starship Troopers and Heinlein have rather poor reputations at the moment within certain circles of SF Fandom. The very nature of war is very decisive, and Heinlein's novel has been the center of criticism since its publication. I don't want to defend the novel against those criticisms: it certainly deserves them. However, I think that it's an important novel to read at least once: if anything, it's an interesting take on what motivates a large number of people. Examination of one's motivations, even if they don't line up with one's own politics, I think is a good thought exercise.

Regardless of the politics, I've found Starship Troopers a novel that holds up rather well when it comes to military hardware and action. It's an exciting, over the top and straight-up read.

Go read Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers & The Cold War over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

• Trillion Year Spree, by Brian Aldiss: Aldiss doesn't have much good to say about Starship Troopers, but his opinion is a good representation of the book's reception.
• Grumbles from Beyond the Grave, edited by Virginia Heinlein: A collection of letters from Heinlein to his agent were particularly helpful here, especially with his motivations for publishing the book.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 5, edited by Frank Magill: This volume contains an excellent review and summary of Starship Troopers.
• Seekers of Tomorrow, by Sam Moskowitz: Moskowitz talks at length about Heinlein's life. As always with Moskowitz, handle with care.
• Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue With His Century, by William H. Patterson Jr.: This book is a fantastic biography on the man, and sadly, wasn't entirely helpful when it came to Starship Troopers: volume 2, which should be out at the end of this year or sometime next year, will likely cover this period of Heinlein's life in more detail. However, this one was helpful in the pre-1948 years.
• The History of Science Fiction, by Adam Roberts: Like Aldiss, Roberts doesn't have much to say, but it's interesting to see the updated critical reaction to the novel and some of the philosophical underpinning.
• American Science Fiction and the Cold War: Literature and Film, by David Seed: This book has some good references to the novel and its historical context.
• Fights of Fancy: Armed Conflict in Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by George Slusser and Eric Rabkin: For a book examining Warfare in Science Fiction, this collection only has Starship Troopers mentioned three times. Still, it's an interesting read, although it was marginally helpful here.

Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, Space Merchants

Earlier this week, Grandmaster Frederik Pohl passed away at the age of 93. He's the last of a major generation in the genre, and was a legendary contributor to science fiction from every possible direction. It's a great loss for Science Fiction.

I'd been wanting to write about Pohl and Kornbluth's novel The Space Merchants ever since I picked up the book a couple of years ago. I blew through it, and loved every word - it, for the most part, holds up just as well in 2013 as it seems to have back in 1953.

Go read Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth, Space Merchants over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources used:

• Trillion Year Spree: Brian Aldiss: Aldiss's work has some good contextual information in brief about The Space Merchants, its publication and its reception.
• New Maps of Hell, Kingsley Amis: Amis writes that TSM is one of the best SF novels written to date, and talks a bit about the story in his genre survey.
• Science Fiction Writers: Second Edition, Richard Bleiler: This book has a good overview of C.M. Kornbluth's life, and it helped me fill in some details about his participation.
• 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: This book focuses on the Futurians as a whole, and there's some good details about these two authors here.
• The Way the Future Was, Frederik Pohl: When in doubt, primary sources are good, and Pohl talks extensively about the subject here.
• The Way the Future Blogs, Frederik Pohl: Pohl's blog provided some good information on his military service, and a bit on Kornbluth.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, Frank Magill: This volume provides a good summary and critical review of TSM.
• The Faces of Science Fiction, Patti Perret: I've been waiting to use this book: it's a photography book about SF authors, and I found Pohl's quite particularly enlightening.
• American Science Fiction: Four Classic Novels, 1953-1956, edited by Gary K. Wolfe: And, of course, the source book. The LOA books also provide an excellent biographical thumbnail.

Donald Wollheim and the Ace Double Novel

In my last Kirkus column, I took a look at A.E. van Vogt, and talked a little about how authors in the 1950s began to adapt to changes in the publishing industry. By 1952, the publishing industry had shifted to paperback novels. One of the more memorable types of publication was Ace Books with their double novel series, which paired up two short novels in a single book. Futurian founder Donald Wollheim was behind this move, and helped to cement science fiction literature in the new paperback field.

