Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853237693
- eISBN:
- 9781781380840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237693.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 ...
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This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 that three new digest magazines appeared within three months of each other: If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantastic, and Space Science Fiction. The end of the science fiction boom came with the demise of the pulp magazines that hit the field in 1954. During the 1940s the pulp magazine faced stiff competition not only from the comic books, but also from paperback pocketbooks. The pocketbook emerged as a significant part of publishing with the success of Penguin Books in Britain and Pocket Books in the United States. Pocket Books were soon joined by Avon Books and other publishers, few of which published science fiction as a recognised genre.Less
This chapter examines the boom years of science fiction magazines that began in 1952, which saw the publication of seven new science fiction and fantasy magazines in the United States. It was in 1952 that three new digest magazines appeared within three months of each other: If: Worlds of Science Fiction, Fantastic, and Space Science Fiction. The end of the science fiction boom came with the demise of the pulp magazines that hit the field in 1954. During the 1940s the pulp magazine faced stiff competition not only from the comic books, but also from paperback pocketbooks. The pocketbook emerged as a significant part of publishing with the success of Penguin Books in Britain and Pocket Books in the United States. Pocket Books were soon joined by Avon Books and other publishers, few of which published science fiction as a recognised genre.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853237693
- eISBN:
- 9781781380840
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237693.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to ...
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From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to explore other avenues. Competition for science fiction magazines came from everywhere: comics, digest magazines, paperbacks, men's magazines, cinema, radio, and television. At the same time, science fiction was becoming more topical and relevant every day due to advances in science, especially with the dawn of the space age in October 1957. These factors provided science fiction a wider and more appreciative readership, to which the magazines had to respond while facing the challenge of their opposition. This chapter examines the consequences of all these factors for the turbulent science fiction magazine market from 1956 to 1960. Among the magazines that existed during the period were Astounding Science, Galaxy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Science Fiction Stories, Science Fiction Quarterly, Satellite SF, Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction Adventures.Less
From 1955 to the end of the 1950s, science fiction experienced its most turbulent period. All of the pulp magazines had almost disappeared by the middle of the decade, as their readers began to explore other avenues. Competition for science fiction magazines came from everywhere: comics, digest magazines, paperbacks, men's magazines, cinema, radio, and television. At the same time, science fiction was becoming more topical and relevant every day due to advances in science, especially with the dawn of the space age in October 1957. These factors provided science fiction a wider and more appreciative readership, to which the magazines had to respond while facing the challenge of their opposition. This chapter examines the consequences of all these factors for the turbulent science fiction magazine market from 1956 to 1960. Among the magazines that existed during the period were Astounding Science, Galaxy, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Amazing Stories, Science Fiction Stories, Science Fiction Quarterly, Satellite SF, Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Science Fiction Adventures.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846310027
- eISBN:
- 9781781380536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310027.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science ...
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This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, and Fantastic. With the decline of science fiction magazines, the period experienced a growth of science fiction and fantasy book sales, even bringing new titles. Cinema also underwent a dramatic growth after the success of the science fiction motion picture Star Wars in 1977, establishing a new generation of science fiction fans through visual imagery and special effects brought about by cinema.Less
This chapter discusses the changes in the science-fiction-magazine industry during the late 1970s, which witnessed the passing of numerous science fiction magazines, such as Galileo, Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, and Fantastic. With the decline of science fiction magazines, the period experienced a growth of science fiction and fantasy book sales, even bringing new titles. Cinema also underwent a dramatic growth after the success of the science fiction motion picture Star Wars in 1977, establishing a new generation of science fiction fans through visual imagery and special effects brought about by cinema.
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382608
- eISBN:
- 9781786945457
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382608.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This is the fourth volume in a five-volume series covering the history, development and influence of science fiction magazines within the genre as a whole. This volume covers the 1980s and looks at ...
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This is the fourth volume in a five-volume series covering the history, development and influence of science fiction magazines within the genre as a whole. This volume covers the 1980s and looks at the contribution of a new generation of writers to the development of new sub-genres in science fiction such as cyberpunk, slipstream, nanotechnology and what was called the hard SF Renaissance. It shows how the small press and alternative magazines developed a science fiction underground that had a significant impact upon the genre, and the professional SF magazines, as well as such alternative forms of fiction as slipstream. The book highlights the growing international interest in science fiction with significant coverage of SF in countries including China, Japan, and those in Eastern Europe and South America, which are covered in an appendix.Less
This is the fourth volume in a five-volume series covering the history, development and influence of science fiction magazines within the genre as a whole. This volume covers the 1980s and looks at the contribution of a new generation of writers to the development of new sub-genres in science fiction such as cyberpunk, slipstream, nanotechnology and what was called the hard SF Renaissance. It shows how the small press and alternative magazines developed a science fiction underground that had a significant impact upon the genre, and the professional SF magazines, as well as such alternative forms of fiction as slipstream. The book highlights the growing international interest in science fiction with significant coverage of SF in countries including China, Japan, and those in Eastern Europe and South America, which are covered in an appendix.
