Beginnings of Science Fiction
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Beginnings of Science Fiction
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Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#2(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine.
By the way, if one wants to read a quick standalone sci-fi novel, I just finished Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and I can't recommend it strongly enough.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#3(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
The William Gibson short story "The Gernsback Continuum" is a reference to Gernsback. Gibson is probably on a lst of important SF authors.
Here's a (probably pirate?) link: http://lib.ru/GIBSON/r_contin.txt
EDIT: see also the Hugo Awards, which could probably do a better job of publicizing the sorce of their name.
PPS: congrats cstross for best novella! I hadn't noticed that.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#4(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
I tend to rate Mary Shelley as the earliest sci-fi author. Not just for 'Frankenstein', but also for 'The Last Man'.
I would strongly recommend tackling Issac Asimov's 'Foundation' series as one of the all time classics.
Another pretty early one to take a look at is 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was the first book banned by the USSR and was the inspiration for Orwell's 1984.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#5(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
I tend to rate Mary Shelley as the earliest sci-fi author. Not just for 'Frankenstein', but also for 'The Last Man'. I would strongly recommend tackling Issac Asimov's 'Foundation' series as one of the all time classics. Another pretty early one to take a look at is 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was the first book banned by the USSR and was the inspiration for Orwell's 1984.
The Foundation series is certainly on my list. I have been giving series lower priority, simply because I want to go breadth-first, but I'm not confident this is a reasonable strategy, especially since I could just read the first entry and decide from there how to proceed.
I had not heard of We, but I will look into it.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#6I think short form scifi is where it really shines:
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#7(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
When I was 12 or 13 I discovered E E "Doc" Smith, John W Campbell and Philip Nowlan. I'd been reading more contemporary authors like Heinlein and Andre Norton, and the sheer "noise" of these older books were astonishing. What teenage boy doesn't like antimatter planets being flung at Boskonian space pirate outposts, or spaceships powered by solidified light? For a while I loved them.
I still have fond memories of Smith's galaxy-spanning Skylark series, the planet bashing swagger of the Lensman series, and Campbell's unapologetic "super science", but the prose has not aged well and I find them difficult to read now. I feel a little sad about that.
I can still recommend Smith's The Skylark of Space and Skylark Three, and Campbell's The Moon is Hell, but not much else.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#8(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
I tend to rate Mary Shelley as the earliest sci-fi author. Not just for 'Frankenstein', but also for 'The Last Man'. I would strongly recommend tackling Issac Asimov's 'Foundation' series as one of the all time classics. Another pretty early one to take a look at is 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was the first book banned by the USSR and was the inspiration for Orwell's 1984.
The Foundation series is mind blowing. I recommend reading the "Robot" series before it though as they are interlinked, particularly "Robots and Empire"; the whole thing's a joy.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tend to rate Mary Shelley as the earliest sci-fi author. Not just for 'Frankenstein', but also for 'The Last Man'. I would strongly recommend tackling Issac Asimov's 'Foundation' series as one of the all time classics. Another pretty early one to take a look at is 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was the first book banned by the USSR and was the inspiration for Orwell's 1984.
The Foundation series is certainly on my list. I have been giving series lower priority, simply because I want to go breadth-first, but I'm not confident this is a reasonable strategy, especially since I could just read the first entry and decide from there how to proceed. I had not heard of We, but I will look into it.
'We' is excellent. It is also a lot funnier than '1984', though that is not hard.
Also, you have to hit the short-story collections to find some of the best sci-fi. Off the top of my head, Asimov, Dick, Bradbury, Clarke, Gibson, Banks, Egan, all wrote some of their best work in short form.
And, just thinking about really early stuff, 'Flatland' by Edwin Abbott is another you should really take a look at.
If you want to try any recent stuff, Alastair Reynolds and China Miéville are both excellent authors.
edit - oh, and just read everything ever written by Neal Stephenson.
edit2 - and Bruce Sterling. His tumblr blogs aren't bad either.
Re: Beginnings of Science Fiction
#10(Science fiction, not San Francisco.) Having never really experienced the genre much, I have recently been trying to assemble (and eventually read) a list of influential and quintessential science fiction books, and while my informal research into the beginnings of sci-fi as an identifiable genre led me to earlier authors like Verne and Wells, I had never heard of this fellow or this magazine. By the way, if one want…
SF is a broader church than you might imagine from the outside, and many people (including me!) will give you a list of "classics" that are actually quite a narrow slice because that's the subgenre they're into. I'd recommend starting from something like the Locus top 100; populism has its problems but will at least ensure you don't completely miss any major areas.