SF&F encyclopedia (A-A)
ABBEY, EDWARD
(1927-1989) US writer,
perhaps best known for his numerous essays on the
US West, in which he
clearly expresses a scathing iconoclasm about human
motives and their effects
on the world. In The Monkey-Wrench Gang (1975;
rev 1985) and its sequel,
Hayduke Lives! (1990), this pessimism is
countered by prescriptions for
physically sabotaging the polluters of the
West which, when put into
practice, nearly displace normal reality;
structure-hitting, as practised by
21st century saboteurs in Bruce
STERLING's Heavy Weather (1994), seems to
derive from EA's premise Good
Times (fixup 1980) is set in a balkanized USA
after nuclear fallout has
helped destroy civilization; an Indian shaman,
along with other characters
similar to those in The Monkey-Wrench Gang,
fights back against tyranny.
ABBOTT, EDWIN A(BBOTT)
(1839-1926) UK clergyman, academic and writer whose
most noted work,
published originally as by A Square, is FLATLAND: A ROMANCE
OF MANY
DIMENSIONS (1884). Narrated and illustrated by Mr Square, the novel
falls
into two parts. The first is a highly entertaining description of
the
two-dimensional world of Flatland, in which inhabitants' shapes
establish
their (planar) hierarchical status. In the second part, Mr Square
travels
in a dream to the one-dimensional universe of Lineland, whose
inhabitants
are unable to conceive of a two-dimensional universe; he is in
turn
visited from Spaceland by a three-dimensional visitor - named
Sphere
because he is spherical - whom Mr Square cleverly persuades to believe
in
four-dimensional worlds as well. Flatland is a study in MATHEMATICS
and
PERCEPTION, and has stayed popular since its first publication. See
also:
DIMENSIONS; HISTORY OF SF.
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN
The INVISIBLE MAN.
ABE, KOBO
(1924-1993) Japanese novelist, active since 1948, several of whose
later
novels have been translated into English. He is known mainly for his
work
outside the sf field, like Suna no Onna (1962; trans E.Dale Saunders
as
Woman in the Dunes 1964 US), and has been deeply influenced by
Western
models from Franz KAFKA to Samuel Beckett (1906-1989); the
intensely
extreme conditions to which he subjects his alienated protagonists
allow a
dubious sf interpretation of novels like Moetsukita Chizu (1967;
trans
E.Dale Saunders as The Ruined Map 1969 US), or Tanin no Kao (1964;
trans
E.Dale Saunders as The Face of Another 1966 US). However, Dai-Yon
Kampyoki
(1959; trans E.Dale Saunders as Inter Ice Age 4 1970 US) is
undoubtedly
sf. It is a complex story set in a near-future Japan threatened
by the
melting of the polar icecaps. The protagonist, Professor Katsumi, has
been
in charge of developing a computer/information system capable
of
predicting human behaviour. This system, fatally for him, predicts
his
compulsive refusal to go along with his associates and his government
in
the creation of genetically engineered children, adapted for life in
the
rising seas. Most of the novel, narrated by Katsumi, deals with
a
philosophical confrontation between his deeply alienated refusal of
the
future and the computer's knowing representations of that refusal and
the
alternatives to it. The resulting psychodramas include a mysterious
murder
and the enlistment of his unborn child into the ranks of the
mutated
water-breathers. A later novel, Hako-Otoko (1973; trans E.Dale
Saunders as
The Box Man 1973 US) has some borderline sf elements; its
protagonist
walks about and lives in a large cardboard carton along with many
other
Tokyo residents who have refused a life of normalcy. Hakobune
Sakura
Maru1984; (trans Juliet Winter Carpenter as The Ark Sakura 1988
US)
expands that basic metaphor in a tale about a man obsessively engaged
with
his bomb shelter. Beyond the Curve (coll trans Juliet Winters
Carpenter
1991 US) collects sf short stories - some sf - published in Japan
1949-66.
See also: DISASTER; GENETIC ENGINEERING; JAPAN; PSYCHOLOGY; UNDER
THE SEA.
ABEL, R(ICHARD) COX
Charles BARREN.
aB HUGH, DAFYDD
(1960- ) US writer, whose Welsh-sounding name has been
legalized. He is
perhaps best known for his novella, "The Coon Rolled Down
and Ruptured his
Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk" (1990 AISFM). Most
of his work is
fantasy, or-in the case of the Arthur War Lord sequence,
comprising Arthur
War Lord (1994) and Far Beyond the Wave (1994)-is sf with a
fantasy
coloration. The sequence features the adventures of a man who, via
TIME
TRAVEL convention, chases a female CIA agent into Arthurian times,
where
she is attempting to assassinate the king, and thus to change
history.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fallen Heroes (1994) is
unexceptionable.
ABLEMAN, PAUL
(1927- ) UK novelist known mainly for work outside the sf field
whose
first story of genre interest is The Prophet Mackenbee for Lucifer
in
1952, about an sf writer and inventor who surrounds himself with
disciples
in an absurd world. His first book, I Hear Voices (1958 France).
The
Twilight of the Vilp (1969) is not so much sf proper as an informed
and
sophisticated playing with the conventions of the genre in a
FABULATION
about the author of a work and his relation to its components.
The
eponymous Galaxy-spanning Vilp cannot, therefore, be taken literally.
ABORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION
US magazine published from Massachusetts by
Absolute Entertainment Inc.
and more recently by the Second Renaissance
Foundation Inc., ed Charles C.
RYAN, first issue Oct 1986, 5 issues in both
1987 and 1988, then
bimonthly; 30 issues to Dec 1991, quarterly from 1992,
currently
suspended, last issue seen 45/46 Spring 1994. The original format
was 24pp
tabloid (11 x 17in; about 280 x 430mm), but changed to smallBEDSHEET
with
4 in 1987. A feature is the use of full-page, full-colour
illustration
throughout the magazine, which from 8 (1988) to 22 (1990) was
printed
entirely on slick paper: cover art for every story, as the editor put
it.
The title results from an ongoing but not very good joke about
the
publisher, envisaged as a crazy alien, who produces the magazine for
the
aboriginals of Earth. The fiction has been reasonable but
seldom
excellent, with the work of little known writers like Robert
A.Metzger
mixed, very occasionally, with that of big names like Larry NIVEN.
The
regular book-review columns are by Darrell SCHWEITZER and Janice
M.Eisen.
Editor Ryan previously brought out the magazine GALILEO (1976-80),
and
continues, as he did then, to make most of his sales through
subscription
rather than newsstand purchases. At the end of 1991, with a
hiatus in the
bimonthly appearance, the future of this courageous but never
very
exciting magazine looked uncertain, with production and
(increased)
postage costs no longer covered by sales. 1992 saw three double
issues
only; 1993 saw four issues, two labelled as doubles; there was only
one
double issue in 1994 due to illness in the editor's family. In early
1995
the title was offered for sale, though publisher/editor Ryan said he
would
stay on as editor if asked by the new owners, if any. A spin-off
reprint
anthology in magazine format is Aboriginal Science Fiction, Tales of
the
Human Kind: 1988 Annual Anthology (anth chap 1988) ed Ryan.
ABOUT, EDMOND (FRANCOIS VALENTIN)
(1828-1885) French writer of much fiction,
some of it sf, notably L'homme
a l'oreille cassee (1862; trans Henry Holt as
The Man with the Broken Ear
1867 US; vt Colonel Fougas' Mistake 1878 UK; vt A
New Lease of Life 1880
UK), which is included in A New Lease of Life, and
Saving a Daughter's
Dowry (coll trans 1880 UK). In this tale a mummified
military man is
revived 46 years after his death and causes havoc with his
Napoleonic
jingoism. Another work in an English-language version is The Nose
of a
Notary (trans 1863 US; vt The Notary's Nose 1864; vt The Lawyer's
Nose
1878 UK), which is included in The Notary's Nose and Other Stories
(coll
trans 1882 UK). See also: MONEY.
ABRAMOV, ALEXANDER
(1900-1985) and SERGEI (1944- ) Russian authors of the sf
adventure novel
Horsemen from Nowhere (trans George Yankovsky 1969 Moscow).
One of their
short stories appears in Vortex (anth 1970) ed C.G.Bearne. A
later novel
is Journey across Three Worlds (trans Gladys Evans with other
stories as
coll 1973 Moscow).
ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR, THE
Film (1961). Walt Disney. Dir Robert Stevenson,
starring Fred MacMurray,
Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn. Screenplay Bill Walsh. 97
mins. B/w.
Historically important as the financially successful template for
a great
many lightweight, comparatively low-budget sf comedies from the
Disney
studio, though it was not their first live-action fantasy comedy
(The
Shaggy Dog, 1959). Subsequent movies in a similar vein include
The
Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), The Love Bug (1969) and The Cat
from
Outer Space (1978); because these are largely assembly-belt products
aimed
at children, they do not receive entries in this volume. TAMP, perhaps
the
best, features MacMurray as a high-school science teacher who
accidentally
invents flubber (flying rubber), an ANTIGRAVITY substance he
fits in a
Model-T Ford. The flying scenes (matte work by Peter Ellenshaw)
are
astonishingly proficient for the period, but the science is puerile,
the
humour broad and the characters stereotyped. MacMurray gives one of
his
most charmingly deft performances. The sequel was Son of Flubber
(1963).
ABSOLUTE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
ABORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION.
ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDE
US SEMIPROZINE, from 1993, current, four issues to spring
1995,
small-BEDSHEET format, ed and pub Warren Lapine from
Greenfield,
Massachusetts. Subtitled "The Magazine of Science Fiction
Adventures", AM
began life as Harsh Mistress, but that title-intended to echo
Robert
A.HEINLEIN's novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966) - sounded like
a
bondage 'zine to magazine distributors, and the magazine was retitled
(its
numbering resuming with #1) with its third issue, Fall/Winter 1994.
Its
production values improved after the first two issues, and AM is now
a
professional-looking magazine, whichpublishes a broader selection of
sf
than its title implies. Contributors have included Terry
BISSON,
C.J.CHERRYH, and Hal CLEMENT. Aimed at a wider readership than most
of the
US semiprozines that began to appear in the mid-nineties, AM may
realize
its ambition to develop into a fully professional publication.
ABSURDIST SF
The word absurdist became fashionable as a literary term after
its
consistent use by the French novelist and essayist Albert
Camus
(1913-1960) to describe fictions set in worlds where we seem at the
mercy
of incomprehensible systems. These systems may work as metaphors of
the
human mind - outward manifestations of what J.G.BALLARD means when he
uses
the term INNER SPACE - or they may work as representations of a
cruelly
arbitrary external world, in which our expectations of rational
coherence,
whether from God or from human agencies, are doomed to
frustration, as in
the works of Franz KAFKA. In this encyclopedia we
cross-refer works of
Absurdist sf to the blanket entry on FABULATION, but do
not thereby wish
to discount the usefulness of Absurdist sf as a separate
concept,
especially when we are thinking about some sf written between about
1950
and 1970. During this period Brian W.ALDISS, Ballard, David R.BUNCH,
Jerzy
KOSINSKI, Michael MOORCOCK, Robert SHECKLEY, John T.SLADEK, Kurt
VONNEGUT
Jr and many other writers tended to create metaphorical worlds
shaped
externally by a governing PARANOIA, and internally tortured by the
psychic
white noise of ENTROPY. Kafka haunted this work, of course - because
Kafka
can easily be transposed into terms that suggest a political protest.
Most
Absurdist writers were also indebted (a debt they tended freely
to
acknowledge) to the 19th-century Symbolist tradition, as exemplified
by
figures like Jean-Marie VILLIERS DE L'ISLE-ADAM, and to its
20th-century
successors, from the 'pataphysics of Alfred JARRY to the
Surrealism of
Andre Breton (1896-1966) and many others. In the end, however,
it might be
suggested that Absurdist writers - as they did with Kafka -
translated the
Symbolist and Surrealist traditions into political terms: in
the end,
Absurdist sf can be seen as a protest movement. The world - they
said -
should not be absurd.
ABYSS, THE
Film (1989). 20th Century-Fox. Dir James CAMERON, starring Ed
Harris,
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Todd Graff, Michael Biehn. Prod Gale
Anne
HURD. Screenplay Cameron. 139 mins. Colour. Despite the largest budget
of
the period's undersea fantasies (DEEPSTAR SIX; LEVIATHAN) at about
$60
million, and despite director Cameron's impressive track record with
sf,
this was not a box-office smash. A nuclear-missile-armed US
submarine
crashes at the edge of the Cayman Trough and the crew of an
experimental,
submersible drilling rig are asked to help rescue any
survivors. A
hurricane cuts communications with the surface; the laid-back,
jokey rig
workers clash with a paranoid team of naval commandos who blame
everything
on the Russians; and ALIENS dwelling in the Trench (looking a
little like
angels, and therefore good) teasingly appear to some people but
not
others. The peace-lovers clash stereotypically with the nuke the
aliens
group, and mayhem is followed by transcendental First Contact. Cameron
is
good at the low-key establishment of team cameraderie among
working
people, but the cute-alien theme and the relationship between
estranged
husband and wife have traces of marshmallow softness. The
moral-blackmail
finale of an earlier version of the script (aliens threaten
world with
tidal waves if world peace is not restored) is replaced by
something that
looks more like divine intervention. The film's moralizing is
attractive
but simplistic. More interestingly, most of the miraculous
technology on
display is either actually possible today or plausible for the
NEAR
FUTURE. The novelization, whose author not unfairly calls it a real
novel,
is The Abyss (1989) by Orson Scott CARD. In 1992 the director's cut
THE
ABYSS: SPECIAL EDITION was released, at 171 mins more than half an
hour
longer than the original. The restored climax (tough-minded version)
may
be more interesting in theory, but in practice is marred by
unconvincing
special effects in the tidal wave. Richer characterization and
more
cold-war politics do not compensate for the now sluggish pacing of
this
bloated variant edition. See also: CINEMA; MONSTER MOVIES; UNDER THE
SEA.