Andy Sawyer
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238348
- eISBN:
- 9781781380741
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238348.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science ...
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The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science Fiction Foundation, was part of an ongoing dialogue between various ‘wings’ or ‘tendencies’ of those involved in researching, studying, and writing science fiction. This chapter describes some of the themes which became apparent through the three days of the conference.Less
The present volume emerged from the ‘Speaking Science Fiction’ conference held in Liverpool in July 1996. The conference, organized by the University of Liverpool with the support of the Science Fiction Foundation, was part of an ongoing dialogue between various ‘wings’ or ‘tendencies’ of those involved in researching, studying, and writing science fiction. This chapter describes some of the themes which became apparent through the three days of the conference.
Rebecca Onion
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469629476
- eISBN:
- 9781469629490
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629476.003.0005
- Subject:
- Education, History of Education
After World War II, science-fiction authors found lucrative side gigs in writing fiction for young people. Before “young adult” books were a fixed category, authors like Robert Heinlein wrote stories ...
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After World War II, science-fiction authors found lucrative side gigs in writing fiction for young people. Before “young adult” books were a fixed category, authors like Robert Heinlein wrote stories about space for middle-grade readers, most of whom were male. This chapter looks at Heinlein’s juvenile fiction published by Scribner’s, and shows how his work reinforced a vision of scientific masculinity.Less
After World War II, science-fiction authors found lucrative side gigs in writing fiction for young people. Before “young adult” books were a fixed category, authors like Robert Heinlein wrote stories about space for middle-grade readers, most of whom were male. This chapter looks at Heinlein’s juvenile fiction published by Scribner’s, and shows how his work reinforced a vision of scientific masculinity.
Gwyneth Jones
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853237839
- eISBN:
- 9781786945389
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237839.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, ...
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Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, Fiction and Reality’, and ‘The Reviews’.
The book looks at 20th century science fiction through a feminist lens and explores the evolution of science fiction and fantasy writing during an era of scientific and technological development. From a feminist point of view, Jones discusses the relationships between men and women in science fiction and unpacks the significance of the power imbalances that come out of those relationships. Jones also addresses the increasing closeness in the barriers between science fiction and reality and offers insightful predictions towards the future.Less
Gwyneth Jones’s Deconstructing the Starships: Science Fiction and Reality is a collection of critical essays, speeches and reviews, split into three sections: ‘All Science is Description’, ‘Science, Fiction and Reality’, and ‘The Reviews’.
The book looks at 20th century science fiction through a feminist lens and explores the evolution of science fiction and fantasy writing during an era of scientific and technological development. From a feminist point of view, Jones discusses the relationships between men and women in science fiction and unpacks the significance of the power imbalances that come out of those relationships. Jones also addresses the increasing closeness in the barriers between science fiction and reality and offers insightful predictions towards the future.
Chris Pak
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382844
- eISBN:
- 9781786945426
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382844.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the ...
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This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.Less
This book explores the emergence and development of terraforming in science fiction from H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898) to James Cameron’s blockbuster Avatar (2009). Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. Its counterpart on Earth—geoengineering—has been positioned as a possible means of addressing the effects of climate change. This book asks how science fiction has imagined the ways we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism. It traces the growth of the motif of terraforming in stories by such writers as H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon in the UK, American pulp science fiction by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, the counter cultural novels of Frank Herbert, Ursula K. Le Guin and Ernest Callenbach, and Pamela Sargent’s Venus trilogy, Frederick Turner’s epic poem of terraforming, Genesis, and Kim Stanley Robinson’s acclaimed Mars trilogy. It explores terraforming as a nexus for environmental philosophy, the pastoral, ecology, the Gaia hypothesis, the politics of colonisation and habitation, tradition and memory. This book shows how contemporary environmental awareness and our understanding of climate change is influenced by science fiction, and how terraforming in particular has offered scientists, philosophers, and many other readers a motif to think in complex ways about the human impact on planetary environments. Amidst contemporary anxieties about climate change, terraforming offers an important vantage from which to consider the ways humankind shapes and is shaped by their world.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid ...
