Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time

/

One of my favorite books is easily A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. I can't remember when I first read it, but when I went back to it a couple of years ago, I was struck by its prose and outstanding story.

What's more astonishing is that it was rejected dozens of times from publishers, before going on to win one of the major awards for YA literature. Moreover, it's still highly relevant to any teenager or young reader today.

Go read Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Madeleine L'Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life, Madeleine L'Engle. This was a moderately useful book, as it contained some biographical elements.
  • Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L'Engle in Many Voices, Leonard Marcus. This is an astounding book, and I wish that each one of the authors that I've looked at had something similar. It's an entire book of oral histories, conducted with people who worked with or who were close with L'Engle. It's a fantastic source.

Online Sources:

  • Madeleine L'Engle: Short biographical sketch from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  • The Storyteller: Fact, fiction, and the books of Madeleine L’Engle. This is a fantastic article on the life of L'Engle, and Zarin does a great job parsing out the complexity of her character. It's well worth a read.
  • Obituary. L'Engle's obituary from the New York Times, which provides some interesting details about her life.
  • L'Engle, Madeleine. Biographical entry from the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
  • ALA's Banned Books Page. The American Library Association's home page for their Banned Books week, which includes links to the lists of books that are frequently challenged and banned.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic

/

A couple of years ago, I picked up a book to review for SF Signal, looking for something different. That book was Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and it turned out to be one of those books that quietly never quite left my head.

Thinking about Roadside Picnic and its authors, as well as our last column on Stanislaw Lem, we get a good starting point for examining how science fiction developed outside of the United States. Given that a lot of SF has been published here in the US, we appear to be a leader in the genre, for better or worse.

At the same time, we forget, ignore or simply don't realize that authors such as Lem and the Strugatskys were as big as the giants in the United States: on par with Bradbury, Asimov or Heinlein. Examining their publishing experiences and approaches to the genre is good to highlight the limits and potential of genre, but also where US authors and fans tend to put on blinders for the world around them.

As awareness of foreign SF grows (see Clarksworld's Chinese SF project, funding now), it's important to realize that a) this isn't a new phenomenon, and b) SF isn't limited to the United States and England.

On top of all that, go read Roadside Picnic. It's a phenomenal book.

Go read Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Russian Experimental Fiction: Resisting Ideology after Utopia, Edith Clowes. This is a particularly detailed volume on Russian literature, and partiularly looks at the science fiction's complicated relationship with utopian fiction and their own country's political history. This particular book looks at how the Strugatsky's works fit into this.
  • Science Fiction after 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon. Landon discusses the brothers at length, with a fairly good analysis of their works.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, Frank Magill. There's an excellent review of Roadside Picnic here.
  • Soviet Fiction Since Stalin: Science, Politics and Literature, Rosalind J. Marsh. This book has a good look at works of the brothers.
  • The Strugatsky Brothers, Stephen Potts. This is a short book, but a good overview of the brother's works and career.
  • The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts. Roberts has a couple of paragraphs of the brother's career and how it fits into a bigger picture.
  • Critical Encounters II: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction, edited by Robert Staicar. There's an excellent essay about the brothers here.
  • Roadside Picnic, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This was my introduction to the brothers: the 2012 translation, which threw me at first, then drew me in completely. It's a Weird book, while also a Hard SF one at the same time. It still sticks in my mind, years after reading it. Ursula K. Le Guin opens the book, while Boris provided an afterword.

Online Sources:

  • SF Encyclopedia. As always, the SF Encyclopedia has a good, comprehensive entry on the subject, particularly when it comes to their placement in the genre.

Two obituaries for Boris, one in the Independent and one in the New York Times helped provide some details of their lives, as well as some critical look at their careers:

I hate to do it, but I had to rely a bit on Wikipedia's entry for the brothers, which provided some minor details, although I tried to rely on entries that were backed up with sources.

Stanislaw Lem and His Push For Deeper Thinking

/

Almost ten years ago now, I picked up a copy of Stanislaw Lem's novel Solaris and was struck at how different it was compared to a number of the other books I was reading at the time. It was an interesting and probing novel, one that I don't think I fully understood at the time. (I still don't).

Lem is an author who is truly uninhibited by genre convention. Last column, I looked a Ursula K. Le Guin, and have been thinking quite a bit about how science fiction authors began to put themselves into a box midway through the century when it came to 'hard' science fiction. Limiting a story in some regards requires one to limit one's own imagination: after all, we're talking about fiction, where authors can make up whatever they choose. Lem was one of the authors who could make up a considerable story and then deliver it.