ACE BOOKS
US paperback-publishing company founded by pulp-magazine
publisher
A.A.Wyn in 1953. Under editor Donald A.WOLLHEIM, Ace published a
high
proportion of sf, much of it in the Ace Double format of two titles
bound
together DOS-A-DOS. The series included the first or early novels of
many
writers who became famous, such as John BRUNNER, Samuel R.DELANY,
Philip
K.DICK, Gordon R.DICKSON, Thomas M.DISCH, R.A.LAFFERTY, Ursula K.LE
GUIN,
Robert SILVERBERG and Roger ZELAZNY. Terry CARR became an editor in
1964
and later began the Ace Science Fiction Specials series, which
received
considerable praise. Carr left the company in 1971, followed by
Wollheim,
who began his own imprint, DAW BOOKS, in 1972. Carr rejoined as
freelance
editor of a second series of Ace Specials in 1984, this time
restricted to
first novels; it included NEUROMANCER (1984) by William GIBSON,
THE WILD
SHORE (1984) by Kim Stanley ROBINSON, Green Eyes (1984) by Lucius
SHEPARD,
In the Drift (fixup 1985) by Michael SWANWICK and Them Bones (1984)
by
Howard WALDROP. In-house editors Beth MEACHAM and Terri WINDLING and,
for
a longer period, Susan Allison, also ensured that some high-quality
books
continued to be published in the 1980s, although the emphasis remained
on
sf adventure. In 1975 Ace had been sold to Grosset & Dunlap; a new
sale in
July 1982 saw Ace absorbed by Berkley and ceasing to be an
independent
company, although it remained as an imprint. Ace had been
publishing,
prior to the sale, more sf than any other publisher;
the
Putnam/Berkley/Ace combination continued to dominate US sf publishing,
in
terms of number of books, until 1987, thereafter maintaining second
place.
Further reading: There are several checklists of Ace sf publications,
but
none are complete. Double your Pleasure: The Ace SF Double (1989 chap)
by
James A.Corrick is useful for doubles, while Dick Spelman's
Science
Fiction and Fantasy Published by Ace Books (1953-1968) (1976 chap)
covers
the important years. See also: HUGO.
ACE DOUBLES
Ace Doubles were well-known for two reasons: their format - two
short
novels bound back-to-back - and their titles - to say they were
dramatic
was an understatement. Terry Carr, who worked for Ace during the
sixties,
used to say that if the Bible had been reprinted as an Ace Double,
the Old
Testament would be called "Master of Chaos" and the New Testament
would be
called "The Man with Three Souls."
ACKER, KATHY
(1948- ) US-born writer and playwright, in the UK for many years
before
returning to the USA in 1989. KA expresses an apocalyptic sense of
the
latterday world in works whose tortured absurdity (FABULATION)
sometimes
catches the reader by surprise, or transfixes the spectator of one
of her
plays, which have been as a whole perhaps more telling than her prose.
The
Birth of the Poet (staged 1984 Rotterdam; in Wordplays 5, anth 1986)
runs
a gamut from the nuclear HOLOCAUST of the first act to the picaresque
jigs
and jags of the second and third. Two novels - Don Quixote (1986),
a
surrealistic afterlife fantasy, and Empire of the Senseless (1988),
which
features the not-quite terminal coupling of fleshly beings and ROBOTS
-
are of some interest. Her use of sf icons and decor in this book
resembles
that of William S.BURROUGHS, especially in the homage to CYBERPUNK
it
contains, conveyed by cut-ups of text by William GIBSON.
ACKERMAN, FORREST J(AMES)
(1916- ) US editor, agent and collector. A reader
of the sf magazines
from their inception, he was an active member of sf
FANDOM from his early
teens, and as early as 1932 served as associate editor
of The Time
Traveller, the first FANZINE. For many decades thereafter he
wrote stories
and articles prolifically for fan journals - using his own name
and a wide
variety of elaborate pseudonyms, including Dr Acula, Jacques
DeForest
Erman, Alden Lorraine, Vespertina Torgosi, Hubert George Wells
(cheekily),
Weaver Wright and many others - and becoming known in fan circles
as Mr
Science Fiction; he won several awards for these activities, including
a
HUGO in 1953 for Number One Fan Personality. His first story was A Trip
to
Mars in 1929 for the San Francisco Chronicle, which won a prize for
the
best tale by a teenager; some of his more interesting work was
assembled
in Science Fiction Worlds of Forrest J.Ackerman and Friends (anth
1969).
He collected sf books and memorabilia from the very first, publishing
in I
Bequeath (to the Fantasy Foundation) (1946 chap) a bibliography of
the
first 1300 items, and eventually housing his 300.000-item library,
which
he called the Fantasy Foundation, in a 17-room house in Hollywood,
the
maintenance of which proved difficult to manage over the years.
The
library was further celebrated in Souvenir Book of Mr Science
Fiction's
Fantasy Museum (1978 chap Japan). Disposals of collectable books
have been
made at times; and part of the library was auctioned in 1987,
grossing
over $550.000. FJA was active as an editor for many years, though
not
deeply influential; he edited both the magazine Famous Monsters
of
Filmland (1958-82) and the US PERRY RHODAN series (1969-77), as well
as
several sf anthologies, including The Frankenscience Monster (anth
1969),
Best Science Fiction for 1973 (anth 1973), Gosh! Wow! (Sense of
Wonder)
(anth 1982), Mr Monster's Movie Gold (anth 1982) and The Gernsback
Awards,
Vol 1: 1926 (anth 1982). Notorious for his punning and use of
simplified
words, he is credited with introducing the term SCI FI in 1954. He
was
agent for a number of writers, notably A.E.VAN VOGT. His wife,
Wendayne
Ackerman (1912-1990), was also a fan, and translated the
STRUGATSKI
brothers' Trudno byt' bogom (1964) as Hard to be a God (1973 US).
Other
works: In Memoriam H.G.Wells 1866-1946 (1946 chap) with Arthur
Louis
Jocquel II; James Warren Presents the Best from Famous Monsters
of
Filmland (anth 1964); James Warren Presents Famous Monsters of
Filmland
Strike Back! (anth 1965); James Warren Presents Son of Famous
Monsters of
Filmland (anth 1965); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977
chap),
nonfiction; J.R.R.Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: A Fantasy Film
(1979
chap), nonfiction; A Reference Guide to American Science Fiction
Films,
Volume 1 (1981) with A.W.Strickland, only 1 vol published; Lon of
1000
Faces (1983), nonfiction; Fantastic Movie Memories (1985),
nonfiction;
Reel Futures (anth 1994) with Jean Stine. See also:
COLLECTIONS.
ACKERMAN, WENDAYNE
Forrest J.ACKERMAN.
ACKROYD, PETER
(1949- ) UK author who began writing as a poet before turning
to literary
biographies of figures like T.S.Eliot and Charles DICKENS. His
third
novel, Hawksmoor (1985), interestingly conflates the occult geography
of
London constructed by an 18th-century architect - who closely
resembles
the historical Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736) - with a series
of
20th-century murders investigated by an Inspector Hawksmoor. As
an
alternate-world FABULATION, the book verges on sf. First Light
(1989)
invokes a similar sense of time-slippage, featuring a
20th-century
neolithic dig over which appears a night sky whose star
positions are
those of neolithic times. Other Works: The House of Doctor Dee
(1993).
ACTION MAGAZINES
FUTURE FICTION.
ACTON, Sir HAROLD (MARIO MITCHELL)
(1904-1994) UK writer, long resident in
Italy, best known for highly
civilized reflections, in books like Memoirs of
an Aesthete (1948), on his
own style of life. His sf novel, Cornelian (1928),
tells of a popular
singer in a world which privileges old age.
ACULA, Dr
Forrest J.ACKERMAN.
ACWORTH, ANDREW
(?-?) UK writer - possibly, according to Darko SUVIN, a
barrister named
Andrew Oswald Acworth (?1857-?) - whose sf novel, A New Eden
(1896), set
100 years in the future, features the escape of two depressed
protagonists
from the decaying republican UK to an egalitarian island UTOPIA
which
fails to cheer them up - despite electric factories, birth control
and
euthanasia.
ADAM AND EVE
Brian W.ALDISS has given the name Shaggy God stories to stories
which
provide simple-minded sf frameworks for Biblical myths. A
considerable
fraction of the unsolicited material submitted to sf magazines
is reputed
to consist of stories of this kind, the plot most frequently
represented
being the one in which survivors of a space disaster land on a
virgin
world and reveal (in the final line) that their names are Adam and
Eve.
Understandably, these stories rarely see print, although A.E.VAN
VOGT's
Ship of Darkness (1947) was reprinted in Fantastic in 1961 as a
fantasy
classic; another example is The Unknown Assassin (1956) by Hank
JANSON.
Straightforward variants include Another World Begins (1942; vt
The
Cunning of the Beast) by Nelson BOND (the most prolific writer of
pulp
Shaggy God stories), in which God is an ALIEN and Adam and Eve
are
experimental creatures who prove too clever for him; and Evolution's
End
(1941) by Robert Arthur, in which an old world lurches to its
conclusion
and Aydem and Ayveh survive to start the whole thing over again.
Charles
L.HARNESS's The New Reality (1950) goes to some lengths to set up
a
framework in which a new universe can be created around its hero,
his
faithful girlfriend, and the arch-villain (Dr Luce), and uses the idea
to
far better effect. More elaborate sf transfigurations of
Biblical
mythology include George Babcock's Yezad (1922) and Julian Jay
SAVARIN's
Lemmus trilogy (1972-7); a more subtle and sophisticated exercise
along
these lines can be found in Shikasta (1977) by Doris LESSING. Adam and
Eve
are, of course, frequently featured in allegorical fantasies,
notably
George MACDONALD's Lilith (1895), Mark TWAIN's Extracts from Adam's
Diary
(1904) and Eve's Diary (1906), George Bernard SHAW's Back to
Methuselah
(1921), John Erskine's Adam and Eve (1927), John CROWLEY's The
Nightingale
Sings at Night (1989) and Piero Scanziani's The White Book (1969;
trans
Linda Lappin 1991 UK). The names Adam and Eve - particularly the former
-
are frequently deployed for their metaphorical significance. Adam is
a
natural name to give to the first ROBOT or ANDROID, and thus we find
Eando
BINDER writing a biography of Adam Link, Robot (1939-42; fixup 1965),
and
William C.ANDERSON chronicling the career of Adam M-1 (1964). Adam
Link
was provided with an Eve Link, but what they did together remains a
matter
for speculation. VILLIERS DE L'ISLE-ADAM had earlier described Thomas
Alva
Edison's creation of the perfect woman in L'Eve future (1886; trans
Robert
M.Adams as Tomorrow's Eve 1982). The metaphor is found also in
some
SUPERMAN stories, including two novels entitled The New Adam, one
by
Noelle ROGER (1924; trans L.P.O.Crowhurst 1926 UK), the other by
Stanley
G.WEINBAUM (1939), and in prehistoric romances, most notably
in
Intimations of Eve (1946) and Adam and the Serpent (1947) by Vardis
FISHER
and in the final volume of George S.VIERECK and Paul ELDRIDGE's
Wandering
Jew trilogy, The Invincible Adam (1932), where much is made of the
matter
of the lost rib. Alfred BESTER's last-man-alive story Adam and No
Eve
(1941) uses the names in an ironic vein. More ambitious sf Creation
myths
of a vaguely Adamic kind can be found in stories in which human beings
are
enabled to play a part in cosmological processes of creation
or
re-creation (COSMOLOGY). One example is van Vogt's The Seesaw
(1941;
integrated into THE WEAPON SHOPS OF ISHER fixup 1951); others are
James
BLISH's The Triumph of Time (1958; vt A Clash of Cymbals) and
Charles
Harness's THE RING OF RITORNEL (1968). Shaggy God stories briefly
became
popular alternatives to orthodox history in the works of
Immanuel
VELIKOVSKY and Erich VON DANIKEN, and it is likely that they will
continue
to exert a magnetic attraction upon the naive imagination. See
also:
ANTHROPOLOGY; EVOLUTION; ORIGIN OF MAN; RELIGION.
ADAMOVIC, IVAN
(1967- ) Czech translator and writer, an associate editor of
the sf
magazine Ikarie and a contributor to Encyklopedie science
fiction
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1992). His Czech SF in the Last
Forty
Years appeared in SCIENCE-FICTION STUDIES, Mar 1990.
ADAMS, DOUGLAS (NOEL)
(1952- ) UK scriptwriter and novelist who worked
1978-80 as an editor on
the DR WHO tv series; his two Doctor Who episodes,
Shada and City of
Death, have provided plot elements for more than one of his
later novels,
but have not themselves been novelized. He came to wide notice
with his
HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY sequence, whose first incarnation
was as
two BBC RADIO series, the first in 1978, the second in 1980, totalling
12
parts in all, the last 2 scripted in collaboration with producer
John
Lloyd. Both series were assembled as The Hitch Hiker's Guide to
the
Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts (coll 1985) ed Geoffrey Perkins;
the
scripts as published here were modified for subsequent radio
performances,
and were also released on record albums in a format different
from any of
the radio incarnations. The second and third full reworkings of
the
sequence - as a tv series and as the first two volumes of a series
of
novels - seem to have been put together more or less simultaneously,
and,
although there are some differences between the two, it would be
difficult
to assign priority to any one version of the long and episodic
plot. In
novel form, the sequence comprises The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the
Galaxy
(1979; vt The Illustrated Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy 1994)
The
Restaurant at the End of the Universe (1980), Life, the Universe
and
Everything (1982), So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (1984); and
Mostly
Harmless (1992). The first three volumes were assembled as
The
Hitchhiker's Trilogy (omni 1984 US), and the first four were assembled
as
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts (omni
1986;
vt The Hitchhiker's Quartet 1986 US; rev with Young Zaphod Plays it
Safe
added vt The More than Complete Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Stories 1987
US).
One basic premise frames the various episodes contained in the
differing
versions of the sequence, though volumes three and four of the
novel
sequence carry on into new territory, and volume five seems to
terminate
the entire sequence, with an effect of melancholia. A human-shaped
ALIEN,
on contract to revise the eponymous guide, has under the name Ford
Prefect
spent some time on Earth, where he befriends the protagonist of
the
series, Arthur Dent. On learning that Earth is to be demolished to
make
way for an interstellar bypass, Prefect escapes the doomed planet
with
Dent, and the two then hitch-hike around the Galaxy, undergoing
various
adventures. Various satirical points are made, and, as the sequence
moves
ahead into the final episodes, DA's underlying corrosiveness of
wit
becomes more and more prominent. Earth proves to have been
constructed
eons earlier as a COMPUTER whose task it is to solve the meaning
of life;
but its demolition, only seconds before the answer is due, puts paid
to
any hope that any meaning will be found. For the millions of fans
who
listened to the radio version, watched the tv episodes, and
laughed
through the first two volumes of the book sequence, volumes three and
four
must have seemed punitively unamused by the human condition; and in
Mostly
Harmless (1992), a late addition to the sequence, the darkness
only
increases. But a satirist's intrinsic failure to be amused by pain did,
in
retrospect, underlie the most ebullient earlier moments. A second
sequence
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987) and The Long
Dark
Tea-Time of the Soul (1988) - confirmed the dark bent of DA's
talent.