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A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.Less
A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.
Peter Wright
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238188
- eISBN:
- 9781846312618
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238188.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the ...
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Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the conventional spiritual reading of the text, the book employs evolutionary theory to argue for a controversial secular reception of a narrative in which Wolfe plays an elaborate game with his reader. After exposing the concealed story at the heart of Wolfe's novels, it adopts a variety of approaches to establish Wolfe as the designer of an intricate textual labyrinth intended to extend into the reading experience his thematic preoccupations with subjectivity, the unreliability of memory, the manipulation of individuals by social and political systems, and the psychological potency of myth, faith and symbolism. Drawing evidence not only from the first thirty years of Wolfe's career but from sources as diverse as reception theory, palaeontology, the Renaissance Hermetic tradition, mythology and science fiction's subgenre of dying sun literature, the book provides a comprehensive and closely argued analysis of one of the key works of twentieth-century science fiction.Less
Attending Daedalus is the first book-length study of Gene Wolfe's four-volume The Book of the New Sun and its sequel, The Urth of the New Sun, known collectively as ‘The Urth Cycle’. Rejecting the conventional spiritual reading of the text, the book employs evolutionary theory to argue for a controversial secular reception of a narrative in which Wolfe plays an elaborate game with his reader. After exposing the concealed story at the heart of Wolfe's novels, it adopts a variety of approaches to establish Wolfe as the designer of an intricate textual labyrinth intended to extend into the reading experience his thematic preoccupations with subjectivity, the unreliability of memory, the manipulation of individuals by social and political systems, and the psychological potency of myth, faith and symbolism. Drawing evidence not only from the first thirty years of Wolfe's career but from sources as diverse as reception theory, palaeontology, the Renaissance Hermetic tradition, mythology and science fiction's subgenre of dying sun literature, the book provides a comprehensive and closely argued analysis of one of the key works of twentieth-century science fiction.
Mark C. Jerng
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823277759
- eISBN:
- 9780823280544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823277759.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
When does racial description become racism? Critical race studies has not come up with good answers to this question because it has overemphasized the visuality of race. According to dominant ...
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When does racial description become racism? Critical race studies has not come up with good answers to this question because it has overemphasized the visuality of race. According to dominant theories of racial formation, we see race on bodies and persons and then link those perceptions to unjust practices of racial inequality. Racial Worldmaking argues that we do not just see race. We are taught when, where, and how to notice race by a set of narrative and interpretive strategies. These strategies are named “racial worldmaking” because they get us to notice race not just at the level of the biological representation of bodies or the social categorization of persons. Rather, they get us to embed race into our expectations for how the world operates. These strategies find their most powerful expression in popular genre fiction: science fiction, romance, and fantasy. This book thus rethinks both racial formation in relation to African American and Asian American studies, as well as how scholars have addressed the relationships between literary representation and racial ideology. It analyzes how genre and race build worlds. In doing so, it engages questions central to our current moment: in what ways do we participate in racist worlds? How can we imagine and build an anti-racist world?Less
When does racial description become racism? Critical race studies has not come up with good answers to this question because it has overemphasized the visuality of race. According to dominant theories of racial formation, we see race on bodies and persons and then link those perceptions to unjust practices of racial inequality. Racial Worldmaking argues that we do not just see race. We are taught when, where, and how to notice race by a set of narrative and interpretive strategies. These strategies are named “racial worldmaking” because they get us to notice race not just at the level of the biological representation of bodies or the social categorization of persons. Rather, they get us to embed race into our expectations for how the world operates. These strategies find their most powerful expression in popular genre fiction: science fiction, romance, and fantasy. This book thus rethinks both racial formation in relation to African American and Asian American studies, as well as how scholars have addressed the relationships between literary representation and racial ideology. It analyzes how genre and race build worlds. In doing so, it engages questions central to our current moment: in what ways do we participate in racist worlds? How can we imagine and build an anti-racist world?
Mike Ashley
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781781382608
- eISBN:
- 9781786945457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781382608.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Considers the sf magazine position in the USA and UK in 1980 and the distinction of the major magazines, notably the role of F&SF, which encouraged less conventional writers such as Harvey Jacobs, ...