Go read Stanislaw Lem and His Push For Deeper Thinking over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree, Brian W. Aldiss. Aldiss has a delightfully snarky section devoted to Lem and his works here: both recognizing his brilliance, but also deplicating his attitude towards his fellow authors as well.
  • Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970, Mike Ashley. This work has a couple of sections on Lem, which were very helpful in figuring out where he first was translated into English.
  • Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970 to 1980, Mike Ashley. This installment of Ashley's series contains quite a bit more information on Lem's interactions with the SF community in the 1970s.
  • Science Fiction Writers, Second Edition. Richard Bleiler. This book of thumbnail biographies contains one on Lem by Peter Swirski, which is an excellent survey of Lem's life and works.
  • Science Fiction After 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon. This book provided some excellent information on Lem's legacy.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature vol 5, William Magill. Magill's text contains an excellent analysis of Lem's Solaris, which helped me understand the book a bit better.
  • Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews With Contemporary American Science Fiction Writers, edited by Larry McCaffrey. This is an excellent book of interviews, and while Lem isn't interviewed, he is brought up a couple of times.

The Left and Right Hands of Ursula K. Le Guin

/

Ursula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction's greats: her stories Left Hand of Darkness, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Dispossessed rank among the genre's best works, and she moves easily between science fiction and fantasy, writing things that science fiction authors had barely touched before she came onto the scene. To say she was influential is to undersell one's words.

I have to say, of all of Le Guin's works that I've read, the ones that I've enjoyed the most was A Wizard of Earthsea, which I read years ago. Of all the fantasy novels I've picked up, it's probably one of the ones that's stuck with me the most.

I'll say this once: there's some columns that have come together quickly. Others are far harder to put together: case in point, trying to summarize the influence of one of the genre's greatest living figures, Ursula K. Le Guin. Never mind that her fiction still challenges me and makes me feel incredibly tiny, or that her words are something that I can hardly imagine coming close to in style or grace. This was a hard one to write, but rewarding, all the same.

Go read The Left and Right Hands of Ursula K. Le Guin over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss devotes a number of pages to Le Guin and her influence on the genre, holding her critically at arm's length, which is interesting to see: few authors have really had this treatment in this particular book. He acknowledges her stance in the genre, but chastise her for being preachy.
  • In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, Margaret Atwood. Atwood actually dedicated this collection of essays (which is very reminiscent of Language of the Night), and devotes one essay to her, where she discusses her fiction in a very useful way.
  • Ursula K. Le Guin: A Critical Companion, by Susan Bernadro and Graham J. Murphy. This is a dedicated volume on Le Guin, and I found it to be exceptionally helpful with some publication details and commentary on her works, especially the stories I haven't read (yet).
  • Understanding Ursula K. Le Guin, by Elizabeth Cummings. Another critical survey, this one likewise had some helpful commentary and details.
  • The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Essays on Science Fiction, by Samuel R. Delany. Delany's complicated survey of the genre is a dense, detailed one, and contains a good section on The Disposessed.
  • The Dreams Our Stuff is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World, by Thomas Disch. Disch's history is a decent one that I've used before, but I was a little surprised to see him absolutely castigate Le Guin and other feminist authors here.
  • The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, by Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin's book of essays on science fiction and introductions to her book is possibly one of the best non-fiction books that I've read on the subject. It's an excellent demonstration that Le Guin is an utterly powerful, brilliant and intimidating figure in the genre.

Online Sources:

30 Years of William Gibson's Neuromancer

/

 

I'll have to confess that I read Neuromancer only a couple of years ago, and at the time, didn't understand what all the fuss was about. It was a book about computers, written before computers were really a thing. The strange thing about William Gibson's fantastic novel is it's staying power and how it's positively brimming with fresh ideas in a genre gone stale by the early 1980s. Going back to re-read Gibson's works (especially in Burning Chrome), I'm shocked at how vibrant and raw his writing is.

Neuromancer is one of the more important books to enter the genre, and as it celebrates its third decade in print, it's an interesting one to go back and look upon and to understand just how revolutionary the title was at the time.