Though the tales inventively carry the eponymous detective through a
wide
range of sf experiences, this second series did not gain the
extraordinary
response of the first. In a sense that only time can test, it
could be
said that the Hitch Hiker's Guide has become folklore. Other works:
The
Meaning of Liff (1983; rev vt The Deeper Meaning of Liff 1990) with
John
Lloyd, humour; The Utterly Utterly Merry Comic Relief Christmas Book
(anth
1986), ed (anon), charity fundraising book for Comic Relief; Last
Chance
to See (1991) with Mark Carwardine, nonfiction book promoting
wildlife
conservation, with text by DA to photographs by Carwardine; Doctor
Who:
The Scripts: Pirate Planet (1994), reprinting an old DR WHO script.
About
the author: Don't Panic: The Official Hitch Hiker's Guide to the
Galaxy
Companion (1988; rev 1993 with David K.Dickson) by Neil GAIMAN. See
also:
ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN SF; FANTASTIC VOYAGES; GAMES AND TOYS; GODS
AND
DEMONS; HUMOUR; MUSIC; MYTHOLOGY; ROBOTS; SATIRE; SPACE OPERA.
ADAMS, FREDERICK UPHAM
(1859-1921) US writer whose two sf UTOPIAS - President
John Smith: The
Story of a Peaceful Revolution (Written in 1920) (1897) and
The Kidnapped
Millionaires: A Tale of Wall Street and the Tropics (1901) -
put into
stiffly earnest narrative form the arguments that direct election of
the
US President would lead to a benevolent socialism and that the tycoons
of
Wall Street were a doomed race.
ADAMS, HARRIET S(TRATEMEYER)
(1892-1982) US writer and, after the death of
her father Edward
STRATEMEYER in 1930, editor of his publishing syndicate.
Under a variety
of house names, including Carolyn Keene, Franklin W.Dixon and
Laura Lee
Hope, she was herself responsible for writing approximately 170 of
the
Stratemeyer Syndicate novels about the Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy
Boys,
Nancy Drew and others; for further titles, she supplied plots
and
outlines. Under the house name Victor APPLETON she wrote the last in
the
first series of Tom Swift books, Tom Swift and his Planet Stone
(1935),
and successfully revived Tom Swift, or, to be more accurate, his son
Tom
Swift, Jr., in a new series which began publication in 1954 (TOM SWIFT
for
details). About the author: Stratemeyer Pseudonyms and Series Books:
An
Annotated Checklist of Stratemeyer and Stratemeyer Syndicate
Publications
(1982) ed Deirdre Johnson.
ADAMS, HUNTER
Jim LAWRENCE.
ADAMS, JACK
Collaborative pseudonym of US writers Alcanoan O. Grigsby (?-?)
and Mary
P.Lowe (?-?) whose Nequa, or The Problem of the Ages (1900) carries
the
character Jack Adams - in fact a wronged woman named Cassie - to
polar
regions, where she and her bigoted fiance (who does not recognize her
as
Adams) are rescued by the inhabitants of Altruria (William Dean
HOWELLS,
though there is no explicit connection between his utopias and this
one).
The Altrurians take them to their country, which lies inside a
HOLLOW
EARTH, demonstrate their flying machines and other marvels, and
explain
their sexually egalitarian, non-Christian culture (FEMINISM). Nequa,
as
Jack Adams now calls herself, will marry her fiance only if he
attains
some wisdom. Nequa is a surprisingly enjoyable salutary tale.
ADAMS, JOHN
John S.GLASBY.
ADAMS, LOUIS J.A.
Joe L.HENSLEY; Alexei PANSHIN.
ADAMS, NEAL
(1941- ) Influential and remarkably prolific US COMIC-strip
artist
specializing in the SUPERHERO genre, with a strong, gutsy
yet
sophisticated line style. His continued claim to fame probably
rests
largely on his ground-breaking personal reinterpretation of DC
COMICS's
Batman. He attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan, then
worked
for Archie Comics 1959-60 before establishing himself in
syndicated
newspaper strips with a strip version of the tv series Ben Casey,
which he
drew for dailies and Sundays 1962-6. He assisted on other newspaper
strips
including Bat Masterson (1961), Peter Scratch (1966), Secret
Agent
Corrigan (1967) and Rip Kirby (1968). He began working for
National
Periodical Publications (DC Comics) in 1967 drawing Deadman
(Strange
Adventures 206-216). Other characters to benefit from his innovative
touch
included Spectre, SUPERMAN, Batman (in Detective Comics, 9 issues
between
369, Nov 1967, and 439, Mar 1974, and 9 issues in Batman between 219,
Feb
1970, and 255, Apr 1974, as well as in other associated titles),
Flash,
Green Lantern and the X-MEN. He drew the team-up title Green
Lantern-Green
Arrow continuously from 76 (Apr 1970) to 89 (May 1972). 85
(Snowbirds
Don't Fly) and 86 (They Say It'll Kill Me, But They Won't Say
When) of
this title featured a story about the drug scene and won an Academy
of
Comic-Book Art Award for NA and writer Denny O'Neill. His output for
DC,
MARVEL COMICS and other leading publishers was prolific throughout
the
1970s and early 1980s; in addition he produced book covers, film
posters,
advertising art and the set and costume design for an unsuccessful
sf
play, Warp (1973; THEATRE). In 1987 he formed his own publishing
company,
Continuity Comics. NA has also had a high profile as a campaigner
for
comics creators' rights, notably in connection with the
financial
recognition by DC of SUPERMAN's creators, Jerry SIEGEL and Joe
Shuster. NA
was involved in the setting-up of the Academy of Comic-Book Art
(ACBA) in
1970.
ADAMS, PAMELA CRIPPEN
Robert ADAMS.
ADAMS, (FRANKLIN) ROBERT
(1932-1990) US soldier and writer who was best known
for the
post-HOLOCAUST Horseclans sequence of adventures set after AD2500 in
a
series of states occupying what was once the USA and dominated from
behind
the scenes by a strain of immortal MUTANTS, while an unsavoury group
of
human scientists opposes them from a secret base. Occasionally the
reader
gains sight of repulsive sects who decayedly parody 20th-century
movements
- ECOLOGY, for instance - that were betes-noires of the author, who
was
not averse to polemical intrusions. The sequence comprises The Coming
of
the Horseclans (1975; exp 1982), Swords of the Horseclans (1977)
and
Revenge of the Horseclans (1977) - all three being assembled as Tales
of
the Horseclans (omni 1985) - A Cat of Silvery Hue (1979), The
Savage
Mountains (1980), The Patrimony (1980), Horseclans Odyssey (1981),
The
Death of a Legend (1981), The Witch Goddess (1982), Bili the Axe (1982)
-
which contained a background summary - Champion of the Last Battle
(1983),
A Woman of the Horseclans (1983), Horses of the North (1985), A Man
Called
Milo Morai (1986), The Memories of Milo Morai (1986), Trumpets of
War
(1987), Madman's Army (1987) and The Clan of the Cats (1988).
Two
SHARED-WORLD anthologies - Friends of the Horseclans (anth 1987)
and
Friends of the Horseclans II (anth 1989) - also appeared, both edited
with
his wife, Pamela Crippen Adams (1961- ). A second series, the Castaways
in
Time alternate-history TIME-TRAVEL sequence, comprises Castaways in
Time
(1980), The Seven Magical Jewels of Ireland (1985), Of Kings and
Quests
(1986), Of Chiefs and Champions (1987), Of Myths and Monsters (1988)
and
Of Beginnings and Endings (1989). Most of his remaining work,
including
another, unfinished series, was fantasy; some of his anthologies,
however
- including Robert Adams' Book of Alternate Worlds (anth 1987) with
Pamela
Crippen Adams and Martin H.GREENBERG, Robert Adams' Book of Soldiers
(anth
1988) with P.C.Adams and Greenberg, and Alternatives (anth 1989) with
P.C.
Adams - were of sf interest. Other works: The Stairway to
Forever
sequence, comprising The Stairway to Forever (1988) and Monsters
and
Magicians (1988). As Editor: Barbarians (anth 1985) with
Martin
H.Greenberg and Charles G.WAUGH and Barbarians II (anth 1988)
with
P.C.Adams and Greenberg; the Magic in Ithkar sequence, with Andre
NORTON,
comprising Magic in Ithkar (anth 1985), 2 (anth 1985), 3 (anth 1986)
and 4
(anth 1987); Hunger for Horror (anth 1988) with P.C.Adams and
Greenberg;
Phantom Regiments (anth 1990) with P.C.Adams and Greenberg. See
also:
ALTERNATE WORLDS; SWORD AND SORCERY.
ADAMS, SAMUEL HOPKINS
(1871-1958) US writer, prolific and popular author of
novels and
screenplays, including that for the film It Happened One Night
(1934). He
wrote an sf novel with Stewart Edward WHITE (whom see for
details), The
Mystery (1907), about a ship found at sea with no crew aboard,
and
supplying an sf explanation for their disappearance: side-effects of a
new
radioactive element. The sequel, The Sign at Six (1912), also sf, is
by
White alone. SHA's solo sf books are The Flying Death (1908),
an
impossible crime tale in which Long Island, New York, is invaded by
a
pteranodon; and The World Goes Smash (1938), a NEAR-FUTURE story of a
US
civil war in which New York is devastated.
ADAMS, TERRY A.
(? - ) US writer whose Sentience sequence - Sentience: A
Novel of First
Contact (1986) and The Master of Chaos (1989) - begins in the
conflict
between true humans and D'Neerans, who are human telepaths (ESP),
and
builds into a SPACE-OPERA sequence involving new races and
challenges.
They are told in a skittish but engaging style designed to give
some sense
of a telepath's way of thinking.
ADAMSKI, GEORGE
UFOS.
AD ASTRA
UK magazine, small-BEDSHEET format, published by Rowlot Ltd, ed
James
Manning, 16 issues, bimonthly, Oct/Nov 1978-Sep/Oct 1981, only first
2
issues dated. Its subtitle, Britain's First
ScienceFact/ScienceFiction
Magazine, contained the seeds of its eventual
demise. It attempted to
cover too many fields, most in no real depth. The
fiction (about 2 stories
an issue) - mainly from UK authors, including John
BRUNNER, Garry
KILWORTH, David LANGFORD and Ian WATSON - was supplemented by
a melange of
film, book, games and theatre reviews, together with cartoon
strips, sf
news (from Langford), science articles, many about astronomy,
and
PSEUDO-SCIENCE articles.
ADDEO, EDMOND G.
Richard M.GARVIN.
ADDISON, HUGH
Pseudonym used by UK author and journalist Harry Collinson
Owen
(1882-1956) for his future-WAR novel The Battle of London (1923), one
of
several contemporary works which warned of a communist revolution in
the
UK. It was given a slight twist by the inclusion of an advantageous
German
attack on London.
ADELER, MAX
Principal pseudonym of US writer and businessman Charles Heber
Clark
(1841-1915), who wrote also as John Quill, under which name he
published
The Women's Millennium (1867), possibly the first
sex-role-reversal
DYSTOPIA. Set in an indeterminate future, and told from the
perspective of
an even later period when some balance has been achieved, it
is a
remarkably cutting demonstration of the foolishness of male claims
to
natural superiority. As MA, he specialized in rather facetious tall
tales,
both sf and fantasy, many of which end in the perfunctory revelation
that
all was a dream. This convention aside, they remain of
interest,
especially Professor Baffin's Adventures (1880; vt The Fortunate
Island
1882), a long lost-race tale (LOST WORLDS) which first appeared
in
Beeton's Christmas Annual (anth 1880 UK) as centrepiece to The
Fortunate
Island - a linked assemblage of stories and sketches by various
authors
which made up the bulk of the volume - and was later published in An
Old
Fogey and Other Stories (coll 1881 UK; rev vt The Fortunate Island
and
Other Stories 1882 US). It is MA's story that almost certainly
supplied
Mark TWAIN with the basic premise and some of the actual plot of
A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). When accused
of
plagiarism, Twain responded evasively. Other works: Random Shots
(coll
1878 UK); Transformations (coll 1883 UK); A Desperate Adventure (coll
1886
UK); By the Bend of the River (coll 1914). About the author:
'Professor
Baffin's Adventures' by Max Adeler: the Inspiration for A
Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur's Court? by David KETTERER in Mark Twain
Journal 24
(Spr 1986); 'John Quill': The Women's Millennium, introduced by
Ketterer
in Science Fiction Studies 15 (1988); Mark Twain's A Connecticut
Yankee:
Reconsiderations and Revisions, by Horst H.Kruse in American
Literature
62, 3 (Sept 1990). See also: SHARED WORLDS.
ADERCA, FELIX
ROMANIA.
ADLARD, MARK
Working name used by UK writer Peter Marcus Adlard (1932- ) for
all his
books. An arts graduate of Cambridge University, he was until
his
retirement in 1976 a manager in the steel industry. His knowledge
of
managerial and industrial problems plays a prominent role in his
Tcity
trilogy: Interface (1971), Volteface (1972) and Multiface (1975).
The
series is set in a city of the NEAR FUTURE. By calling it Tcity,
MA
plainly intended to confer on it a kind of regimented anonymity in
the
manner of Yevgeny ZAMIATIN; at the same time, he was probably making a
pun
on Teesside, the industrial conurbation in the northeast of England
where
he was raised (also, in some north-England dialects t'city means
simply
the city). With a rich but sometimes sour irony, and a real if
distanced
sympathy for the problems and frustrations of both management and
workers,
MA plays a set of variations, often comic, on AUTOMATION,
hierarchical
systems, the MEDIA LANDSCAPE, revolution, the difficulties of
coping with
LEISURE, class distinction according to INTELLIGENCE, fantasies
of SEX and
the stultifying pressures of conformity. The Greenlander (1978) is
the
first volume of a projected non-genre trilogy, further volumes of
which
have not appeared. His books are ambitious in scope and deserve to be
more
widely known. About the author: The Many Faces of Adlard by
Andy
Darlington in Arena 7, March 1978.
ADLER, ALLEN A.
(1916-1964) US writer, mostly for films, co-author of the
story used as
the basis for the film FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956), although he had
nothing to
do with the novelization by W.J.Stuart (Philip MACDONALD). AAA's
only sf
novel was an unremarkable adventure, also set on a planet threatened
by a
monster: Mach 1: A Story of the Planet Ionus (1957; vt Terror on
Planet
Ionus 1966).
ADOLPH, JOSE B.
LATIN AMERICA.
ADVENT: PUBLISHERS
Chicago-based specialist publishing house, owned by sf
fans, which
publishes critical and bibliographical material. The first book
was Damon
KNIGHT's In Search of Wonder (1956); other notable volumes include
James
BLISH's two collections of critical essays (as William Atheling Jr)
and,
later, his posthumous The Tale that Wags the God (coll 1987), as by
Blish.