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Considers the sf magazine position in the USA and UK in 1980 and the distinction of the major magazines, notably the role of F&SF, which encouraged less conventional writers such as Harvey Jacobs, Thomas M. Disch, Avram Davidson, R. A. Lafferty, Joanna Russ and Lucius Shepard. In so doing it set the scene to encourage a more radical change in sf.Less
Considers the sf magazine position in the USA and UK in 1980 and the distinction of the major magazines, notably the role of F&SF, which encouraged less conventional writers such as Harvey Jacobs, Thomas M. Disch, Avram Davidson, R. A. Lafferty, Joanna Russ and Lucius Shepard. In so doing it set the scene to encourage a more radical change in sf.
Jad Smith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037337
- eISBN:
- 9780252094514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037337.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the ...
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This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898) ended up misshelved in his playroom. At six and a half years old, Brunner read it, adorned its endpapers with Martian fighting-machines, and that was that. By nine, Brunner was a full-fledged SF addict. During his final term at Cheltenham College in the fall of 1951, Brunner's first printed story appeared alongside fiction by A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, and Manly Banister in Walt Willis' celebrated fanzine Slant. Though only a page long, “The Watchers” (1951) leaves little doubt that the seventeen-year-old Brunner began his career as a devoted idealist. In April 1966, Brunner became the first recipient of the British Science Fiction Association's Fantasy Award.Less
This chapter details the early life of John Brunner. Brunner had first meaningful encounter with science fiction (SF) when grandfather's rare 1898 Heinemann edition of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds (1898) ended up misshelved in his playroom. At six and a half years old, Brunner read it, adorned its endpapers with Martian fighting-machines, and that was that. By nine, Brunner was a full-fledged SF addict. During his final term at Cheltenham College in the fall of 1951, Brunner's first printed story appeared alongside fiction by A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, and Manly Banister in Walt Willis' celebrated fanzine Slant. Though only a page long, “The Watchers” (1951) leaves little doubt that the seventeen-year-old Brunner began his career as a devoted idealist. In April 1966, Brunner became the first recipient of the British Science Fiction Association's Fantasy Award.
Gwyneth Jones
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780853237839
- eISBN:
- 9781786945389
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853237839.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part ...
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This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part of a feature called ‘Science Fiction and Reality’. The essay focuses heavily on the language of science fiction and interprets the requirements of a science fiction story. It discusses the use of unnatural language; invented language; and language games, while looking at the importance of borrowing from real-world culture to furnish an imaginary world. The chapter also pays attention to the study of science in science fiction and analyses the ways in which narrative time can be used to accompany a story.Less
This chapter is the first of four in the first section of the text titled ‘All Description is Science’. ‘Getting Rid of the Brand Names’ was first published in The World and I in October 1987 as part of a feature called ‘Science Fiction and Reality’. The essay focuses heavily on the language of science fiction and interprets the requirements of a science fiction story. It discusses the use of unnatural language; invented language; and language games, while looking at the importance of borrowing from real-world culture to furnish an imaginary world. The chapter also pays attention to the study of science in science fiction and analyses the ways in which narrative time can be used to accompany a story.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ...
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The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ambiguity and the unknowable in the genre; thus it will lead to a different set of questions and answers. In other words, rather than foregrounding the way sf extrapolates current scientific facts into future plots, this book searches out objects which resist incorporation into any past, present or future scientific understanding. Such objects are key for speculative realism because they indicate an independence from human thought or perception. Authors such as Joanna Russ, Damon Knight, Samuel Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson are used to develop this argument.Less
The Zug effect is part of only certain moments in science fiction which are open to representing ambiguity. Thus the book offers a different definition of sf because it focuses on the roles of ambiguity and the unknowable in the genre; thus it will lead to a different set of questions and answers. In other words, rather than foregrounding the way sf extrapolates current scientific facts into future plots, this book searches out objects which resist incorporation into any past, present or future scientific understanding. Such objects are key for speculative realism because they indicate an independence from human thought or perception. Authors such as Joanna Russ, Damon Knight, Samuel Delany and Kim Stanley Robinson are used to develop this argument.
Lars Schmeink
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781781383766
- eISBN:
- 9781786944115
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781781383766.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Chapter 2 provides an inventory of the theoretical strains pertinent to the discussion and elaborates the concepts introduced. Starting from the premise of science fiction as a cultural mode that is ...
