Books About SF Continued

[Found on disk, apparently unfinished but continuing the essay from K #55.]

BOOKS ABOUT SF II – Vince Clarke

In 1959 Advent Publishers started in Chicago, and have continued to be one of the foremost and most knowledgable publishers in our field. They started with THE SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL, essays on SF as social criticism by such as Alfred Bester, Heinlein and other luminaries of the field, and followed it in 1964 by two astonishing books, one aimed purely at SF fans.

You should know (I hope) that for many years the major reading source for fans was Astounding Science Fiction, later Analog. The change of title in 1960 caused Alva Rogers to write REQUIEM FOR ASTOUNDING. He was an unashamed enthusiast for the older type of Astounding yarn, and the book details the history of the magazine and outlines most of the famous stories published in it.

The other Advent title was THE ISSUE AT HAND by SF author James Blish. This was virtually the first book to subject SF to literary criticism, and is very readable even now. Blish followed this up in 1970 with MORE ISSUES AT HAND.

Two years later Advent published THE UNIVERSES OF E.E. SMITH, by two fans, Ron Ellik and Bill Evans, with plot summaries of Dr. Smith's old fashioned space operas (the Skylark and Lensman series) and a long concordance of the books. Smith is still providing plot basics; a recent Japanese animation video was based on a Lensman story.

Mention should be made here of old-time US fan Sam Moskowitz. He wrote a book-length survey of pre-war fandom in '54, but in the mid-'60s he started a long series of books on SF which has lasted to this day. One of his earlier books, SEEKERS OF TOMORROW, on the lives of SF authors, '40 to '65, was outstanding.

One criticism of Moskowitz's books is that they lack humour. This can't be said of Damon Knight's IN SEARCH OF WONDER (1967), which surveyed the field with intelligence and wit. Again, this was an Advent book, and can be read even now with appreciation.

And in 1969, Sam Lundwall, a Swedish SF fan, wrote an explanation of his countrymen which he translated into English in '71 under the title SCIENCE FICTION: WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT. It's a good overall view from a refreshingly un-American viewpoint, though at times his views can be queried: "Practically all SF writers today come from SF fandom".