A: P's most important scholarly publication has been Donald H.TUCK's
The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1968 (vol 1 1974;
vol
2 1978; vol 3 1982). See also: SMALL PRESSES AND LIMITED EDITIONS.
ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY, JR., THE
Us tv series (1993-1994). Boam/Cuse
Productions for Warner Bros. Series
creators/exec prods Jeffrey Boam, Carlton
Cuse. Co-prods David Simkins,
Paul Marks. Writers included Boam, Cuse,
Simkins, Brad Kern, John
McNamara, John Wirth. Directors included Kim
Manners, Andy Tennant.
Starred Bruce Campbell as Brisco, Julius Carry as Lord
Bowler, Christian
Clemenson as Socrates Poole. Recurring players included
Billy Drago as
John Bly, Kelly Rutherford as Dixie Cousins, John
Pyper-Ferguson as Pete
Hutter, John Astin as Professor Wickwire. Two-hour
pilot Sep 1993,
followed by 26 one-hour episodes. Part WILD, WILD WEST, part
Indiana
Jones, and part just plain strange, this Fox Newtork Western
series
followed a familiar pattern: despite being a solid hit with critics
and sf
fans, its rating were spectacularly low, and not even a landslide
finish
in TV Guide's 1994 "Save Our Shows" viewer poll persuaded
network
executives to renew it for a second season. The convoluted
premise
featured popular horror-film star Campbell as Brisco County, Jr.,
the
Harvard-educated son of a noted bounty hunter. Drawn to 1890s
San
Francisco following the murder of his father, Brisco Jr. learns
that
notorious outlaw John Bly has larger schemes in mind. Turning
bounty
hunter himself to track down Bly, he comes across a glowing orb
with
mysterious powers, in which Bly is also interested. Much of the show's
run
was spent pursuing Bly and his associates, while other episodes
paid
homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and television's THE
AVENGERS
(1961-69). Quirky, sly humour was the show's hallmark: a train is
stopped
by the Wile E.Coyote gimmick of painting a lifelike mural onto a
boulder
blocking the track; Brisco's horse Comet races prototype motorcycles
and
cracks a safe ("He's not so smart; took him two tries!"); and one
episode
featured a Blackbeard-like pirate who is relocated to the Nevada
desert.
Recurring plots and characters were a major part of the show's
appeal,
with Drago's silkily dangerous Bly ultimately revealed as a
time
traveller, and eccentric outlaws the order of the day. The clever
writing,
energetic performances and excellent production values may not have
made
TAOBC, J a ratings success, but reruns and taped episodes are
worth
seeking out.
ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION, THE
Film (1984).
Sherwood Productions. Dir W.D.Richter, starring Peter
Weller, John Lithgow,
Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd.
Screenplay Earl Mac Rauch.
103 mins. Colour. The crazed but incoherent
tale of
rock-musician-neurosurgeon-particle-physicist Banzai (Weller), a
kind of
imaginary 1930s pulp hero with a distinctly 1980s ambience. In
this episode
Banzai defeats an alien INVASION which began in 1938 (as
described by Orson
Welles, who pretended it was fiction) led by
frantically overacting John
Lithgow. The film is ill directed and badly
photographed, and appears to have
been made by underground junk
intellectuals who accidentally stumbled over a
fairly big budget. REPO
MAN, from the same year, is a wittier and better
organized example of what
might be called designer cult movies. See also:
ANDROIDS; WAR OF THE
WORLDS.
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, THE
SUPERMAN.
ADVENTURES OF THE ROCKETEER
TheROCKETEER.
ADYE, TIM
M.H.ZOOL.
A.E. or AE
Pseudonym used by Irish poet George William Russell (1867-1935)
for all
his writing. In 1886 he and William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) helped
found
the Dublin Lodge of the Theosophical Society, and much of his
work
reflects a mystical agenda - not very coherently in the supernatural
tales
assembled in The Mask of Apollo, and Other Stories (coll 1904), but
with
very much more force in The Interpreters (1922), a philosophical
fiction
set in an idealized venue. More elegiacally and more concretely, in
The
Avatars: A Futurist Fantasy (1932), set in a future Ireland, this
agenda
comes to life in the form of two supernal beings who hauntingly invoke
a
vision of a world less abandoned to materialism, and thus draw
the
protagonists to the margin of the Great Deep, as Monk Gibbon puts it
in
his long and informative essay on A.E.'s work which introduces The
Living
Torch (coll 1937), a posthumous volume of nonfiction.
AELITA
Film (1924). Mezhrabpom. Dir Yakov A.Protazanov, starring
Nikolai
M.Tseretelli, Igor Ilinski, Yulia Solntseva. Screenplay Fyodor
Otzep,
Alexei Faiko, based on Aelita (1922) by Alexei TOLSTOY. 78 mins cut
from
120 mins. B/w. This striking example of early sf cinema is a
satiric
comedy in which a group of Soviet astronauts travel to Mars, where
they
find the mass of the people living under an oppressive regime and
spark
off an abortive revolution; one of them teaches the lovely daughter of
a
Martian leader how to kiss. A is a very stylized silent film;
its
futuristic, Expressionistic sets, by Isaac Rabinovitch of the
Kamerny
Theatre, were to influence the design in FLASH GORDON. The sf
elements in
the story are vigorous and witty (though in the end it is
revealed to be
All a Dream), but occupy only a small part of the film. See
also: CINEMA.
AELITA AWARD
RUSSIA.
A FOR ANDROMEDA
UK tv serial (1961). A BBC TV production. Prod Michael Hayes,
Norman
Jones, written John ELLIOT from a storyline by Fred HOYLE. 7 episodes,
the
first 6 45 mins, the last 50 mins. B/w. The cast included Peter
Halliday,
John Nettleton, Esmond Knight, Patricia Neale, Frank Windsor, Mary
Morris,
Julie Christie. A radio signal transmitted from the Andromeda
Galaxy
proves, when decoded by maverick scientist Fleming (Halliday), to
contain
instructions for the building of a supercomputer. Once built by
Earth
scientists, the COMPUTER in turn provides instructions on how to create
a
living being. The final result is a beautiful young girl,
named,
naturally, Andromeda, mentally linked to the ever-more-powerful
computer;
her existence causes a great deal of controversy within the
government.
She helps Fleming wreck the computer, and is hurt and (seemingly)
drowned.
The story is intelligently presented despite its absurdities. The
serial
brought Julie Christie into the public eye for the first time.
The
novelization by Hoyle and Elliot is A for Andromeda (1962). The tv
sequel
was The ANDROMEDA BREAKTHROUGH (1962).
AFRICA
ARABIC SF; BLACK AFRICAN SF.
AGHILL, GORDON
Pseudonym used collaboratively by Robert SILVERBERG and
Randall GARRETT
on two stories in 1956.
AGUILERA, JUAN MIGUEL
SPAIN.
AHERN, JERRY
Working name of US author Jerome Morrell Ahern (1946- ), most of
whose
output consists of violent post-HOLOCAUST novels, most notably in
his
Survivalist sequence, in which ex-CIA agent John Rourke attempts
to
preserve his family after a global nuclear conflict. Perhaps the
most
influential series in the subgenre of SURVIVALIST FICTION, it
comprises
Survivalist 1: Total War (1981), 2: The Nightmare Begins (1981), 3:
The
Quest (1981), 4: The Doomsayer (1981), 5: The Web (1983), 6: The
Savage
Horde (1983), 7: The Prophet (1984), 8: The End is Coming (1984), 9:
Earth
Fire (1984), 10: The Awakening (1984), 11: The Reprisal (1985), 12:
The
Rebellion (1985), 13: Pursuit (1986), 14: The Terror (1987), 15:
Overlord
(1987), 16: The Arsenal (1988), 17: The Ordeal (1988), unnumbered:
The
Survivalist: Mid-Wake (1988), 18: The Struggle (1989), 19: Final
Rain
(1989), 20: Firestorm (1990) and 21: To End All War (1990).
The
continuation - beginning with the unnumbered The Survivalist: The
Legend
(1991), 22: Brutal Conquest (1991); 23: Call to Battle (199224:
Blood
Assassins (1993), 25: War Mountain (1993), 26: Countdown (1993) and
27:
Death Watch (1993) - takes place after the Earth's atmosphere has
been
destroyed by a catastrophic fire, and Rourke has saved his family
and
himself by entering cryogenic sleep, emerging after 500 years to find
a
world deserted except for the personnel of the Eden Project - fresh
from
500 years of hibernation aboard a fleet of space shuttles - and
surviving
groups of Nazis (sic) and fanatical communists. A second but
similar
sequence, the Defender series, comprises The Defender 1: The Battle
Begins
(1988), 2: The Killing Wedge (1988), 3: Out of Control (1988), 4:
Decision
Time (1989), 5: Entrapment (1989), 6: Escape (1989), 7: Vengeance
(1989),
8: Justice Denied (1989), 9: Death Grip (1990), 10: The Good Fight
(1990),
11: The Challenge (1990) and 12: No Survivors (1990). With his
wife,
Sharan A(nn) Ahern (1948- ), whose contributions were sometimes
anonymous,
he wrote the short Takers sequence, comprising The Takers (1984)
and River
of Gold (1985), as well as some singletons. He also contributed
Deathlight
(1982) to the long-running Nick Carter sequence, writing as Nick
CARTER.
Other works: The Freeman (1986), Miamigrad (1987), WerewolveSS (1990)
and
The Kamikaze Legacy (1990), all with Sharon A.Ahern. See also:
SOCIAL
DARWINISM.
AHERN, SHARON A.
Jerry AHERN.
AH! NANA
METAL HURLANT.
AHONEN, ERKKI
FINLAND.
AI
The commonly used acronym for Artificial Intelligence, an item
of
terminology used increasingly often in information science, and hence
in
sf, since the late 1970s. Most writers would agree that for a COMPUTER
or
other MACHINE of some sort to qualify as an AI it must be
self-aware.
There are as yet none such in the real world. See also:
CYBERNETICS;
CYBERSPACE.
AIKEN, JOAN (DELANO)
John AIKEN; ALTERNATE WORLDS.
AIKEN, JOHN (KEMPTON)
(1913-1990) US-born UK writer, son of Conrad Aiken
(1889-1973) and
brother of Joan Aiken (1924- ) and Jane Aiken Hodge (1917- ).
JA published
his first sf story, Camouflage, with ASF in 1943, in the
Probability Zero
sequence of short-shorts; though his first sizeable effort
wasDragon's
Teeth, with NW in 1946; but did not remain active in the field.
His only
novel, World Well Lost (fixup 1970 as John Paget; as JA 1971 US),
based on
his 1940s NW stories, was published by ROBERT HALE LIMITED. It
describes
with some energy a conflict between a totalitarian Earth and
free-minded
colonists in the system of Alpha Centauri. Conrad Aiken, Our
Father (1989)
with Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge, is a revealing
memoir.
AIKIN, JIM
Working name of US writer James Douglas Aikin (1948- ), whose sf
novel,
Walk the Moons Road (1985), gave operatic colour to a moderately
intricate
PLANETARY ROMANCE featuring aliens, humans, seas, politics and sex
on a
planet which is not Earth. His second novel, The Wall at the Edge of
the
World (1993), more ambitiously sets its protagonist - a non-TELEPATH in
a
post-HOLOCAUST society - the task of reconciling his home culture
with
that of the wild women who live in hinterlands.
AINSBURY, RAY
A.Hyatt VERRILL.
AINSWORTHY, RAY
Lauran Bosworth PAINE.
AIRSHIPS
TRANSPORTATION.
AIR WONDER STORIES
US BEDSHEET-size PULP MAGAZINE, 11 issues, July 1929-May
1930, published
by Stellar Publishing Corp., ed Hugo GERNSBACK, managing
editor David
Lasser. This was a prompt comeback by Gernsback after the filing
of
bankruptcy proceedings against his Experimenter Publishing Co., with
which
he had founded AMAZING STORIES. AWS announced itself in its
first
editorial as presenting solely flying stories of the future,
strictly
along scientific-mechanical-technical lines... to prevent
gross
scientific-aviation misinformation from reaching our readers. To this
end
Gernsback hired three professors and one Air Corps Reserve major,
whose
names appeared prominently on the masthead. The stories were by
the
foremost pulp writers of the day, including Edmond HAMILTON, David
KELLER,
Victor MACCLURE, Ed Earl REPP, Harl VINCENT and Jack WILLIAMSON;
Raymond
Z.GALLUN published his first story here. The cover designs for all
issues
were by Frank R.PAUL, who had previously worked on AMZ. A sister
magazine,
SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, began one month earlier, in June 1929. In
1930
Gernsback merged them into WONDER STORIES.
AITMATOV, CHINGIZ (TOREKULOVICH)
(1928- ) Formerly Soviet (now Kyrgyzstanian)
writer and diplomat, known
mostly for his mainstream fiction (for which he
has been a Nobel
candidate), which poetically depicts Man-Nature relations.
His one venture
into sf is I Dol'she Veka Dlitsia Den' (1980; trans John
French as The Day
Lasts Longer than a Hundred Years 1983 UK): part of this
novel
realistically depicts life in a small Kirghiz town near a secret
Soviet
cosmodrome, and part comprises a NEAR-FUTURE thriller set on board
the
Soviet-US carrier Parity, which encounters ALIENS. Written
before
perestroika, the novel raised controversy due to its obvious
pacifist
mood.
AKERS, ALAN BURT
Kenneth BULMER.
AKERS, FLOYD
L.Frank BAUM.
AKI, TANUKI
[s] Charles DE LINT.
AKIRA
Animated film (1987). Akira Committee. Dir Katsuhiro OTOMO, from
a
screenplay by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, based on the graphic epic
Akira
(begun 1982) by Otomo. Animation studio: Asahi. Chief animator:
Takashi
Nakamura. 124 mins. Colour. A is the most successful attempt yet
to
transfer sophisticated, state-of-the-art comic-book graphics to
the
screen. Story-boarded in great detail by the comic's own creator, it
is
set in the teeming edginess of Neo-Tokyo in 2019. The convoluted
story
deals with two ex-orphanage kids in a biker gang, one tough and one
a
loser; the weaker one, Tetsuo, develops PSI POWERS, discovers the
remnants
of superbeing Akira stored at Absolute Zero below the Olympic
Stadium,
metamorphoses, and becomes (along with others with whom he melds)
the seed
of a new cosmos. The link between persecution, adolescent angst
and
psychic power seems to come straight from Theodore STURGEON's MORE
THAN
HUMAN (1953), and the opportunistic plotting draws also on Philip
K.DICK,
Ridley SCOTT's BLADE RUNNER and many other sources. Though A
oscillates
too extremely between bloody violence, sardonic cynicism
(about
scientists, the military, religious cults, politicians, terrorists)
and
dewy-eyed sentiment, and though the novelistic narrative - which
despite
weepy moments is rather low on human feeling - is unfolded awkwardly
and
at too great a length, much can be forgiven. Its sheer spectacle and
the
density and stylish choreography of its apocalyptic, CYBERPUNK
ambience
are unparalleled in cartoon films. See also: CINEMA; COMICS;
JAPAN.