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Chapter 2 provides an inventory of the theoretical strains pertinent to the discussion and elaborates the concepts introduced. Starting from the premise of science fiction as a cultural mode that is ideally suited to negotiate technoscience and its influence of socio-political structures, the chapter introduces and defines the cultural formation of 'biopunk' from its pre-cursor cyberpunk. Then, biopunk will be situated as a creative intervention into posthuman discourses by elaborating the origin and use of the 'posthuman,' anchoring it in discussions differentiating between transhumanism and critical posthumanism as two oppositional theoretical positions. Further, the chapter establishes the sociological frame, positing contemporary society as formed by 'liquid modernity.' The chapter elaborates the dissolution of social institutions and the shifting of focus from public debate onto private life-choices, the global dimension of current political issues and, in contrast, the individualization of solutions to those issues. Liquid modernity, as critical dystopian present, consequently demands to be understood as warning about current tendencies in society, as criticism and even more importantly as an education of society in regards to its own needs and desires. In reviewing the utopian imagination, the chapter concludes the theoretical frame, in which to read contemporary biopunk culture.Less
Chapter 2 provides an inventory of the theoretical strains pertinent to the discussion and elaborates the concepts introduced. Starting from the premise of science fiction as a cultural mode that is ideally suited to negotiate technoscience and its influence of socio-political structures, the chapter introduces and defines the cultural formation of 'biopunk' from its pre-cursor cyberpunk. Then, biopunk will be situated as a creative intervention into posthuman discourses by elaborating the origin and use of the 'posthuman,' anchoring it in discussions differentiating between transhumanism and critical posthumanism as two oppositional theoretical positions. Further, the chapter establishes the sociological frame, positing contemporary society as formed by 'liquid modernity.' The chapter elaborates the dissolution of social institutions and the shifting of focus from public debate onto private life-choices, the global dimension of current political issues and, in contrast, the individualization of solutions to those issues. Liquid modernity, as critical dystopian present, consequently demands to be understood as warning about current tendencies in society, as criticism and even more importantly as an education of society in regards to its own needs and desires. In reviewing the utopian imagination, the chapter concludes the theoretical frame, in which to read contemporary biopunk culture.
Peter Wright (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846310577
- eISBN:
- 9781846314056
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846310577.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Gene Wolfe is one of America's most acclaimed authors of science fiction and fantasy. His works include Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Book of the New Sun, There Are Doors, The Book of the ...
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Gene Wolfe is one of America's most acclaimed authors of science fiction and fantasy. His works include Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Book of the New Sun, There Are Doors, The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun, The Wizard Knight, Pirate Freedom and An Evil Guest. Shadows of the New Sun celebrates the first forty years of Wolfe's writing career. It is divided into two sections. The first, ‘The Trackless Meadows of Old Time’ brings together all of the major interviews Wolfe gave between 1973 and 2003. The second, ‘The Wild Joy of Strumming’ is a series of essays on varied topics, including the art of writing, the future of libraries, and the practicalities of reviewing fiction. Many of these appear here for the first time. Infused with Wolfe's incisive wit, the interviews and articles offer a fascinating and often darkly humorous insight into the mind of one of American speculative fiction's major figures.Less
Gene Wolfe is one of America's most acclaimed authors of science fiction and fantasy. His works include Peace, The Fifth Head of Cerberus, The Book of the New Sun, There Are Doors, The Book of the Long Sun, The Book of the Short Sun, The Wizard Knight, Pirate Freedom and An Evil Guest. Shadows of the New Sun celebrates the first forty years of Wolfe's writing career. It is divided into two sections. The first, ‘The Trackless Meadows of Old Time’ brings together all of the major interviews Wolfe gave between 1973 and 2003. The second, ‘The Wild Joy of Strumming’ is a series of essays on varied topics, including the art of writing, the future of libraries, and the practicalities of reviewing fiction. Many of these appear here for the first time. Infused with Wolfe's incisive wit, the interviews and articles offer a fascinating and often darkly humorous insight into the mind of one of American speculative fiction's major figures.
Peter Pels
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823249800
- eISBN:
- 9780823252480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823249800.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ...