Go read Donald Wollheim and the Ace Double Novel over on Kirkus Reviews!

Sources Used

• Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss. This book has some good information on the state of the publishing industry during the 1950s and 1960s, which helped with the background of this piece.
• Double Your Pleasure: The Ace SF Double, James A. Corrick. This short pamphlet is a source that provided quite a few good details on the history of the Double novel series, from beginning to end. It's not terribly well organized or written, but it's an interesting source that provides some good data.
• 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. This title certainly fits the description here: Wollheim, a founding member of the Futurians, was behind the Double novels, and this book recounts some of the minutia and problems that Ace faced.
• John Brunner (Modern Masters of Science Fiction), Jad Smith. This book is a new volume on John Brunner, and details some of his experiences behind the double novel series.

A.E. van Vogt and the Fix-Up Novel

In the mid-50s, there was some major changes going on in the publishing industry: readership for pulps and magazines were declining, and it was rising for novels. Authors had an interesting way to respond to this: take a couple of existing stories, rewrite bits and package them as a novel. A.E. van Vogt actually coined a term for this: We call it a 'fix-up' novel, and a number of authors throughout the 50s (and to a lesser extent, to the present day) engaged in this practice as dedicated novel chains were founded. (More on that soon).

van Vogt is an interesting case here. I remember reading a bunch of his stories when I was in high school, and revisited Voyage of the Space Beagle a couple of years ago. It wasn't really my thing, but it was entertaining and fairly TV-like in structure.

Go read A.E. van Vogt and the Fix-Up novel over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources Used:

• Science Fiction Writers, Second Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. This volume provides a decent biographical sketch of the van Vogt.
• Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerald Jones: This book provided a couple of key details on the nature of the early magazine culture.
• It's a Fix-Up, David Langford: This essay by Langford provided a really neat nugget: van Vogt was the one who coined the term 'Fix-Up', and pointed me to the connection between the novel and the film Alien.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 5, edited by Frank Magill. There's a good critical review of Voyage of the Space Beagle in this volume.
• Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz. Moskowitz's book is to be handled carefully, but the entry on Van Vogt provides some good information on his earlier works and introduction to the science fiction world.
• Brave New Worlds: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction, edited by Jeff Prucher. This provided the definition for the 'fix-up' novel.
• The History of Science Fiction,  by Adam Roberts: van Vogt gets a brief mention in Robert's book, but it provides a good look into his critical reception.
• A Requiem for Astounding, Alva Rogers: This book is a good look at van Vogt's story placement in Astounding - 3/4s of the stories in VOTSB were first published there.

The Elusive Margaret St. Clair

Science Fiction has a reputation as being the boy's club, where all the major names, such as Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke get a majority of the credit for the development and direction of the genre as a literary movement. It's unfortunate, because that's not the full story, and it means that there's a lot of other authors out there that really don't get the credit that they deserve.

Margaret St. Clair is one of those authors, and she's someone who's name I've seen come up a lot as I've researched this column. Unfortunately, there's not a lot known about her life: just her numerous stories that were published throughout the 1950s and 1960s. I'm not sure why she's not as well known as others, despite the higher quality of her stories.

Go read The Elusive Margaret St. Clair on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

• Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965, Eric Leif Davin: This was a fantastic resource to use, and an interesting book about women in science fiction. He's working under the thesis that women's writing in the genre wasn't actively suppressed, and makes a compelling argument to back it up. It's an interesting side of the issue, for sure, with lots on St. Clair.
• Change the Sky and Other Stories, Margaret St. Clair: There's a short introduction here from
• The Best of Margaret St. Clair, Margaret St. Clair: This collection of her stories is a great compilation of her fictional works. No introduction or other non-fiction, but some great stories.
• Women of Wonder: The Classic Years, Pamela Sargent: This anthology has a great introduction from Sargent about the state of women authors in the early SF field, with some good comments about St. Clair and her life.
• Margaret St. Clair Part 1 and Part 2: These two blog posts that came up provided some interesting details that helped fill in some gaps about her life.
• St. Clair, Margaret: This SF Encyclopedia entry has a good blurb on her.