Go read 30 Years of William Gibson's Neuromancer over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Across the Wounded Galaxies: Interviews with Contemporary American Science Fiction Authors, Larry McCaffrey. There's a fantastic interview with Gibson in this book, which provided some keen insights into the development of Neuromancer. It's also online here.
  • The History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts. Roberts devotes several pages to Neuromancer and Gibson's influence, providing some key insights into how Neuromancer came together.
  • Modern Masters of Science Fiction: William Gibson, Gary Westfahl. This short book came out last year and is part of the fantastic Modern Masters series from the University of Illinois Press. This particular volume is excellent: it's a detailed look at Gibson's works, and a bit about his life

Fittingly, a number of sources came from the internet, through interviews or blog posts from Gibson:

Frank Herbert's Epic Dune Series

/

One of the first major SF novels that I picked up was Dune. Something about the copy at the library was striking: a figure against a desert. I tore into it and to this day, I can still visualize various parts of the book. It got me thinking about science fiction in ways that I hadn't before, and I still count it as one of my favorite books. I've never read the sequels: I never wanted to be disappointed or let down by the other novels (much like I've never read the 2nd and 3rd installments of the Ringworld and Foundation trilogies).

I read Dreamer of Dune a number of years ago, and reading through it again to source this article, I was surprised at how much of an unlikable person Herbert was - he seemed to have a number of character flaws that made him cranky, angry and generally in trouble with the IRS. At the same time, it's interesting to see just how big of a hill he had to climb to reach the heights he achieved over the course of a career. It's a bit of a shame that he didn't live long enough to really enjoy it or continue his series by himself.

Go read Frank Herbert's Epic Dune Series over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert. I read this a number of years ago, and reading it again, this is a really painful book to read. It's disorganized, not terribly well written, and not critical in any sense of the imagination. However, it did provide a number of details into when and how Herbert went about writing.
  • Frank Herbert, Timothy O'Reilly. This is an early biography of Herbert published in 1981, and it provides some outstanding detail to Herbert and his work.
  • The History of Science Fiction, by Adam Roberts. Roberts' text, as always, is a helpful book for figuring out the context for Dune in the grand scheme of things, and provides some excellent information on the literary side.
  • Frank Herbret, William F. Touponce. This text mainly analysis the literary elements of Herbert's books (most of them), and it's a useful resource here.

Online sources:

 

It's also worth mentioning that Jodorosky's Dune is a phenomenal documentary that you should see if you have any interest in Dune.

Octavia E. Butler: Expanding Science Fiction’s Horizons

/

For years, I've had friends tell me that I should be reading Octavia Butler's works, especially Kindred. I actually own a copy, and it's been sitting on my shelves for years, waiting for me to pick it up. When it came to the point where I'd start writing about the 1970s, it was pretty clear that Butler would be one of the authors that I'd be covering, and I picked up the book as part of my research. She's a powerful author, and I'm a little sad that I didn't read the book earlier. Researching Butler's life is fascinating, and it's becoming clear to me that some of the genre's most important works emerge from outside of it's walls.

Go read Octavia E. Butler: Expanding Science Fiction’s Horizons over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

Book Sources to come - I don't have them on hand at the moment.

Pasadena College Carl Brandon Society McCarthur Foundation SFWA Interview LA Review of Books: One / Two

Many thanks as well to Steven Barnes, Ann Leckie and Gerry Canavan for their input for this.

Larry Niven's Ringworld and Known Space Stories

/

Ringworld is a novel that's always stuck with me. I picked it up alongside authors such as Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, and other authors from that point in time. Foundation and Dune are two books that are among my favorites, but Ringworld has long been the best of the lot. It's vivid, funny, exciting and so forth. Reading it again recently in preparation for this column, I was astounded at how well it's held up (as opposed to Foundation) in the years since it's publication, and I can't wait to read it again. Plus, that cover is just beautiful.

Go read Larry Niven's Ringworld and Known Space Stories over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree: History of Science Fiction, by Brian Aldiss. Aldiss's book has some good context for Niven's rise, as well as the impact of his books.
  • Gateway to Forever: The story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970 to 1980, by Mike Ashley. Ashley recounts some of Niven's early works in the Known Space, along with the state of magazine fiction during that time.
  • Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970, by Mike Ashley. Niven's stories taper off in the 1970s, but Ashley looks over his works during that point in that time.
  • Science Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition, Richard Bleiler. Bleiler has a biographical essay on Niven and his life in this book.
  • Science Fiction, Today and Tomorrow, edited by Reginald Bretnor. There's some good background information on Niven's works here.
  • The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, by Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James. There's some good political context for SF in the 1960s/70s here, and some solid information on Niven's works.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol 4. Frank Magill. Excellent review of Ringworld in this volume.
  • Science Fiction Dialogues, edited by Gary Wolfe. There's a great essay here talking about the connections between Ringworld and the Oz books.