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This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ‘classic’ authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Hugo Gernsback, and Isaac Asimov, to the rise of ‘cyberpunk’ authors such as William Gibson, the chapter examines the relationship of these authors with religious movements such as Theosophy, modern occultism, and New Age spirituality. The chapter argues that science fiction (and science-fictionalized everyday life) constitutes a form of religion outside religious contexts – a secularized, commercially driven religiosity, based on a shared vocabulary of ‘wonder’, ‘awe’, ‘amazement’, ‘redemption’, and ‘salvation’.Less
This chapter explores the history of science fiction in relation to religious ideas about cosmology, human nature, fate, and techno-science. Documenting the evolution of the literary genre from ‘classic’ authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Hugo Gernsback, and Isaac Asimov, to the rise of ‘cyberpunk’ authors such as William Gibson, the chapter examines the relationship of these authors with religious movements such as Theosophy, modern occultism, and New Age spirituality. The chapter argues that science fiction (and science-fictionalized everyday life) constitutes a form of religion outside religious contexts – a secularized, commercially driven religiosity, based on a shared vocabulary of ‘wonder’, ‘awe’, ‘amazement’, ‘redemption’, and ‘salvation’.
Brian Willems
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781474422697
- eISBN:
- 9781474438629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often ...
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Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often also assemblages or networks, meaning that their constituent parts are defined by how they interact with each other rather than by the essence which is withdrawn from such interactions. In the previous chapter, symbiosis was seen as a powerful tool for change. However, the way it was described often bordered on a dialectical structure, as did the doubling of double-vision and the contradiction of crisis energy. The Windup Girl offers a different strategy, the short circuit. In brief, this means that one of the terms of a symbiosis disrupts the symbiosis. This disruption takes the form of spatial and temporal tensions, as described above and developed below.Less
Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula award-winning novel The Windup Girl (2009) sets up a dialectical situation which it then disrupts. This is important for two reasons. First, dialectic formations are often also assemblages or networks, meaning that their constituent parts are defined by how they interact with each other rather than by the essence which is withdrawn from such interactions. In the previous chapter, symbiosis was seen as a powerful tool for change. However, the way it was described often bordered on a dialectical structure, as did the doubling of double-vision and the contradiction of crisis energy. The Windup Girl offers a different strategy, the short circuit. In brief, this means that one of the terms of a symbiosis disrupts the symbiosis. This disruption takes the form of spatial and temporal tensions, as described above and developed below.
Peter Wright
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780853238188
- eISBN:
- 9781846312618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780853238188.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter demonstrates how Wolfe disguises The Urth Cycle, a work of science fiction, as fantasy by recontextualizing genre conventions that encourage critical misreadings. It considers how the ...
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This chapter demonstrates how Wolfe disguises The Urth Cycle, a work of science fiction, as fantasy by recontextualizing genre conventions that encourage critical misreadings. It considers how the novels are designed in part to substantiate Wolfe's definition of science fantasy as ‘a science fiction story told with the outlook, the flavour of fantasy’ whilst constituting a slyly deceptive conflation of the two frequently discrete genres. Drawing on the work of Brian Attebery, Michael McClintock, Colin Greenland, and Carl Malmgren, it reads The Urth Cycle as a science fantasy about science fantasy. It frames the cycle as an historical megatext responding to, and embracing aspects of, the ‘dying sun’ tradition in science fiction. As such, it explores connections between The Urth Cycle and its literary antecedents: Wells’ The Time Machine, Hodgson's The Night Land, Smith's Zothique stories, and Vance's The Dying Earth. It assesses its analogical historicity and concludes that Wolfe's narrative is a means of encouraging the reader to reflect on how meaning is ascribed to a text as a consequence of its generic, or apparent generic, conventions. It reveals how that process of ascription can be manipulated to elicit conclusions contrary to those pertinent to the texts at hand.Less
This chapter demonstrates how Wolfe disguises The Urth Cycle, a work of science fiction, as fantasy by recontextualizing genre conventions that encourage critical misreadings. It considers how the novels are designed in part to substantiate Wolfe's definition of science fantasy as ‘a science fiction story told with the outlook, the flavour of fantasy’ whilst constituting a slyly deceptive conflation of the two frequently discrete genres. Drawing on the work of Brian Attebery, Michael McClintock, Colin Greenland, and Carl Malmgren, it reads The Urth Cycle as a science fantasy about science fantasy. It frames the cycle as an historical megatext responding to, and embracing aspects of, the ‘dying sun’ tradition in science fiction. As such, it explores connections between The Urth Cycle and its literary antecedents: Wells’ The Time Machine, Hodgson's The Night Land, Smith's Zothique stories, and Vance's The Dying Earth. It assesses its analogical historicity and concludes that Wolfe's narrative is a means of encouraging the reader to reflect on how meaning is ascribed to a text as a consequence of its generic, or apparent generic, conventions. It reveals how that process of ascription can be manipulated to elicit conclusions contrary to those pertinent to the texts at hand.