AKSYONOV, VASSILY (PAVLOVICH)
(1932- ) Russian MAINSTREAM WRITER, one of
those whose careers began in
the Khrushchev Thaw and who responded to the
subsequent chill by
emigrating to the USA, where he became a citizen. His sf
novel, Ostrov
Krym (1981 US; trans anon as The Island of Crimea 1984 US) is a
powerful
ALTERNATE WORLD story set in a Crimea which is an ISLAND (not, as in
this
world, a peninsula), and where a pre-revolutionary government
has
survived; the real-life model is obviously China/Taiwan. The Soviet
Union
soon invades.
ALBANIA
There has been some sf in Albanian since the late 1960s, but not
until
1978 was the first sf book published there. By 1991 there had been
about a
dozen, of which five were by Thanas Qerama, a prolific writer and
also an
editor of juvenile science magazines; examples are Roboti i
pabindur
Disobedient Robot (coll 1981), Nje jave ne vitin 2044 One Week in
the Year
2044 (1982) and Misteri i tempullit te lashte Mystery of the Old
Church
(1987). The following authors have written at least one sf book
each:
A.Bishqemi, N.Deda, B.Dedja, Vangjel Dilo, Dh. Konomi, Flamur Topi
and
B.Xhano.
ALBANO, PETER
(?1940- ) US writer known mainly for the Seventh Carrier
sequence of
military-sf adventures about a WWII Japanese aircraft carrier
which has
been unthawed decades later from polar ice to do good: The Seventh
Carrier
(1983), The Second Voyage of the Seventh Carrier (1986), Return of
the
Seventh Carrier (1987), Attack of the Seventh Carrier (1989), Trial of
the
Seventh Carrier (1990) and Revenge of the Seventh Carrier (1992),
Ordeal
of the Seventh Carrier (1992), Challenge of the Seventh Carrier (1993)
and
Super Carrier (1994). His other novels, Waves of Glory (1989) and Tides
of
Valor (1990), are unremarkable.
ALBING PUBLICATIONS
COSMIC STORIES; STIRRING SCIENCE STORIES.
ALBRECHT, JOHANN FRIEDRICH ERNST
GERMANY.
ALDANI, LINO
ITALY.
ALDERMAN, GILL
Working name of UK writer Gillian Alderman (1941- ), who
worked in
microelectronics research until 1984. She began publishing sf with
the
first two volumes of her Guna sequence - The Archivist: A Black
Romance
(1989) and The Land Beyond: A Fable (1990) - which established her
very
rapidly as a figure of interest in the field. As usual in the
PLANETARY
ROMANCE, the world in which the tales are set (Guna) is
heavily
foregrounded throughout both volumes. Quite similar to Earth - with
which
its more technologically advanced civilizations have had concourse
for
many centuries - Guna is perhaps most remarkable for the wide range
of
relationships found there between the sexes, running from the
complex
matriarchy depicted in the first volume through Earth-like patterns
of
repressive patriarchy hinted at broadly in the second. Although it
is
clearly GA's intent, dexterously achieved, to make some FEMINIST
points
about male hierarchical thinking, she abstains from creating
characters
whose consciousnesses reflect these issues. The homosexual
male
protagonists of The Archivist, for instance, whose long love affair
and
estrangement provide much of the immediate action of the book, exhibit
no
normal resentment at the dominant role of women; and the
political
revolution fomented by the elder lover has little or nothing to do
with
sexual politics in any Earthly sense. The long timespan of The
Archivist,
the Grand Tour evocations of landscape which make up much of its
bulk, and
its distanced narrative voice mark a contemplative sf fantasist of
the
first order. The Land Beyond, a chill book set in a cold part of
the
planet, is less engaging; but GA is clearly a writer to welcome.
ALDISS, BRIAN W(ILSON)
(1925- ) UK writer, anthologist and critic, educated
at private schools,
which he disliked. He served in the Royal Signals in
Burma and Sumatra,
was demobilized in 1948 and worked as an assistant in
Oxford bookshops.
BWA began his writing career by contributing fictionalized
sketches about
bookselling to the trade magazine The Bookseller; these were
later
assembled as his first book, The Brightfount Diaries (1955). BWA
began
publishing sf with Criminal Record for Science Fantasy in 1954.
There
followed such notable tales as Outside (1955), Not for an Age
(1955),
which was a prizewinner in an Observer sf competition), There is a
Tide
(1956) and Psyclops (1956), all of which appeared in BWA's first
sf
volume, Space, Time and Nathaniel (Presciences) (coll 1957). No Time
Like
Tomorrow (coll 1959 US) reprints 6 stories from the 14 in Space, Time
and
Nathaniel and adds another 6. These early stories were ingenious
and
lyrical but dark in mood. BWA remains a prolific writer of short
stories
(his total well exceeded 300 by 1995), almost all under his own
name,
though he has used the pseudonyms C.C.Shackleton, Jael Cracken and
John
Runciman for a few items. All the World's Tears (1957), Poor
Little
Warrior (1958), But Who Can Replace a Man? (1958), Old Hundredth
(1960)
and A Kind of Artistry (1962) are among the most memorable
stories
collected in The Canopy of Time (coll of linked stories 1959); of
the
stories listed, only All the World's Tears and But Who Can Replace a
Man?
appear, with expository passages that make the book into a loose
future
HISTORY, in the substantially different Galaxies like Grains of Sand
(coll
of linked stories 1960 US; with 1 story added rev 1979 UK). The Airs
of
Earth (coll 1963; with 2 stories omitted and 2 stories added, rev
vt
Starswarm 1964 US) and BEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES OF BRIAN
W.ALDISS
(coll 1965; rev 1971; vt Who Can Replace a Man? 1966 US) also
assemble
early work. BWA received a 1959 award at the World SF CONVENTION as
most
promising new author, but his work was less well received in
certain
quarters where his emphasis on style and imagery, and his lack of
an
engineering mentality, were regarded with suspicion. His first
novel,
Non-Stop (1958; cut vt Starship 1959 US), is a brilliant treatment of
the
GENERATION STARSHIP and also the theme of CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH; it
has
become accepted as a classic of the field. Vanguard from Alpha (1959
dos
US; with Segregation added, rev as coll vt Equator: A Human Time Bomb
from
the Moon! 1961 UK) - which became part of The Year Before
Yesterday
(1958-65; fixup 1987 US; rev vt Cracken at Critical: A Novel in
Three Acts
1987 UK) - and Bow Down to Nul (1960 US dos; text restored vt
The
Interpreter 1961 UK) are much less successful, but The Primal Urge
(1961
US) is an amusing treatment of SEX as an sf theme. Always ebullient in
his
approach to sexual morality, BWA was one of the authors who changed
the
attitudes of sf editors and publishers in this area during the 1960s.
The
Long Afternoon of Earth (fixup 1962 US; exp vt Hothouse 1962 UK) won him
a
1962 HUGO award for its original appearance as a series of novelettes.
It
is one of his finest works. Set in the FAR FUTURE, when the Earth
has
ceased rotating, it involves the adventures of humanity's remnants,
who
live in the branches of a giant, continent-spanning tree
(DEVOLUTION).
Criticized for scientific implausibility by James BLISH and
others,
Hothouse (BWA's preferred title) nevertheless displays all his
linguistic,
comic and inventive talents. It also illustrates BWA's main
thematic
concerns, namely the conflict between fecundity and ENTROPY, between
the
rich variety of life and the silence of death. The Dark Light Years
(1964)
is a lesser work, though notable for the irony of its central dilemma
-
how one comes to terms with intelligent ALIENS who are
physically
disgusting. Greybeard (cut 1964 US; full version 1964 UK) is
perhaps BWA's
finest sf novel. It deals with a future in which humanity has
become
sterile due to an accident involving biological weapons. Almost all
the
characters are old people, and their reactions to the incipient death
of
the human race are well portrayed. Both a celebration of human life and
a
critique of civilization, it has been underrated, particularly in the
USA.
Earthworks (1965; rev 1966 US) is a minor novel about OVERPOPULATION.
An
Age (1967; vt Cryptozoic! 1968 US) is an odd and original treatment
of
TIME TRAVEL, which sees time as running backwards with a
consequent
reversal of cause and effect, comparable but superior to Philip
K.DICK's
Counter-Clock World (1967), published in the same year. During the
latter
half of the 1960s BWA was closely identified with NEW-WAVE sf, and
in
particular with the innovative magazine NEW WORLDS, for which he
helped
obtain an Arts Council grant in 1967. Here BWA published
increasingly
unconventional fiction, notably his novel Report on Probability
A (1968;
written 1962 but unpublishable until the times changed), an
sf
transposition of the techniques of the French anti-novelists into
a
Surrealist story of enigmatic voyeurism, and his Acid-Head War
stories,
collected as Barefoot in the Head: A European Fantasia (fixup 1969).
Set
in the aftermath of a European war in which psychedelic drugs have
been
used as weapons, the latter is written in a dense, punning
style
reminiscent of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939); it is an
extraordinary
tour de force. The novella The Saliva Tree (1965 FSF; 1988 chap
dos US)
won a NEBULA and featured in The Saliva Tree and Other Strange
Growths
(coll 1966). It is an entertaining tribute to H.G.WELLS, though the
plot
is reminiscent of The Colour out of Space (1927) by H.P.LOVECRAFT.
Further
volumes of short stories include Intangibles Inc. (coll 1969; with
2
stories omitted and 1 added, rev vt Neanderthal Planet 1970 US),
The
Moment of Eclipse (coll 1970), which won the BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION
AWARD
in 1972, and The Book of Brian Aldiss (coll 1972 US; vt Comic Inferno
1973
UK). Novels of this period include Frankenstein Unbound (1973),
a
time-travel fantasia which has Mary SHELLEY as a major character
and
presents in fictional form the myth-of-origin for sf he advocated in
his
history of the genre, Billion Year Spree (1973; rev and exp with
David
WINGROVE as Trillion Year Spree 1986, which won a Hugo); and
The
Eighty-Minute Hour: A Space Opera (1974 US), a comedy in which
BWA's
penchant for puns and extravagant invention is thought by some critics
to
be overindulged. His long fantasy novel The Malacia Tapestry (1976) is
a
much more balanced work. Set in a mysterious, never-changing city, it is
a
love story with fantastic elements. Beautifully imagined, it is
a
restatement of BWA's obsessions with entropy, fecundity and the role
of
the artist, and was perhaps his best novel since Greybeard. Brothers
of
the Head (1977), about Siamese-twin rock stars and their third,
dormant
head, was a minor exercise in Grand Guignol; with an additional
story, it
was also assembled as Brothers of the Head, and Where the Lines
Converge
(coll 1979). Enemies of the System: A Tale of Homo Uniformis (1978)
was a
somewhat disgruntled DYSTOPIAN novella. Moreau's Other Island (1980; vt
An
Island Called Moreau 1981 US) plays fruitfully with themes from
H.G.Wells:
during a nuclear war a US official discovers that
bioengineering
experiments performed on a deserted island are a secret
project run by his
own department. Stories collected in Last Orders and Other
Stories (coll
1977; vt Last Orders 1989 US), New Arrivals, Old Encounters
(coll 1979)
and Seasons in Flight (coll 1984) were unwearied, though
sometimes hasty.
The 1970s also saw BWA beginning to publish non-sf fictions
more
substantial than his previous two, The Brightfount Diaries and The
Male
Response (1961 US). He gained his first bestseller and some notoriety
with
The Hand-Reared Boy (1970). This, with its two sequels, A Soldier
Erect
(1971) and A Rude Awakening (1978), deals with the education, growth
to
maturity and war experiences in Burma of a young man whose
circumstances
often recall the early life of the author; the three were
assembled as The
Horatio Stubbs Saga (omni 1985). More directly connected to
his sf are
four novels set in contemporary and near-future Europe, loosely
connected
through the sharing of some characters. The sequence comprises Life
in the
West (1980), listed by Anthony BURGESS in his Ninety-Nine Novels: The
Best
in English since 1939 (1984); Forgotten Life (1988); Remembrance
Day
(1993) and Somewhere East of Life: Another European Fantasia (1994).
The
four flirt brusquely with autobiography, but are of greatest interest
for
their tough-minded grasp of late 20th century European cultures.
A
novella, Ruins (1987 chap), also explores contemporary material.
Some
years had passed since his last popular success as an sf novelist when
BWA
suddenly reasserted his eminence in the field with the publication of
the
Helliconia books - HELLICONIA SPRING (1982), which won the 1983
JOHN
W.CAMPBELL MEMORIAL AWARD, Helliconia Summer (1983) and Helliconia
Winter
(1985) - three massive, thoroughly researched, deeply
through-composed
tales set on a planet whose primary sun is in an eccentric
orbit around
another star, so that the planet experiences both small seasons
and an
eon-long Great Year, during the course of which radical changes
afflict
the human-like inhabitants. Cultures are born in spring, flourish
over the
summer, and die with the onset of the generations-long winter. A
team from
an exhausted Terran civilization observes the spectacle from
orbit.
Throughout all three volumes, BWA pays homage to various high moments
of
pulp sf, rewriting several classic action climaxes into a dark idiom
that
befits Helliconia. As an exercise in world-building, the Helliconia
books
lie unassailably at the heart of modern sf; as a demonstration of
the
complexities inherent in the mode of the PLANETARY ROMANCE when
taken
seriously, they are exemplary; as a Heraclitean revery upon
the
implications of the Great Year for human pretensions, they are (as
is
usual with BWA's work) heterodox. Dracula Unbound (1991) continues
through
a similar time-travel plot the explorations of Frankenstein
Unbound,
although this time in a lighter vein. Two summatory collections -
Best SF
Stories of Brian W.Aldiss (coll 1988; vt Man in his Time: Best SF
Stories
1989), not to be confused with the similarly titled 1965 collection,
and A
Romance of the Equator: Best Fantasy Stories (coll 1989), not to
be
confused with A Romance of the Equator (1980 chap), which publishes
the
title story only - closed off the 1980s, along with Science Fiction
Blues
(coll 1988). This latter collects materials used by BWA in
Dickensian
stage readings he began to give in the 1980s at conventions and
other
venues; these readings have reflected something of the vast,
exuberant,
melancholy, protean corpus of one of the sf field's two or three
most
prolific authors of substance, and perhaps its most exploratory;
this
impatient expansiveness is also reflected in the stories assembled as
A
Tupolev Too Far (coll 1993). Kindred Blood in Kensington Gore (1992
chap),
a short play, gave BWA the opportunity to conduct on stage an
imaginary
conversation in similar terms with the posthumous Philip K.DICK.
