An SF Primer

A very brief overview for the uninitiated:

* Serious aficianados refer to science fiction as "SF." Calling it "Sci-fi" is seen by puritans as derogatory and childish.

* The first SF novel is generally regarded as one written by a woman. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, published in 1818 but not really popular until twenty years later.

* SF first gained widespread popularity through the late-nineteenth century novels of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

* But it did not experience explosive growth until the late-20s and 30s, with the founding of short-fiction magazines such as Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories (later Analog) edited by Hugo Gernsback and John W. Campbell. (Do not think of the 30s as only the Depression Era. It was a decade of tremendous imaginative and intellectual endeavor.)

* Bridging Verne and Wells and the pulp magazines was the influential H.P. Lovecraft, though he tends more towards horror than SF.

* The three definitive masters of SF in the "golden age" of the 40s and 50s are Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert Heinlein. All were productive well into the 70s. Every fan should have read at least a dozen books by each.

* The 60s and 70s spawned a brood of SF writers labeled the "New Wave," who moved away from ray guns and space ships to more social and scientific critiques, more cutting-edge and previously-taboo subjects.

* Ray Bradbury is the most poetic of SF writers, hands-down.

* Frank Herbert (Dune) is the master world-builder of SF.

* Neal Stephenson is said to be the best SF writer working today, though I have yet to read any of his novels (they're in the on-deck circle).

* Hollywood movies generally lag 20 years behind SF novels and stories in sophistication.


Perhaps the most accessible book of the history of science fiction is Trillion Year Spree by Brian Aldiss. I also enjoyed listening to these CDs on the subject.