Internet Sources:

Finally, many thanks to Larry Niven himself for answering my questions. Read our conversation here.

Andre Norton's YA Novels

/

When I worked at a bookstore (the now defunct Walden Books), I had a co-worker that loved Andre Norton. I'd never read any of her books throughout High School, although I was certainly familiar with her name. I wish now that I did.

Norton wrote largely for what we now call the YA audience: teenagers, with fantastical adventures throughout numerous worlds and times. She was also largely ignored or dismissed for writing 'children's literature', which is a shame, because it's likely that she had as great an influence on the shape of the modern genre as Robert Heinlein, who's Juvenile novels attracted millions of fans to new worlds. Norton was the same, and influenced countless readers and writers for decades. It's fitting that the major SF award for YA fiction is titled The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Go read Andre Norton's YA novels over on Kirkus Reviews. Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss contends here that Norton was part of a growing movement in science fiction in the 1950s, along with a small core of other authors.
  • Who Wrote That? Andre Norton By John Bankston. This book designed for YA readers seems to be the only Norton biography on the market right now. I used the chronology to help structure this post.
  • Science Fiction, Today and Tomorrow, edited by Reginald Bretnor. Anne McCaffrey has an essay in this book that mentions Andre Norton briefly.
  • The Creation of Tomorrow: Fifty Years of Magazine Science Fiction, Paul Allen Carter. Carter talks about Norton very briefly here in a larger context within the genre.
  • Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction, by James Gunn. Norton has a couple of mentions here, talking about her work in the 1950s.
  • Science Fiction after 1900, Brooks Landon. Landon's book is a great look, and he talks about Norton a couple of times in this book regarding her influence in the genre.
  • The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James. This book also mentions Norton sparingly, but does so within the context of SF, Women and the 1950s.
  • The Faces of Science Fiction: Intimate Portraits of the Men and Women who Shape the way we look at the future, Patti Perret. Norton has a portrait in here, where she talks about science fiction as an entertainment medium.

Web:

  • Andre Norton correspondence, literary and dollhouse, Cleveland Public Library. There's some interesting letters here that talk quite a bit about Norton's character and personality.
  • Obituaries: Los Angles Times and The Guardian. Both were helpful, as they provided some good (although at times, inaccurate) details about her life.

L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Land of Oz

/

As I've been writing this column, I've realized that there's points where I have to move ahead and skip authors, or, after some reflection, research and writing, that I missed someone critical. Over the last couple of months, I've been realizing that not covering L. Frank Baum has been a drastic oversight, and that at the next available opportunity, I need to cover him and his wonderful world of Oz.

I defy you to find someone who doesn't know the story of The Wizard of Oz. It's an enormously popular story, so ingrained into our popular culture world that statements such as 'We're not in Kansas anymore' need no reference. Oz is on par with stories from Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley - we know what happens without even reading the works. As such, it's good to go back and take a look at their place in SF's canon, because they are very influential, and it's easy to see why: they're fantastic, eminently readable stories that hold up with their sense of wonder.

Recently, I attended ICFA down in Orlando Florida, where I had dinner with a couple of authors, notably Ted Chaing. We had gotten on the topic of robotics, and he mentioned that Tik Tok from Ozma of Oz could be considered one of the first robots in SF. It's certainly an early appearance of a robot, and with that in mind, it's interesting to see how much of Oz prefigured some of the modern SF genre.

Go read L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Land of Oz over on Kirkus Reviews.

The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin, Brian Attebery. There's an entire chapter on Oz here, and it's got some excellent background on the nature of Oz and how it relates to the fantasy canon. The Marvelous Land of Oz, L. Frank Baum. It's always good to go to the original source - this was helpful in picking out details about the story. Baum remains extremely readable. Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum. Available on Gutenberg, this was helpful for the quotes about Tik Tok. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum. I have a reprinted edition of the original, from Barnes and Noble (which I can't wait to read to my son), which has the original forward. Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum, by Michael O. Riley. This book is an in depth, exaustive look at Baum's Oz novels and his other works, presented in clear, chronological order with a good amount of detail. Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture 1875-1945, Jon Savage. Savage devotes several pages to Baum and Oz, which provides some excellent context to the impact that Oz had on readers. When Dreams Came True, Jack Zipes. This book also has an entire chapter devoted to Oz, with story details and biographical information.