BWA has
been an indefatigable anthologist and critic of sf. His anthologies
(most
of which contain stimulating introductions and other matter)
include
Penguin Science Fiction (anth 1961), Best Fantasy Stories (anth
1962),
More Penguin Science Fiction (anth 1963), Introducing SF (anth 1964),
Yet
More Penguin Science Fiction (anth 1964) - assembled with his earlier
two
Penguin anths as The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (omni 1973 - and
The
Penguin World Omnibus of Science Fiction (anth 1986) with Sam
J.LUNDWALL.
The Book of Mini-Sagas I (anth 1985) and The Book of Mini-Sagas
II (anth
1988) are associational collections of 50-word stories. The Space
Opera
series of anthologies comprises Space Opera (anth 1974), Space
Odysseys
(anth 1975), Evil Earths (anth 1975), Galactic Empires (anth in 2
vols
1976) and Perilous Planets (anth 1978). Anthologies ed in
collaboration
with Harry HARRISON are: Nebula Award Stories II (1967); the
Year's Best
SF series comprising Best SF: 1967 (1968 US; vt The Year's Best
Science
Fiction No 1 1968 UK), The Year's Best Science Fiction No 2 (anth
1969;
exp vt Best SF: 1968 1969 US), The Year's Best Science Fiction No 3
(anth
1970; vt Best SF: 1969 1970 US), The Year's Best Science Fiction No
4
(anth 1971; vt Best SF: 1970 1971 US), The Year's Best Science Fiction
No
5 (anth 1972; vt Best SF: 1971 1972 US), Best SF: 1972 (anth 1973 US;
vt
The Year's Best Science Fiction No 6 1973 UK), Best SF: 1973 (anth
1974
US; cut vt The Year's Best Science Fiction No 7 1974 UK), Best SF
1974
(anth 1975 US; cut vt The Year's Best Science Fiction No 8 1975 UK)
and
The Year's Best Science Fiction No 9 (anth 1976; vt Best SF: 1975
1976
US); All About Venus (anth 1968 US; exp vt Farewell, Fantastic Venus!
A
History of the Planet Venus in Fact and Fiction 1968 UK);
The
Astounding-Analog Reader (anth in 2 vols 1968 UK paperback of 1973
divided
Vol 1 into 2 vols, and Vol 2 did not appear at all from this
publisher);
and the Decade series comprising Decade: The 1940s (1975), The
1950s
(1976) and The 1960s (1977). Also with Harrison, with whom BWA has had
a
long and, considering the wide gulf between their two styles of
fiction,
amazingly successful working relationship, he edited two issues of
SF
Horizons (1964-5), a short-lived but excellent critical journal,
and
Hell's Cartographers (anth 1975), a collection of six
autobiographical
essays by sf writers, including the two editors. Most of
BWA's nonfiction
has a critical relation to the genre, though Cities and
Stones: A
Traveller's Jugoslavia (1966) is a travel book. The Shape of
Further
Things (1970) is autobiography-cum-criticism. Billion Year Spree
(1973), a
large and enthusiastic survey of sf, is BWA's most important
nonfiction
work (HISTORY OF SF); its argument that sf is a child of the
intersection
of Gothic romance with the Industrial Revolution gives profound
pleasure
as a myth of origin, though it fails circumstantially to be
altogether
convincing; the book was much expanded and, perhaps inevitably,
somewhat
diluted in effect as Trillion Year Spree (1986) with David
WINGROVE.
Science Fiction Art (1975) is an attractively produced selection of
sf
ILLUSTRATION with commentary, mostly from the years of the PULP
MAGAZINES,
and Science Fiction Art (1976) - note identical title - presents
a
portfolio of Chris FOSS's art. Science Fiction as Science Fiction
(1978
chap), This World and Nearer Ones (coll 1979), The Pale Shadow of
Science
(coll 1985 US) and... And the Lurid Glare of the Comet (coll 1986
US)
assemble some of his reviews and speculative essays. As literary editor
of
the Oxford Mail for many years, BWA reviewed hundreds of sf books;
his
later reviews have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement,
the
Guardian, the Washington Post and elsewhere. BWA is a regular attender
of
sf conventions all over the world, a passionate supporter
of
internationalism in sf and all other spheres of life, and a
consistent
attacker of UK-US parochialism. Like Harlan ELLISON in the USA,
BWA is an
energetic and charismatic speaker and lecturer. He was guest of
honour at
the 23rd World SF Convention in 1965 (and at several since) and
received
the BSFA vote for Britain's most popular sf writer in 1969. In 1977
he won
the first James Blish Award (AWARDS) and in 1978 a PILGRIM AWARD, both
for
excellence in SF criticism. He was a founding Trustee of WORLD SF in
1982,
and its president from 1983. Bury My Heart at W.H.Smith's: A Writing
Life
(1990; trade edition cut by 6 chapters 1990), a memoir, reflects on
the
public life of a man of letters in the modern world. Other works: A
Brian
Aldiss Omnibus (omni 1969); Brian Aldiss Omnibus 2 (omni 1971);
Pile:
Petals from St Klaed's Computer (graph 1979) with Mike Wilks,
an
illustrated narrative poem; Foreign Bodies (coll 1981 Singapore);
Farewell
to a Child (1982 chap), poem; Science Fiction Quiz (1983); Best of
Aldiss
(coll 1983 chap); My Country 'Tis Not Only of Thee (1986 chap); The
Magic
of the Past (coll 1987 chap); Sex and the Black Machine (1990 chap),
a
collaged jeu d'esprit; Bodily Functions: Stories, Poems, and a Letter
on
the Subject of Bowel Movement Addressed to Sam J.Lundwall on the
Occasion
of His Birthday February 24th, A.D.1991 (coll 1991); Journey to the
Goat
Star (1982 The Quarto as The Captain's Analysis; 1991 chap US); Home
Life
with Cats (coll 1992 chap), poetry. About the author: Aldiss Unbound:
The
Science Fiction of Brian W.Aldiss (1977) by Richard Matthews; The
Entropy
Exhibition: Michael Moorcock and the British New Wave in Science
Fiction
(1983) by Colin GREENLAND; Apertures: A Study of the Writings of
Brian
Aldiss (1984) by Brian GRIFFIN and David Wingrove; Brian W.Aldiss
(1986)
by M.R.COLLINGS; Brian Wilson Aldiss: A Working Bibliography (1988
chap)
by Phil STEPHENSEN-PAYNE; A is for Brian (anth 1990) edited by
Frank
Hatherley, a 65th-birthday tribute; The Work of Brian W.Aldiss:
An
Annotated Bibliography and Guide (1992) by Margaret Aldiss (1933- ).
See
also: ABSURDIST SF; ADAM AND EVE; ANTHOLOGIES; ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN
SF;
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION; BLACK HOLES; BOYS' PAPERS; BRITISH
SCIENCE
FICTION ASSOCIATION; CLICHES; COSY CATASTROPHE; CRITICAL AND
HISTORICAL
WORKS ABOUT SF; DEFINITIONS OF SF; DISASTER; ECOLOGY; ESP;
EVOLUTION;
FANTASTIC VOYAGES; GENETIC ENGINEERING; GODS AND DEMONS; GOLDEN
AGE OF SF;
GOTHIC SF; HIVE-MINDS; HOLOCAUST AND AFTER; HORROR IN SF;
IMMORTALITY;
ISLANDS; The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION;
METAPHYSICS; MUSIC;
NEW WRITINGS IN SF; OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM; PARALLEL
WORLDS; PASTORAL;
PERCEPTION; POCKET UNIVERSE; POETRY; PROTO SCIENCE FICTION;
PSYCHOLOGY;
RADIO; RECURSIVE SF; ROBOTS; SOCIOLOGY; SPACE HABITATS.
ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY
(1836-1907) US writer responsible for Pansy's Wish: A
Christmas Fantasy
(1869). Out of his Head, a Romance (coll of linked stories
1862) and The
Queen of Sheba (1877) are early examples of the marginal
subgenre of sf in
which contemporary explorations in PSYCHOLOGY suggest
storylines ranging
from amnesia to metempsychosis (and ultimately, it might
be added,
channelling).
ALDRIDGE, ALAN
Stephen R.BOYETT.
ALEXANDER, DAVID
(? - ) US author of the Soldiers of War Western sequence as
by William
Reed; of the Phoenix sequence of post-HOLOCAUST military-sf
adventures,
comprising Dark Messiah (1987), Ground Zero (1987), Metalstorm
(1988) and
Whirlwind (1988); and of vols 9-12 of the C.A.D.S. post-holocaust
military
sequence under the house name Jan Sievert (Ryder SYVERTSEN). DA is
not to
be confused with David M.ALEXANDER.
ALEXANDER, DAVID M(ICHAEL)
(1945- ) US lawyer and writer whose first sf
novel, The Chocolate Spy
(1978), concerns the creation of an organic COMPUTER
using cloned
braincells ( CONES), and whose second, Fane (1981), set on a
planet whose
electromagnetic configurations permit the controlled use of
MAGIC,
describes an inimical attempt to augment these powers. DMA is not to
be
confused with David ALEXANDER.
ALEXANDER, JAMES B(RADUN)
(1831- ?) US writer whose sf fantasmagoria, The
Lunarian Professor and
his Remarkable Revelations Concerning the Earth, the
Moon and Mars;
Together with an Account of the Cruise of the Sally Ann
(1909), might have
been excluded from this encyclopedia - on the grounds that
the insectoid
Lunarian pedagogue and all that he surveys turn out to be a
dream - were
it not that JBA's imagination, though patently influenced by
H.G.WELLS, is
too vivid to be ignored. The altruistic three-sexed Lunarians,
the future
HISTORY of Earth (derived from mathematical models, which the
professor
passes on to the narrator), the TERRAFORMING of Mars, the journeys
made
possible through ANTIGRAVITY devices - all are of strong sf
interest.
ALEXANDER, ROBERT W(ILLIAMS)
(1905-1980) Irish author of several thrillers in
the late 1920s and early
1930s under his own name before he adopted the
pseudonym Joan Butler for
41 humorous novels. These latter, written in a very
distinctive style,
have resonances of Thorne Smith (1892-1934) and
P.G.WODEHOUSE. Cloudy
Weather (1940) and Deep Freeze (1951) centre on the
resurrection of
Egyptian mummies by scientific means. Space to Let (1955)
features the
building of a Venus rocket. Home Run (1958) is about the
invention of
pocket-size atom bombs. ESP plays a prominent part in The Old
Firm (1956),
while Bed and Breakfast (1933), Low Spirits (1945), Full House
(1947) and
Sheet Lightning (1950) focus on the supernatural. RWA used his own
name
for two further sf novels, still written in his well established
humorous
style; both are set in the future and reflect on the aspirations of
youth.
In Mariner's Rest (1943) a group of children shipwrecked on a South
Sea
island during WWII are discovered some 10 years later running their
own
community. Back To Nature (1945) describes how young people abandon
the
comforts of a 21st-century city for the rigours of a more
natural
lifestyle. Other works: Ground Bait (1941); Sun Spots (1942).
ALF
US tv series (1986-90). Warner Bros TV for NBC. Created by Paul Fusco
and
Ed Weinberger. Prod Tom Patchett. Writers include Fusco, Patchett.
Dirs
include Fusco, Patchett, Peter Bonerz. 25 mins per episode. Colour.
ALF,
an alien life form - in the line of extraterrestrial descent from
MY
FAVORITE MARTIAN and Mork in MORK AND MINDY, though also
influenced
heavily by E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982), EXPLORERS (1985)
and the
success of the Muppets - moves in with the Tanner family, a
sitcom
collection of typical Americans, after his spaceship crashlands in
their
garage. A furry puppet, somewhere between cute and obnoxious, voiced
and
operated by series creator Paul Fusco, ALF mainly sits in the middle
of
the living room insulting people, plotting to eat the family cat,
making
tv-style smart-ass remarks and dispensing reassuring sentiment. The
sf
premise aside, ALF is basically one of those stereotype sitcom
characters
- like Benson (Robert Guillaume) in Soap or Sophia (Estelle Getty)
in The
Golden Girls - whose otherness (extraterrestrial, racial, social
or
mental) provides an excuse for them to comment rudely, satirically
and
smugly on the foibles of everyone else. The regular cast includes
Max
Wright, Anne Schedeen, Andrea Elson and Benji Gregory, as the Tanners,
and
John LaMotta and Liz Sheridan, as the nosy neighbours straight from I
Love
Lucy and Bewitched. See also: SATIRE.
ALFVEN, HANNES
Olof JOHANNESSON.
ALGOL
US SEMIPROZINE (1963-84) ed from New York by Andrew PORTER, subtitled
The
Magazine about Science Fiction. A began as a duplicated FANZINE but in
the
1970s became an attractive printed magazine in small-BEDSHEET
format,
published four times a year. With 34, Spring 1979, it changed its
name to
Starship; it ceased publication with 44, Winter/Spring 1984,
its
20th-anniversary issue. A ran articles on sf and sf publishing,
interviews
with authors, and reviews and texts of speeches. Regular
columnists
included Vincent DI FATE (on sf artwork), Richard A.LUPOFF (on
books),
Frederik POHL, and Susan WOOD (on fanzines and books).
Occasional
contributors included Brian W.ALDISS, Alfred BESTER, Ursula K.LE
GUIN,
Robert SILVERBERG, Ted WHITE and Jack WILLIAMSON. A, which shared the
HUGO
for Best Fanzine in 1974, was much more interesting than its
sister
publication, the monthly news magazine SF CHRONICLE, also ed Porter.
The
latter still continues; the economics of magazine publishing meant that
it
was the more ambitious and expensive publication that had to go.
ALGOZIN, BRUCE
Nick CARTER.
al-HAKIM, TAWFIQ
Tawfiq al-HAKIM.
ALIEN
Film (1979). 20th Century-Fox. Dir Ridley SCOTT, starring
Sigourney
Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm,
Yaphet
Kotto, Veronica Cartwright. Alien design H.R.GIGER. Screenplay
Dan
O'Bannon, from a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett, with
uncredited
input from prods Walter Hill and David Giler. 117 mins. Colour.
One of the
most influential sf films ever made, A is actually much closer to
HORROR
in its adherence to genre conventions. The merchant spaceship
Nostromo, on
a routine voyage, visits a planet where one of the crew is
attacked by a
crablike creature in an abandoned ALIEN spacecraft. Back aboard
the
Nostromo this metamorphoses, partly inside the crewman's body, into
an
almost invulnerable, rapidly growing, intelligent carnivore.