The Ignition Point of Ray Bradbury

Yesterday, my latest column for Kirkus Reviews went up online, something that I've been wanting to write about for a while now. Because my research into a couple of other authors has been bumped back while I search out materials, my look at Fahrenheit 451 has been bumped up. Given the holiday and the temperature lately, it seems appropriate.

A bit on methodology. While the column runs every two weeks, there is a constant state of research going on. I've started with a rough timeline of what I'd like to write about, scheduling an A and B post for each month. (C, when I can get one, such as with Jack Vance.) This timeline is put together alongside a couple of resources that I've got: a fantastic map of the history of science fiction (Which you can see / purchase here.) It helps me put things into context. In addition to that, I've reach Adam Robert's History of Science Fiction, which provides a broad structure of how SF history played out. Finally, I've been working to make the column self-reinforcing. The entire genre is a mess of personal connections: Ray Bradbury was friends with Leigh Brackett, who was friends with C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner. Bradbury sold The Fireman to H.L. Gold, who also published Alfred Bester's novels, and so forth. In many ways, this sort of history shows the rich bonds and community in which the genre is known for, not just among professionals, which makes this a fairly unique case.

Once a subject is selected, I begin to find out what's written about them: wiki articles (as a jumping off point, not a source), biographies, autobiographies, scholarly works, references in SF-nonfiction. I'll order a handful of books from my local university library's inter-library loan program (or will find some on their shelves - The Kreitzburg Library has a fairly good collection of SF nonfiction.) before pulling all of the books of my shelf and going through the indexes, looking for references to my subject. I'll label them, and begin reading, taking notes and writing at the same time. Generally, this is where I find the theme and importance of an author (especially if I'm not overly familiar with them or their works), and over a draft or two, I'll improve it before doing a line by line edit, formatting titles and inserting hyperlinks to prior posts. Once that's done, off it goes to my editor!

I have to say, it's the best damn thing that I do for money right now.

Back to Fahrenheit 451. As noted in the column, this is one of my absolute favorite novels of all time, and I've been wanting to write about it for a long time. This is an interesting novel, because it doesn't conform to the usual: author sits down, writes story model that most follow. It started as one story, merged with another, got published, got expanded, had other things added onto it, and then onto bookshelves. It's an important work, and I've found that its backstory makes it even more so.

Go read The Ignition Point of Ray Bradbury over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources used:

• Conversations with Ray Bradbury, edited by Steven L. Aggelis. When it comes to sources, you can't get better than the author's own words, and this book of interviews is a bit of a rarity, because there's a lot of great information in it about this book.
• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury. I used a 2001 edition of this novel, because it contains a particularly good forward from Bradbury that recounts some of the major influences that brought the story onto the page.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol. 2, Frank Magill. This book contains a good critical review of Bradbury's novel, and it helped to put some of the influences into context.
• Ray Bradbury, ISFDB. This entry in the Internet Science Fiction Database is an excellent bibliographical source that helped put some of the publication dates into order.

A Brief History of the Dystopian Novel

Lists are hard to do well. There's always too many entries, too much to say, and too short a space. For a while now, I've been wanting to do a survey of some of the notable dystopian stories, and following the news of Edward Snowden's leak of classified NSA program information, it seems like a good time to take a look at some of the notable works where government overreaches. It's fitting, as 1984 has enjoyed considerable success in the last couple of weeks.

This list was originally twice as long: I had to cut down a number of great reads to make this fit.

Go read A Brief History of the Dystopian Novel on Kirkus Reviews.

Here's the sources that I used:

Brave New Worlds, edited by John Joseph Adams: in addition to being an entry in and of itself, there's a fantastic reading list and great introduction that helps put things into perspective.

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley: I have the Harper Perennial Classics edition of this book, which has some fantastic end notes that shed some light on the genesis of the novel.

Red Planets, by Mark Bould and China Mieville: This was an interesting, helpful read on socialism and science fiction. The pair seem to intersect quite a bit in the early days.