Online:

Baum, L. Frank: As usual, the SF Encyclopedia has a good entry on my subject and looks at the wider genre-context. NY Times Review: The original review of Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

SFWA and the 'Science Fiction Hall of Fame' Anthologies

/

SFHOF I started reading SF when I was in High School, and was supported by the school's librarian, Sylvia Allen, who encouraged me to pick up new works. At one point, someone had donated a treasure trove of Science Fiction novels to the school, a lot of which they couldn't catalog, due to age and space. A lot of them went up for sale, and she let me have a crack at them early. One of the books in the pile was The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1, which contained a story from an author I'd been reading, Isaac Asimov, and a number of others. I took it home, and was immediately hooked.

A couple of years later, when I worked at the Brown Public Library in Northfield, I had struck up a friendship with an older patron who (if I remember correctly) had been connected to fandom in New York City. He recounted several stories of authors such as Walter Miller Jr. and a couple of others. At one point, I mentioned the anthology that I'd been re-reading, and he told me that there were two others, and ended up bringing them in for me to have. Later, I bought the re-released version of the first volume, so as to relieve my old copy of wear and tear that it desperately didn't need.

For years, I thought that the three books were the only ones. It wasn't until I started seeing the title pop up in my research that I started to look deeper into the anthology, and to my surprise, found that two others had been printed in the 1980s, but which had been largely forgotten.

The anthologies have a curious history, and never would have come about but for the creation of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and some of their financial troubles. For those interested in science fiction history, the focus of the books are a nice match: the first three volumes were explicitly put together with the idea of charting the evolution of the genre. While they're incomplete (two women in the entire book - I'm really sad that there wasn't a Moore Northwest Smith story in there, or anything by Francis Stevens) by modern standards, it's pretty much the entire Golden Age of SF in a single book. In and of themselves, they are a historical curiosity, and an interesting read all together - a lot of the stories still hold up nicely.

Go read SFWA and the 'Science Fiction Hall of Fame' Anthologies over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 1, Robert Silverberg. Silverberg's introduction has a lot of detail about how this project came about, and it's worth a read into the work and background for this. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2A/B, Ben Bova. Bova's introduction also provides some good details on his entry. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 3, Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke's introduction here isn't all that useful, but it does show a pivot for the anthology: a focus now on Nebula winners, rather than historical works. What I found interesting here was also that it's the first book in the series not published by Doubleday. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 4, Terry Carr. As with Clarke's introduction, there's more an emphaisis on the Nebula designation rather than on the selection.

SFWA Bulletin, December 1967: I was able to get a scan of the original Bulletin that issued the call for stories.

SF Encyclopedia:

Damon Knight: Damon Knight's biography of the Futurians doesn't mention this, but the SFE3 entry provides some good details into this time of his life. SFWA: This has some good backstory on SFWA's formation. Nebula Award: Similarly, this provides some good background information.

ISFDB Entry - Science Fiction Hall of Fame: This was particularly helpful in figuring out publication dates and publishers.

Huge thanks to Former SFWA president Michael Capobianco and Robert Silverberg for their help with this one.

Anne McCaffrey's Dragons

/

I've had a passing fascination with McCaffrey's books over the years, even as I never really dabbled in them. (I owned one book, Dragonflight, years ago.) I was always somewhat intimidated by the sheer size and scale of the series, and I was always more interested in SF than I was Fantasy (although now, I realize that that was a bit misguided.) Anne McCaffrey was always an author I was aware of: one of the female authors alongside the Asimovs, Herberts and Heinleins in my high school library.

Yet, in recent years, as I've been researching, I've become aware that McCaffrey has occupied an important role in the genre: she's an extremely successful female author, but she also writes in such a way (and is marketed as such) that she's an excellent gateway into the SF world for a huge range of readers.

Go read Anne McCaffrey's Dragons over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss has some excellent points about McCaffrey's early works in his book, although she's mentioned sparingly.
  • Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950-1970, Mike Ashley. Ashley provides some outstanding quotes and background into how McCaffrey got her start in the genre, and especially how she was aided by John W. Campbell Jr.
  • Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1970-1980, Mike Ashley. This book follows up with Transformations, but likewise provides some good information on McCaffrey's work.
  • Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction 1926-1965, Eric Davin. This was a particularly good source, providing some interesting background information that didn't appear anywhere else, but also helped my thinking with how McCaffrey got into writing in the first place, but how she viewed her stories.
  • Survey of Science Fiction Literature, vol. 2, William Magill. There's an excellent review and overview of Dragonflight in this volume.
  • Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams of Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey. This was a particularly helpful source, but very poorly laid out and written. It's jumbled, and jumps from point to point, making it difficult to locate the right information.
  • The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Mark Bould, Andrew M. Butler, Adam Roberts and Sherryl Vint. This text had some good background information.
  • ISFDB. As always, this is a particularly helpful site for figuring out when and where stories were published.