Science
officer Ash (Holm), who unknown to the crew is a ROBOT instructed to
keep
the alien alive for possible commercial exploitation, attacks
Ripley
(Weaver); he is messily dismantled. The alien picks off, piecemeal,
all
the remaining crew but Ripley. There is a fine music score by
Jerry
Goldsmith. Giger's powerful alien design, inorganic sleekness blended
with
curved, phallic, organic forms, renders the horror sequences
extremely
vivid, but for all their force they are plotted along deeply
conventional
lines. Considerably more original is the sense - achieved
through design,
terse dialogue and excellent direction - that this is a real
working
spaceship with a real, blue-collar, working crew, the future
unglamorized
and taken for granted. Also good sf are the scenes on the alien
spacecraft
(Giger's design again) which project a genuine sense of otherness.
Tough,
pragmatic Ripley (contrasted with the womanly ineffectiveness
of
Cartwright as Lambert) is the first sf movie heroine to reflect
cultural
changes in the real world, where by 1979 FEMINISM was causing some
men and
many women to think again about the claustrophobia of traditional
female
roles. A, which was made in the UK, was a huge success. It had
precursors.
Many viewers noticed plot similarities with IT! THE TERROR FROM
BEYOND
SPACE (1958) and with A.E.VAN VOGT's Discord in Scarlet (1939); a
legal
case about the latter resemblance was settled out of court for
$50,000.
The sequels were ALIENS (1986) and ALIEN(3) (1992). The novelization
is
Alien (1979) by Alan Dean FOSTER. See also: CINEMA; HUGO; MONSTER
MOVIES;
TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO.
ALIEN CONTAMINATION
CONTAMINATION: ALIEN ARRIVA SULLA TERRA.
ALIEN CRITIC, THE
US FANZINE ed from Portland, Oregon, by Richard E.GEIS. For
its first 3
issues, AC was an informal magazine written entirely by the
editor and
titled Richard E.Geis. With the title-change in 1973, the
magazine's
contents began to diversify, featuring regular columns by John
BRUNNER and
Ted WHITE as well as a variety of articles and a series of
interviews with
sf authors and artists, although its characteristic flavour
still derived
from the editor's own outspoken reviews and commentary. With 12
in 1975
the title changed to Science Fiction Review, a title used also by
Geis for
his previous fanzine PSYCHOTIC. TAC/Science Fiction Review won HUGOS
for
Best Fanzine in 1974 (shared), 1975, 1977 and 1979. TAC's
circulation
became quite wide, and it effectively became a SEMIPROZINE. In
pain from
arthritis, Geis cancelled the magazine after 61, Nov 1986, though
he
continued to publish shorter, more personal fanzines under other
titles.
Science Fiction Review was revived as a semiprozine in 1989, with
some
fiction added to the old SFR mix; 10 issues to May 1992, none since,
ed
Elton Elliott. The schedule changed from quarterly to monthly with 5,
Dec
1991, at which point the magazine also began to be sold at
newsstands.
This brave attempt at making a SMALL-PRESS magazine fully
professional
foundered five issues later.
ALIEN NATION
1. Film (1988). 20th Century-Fox. Dir Graham Baker, starring
James Caan,
Mandy Patinkin, Terence Stamp. Prod Gale Anne HURD, Richard
Kobritz.
Screenplay Rockne S.O'Bannon. 90 mins. Colour. Los Angeles, 1991.
The
Newcomers, or Slags, are 300,000 humanoid ALIENS, genetically
engineered
for hard labour, survivors of a crashlanded slave ship,
grudgingly
accepted but disliked by humans, and ghettoized. Working in
partnership
with a human (Caan), Sam Francisco (Patinkin) becomes the first
alien
police detective in LA. There are murders related to the use of
alien
drugs. A stereotyped buddy-cop story follows (uneasy relationship
between
races deepens as tolerance is learned). This is an efficient,
unambitious
adventure film whose observations of racial bigotry towards
cultural
strangers - effectively boat people - are good-humoured but seldom
rise
above cliche. The novelization is Alien Nation (1988) by Alan Dean
FOSTER.
2. US tv series (1989-90). Kenneth Johnson Productions for Fox
Television.
Starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint. 100min pilot episode dir
and
written Johnson, plus 21 50min episodes. The short-lived tv series
that
followed the film combined routine crime stories with mild SATIRE
of
NEAR-FUTURE Los Angeles and lessons about civil rights.
The
bizarre-looking but adaptable Newcomers act and talk exactly like
humans,
portraying housewives, teenagers, used-car salesmen, criminals,
police and
other stereotypes. The exception is George (no longer Sam)
Francisco,
whose earnest, humourless approach and precise speech recall Spock
of STAR
TREK. A few episodes involve the pregnancy of the male Newcomer
hero.
Johnson also produced the much harder-edged V. The cliffhanger ending
of
the series was not resolved until Oct 1994, when a well-made two-hour
tv
movie, Alien Nation: Dark Horizon was broadcast on Fox TV, scripted
by
Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider.
ALIENS
Visitors to other worlds in stories of the 17th and 18th centuries met
no
genuine alien beings; instead they found men and animals,
sometimes
wearing strange forms but always filling readily recognizable
roles. The
pattern of life on Earth was reproduced with minor amendments:
UTOPIAN
improvement or satirical (SATIRE) exaggeration. The concept of
a
differently determined pattern of life, and thus of a lifeform quite
alien
to Earthly habits of thought, did not emerge until the late 19th
century,
as a natural consequence of the notions of EVOLUTION and of the
process of
adaptation to available environments promulgated by Lamarck and
later by
Darwin. The idea of alien beings was first popularized by
Camille
FLAMMARION in his nonfictional Real and Imaginary Worlds (1864; trans
1865
US) and in Lumen (1887; trans with some new material 1897 UK).
These
accounts of LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS describe sentient plants, species
for
which respiration and alimentation are aspects of the same process,
etc.
The idea that divinely created souls could experience serial
REINCARNATION
in an infinite variety of physical forms is featured in
Flammarion's
Urania (1889; trans 1891 US). Aliens also appear in the work of
another
major French writer, J.H.ROSNY aine: mineral lifeforms are featured
in The
Shapes (1887; trans 1968) and The Death of the World (1910; trans
1928).
Like Flammarion, Rosny took a positive attitude to alien beings:
Les
navigateurs de l'infini The Navigators of Infinity (1925) features a
love
affair between a human and a six-eyed tripedal Martian. In the
tradition
of the French evolutionary philosophers Lamarck and Henri Bergson,
these
early French sf writers fitted both humans and aliens into a
great
evolutionary scheme. In the UK, evolutionary philosophy was dominated
by
the Darwinian idea of the survival of the fittest. Perhaps inevitably,
UK
writers imagined the alien as a Darwinian competitor, a natural enemy
of
mankind. H.G.WELLS in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1898) cast the alien as
a
genocidal invader - a would-be conqueror and colonist of Earth
(INVASION).
This role rapidly became a CLICHE. The same novel set the pattern
by which
alien beings are frequently imagined as loathsome MONSTERS. Wells
went on
to produce an elaborate description of an alien society in THE FIRST
MEN
IN THE MOON (1901), based on the model of the ant-nest (HIVE-MINDS),
thus
instituting another significant cliche. Early US PULP-MAGAZINE sf in
the
vein of Edgar Rice BURROUGHS usually populated other worlds
with
quasihuman inhabitants - almost invariably including beautiful women
for
the heroes to fall in love with - but frequently, for
melodramatic
purposes, placed such races under threat from predatory
monsters. The
specialist sf magazines inherited this tradition in combination
with the
Wellsian exemplars, and made copious use of monstrous alien
invaders; the
climaxes of such stories were often genocidal. Edmond HAMILTON
was a
prolific author of stories in this vein. In the early SPACE OPERAS
meek
and benevolent aliens usually had assorted mammalian and
avian
characteristics, while the physical characteristics of nasty aliens
were
borrowed from reptiles, arthropods and molluscs (especially
octopuses).
Sentient plants and entities of pure energy were morally more
versatile.
In extreme cases, alien allies and enemies became
straightforwardly
symbolic of Good and Evil: E.E.Doc SMITH's Arisians and
Eddorians of the
Lensman series are secular equivalents of angels and demons.
Occasionally
early pulp-sf writers were willing to invert their Darwinian
assumptions
and put humans in the role of alien invaders - significant early
examples
are Hamilton's Conquest of Two Worlds (1932) and P.Schuyler
MILLER's
Forgotten Man of Space (1933) - but stories focusing on the
exoticism of
alien beings tended to take their inspiration from the works of
A.MERRITT,
who had described a fascinating mineral life-system in The Metal
Monster
(1920; 1946) and had transcended conventional biological chauvinism
in his
portrayal of The Snake-Mother (1930; incorporated in The Face in the
Abyss
1931). Jack WILLIAMSON clearly showed Merritt's influence in The
Alien
Intelligence (1929) and The Moon Era (1932). A significant advance in
the
representation of aliens was achieved by Stanley G.WEINBAUM, whose
A
Martian Odyssey (1934) made a deep impression on readers.
Weinbaum
followed it up with other accounts of relatively complex alien
biospheres
(ECOLOGY). Another popular story which directly challenged
vulgarized
Darwinian assumptions was Raymond Z.GALLUN's Old Faithful (1934),
in which
humans and a Martian set aside their extreme biological differences
and
acknowledge intellectual kinship. This spirit was echoed in Liquid
Life
(1936) by Ralph Milne FARLEY, which proposed that a man was bound to
keep
his word of honour, even to a filterable virus. Some of the
more
interesting and adventurous alien stories written in the 1930s ran foul
of
editorial TABOOS: The Creator (1935; 1946 chap) by Clifford D.SIMAK,
which
suggested that our world and others might be the creation of a
godlike
alien (the first of the author's many sf considerations
of
pseudo-theological themes - GODS AND DEMONS; RELIGION), was
considered
dangerously close to blasphemy and ended up in the
semiprofessional MARVEL
TALES, which also began serialization of P.Schuyler
Miller's The Titan
(1934-5), whose description of a Martian ruling class
sustained by
vampiric cannibalism was considered too erotic, and which
eventually
appeared as the title story of The Titan (coll 1952). The
influence of
these taboos in limiting the potential the alien being offered
writers of
this period, and thereby in stunting the evolution of alien roles
within
sf, should not be overlooked. Despite the Wellsian precedents, aliens
were
much less widely featured in the UK SCIENTIFIC ROMANCES. Eden
PHILLPOTTS
used aliens as objective observers to examine and criticize the
human
world in Saurus (1938) and Address Unknown (1949), but the latter
novel
explicitly challenges the validity of any such criticism. Olaf
STAPLEDON's
STAR MAKER (1937) built humans and aliens into a cosmic scheme
akin to
that envisaged by Rosny and Flammarion. Stapledon also employed the
alien
as a standard of comparison in one of his most bitter attacks
on
contemporary humanity, in The Flames (1947). The alien-menace
story
remained dominant in sf for many years; its popularity did not begin
to
wane until the outbreak of WWII, and it has never been in danger of
dying
out. Such xenophobia eventually became unfashionable in the more
reputable
magazines, but monstrous aliens maintained their popularity in
less
sophisticated outlets. The CINEMA lagged behind written sf in
this
respect, producing a host of cheap MONSTER MOVIES during the 1950s
and
1960s, although there was a belated boom in innocent and altruistic
aliens
in films of the 1970s. While pulp sf writers continued to invent
nastier
and more horrific alien monsters during the late 1930s and 1940s -
notable
examples include John W.CAMPBELL Jr's Who Goes There? (1938), as
Don
A.Stuart, and A.E.VAN VOGT's Black Destroyer (1939) and Discord in
Scarlet
(1939) - the emphasis shifted towards the problems of
establishing
fruitful COMMUNICATION with alien races. During the WWII years
human/alien
relationships were often represented as complex, delicate and
uneasy. In
van Vogt's Co-operate or Else! (1942) a man and a bizarre alien
are
castaways in a harsh alien environment during an interstellar war,
and
must join forces in order to survive. In First Contact (1945) by
Murray
LEINSTER two spaceships meet in the void, and each crew is determined
to
give away no information and make no move which could possibly give
the
other race a political or military advantage - a practical problem
which
they ultimately solve. Another Leinster story, The Ethical
Equations
(1945), assumes that a correct decision regarding mankind's first
actions
on contact with aliens will be very difficult to achieve, but
that
priority should definitely be given to the attempt to establish
friendly
relationships; by contrast, Arena (1944) by Fredric BROWN bleakly
assumes
that the meeting of Man and alien might still be a test of their
ability
to destroy one another. (Significantly, an adaptation of Arena for
the tv
series STAR TREK changed the ending of the story to bring it into
line
with later attitudes.) Attempts to present more credibly unhuman
aliens
became gradually more sophisticated in the late 1940s and
1950s,
particularly in the work of Hal CLEMENT, but writers devoted to the
design
of peculiar aliens adapted to extraordinary environments tended to
find it
hard to embed such speculations in engaging stories - a problem
constantly
faced by Clement and by more recent workers in the same tradition,
notably
Robert L.FORWARD. Much more effective in purely literary terms are
stories
which juxtapose human and alien in order to construct parables
criticizing
various attitudes and values. Despite John W.Campbell Jr's
editorial
enthusiasm for human chauvinism - reflected in such stories as
Arthur
C.CLARKE's Rescue Party (1946) and L.Ron HUBBARD's Return to
Tomorrow
(1954) - many stories produced in the post-WWII years use aliens
as
contrasting exemplars to expose and dramatize human follies. Militarism
is
attacked in Clifford D.Simak's You'll Never Go Home Again (1951) and
Eric
Frank RUSSELL's The Waitabits (1955). Sexual prejudices are questioned
in
Theodore STURGEON's The World Well Lost (1953). Racialism is attacked
in
Dumb Martian by John WYNDHAM (1952) and Leigh BRACKETT's All the
Colours
of the Rainbow (1957). The politics of colonialism (COLONIZATION OF
OTHER
WORLDS) are examined in The Helping Hand (1950) by Poul ANDERSON,
Invaders
From Earth (1958 dos) by Robert SILVERBERG and Little Fuzzy (1962)
by
H.Beam PIPER. The bubble of human vanity is pricked in Simak's
Immigrant
(1954) and Anderson's The Martyr (1960). The general human
condition has
been subject to increasingly rigorous scrutiny through
metaphors of alien
contact in such stories as A MIRROR FOR OBSERVERS (1954)
by Edgar
PANGBORN, Rule Golden (1954) by Damon KNIGHT, What Rough Beast?