Survey of Science Fiction Literature, Frank Magill, Vols 1-5: This was a really helpful series to look into, because of the summaries and analysis of most of the books on the list (some of the most recent novels came after it was published.) These not only helped to brush me up on the books, but help me figure out what they were arguing and how they fit in with one another.

The History of Science Fiction, by Adam Roberts: This is a usual source of knowledge, and it was particularly helpful with some interesting information on a bunch of the books featured.

The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells: This is one of the early classics of SF, and the Penguin Classics edition has a good introduction and some biographical notes.

We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin: I read this book earlier this year, and really enjoyed it. There's some great notes in the Penguin Classics edition that provide a lot of background information on Zamyatin's life and his writings.

Changing the Playing Field: H.L. Gold & Galaxy Science Fiction

One of the things that I've really loved about this column is getting a sense of how connected everyone was. Truly, everyone seemed to know one another, even as small groups formed around certain editors. A case in point, over the last couple of columns, I've been looking at the Golden Age of SF, which is generally regarded as beginning with John W. Campbell Jr.'s rein at Astounding. Campbell's star was bright and enduring, but it lost its innovative edge. H.L. Gold, I think, deserves more attention for his role during the Golden Age, as his magazine Galaxy Science Fiction provided some of the genre's most enduring classics.

Go read Changing the Playing Field: H.L. Gold & Galaxy Science Fiction over on Kirkus Reviews!

Here's my sources for this post:

• Alternate Worlds, James Gunn: Gunn's book has a particularly good section on Galaxy and Gold's influence during the Golden Age of SF.
• A Pictorial History of Science Fiction, David Kyle: This book has an excellent analysis of the importance of Gold and his work at Galaxy, giving me some very good information on how he impacted the genre.
• New Maps of Hell, Kingsley Amis: Amis provides some good information about Galaxy and Gold.
• Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss: Galaxy gets a brief mention here, chiefly in context of Alfred Bester.
• Seekers of Tomorrow, Sam Moskowitz: Moskowitz provides some good early biographical information on the beginnings of Galaxy Magazine, and Gold's involvement with various authors.
• The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, Frederik Pohl: Pohl took over for Gold in 1961, and this book details his dealings with the man, as well as Gold's final days in the editor's chair.
• The Futurians, Damon Knight: Knight provides some good information about Gold here.
• Science Fiction of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History, Frank M. Robinson: Robinson has a good, important section on the influence of Galaxy Magazine.
• The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, Paul A. Carter: Carter details some great information on Gold and his work at Galaxy Magazine.
• H.L. Gold Wikipedia Entry: I almost never use Wikipedia as a primary source, but in this instance, there were references to a source that I would have otherwise used, but didn't have, which helped provide some good biographical information on Gold.
• Horace Gold Britannica Entry: This entry provides some good biographical information on Gold's life that I didn't find anywhere else.

Jack Vance: Inventor of Worlds

Earlier this week, SF Grandmaster Jack Vance passed away at the age of 96. His writing career lasted over six decades, and he's known for his fantastic worldbuilding in addition to his enormous volume of works.

Vance wasn't an author I came across often as a kid - looking back through my anthologies this week, I found only a handful of stories, but the one that stuck out in my mind was 'The Moon Moth', collected in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume IIB. Reading up on his life, I found that most of my usual sources mentioned him sparingly - often in the context of his first great work, The Dying Earth. At other times, it seems as though he was an author who's influence faded to the background, which seems to have suited his personality.

