The Road to Science Fiction: From Heinlein to Here / Edition 600

by James Gunn

Overview

Now in Paperback!
Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's prophesies of the impact of scientific inventions on future civilization; from Edward Bellamy's utopian escape from the industrial Revolution to H.G. Wells's magnificent story of Earth threatened by an inescapable menace-here are the chief ancestors of the modern science fiction story. For the first time, these and other key works are gathered together in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction.

The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology of science fiction that covers the development of science fiction from its earliest prototypes in the Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Greek epics to approximately 1990.

Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classes, these volumes have become mass-market sellers as well, since they are not only a source of outstanding stories but also explain what constitutes science fiction, how it developed and the contribution the authors and the stories have made to the evolution of science fiction.

Volume 3, From Heinlein to Here, covers the period from 1940 to 1975, beginning in the Golden Age of Science Fiction and ending at a time when SF book publication was just beginning to explode and SF films (2001: A Space Odyssey; Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, E.T.) would soon dominate box offices.

Cloth edition previously published in 1979.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810842458
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/11/2002
Series:	Road to Science Fiction Series , #3
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	576
Sales rank:	708,823
Product dimensions:	6.08(w) x 9.08(h) x 1.44(d)

About the Author

James Gunn is Emeritus Professor of English at University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Beyond These Horizons Chapter 2 "All You Zombies" Chapter 3 The Clear, Cool Voice of Asimov Chapter 4 Reason Chapter 5 The Simak Reservation Chapter 6 Desertion Chapter 7 Mimsy Were the Kuttners Chapter 8 Mimsy Were the Borogoves Chapter 9 The Bradbury Chronicles Chapter 10 The Million-Year Picnic Chapter 11 More Than SF Chapter 12 Thunder and Roses Chapter 13 Ecce Femina Chapter 14 That Only a Mother Chapter 15 A Matter of Time Chapter 16 Brooklyn Project Chapter 17 The Social Side Chapter 18 Coming Attraction Chapter 19 The Expanding Universe Chapter 20 The Sentinel Chapter 21 Farmerworld Chapter 22 Sail On! Sail On! Chapter 23 The Science in Science Fiction Chapter 24 Critical Factor Chapter 25 Why Not Literature? Chapter 26 Fondly Fahrenheit Chapter 27 A Touch of Stone Chapter 28 The Cold Equations Chapter 29 The Ballads of Lost C. Smith Chapter 30 The Game of Rat and Dragon Chapter 31 Scalpel of Wit Chapter 32 Pilgrimage to Earth Chapter 33 The British Are Coming! Chapter 34 Who Can Replace a Man? Chapter 35 The Sirens of Mainstream Chapter 36 Harrison Bergeron Chapter 37 That Old-Time Religion Chapter 38 The Streets of Ashkelon Chapter 39 Terminal Fiction Chapter 40 The Terminal Beach Chapter 41 Again and Again Chapter 42 Dolphin's Way Chapter 43 The Future as Metaphor Chapter 44 Slow Tuesday Night Chapter 45 Through a Glass Darkly Chapter 46 Day Million Chapter 47 Will Reality Please Raise Its Hand? Chapter 48 We Can Remember It for You Wholesale Chapter 49 The New Thing Chapter 50 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream Chapter 51 Aye, and Delany Chapter 52 Aye, and Gomorrah Chapter 53 The New Scientific Revolution Chapter 54 The Jigsaw Man Chapter 55 Hard Science and Soft People Chapter 56 Kyrie Chapter 57 Out of the Knight Chapter 58 Masks Chapter 59 Surviving the Future Chapter 60 From Stand on Zanzibar Chapter 61 The Big Protest Chapter 62 The Big Flash Chapter 63 The Origin and Development of Science Fiction Writers Chapter 64 Sundance Chapter 65 Science Fiction as Simile Chapter 66 From The Left Hand of Darkness Chapter 67 Issues and Controversies Chapter 68 When It Changed Chapter 69 The Science Fiction Art Story Chapter 70 The Engine at Heartspring's Center Chapter 71 The Uncertain Future Chapter 72 Tricentennial

Editorial Reviews

...the stories are among the field's best known, by the most highly regarded authors of the period....There's little doubt why these stories are considered among the finest in science fiction history....Gunn's commentary is both informative and perceptive....he explains the literary development of science fiction, and the stories support his analysis....It belongs on the bookshelf of everyone who loves science fiction.

Science Fiction Weekly

...provides one of the most comprehensive views of the field and should be required reading for all students of sf. It has withstood the test of time, with classic stories....Gunn's headnotes and introductions remain provocative, even years later. The Road to Science Fiction can be read as an historical document, one that says much about Gunn, his mind, and his take on sf as it does about the state of sf from its roots to its full maturity as a genre.

Science Fiction Studies

An excellent introduction to the history of the genre.

The New York Times

The best series, historically arranged, of SF anthologies ever assembled...All six volumes belong in the library of every university, school, and teacher and reader of science fiction. Gunn has gathered stories of importance to the development of SF and stories that represent the best writing of the genre.

5th Edition Anatomy of Wonder

...the stories are among the field's best known, by the most highly regarded authors of the period....There's little doubt why these stories are considered among the finest in science fiction history....Gunn's commentary is both informative and perceptive....he explains the literary development of science fiction, and the stories support his analysis....It belongs on the bookshelf of everyone who loves science fiction.--Science Fiction Weekly

An excellent introduction to the history of the genre.--The New York Times

The best series, historically arranged, of SF anthologies ever assembled...All six volumes belong in the library of every university, school, and teacher and reader of science fiction. Gunn has gathered stories of importance to the development of SF and stories that represent the best writing of the genre.--Anatomy of Wonder, 5th Edition

From the Publisher

An excellent introduction to the history of the genre.

The New York Times

This is a reprint of the third in a six-volume anthology of science fiction originally published in 1979 by New American Library and White Wolf Publishing. The anthology includes 36 selections from the leading science fiction writers of the period from 1940 to 1975. The reprint includes an overall introduction by Gunn (English, U. of Kansas, Lawrence). Each selection is also preceded by brief autobiographical notes on the individual authors, and a discussion of their contributions to the genre of science fiction writing. Suitable for use in an academic setting, but also accessible to the general reader. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews