World Without Chance: Classic Pulp Science Fiction Stories in the Vein of Stanley G. Weinbaum


Book Description

SF Author Stanley G. Weinbaum died from cancer at 33, in December 1935. Short though his career was, his scientific imagination, smooth characterization, and humor completely revolutionized the field, and profoundly influenced his contemporaries. Among his many imitators was English writer John Russell Fearn. Although Fearn's own distinctive work was very popular, he wanted to increase his number of acceptances by writing under pseudonyms--Thornton Ayre and Polton Cross--with a change of style imitating Weinbaum! These exciting and highly entertaining pastiches, first published in such magazines as Astounding Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories, are here collected for the very first time in book form, with fascinating historical background notes. The first of two must-have volumes for collectors, the second being VALLEY OF PRETENDERS. Great adventure reading from the classic period of the SF pulps!




Science-fiction, the Early Years


Book Description

In this volume the author describes more than 3000 short stories, novels, and plays with science fiction elements, from earliest times to 1930. He includes imaginary voyages, utopias, Victorian boys' books, dime novels, pulp magazine stories, British scientific romances and mainstream work with science fiction elements. Many of these publications are extremely rare, surviving in only a handful of copies, and most of them have never been described before.




Pulp Sci-Fi from the Rock


Book Description

A century ago, pulp magazines brought the fresh ideas of science-fiction and exploration to the masses with its rough, inexpensive format, and lit the imaginations of a generation on fire. Those inspired became the greatest storytellers of their time, producing stories that would shock, awe, and inspire.That legacy of the new, the different, and the strange lives on today in the minds and pens of genre writers all over the world.This collection honours that legacy with twenty-two short stories highlighting the best of the modern interpretations of Pulp Science-Fiction, from minds like Ali House (The Segment Delta Archives), Jon Dobbin (The Starving), and Sherry D. Ramsey (Beyond the Sentinel Stars)! With introduction from sci-fi legend Kenneth Tam!




Science-fiction


Book Description

Complementing Science-Fiction: The Early Years, which surveys science-fiction published in book form from its beginnings through 1930, the present volume covers all the science-fiction printed in the genre magazines--Amazing, Astounding, and Wonder, along with offshoots and minor magazines--from 1926 through 1936. This is the first time this historically important literary phenomenon, which stands behind the enormous modern development of science-fiction, has been studied thoroughly and accurately. The heart of the book is a series of descriptions of all 1,835 stories published during this period, plus bibliographic information. Supplementing this are many useful features: detailed histories of each of the magazines, an issue by issue roster of contents, a technical analysis of the art work, brief authors' biographies, poetry and letter indexes, a theme and motif index of approximately 30,0000 entries, and general indexes. Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years is not only indispensable for reference librarians, collectors, readers, and scholars interested in science-fiction, it is also of importance to the study of popular culture during the Great Depression in the United States. Most of its data, which are largely based on rare and almost unobtainable sources, are not available elsewhere.




The Rise and Fall of American Science Fiction, from the 1920s to the 1960s


Book Description

 By examining important aspects of science fiction in the twentieth century, this book explains how the genre evolved to its current state. Close critical attention is given to topics including the art that has accompanied science fiction, the subgenres of space opera and hard science fiction, the rise of SF anthologies, and the burgeoning impact of the marketplace on authors. Included are in-depth studies of key texts that contributed to science fiction's growth, including Philip Francis Nowlan's first Buck Rogers story, the first published stories of A. E. van Vogt, and the early juveniles of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert Heinlein.




Science Fiction


Book Description

Presents a chronological survey of this genre from the beginnings of modern science and technology to the present.




The Poetics of Science Fiction


Book Description

The Poetics of Science Fiction uniquely uses the science of linguistics to explore the literary universe of science fiction. Developing arguments about specific texts and movements throughout the twentieth-century, the book is a readable discussion of this most popular of genres. It also uses the extreme conditions offered by science fiction to develop new insights into the language of the literary context. The discussion ranges from a detailed investigation of new words and metaphors, to the exploration of new worlds, from pulp science fiction to the genre's literary masterpieces, its special effects and poetic expression. Speculations and extrapolations throughout the book engage the reader in thought-experiments and discussion points, with selected further reading making it a useful source book for classroom and seminar.




The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction


Book Description

The excitement of possible futures found in science fiction has long fired the human imagination, but the genre's acceptance by academe is relatively recent. No longer marginalized and fighting for respectability, science-fictional works are now studied alongside more traditional art forms. Tracing the capacious genre's birth, evolution, and impact across nations, time periods, subgenres, and media, The Oxford Handbook of Science Fiction offers an in-depth, comprehensive assessment of this robust area of scholarly inquiry and considers the future directions that will dictate the terms of the scholarly discourse. The Handbook begins with a focus on questions of genre, covering topics such as critical history, keywords, narrative, the fantastic, and fandom. A subsequent section on media engages with film, television, comics, architecture, music, video games, and more. The genre's role in the convergence of art and everyday life animates a third section, which addresses topics such as UFOs,




Inside Science Fiction


Book Description

James Gunn has had a long and distinguished career in science fiction. In addition to his stories and novels, he has written extensively about the reading, writing, and criticism of science fiction. Many of these essays were published in The Science of Science-Fiction Writing (Scarecrow, 2002). A second collection of essays, Inside Science Fiction, was originally published in 1992, and is now available in this revised, updated, and expanded edition. With the addition of five new articles written since 1992, Inside Science Fiction represents Gunn's latest thoughts about the genre. The book is divided into four major sections that tackle various aspects of the genre: - "Getting Inside Science Fiction," in which Gunn discusses his relationship with the genre - "Science Fiction and the Teacher" illustrates various approaches to teaching science fiction - "Science Fiction on Film and Television" deals with the film industry's approaches to science fiction, in particular, Gunn's experiences of seeing his novel The Immortals turned into a made-for-television movie and subsequent series - "Science Fiction and the Real World" examines the impact of science fiction on the world and what the future holds for the genre Inside Science Fiction offers a complete overview of science fiction for readers and viewers from an author, reader, and teacher who has seen it from all sides for more than seventy years.




Movies, Modernism, and the Science Fiction Pulps


Book Description

What impact did the new art of film have on the development of another new art, the emerging science fiction genre, during the pre- and early post-World War II era? Focusing on such popular pulp magazines as Amazing Stories, Astounding Stories, and Wonder Stories, this book traces this early relationship between film and literature through four common features: stories that involve film or the film industry; film-related advertising; editorial matters and readers' letters commenting on film; and the magazines' heralded cover and story illustrations. By surveying these haunting traces of another medium in early science fiction discourse, we can begin to see the key role that a cinematic mindedness played in this formative era and to expand the early history of science fiction as a cultural idea beyond the usual boundaries that have been staked out by its literary manifestations and the genre's historians.