Go read Jack Vance, Inventor of Worlds over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

• Billion Year Spree: The True History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss: Aldiss mentions Vance only a couple of times, noting the context of his works.
• Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert: Vance and Herbert were fairly close friends. They traveled together and lived nearby, and it's interesting to see the connection form through mutual interests.
• Science Fiction: What It's All About, Sam Lundwall: I picked up Lundwell's book recently on a whim, and while there's not much, there's a brief mention of Vance's works here.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 2, Frank Magill: This volume has a fantastic review of The Dying Earth, noting its influence and worldbuilding.
• The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts: Roberts devotes much space to Vance and The Dying Earth, which was particularly helpful early on.
• This is me, Jack Vance!, Jack Vance: This book was a critical one for learning about Vance's life, recounted through his Hugo-award winning autobiography. It's a really interesting read, and one that I'll likely revisit at some point.
• The Genre Artist, Carlo Rotella: This is a great interview / feature with Vance from a couple of years ago.
• Jack Vance Biography, official website: An official biography that helped me put together some details about his life.
• Jack Vance Profile, ISFDB: No biographical details here, but it is a great look at the works that he's written.
• Vance, Jack, SF Encyclopedia: A fantastic biographical look at Vance in the context of his works.

The Nomadic Alfred Bester, Renaissance Man

Last year, I picked up and read The Stars My Destination for the first time. It's an astonishing book, one that I alternatively wish that I'd read it earlier, and that I'm glad that I read it now, with the capabilities to really get how important of a book it is. The book was used in a science fiction class that I sat in on this past semester here at Norwich, and it was interesting to see the student's reactions to it.

I've been waiting to get to Bester for a while now, and after a bit of digging around, I'm astonished to see that there isn't more about him in the SF non-fiction arena. Certainly, he appears in a number of sources (see below), but often, it's centered around his two major, landmark works, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. He had an exceptional career, working in the SF pulp, comic, radio, television, magazine and novel markets over the course of his life, all the while turning out an incredible amount of material. His career is notable for his writing and his sheer influence on the genre, and there is possibly no other author writing at this time that had more of an influence on where the genre would go.

Go Read The Nomadic Alfred Bester, Renaissance Man, over on Kirkus Reviews.

Here's the sources that I used for this piece:

• Hell's Cartographers, edited by Brian Aldiss: This book is a collection of biographical essays, and Bester contributed a fantastic one to this book. This was probably one of the more important sources I worked from, because it gave some considerable insight into Bester as a person and how he went about doing things. You can read the essay online here.
• The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction, edited by Arthur Evans, et al: This anthology contains Bester's Fondly Fahrenheit, prefaced with a short, but very good biography of the author.
• William Gibson on The Stars My Destination, William Gibson: this short essay appears on the LOA website, and is a fitting tribute to the novel. Read it here.
• Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, by James Gunn: This book contained some excellent information surrounding the formation of The Demolished Man, which was helpful.
• Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerald Jones: This book contains a single reference to Bester, but discusses in depth the reasons for why he and his editors went over to DC Comics. It also seems that Bester had a fairly positive relationship with them, which is at odds with how they're portrayed in this book.
• Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 2 & 5, edited by Frank Magill: These two volumes contain reviews of The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, which helped provide some good additional insight into their works.
• The History of Science Fiction, by Adam Roberts: Roberts' text really talks at length about TSMD, and points to their influence when it comes to the New Wave and Cyberpunk.
• Science Fiction of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History, by Frank M. Robinson. This book had some good, extra information on Bester's life.
• Alfred Bester, by Carolyn Wendell: This short book is part of the Starmont Reader's Guides to Contemporary Science Fiction and Fantasy: This is a short book that I borrowed through interlibrary loan, which has some good additional information on Bester. As far as I can see, it's the only biography out about him.
• American science Fiction: Five Classic Novels, 1956-1958, edited by Gary K. Wolfe: This volume is one that I've referenced before, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It contains TSMD, and a great biographical blurb on the author.

I'm also particularly indebted to Maxwell Neely-Cohen for sending me an interview with Bester in Tangent Interviews. This was an interesting piece taken sometime in the 1980s, with a fairly interesting interview with Bester about some of his stories, and how he generally went about the writing process. There's not a whole lot that's new here when taken against some of the other sources that I had, but it's a great look at Bester as a person.

John Joseph Adams also provided some extremely helpful materials: An obituary from Locus Magazine, which shed some interesting details on his life, as well as an excerpt from Paul Walker's Speaking of Science Fiction and a review of Tender Loving Rage in Science Fiction Eye.

The Futurians and the 1939 World Science Fiction Convention

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.

The Connections of Judith Merril

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.