Description
The world has begun to recognize science fiction in a myriad of ways, from incorporating its visions in products, visual media, and huge conventions to seizing on its inspiration for future ventures into the unknown. As Alvin Toffler wrote in Future Shock, science fiction in a prophylactic against what he called "the premature arrival of the future." and William Gibson wrote, "the future is already here; it's just unevenly distributed." Alternate Worlds relates the way in which science fiction developed from early myth and fancy into the complex literature of today's world as the world itself was changed by exploration, science, and technology.
About the Author
James Gunn, an emeritus professor of English at the University of Kansas, is the author or editor of 45 books and more than 100 short stories, has been president of both the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the Science Fiction Research Association and has received their lifetime awards, including the Grand Master Award of SFWA and induction into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas.
Reviews
From the first edition: Locus Award; Science Fiction Research Association's Pilgrim Award. ""Comprehensive, neatly balanced and lavishly illustrated...SF fans may never have had so thorough a tribute to their genre."" - Publishers Weekly
""an excellent, an intelligent, comprehensive, and above all objective history...a minor miracle"" - Science Fiction Review
""The hundreds of photos of science fiction writers and the equally large number of reproductions of covers from the pulp magazines make it a treasure."" - Jackson Sun
""Gunn gives the history of sf according to Verne, Wells and Campbell. And he does so brilliantly, in a study that will long remain the voice for the so-called 'hard concept of sf.'"" - Extrapolation.
Book Information
ISBN 9781476673530
Author James Gunn
Format Paperback
Page Count 172
Imprint McFarland & Co Inc
Publisher McFarland & Co Inc
Weight(grams) 598g
Dimensions(mm) 254mm * 178mm * 9mm