The Transformation of George R.R. Martin

/

I've been a fan of Game of Thrones since I first caught it a couple of years ago, and I've been impressed with the HBO series as I've continued to watch. When Season 1 hit, I pulled out my copies of A Song of Ice and Fire and started the first book, alternatively reading and watching the show. I've found the books to be a trial to get through, but I've ultimately enjoyed them.

I've found Martin's rise to real fame in the last couple of years to be an interesting thing to watch, and it's equally as interesting to look back and remember that he was a fairly prominent SF author throughout the 70s and 80s, and with this past weekend's release of Season 4, it's a good time to look back on his roots.

Go read The Transformation of George R.R. Martin over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction, by Brian Aldiss: Aldiss notes Martin's role in the late 70s in magazine fiction here, and it's a helpful couple of pages contextually.
  • Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970-1980, by Mike Ashley. Like Aldiss above, Ashley provides some good contextual information on Martin's writing.
  • The Heart of a Small Boy, George R.R. Martin: This is a cool autobiographical piece about Martin's upbringing.
  • The Faces of Science Fiction: Intimate portraits of the men and women who shape the way we look at the future, by Patti Perret. This is a really cool book. It's portraits of a ton of major SF/F authors, and a little bit about their background, in their own words.
  • Martin, George R.R., SF Encyclopedia. This is a helpful biographical sketch of Martin and his place in genre fiction.

Because of Martin's fame, there's been a lot of (well rehearsed) interviews about his background:

Interviews:

 

I would also be remiss if I didn't point to two of Martin's stories, currently online at Lightspeed Magazine:

The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Gnome Press

/

In my day job, I work with MBA students, and in the time that I've been doing that (and working at my regular job), I've gained a certain appreciation for how businesses function. When it comes to researching the column, looking at how a business functions has a certain appeal, especially since a major, unspoken element of SF History is really a sort of business history.

An excellent case in point is the rise and fall of a small, independent publisher, Gnome Press, which existed for just over a decade in the middle of the 20th Century. They published some of the genre's greatest authors, but ultimately failed, overtaken by their own inability to sell books and by changes in the marketplace. Gnome is an interesting business to study, because it carries with it some important lessons.

This post is quite a bit longer than the usual ones, but I had quite a bit of fun reading up on the history of this small press, and learning of the real implications it had for the genre as a whole.

Read The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Gnome Press over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources for Gnome Press

  • I, Asimov: A Memoir, by Isaac Asimov. Asimov provides a short chapter on his own frustrating interactions with Gnome Press, as well as some good detail on its publisher, Martin Greenberg.
  • The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History, by Jack L. Chalker and Mark Owings. This was an extremely detailed and in depth look at the history of Gnome, but also provides an excellent listing of the books which they published between 1948 and 1962.
  • Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard, The Creator of Conan by L. Sprauge de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin. This text, while it has some problems, provides some solid details into de Camp's interactions with Gnome Press.
  • Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach. This was a whim buy at ICFA the other day, and nicely, it has a chapter on Gnome. Unfortunately, the book meanders quite a bit, and isn't written well. It's got a lot of very useful information on the history of Gnome and the people behind it, but it's organized poorly.
  • A Pictorial History of Science Fiction, by David Kyle. It's always good to get information right from the source, and in this case, Kyle briefly talks about Gnome in his book.
  • Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography, by Neil McAleer. Gnome is mentioned sparingly in this biography, but the points are helpful as reference points.
  • The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, by Frederik Pohl. Pohl talks a little about Gnome in this book, chiefly noting the business opportunities that Gnome had, and squandered.
  • Robert Silverberg - I've been e-mailing Silverberg for another project, and he kindly answered a couple of other questions that I had with this.

The Innumerable Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon

/

One of the stories that remains a favorite for me is Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God", which I tore through when I received a copy of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame way back in High School. Sturgeon became an author that I'd turn to pretty quickly whenever I picked up another anthology, and I've generally enjoyed all of the stories I've read from him.

Sturgeon is someone who's popped up a bit in the column already, and he's been someone I've been wanting to write about for a while now. He left an enormous footprint within the SF/F short fiction genre, and his work really ran counter to the largely conservative-leaning authors and stories that had been published by Campbell & imitators.

"Microcosmic God" is still one of my absolute favorite stories in the genre. If you haven't read it yet, go do so.

Go read The Innumerable Short Stories of Theodore Sturgeon over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

... are coming.

The Clients of Virginia Kidd

/

When Megan and I started dating, I made the trip from Vermont to Pennsylvania. It's around eight hours, covering four states. On one such trip, I decided I really didn't want to endure New Jersey, and took an early exit off of I-87 toward the alluring sign 'Delaware Water Gap'. It didn't take me much longer to cut through the two-lane road, perfect for driving a Mini Cooper on, and it took me through a quiet, quaint looking town of Milford. Since Megan and I have married, we make the trip frequently, crossing through Milford a couple of times a year. I like the town, even though I've never stopped.

While writing this column, I've come across the name 'Milford Method' a number of times, but it wasn't until I started reading up on Virginia Kidd that I realized that the Milford that I'd been reading about was the very same quiet town that I'd been driving through for the last five years! Milford, PA, sitting right on the intersection of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, became a hub of activity for the science fiction world for decades, and is still home to the Virginia Kidd Literary Agency.

Virginia Kidd isn't necessarily a recognizable name to anyone from outside of the genre's walls: she worked behind the scenes, and appears between a number of pivotal figures within the genre. While authors get most of the credit, it's important to see the influence of major editors and agents can play in shaping the direction of the arts world.

Go read The Clients of Agent Virginia Kidd over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

  • Transformations / Gateways to Forever, Mike Ashley. Kidd pops up briefly here and there in Ashley's books, mainly around her short fiction.
  • The Futurians, Damon Knight. This book contains a wealth of information about Kidd on her life and influence within the Futurians group, and after.
  • Science Fiction after 1900: From the Steam Man to the Stars, Brooks Landon. This book has a good couple of notes on Kidd and her anthology, especially with how it fits into the feminist movements during the 1970s.
  • Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, by Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary. Merril was close friends with Kidd, and there's some great letters and background information on their interactions.

There's a number of online sources that I found helpful:

Also, many thanks to Ursula K. LeGuin for answering some questions for me about Virginia.

The Big Ideas of James Blish

/

The first Blish story I read was Surface Tension in Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology. While there's certainly some issues with the anthology, it's a solid collection of short fiction. Blish isn't an author I've read extensively, but I remember him popping up frequently in the various anthologies I read over the years.

We're getting to a transitional phase in the history of SF following the 'Golden Age' period smack-dab in the middle of the century. Now, we're starting to get into the early 1960s and beyond, which will have some interesting things happen.

Go read The Big Ideas of James Blish over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources

  • Billion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss has some good things to say about Blish and his influence
  • The Scribner Writer's Series: Science Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. John Clute has a great section on Blish's works and career, particularly about his Cities in Flight and A Case of Conscience stories.
  • Age of Wonders: Exploring The World of Science Fiction, David G. Hartwell. Hartwell mentions Blish a couple of times, with some good points about the political undertones to his stories.
  • 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. Blish shows up quite a bit in Knight's book (they were fairly close friends), and there's some good information about his career.
  • Better To Have Loved, The Life of Judith Merrill, by Judith Merrill and Emily Pohl-Weary. Merrill and Blish didn't get along, to say the least, and there's a couple of good points about Blish's politics.
  • The Way the Future Was: A Memoir, Frederik Pohl. Pohl bought Blish's first story, and has some good rememberences in his memoir.
  • American Science Fiction: Five Classic Novels, 1956-1958, edited by Gary K. Wolfe. I love the Library of America books. They're beautiful to physically behold, and they include some great little biographical thumbnails that are great as starting points for this column.

Arthur C. Clarke, Proselytizer Of Space

/

There were two authors I read extensively when I first started reading science fiction. The first was Isaac Asimov, because, well. Robots. Foundation. Reasons. The other was Arthur C. Clarke. The first story I really remember reading from him came from a thick anthology cultivated by Asimov, with one fantastic story by Clarke in it: Who's There? I then ran through a bunch of his books: 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2010, 2061 and 3001 are the ones I checked out over and over again. Later, I dug into Rama and even later, Childhood's End.

A while ago, I had some grand idea of doing a parallel column for another website on the history of SF film, but quickly found that I didn't have the time or background to really get into it. I started writing an inaugural piece on - you guessed it - 2001: A Space Odyssey, before quickly realizing that I was really writing a column about the book.

There's a lot out on Clarke, more than most of the authors I typically write about. As a result, this column's quite a bit longer than what I usually put together.

There's a lot of tie-in novels out there, from all the major franchises, but typically, the books come as a result of the film, or there's a film based on the book. Far less common is when the book and film are created simultaneously, as is the case with Clarke's book. It's not his best work, but it's probably his most visible.

Go read Arthur C. Clarke, Proselytizer Of Space over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources:

Billion / Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss. Aldiss comes out of the British scene, and has some interesting and good notes on Clarke's works, although not as much on 2001 specifically. Science Fiction Writers: Second Edition, Richard Bleiler. This book has a good section on Clarke and his life, which works as a good thumbnail for his life and where everything fits. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke. I have two editions of this book: a special release from 2001, and an original Signet Paperback from 1968. The latter has a good forward with some helpful details. The former is also neat, and it's helpful to hold something one's writing about in one's hands. Astounding Days: A Science Fictional Biography, Arthur C. Clarke. Clarke wrote a short autobiography of his time at Astounding, which helped with some of his earlier moments as a writer. This is pretty limited, only going up to the 1950s, but it's a neat look at Astounding. The Lost Worlds of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke. Not merely content to write a book to have a movie based on it, Clarke also did a book on how the movie came about. This has some particularly good details on the writing process, repent with dates and neat details. (Asimov's 3 Laws in the movie? Think of how it could have changed!) Olaf Stapledon: Speaking for the Future, Robert Crossley. Stapledon was a major influence on Clarke's works, and this book recounts his encounter with Clarke, who invited him to a BIS meeting. Arthur C. Clarke: The Authorized Biography, Neil McAleer. This book is a very good biography. Detailed and interesting, it provides a great amount of detail into how Clarke and Kubrick came up with the story. History of Science Fiction, Adam Roberts. Clarke makes an appropriate appearance here, and Roberts has a good discussion of his works.

The Fantastic Foresight of Katherine MacLean

/

Over the last year, I've been trying to write more about the women who wrote SF throughout its history. We've seen a bunch: Francis Stevens, Margaret St. Clair, Judith Merrill, Leigh Brackett, C.L. Moore, and Mary Shelley. While fewer in number than their male counterparts, they were all pretty influential. Recently, there's been quite a bit of talk over the role of women who write genre fiction, and a common argument that women simply don't write hard science fiction. Katherine MacLean counters this argument, adapting well to the world of magazine fiction from the 1950s through about the 1980s. For me, it was an introduction to a new author whom I have never come across before, and it was a delight to read up on some stories that really should be read more widely. 

Also, go wish her a happy birthday - she turns 89 today.

Go read The Fantastic Foresight of Katherine MacLean over on Kirkus Reviews.

Sources

  • Science Fiction Writers, 2nd Edition, edited by Richard Bleiler. Part of the Scribner Writers series, this volume has an excellent section on Katherine MacLean's life and works.
  • Interview, Katherine MacLean. Katherine is the first subject which I've directly interviewed for this, and she provided quite a bit of detail for this piece.
  • The Diploids and Other Flights of Fancy, Katherine MacLean. This is an excellent collection of 8 short stories - in particular, read Incommunicado.
  • An Interview with Katherine MacLean, Darrell Schweitzer. This interview appeared in the New York Review of Science Fiction's July 2013 issue, and it's an excellent, in depth chat about her life and works, conducted at the 2012 ReaderCon in Burlington MA. It's worth a read.

 

 

Reading up on SF History

/

Jo Walton What Makes This Book So Great

While I'm working on plotting out the rest of the year for this column, I figured it would be interesting to look at a small portion of the books that I use to support this column. There's a lot out there, and if you look at back entries, you'll see that I do a more comprehensive bibliography for each post here.

My habits for supporting this column involve a small research library at my home, one that's continually growing. It started with a couple of books before I started - biographies and a couple of others - and I've since quickly run out of space on one shelf (I need a new one soon) to house it. I also utilize my local university library's own collection (which is pretty extensive), and their connections to the Interlibrary Loan network.

But, I do like to have my own copies of the ones that I use the most. Inevitably, the ILL system takes a couple of days or weeks to get books in, and I'm somewhat impatient when I'm researching, especially when I'm stuck waiting for a volume.

This coming year, I have a feeling that I'll be doing more interviews - I've got one out right now - as I move into eras where there's more people who are still alive. Predominantly, I've been researching the pulps and early golden age. It'll be an exciting new thing to do.

Go read Reading up on SF History on Kirkus Reviews.