(1980) by
William Jon WATKINS and The Alien Upstairs (1983) by Pamela
SARGENT. Sharp
SATIRES on human vanity and prejudice include Brian W.ALDISS's
The Dark
Light Years (1964) and Thomas M.DISCH's The Genocides (1965) and
Mankind
Under the Leash (1966 dos). The most remarkable redeployment of
alien
beings in sf of the 1950s and 1960s was in connection
with
pseudo-theological themes (RELIGION). Some images of the inhabitants
of
other worlds had been governed by theological notions long before
the
advent of sf - interplanetary romances of the 19th century often
featured
spirits or angels - and the tradition had been revived outside the
sf
magazines by C.S.LEWIS in his Christian allegories OUT OF THE
SILENT
PLANET (1938) and Perelandra (1943; vt Voyage to Venus). Within sf
itself,
however, the religious imagination had previously been echoed only in
a
few Shaggy God stories (ADAM AND EVE). In sf of the 1950s, though,
aliens
appear in all kinds of transcendental roles. Aliens are spiritual
tutors
in Dear Devil (1950) by Eric Frank Russell and Guardian Angel (1950)
by
Arthur C.Clarke, in each case wearing diabolical physical form
ironically
to emphasize their angelic role. Edgar Pangborn's Angel's Egg
(1951) and
Paul J.MCAULEY's Eternal Light (1991) are less coy. Raymond
F.JONES's The
Alien (1951) is ambitious to be a god, and the alien in Philip
Jose
FARMER's Father (1955) really is one. In Clifford D.Simak's Time and
Again
(1951: vt First He Died) every living creature, ANDROIDS included, has
an
immortal alien commensal, an sf substitute for the soul. In James
BLISH's
classic A CASE OF CONSCIENCE (1953; exp 1958) alien beings
without
knowledge of God appear to a Jesuit to be creations of the Devil.
Other
churchmen achieve spiritual enlightenment by means of contact with
aliens
in The Fire Balloons (1951; vt In this Sign) by Ray BRADBURY,
Unhuman
Sacrifice (1958) by Katherine MACLEAN, and Prometheus (1961) by
Philip
Jose Farmer. In Lester DEL REY's For I Am a Jealous People (1954)
alien
invaders of Earth turn out to have made a new covenant with God, who is
no
longer on our side. Religious imagery is at its most extreme in
stories
which deal with literal kinds of salvation obtained by humans who
adopt
alien ways, including Robert Silverberg's Downward to the Earth (1970)
and
George R.R.MARTIN's A Song for Lya (1974). The evolution of alien roles
in
Eastern European sf seems to have been very different. The
alien-menace
story typical of early US-UK sf is absent from contemporary
Russian sf,
and the ideological calculation behind this absence is made clear
by Ivan
YEFREMOV in Cor Serpentis (trans 1962; vt The Heart of the Serpent),
which
is explicitly represented as a reply to Leinster's First Contact.
Yefremov
argues that, by the time humans are sufficiently advanced to
build
interstellar ships, their society will have matured beyond the
suspicious
militaristic attitudes of Leinster's humans, and will be able to
assume
that aliens are similarly mature. UK-US sf has never become that
confident
- although similar ideological replies to earlier work are not
unknown in
US sf. Ted WHITE's By Furies Possessed (1970), in which mankind
finds a
useful symbiotic relationship with rather ugly aliens, is a reply to
The
Puppet Masters (1951) by Robert A.HEINLEIN, which was one of the
most
extreme post-WWII alien-menace stories, while Joe HALDEMAN's THE
FOREVER
WAR (1974) similarly responds to the xenophobic tendencies of
Heinlein's
STARSHIP TROOPERS (1959), and Barry B.LONGYEAR's Enemy Mine (1979)
can be
seen as either a reprise of van Vogt's Co-operate - or Else! or a
reply to
Brown's Arena; Orson Scott CARD took the unusual step of producing
an
ideological counterweight to one of his own stories when he followed
the
novel version of the genocidal fantasy ENDER'S GAME (1977; exp 1985)
with
the expiatory Speaker for the Dead (1986). This is not to say
that
alien-invasion stories are not still being produced - Larry NIVEN's
and
Jerry POURNELLE's Footfall (1985) is a notable example - and stories
of
war between humans and aliens have understandably retained
their
melodramatic appeal. The recent fashionability of militaristic sf
(WAR)
has helped to keep the tradition very much alive; examples include
the
Demu trilogy (1973-5; coll 1980) by F.M.BUSBY, THE UPLIFT WAR (1987)
by
David BRIN and the shared-world anthology series The Man-Kzin
Wars
(1988-90) based on a scenario created by Larry Niven. Anxiety has
also
been maintained by stories which answer the question If we are not
alone,
where are they? with speculative accounts of a Universe dominated
by
predatory and destructive aliens; notable examples include
Gregory
BENFORD's Across the Sea of Suns (1984), Jack Williamson's
Lifeburst
(1984) and David Brin's Lungfish (1986). Stories dealing soberly
and
thoughtfully with problems arising out of cultural and
biological
differences between human and alien have become very numerous.
This is a
constant and continuing theme in the work of several writers,
notably Jack
VANCE, Poul Anderson, David LAKE, Michael BISHOP and
C.J.CHERRYH.
Cherryh's novels - including her Faded Sun trilogy (1978-9),
Serpent's
Reach (1980), the Chanur series (1982-6) and Cuckoo's Egg (1985) -
present
a particularly elaborate series of accounts of problematic
human/alien
relationships. Such relationships have become further complicated
by
virtue of the fact that the gradual decay of editorial taboos from
the
1950s onwards permitted more adventurous and explicit exploration
of
sexual and psychological themes (PSYCHOLOGY). This work was begun
by
Philip Jose Farmer, in such stories as THE LOVERS (1952; exp 1961),
Open
to Me, My Sister (1960) and Mother (1953), and has been carried forward
by
others. Sexual relationships between human and alien have become much
more
complex and problematic in recent times: STRANGERS (1974; exp 1978)
by
Gardner R.DOZOIS is a more sophisticated reprise of THE LOVERS, and
other
accounts of human/alien love affairs can be found in Jayge
CARR's
Leviathan's Deep (1979), Linda STEELE's Ibis (1985) and Robert
THURSTON's
Q Colony (1985). And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill's
Side
(1971) by James TIPTREE Jr displays human fear and loathing of the
alien
curiously alloyed with self-destructive erotic fascination, and
the
Xenogenesis trilogy (1987-9) by Octavia BUTLER takes human/alien
intimacy
to its uncomfortable limit. The greatest difficulty sf writers face
with
respect to the alien is that of depicting something authentically
strange.
It is common to find that aliens which are physically bizarre are
entirely
human in their modes of thought and speech. Bids to tell a story
from an
alien viewpoint are rarely convincing, although heroic efforts are
made in
such stories as Stanley SCHMIDT's The Sins of the Fathers (1976),
John
BRUNNER's The Crucible of Time (1984) and Brian HERBERT's Sudanna,
Sudanna
(1985). Impressive attempts to present the alien not merely as
unfamiliar
but also as unknowable include Damon KNIGHT's Stranger Station
(1956),
several novels by Philip K.DICK - including The Game-Players of
Titan
(1963), GALACTIC POT-HEALER (1969) and Our Friends From Frolix-8 (1970)
-
Stanislaw LEM's SOLARIS (1961; trans 1970) and Phillip MANN's The Eye
of
the Queen (1982). Such contacts as these threaten the sanity of
the
contactees, as does the initial meeting of minds between human and
alien
intelligence in Fred HOYLE's The Black Cloud (1957), but here - as in
most
such stories - the assumption is made that common intellectual ground
of
some sort must and can be found. Faith in the universality of reason,
and
hence in the fundamental similarity of all intelligent beings, is
strongly
evident in many accounts of physically exotic aliens, including
those
featured in Isaac ASIMOV's THE GODS THEMSELVES (1972). This faith is
at
its most passionate in many stories in which first contact with aliens
is
achieved via radio telescopes; these frequently endow such an event
with
quasitranscendental significance. Stories which are sceptical of
the
benefits of such contact - examples are Fred HOYLE's and John ELLIOT's
A
for Andromeda (1962) and Stanislaw Lem's HisMaster's Voice (1968;
trans
1983) - have been superseded by stories like James E.GUNN's The
Listeners
(fixup 1972), Robert Silverberg's Tower of Glass (1970), Ben
BOVA's
Voyagers (1981), Jeffrey CARVER's The Infinity Link (1984), Carl
SAGAN's
Contact (1985), and Frederick FICHMAN's SETI (1990), whose optimism
is
extravagant. Where once the notion of the alien being was
inherently
fearful, sf now manifests an eager determination to meet and
establish
significant contact with aliens. Despite continued exploitation of
the
melodramatic potential of alien invasions and interstellar wars,
the
predominant anxiety in modern sf is that we might prove to be unworthy
of
such communion. Anthologies of stories dealing with particular
alien
themes include: From off this World (anth 1949) ed Leo MARGULIES and
Oscar
J.FRIEND; Invaders of Earth (anth 1952) ed Groff CONKLIN; Contact
(anth
1963) ed Noel Keyes; The Alien Condition (anth 1973) ed Stephen
GOLDIN;
and the Starhunters series created by David A.DRAKE (3 anths
1988-90).
ALIENS
Film (1986). Brandywine/20th Century-Fox. Prod Gale Anne HURD, dir
James
CAMERON, starring Sigourney Weaver, Paul Reiser, Carrie Henn,
William
Hope, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein.
Screenplay
Cameron, based on a story by Cameron, David Giler, Walter Hill.
137 mins.
Colour. This formidable sequel to ALIEN is more an action than a
HORROR
movie, reminiscent of all those war films and Westerns about
beleaguered
groups fighting to the end. Ripley (Weaver, in a fine
performance), the
sole survivor at the end of Alien, is sent off again with a
troop of
marines to the planet (now colonized) where the original alien was
found.
The colony has been wiped out by aliens (lots of them this time);
the
marines, at first sceptical, are also almost wiped out. Ripley saves
a
small girl (Henn), the sole colonist survivor, and finally confronts
the
Queen alien. A is conventional in its disapproval of corporate greed;
less
conventional is its demonstration of the inadequacy of the
machismo
expressed by all the marines, women and men. A peculiar subtext has
to do
with the fierce protectiveness of motherhood (Ripley and the little
girl,
the Queen and her eggs). This is a film unusually sophisticated in its
use
of sf tropes and is arguably even better than its predecessor.
The
novelization is Aliens (1986) by Alan Dean FOSTER. See also: HUGO.
ALIEN(3)
Film (1992). A Brandywine Production/20th Century-Fox. Dir David
Fincher,
starring Sigourney Weaver, Charles Dance, Charles S.Dutton,
Lance
Henriksen, Paul McGann, Brian Glover. Screenplay David Giler, Walter
Hill,
Larry Ferguson, based on a story by Vincent Ward. 110 mins. Colour. One
of
Hollywood's occasional, strange films so unmitigatedly uncommercial
that
it is impossible to work out why they were ever made. The film had
an
unusually troubled development history, previous screenwriters
having
included William GIBSON and Eric Red, and previous directors Renny
Harlin
and Vincent Ward (director of The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey
1988);
some of Ward's story ideas were retained, and the final script
was
reworked by producers Hill and Giler. The latter has said that he sees
a
subtext about the AIDS virus in this film, and the film itself
supports
this. The final director, Fincher, had previously been known
primarily for
his inventive rock videos. Ripley (Weaver, who also has a
credit as
producer), having twice survived alien apocalypse (ALIEN;
ALIENS)
crashlands on a prison planet occupied by a displeasing men-only
group of
double-Y-chromosomed mass murderers and rapists, who have now
adopted a
form of Christian fundamentalism, as well as three variously
psychopathic
minders. Her companions on the ship are dead, but she brings
(unknown to
her) an alien parasite within her and an external larva hiding in
her
ship. The latter grows, kills, grows again, lurks, and wipes out most
of
the base (as before). But the - again female - alien seems
somehow
unimportant this time; the film's twin centres are the awfulness of
the
prison, explicitly and repeatedly compared to a cosmic anus, and
the
pared-to-the-bone Ripley, head shaven, face anguished, torso
skinny,
sister and mirror image of Alien herself: her sole function is as
victim.
Even the ongoing feminist joke (Ripley is as ever the one with
metaphoric
balls) is submerged in the bewildering, monochrome intensity of
pain and
dereliction, photographed in claustrophobic close-up throughout,
that is
the whole of this film. All else - including narrative tension and
indeed
the very idea of story - is subjugated to this grim motif. This
(probably
bad) film is almost admirable in its refusal to give the audience
any
solace or entertainment at all. At the end, Ripley immolates herself
for
the greater good, falling out of life as an alien bursts from her
chest;
she cradles it like a blood-covered baby as she falls away and away
into
the fires of purgatory.
ALIENS: FIRST CONTACT
No one knows for sure who first used the term "alien"
to describe
extraterrestrials. But the concept of creatures from other
planets has
been around for a long time. The idea of an alien and a human
meeting and
communicating was a familiar theme by the time H.G.Wells's
published The
War of the Worlds in 1898. Wells book was the first to
dramatize an alien
invasion of the earth. And these Martians were definitely
NOT our friends.
Rather, they were "intellects vast and cool and
unsympathetic."After War
of the Worlds appeared, American pulp magazines took
the theme of The
Aliens and ran with it. And Aliens have been IN in America
ever since...
in novels, stories, films, and television.
ALIEN WORLDS
UK DIGEST-size magazine. 1 undated issue, cJuly 1966, published
and ed
Charles Partington and Harry Nadler, some colour illustrations,
stories by
Kenneth BULMER, J.R.(Ramsey) Campbell and Harry HARRISON; articles
on film
were also included. AW grew from the FANZINE Alien (16 issues,
1963-6),
which had also published stories and film articles. Its publishers
lacked
the distribution strength to make it work as a professional
magazine.
ALKON, PAUL K(ENT)
(1935- ) Professor of English Literature at the University
of Southern
California and author of Origins of Futuristic Fiction (1987), a
vigorous
study of the idea of the future that developed in the late 18th and
early
19th centuries, as reflected in the fiction and literary theory of
the
time. PA resuscitated the almost forgotten figure of Felix Bodin,
arguably
the first to provide (in 1834) an aesthetics of sf, his theories
-
appropriately futuristic - antedating their subject matter.
Science
Fiction Before 1900: Imagination Discovers Technology (1994) is
a
competent introductory survey.
al-KUWAYRI, YUSUF
ARABIC SF.
ALLABY, (JOHN) MICHAEL
(1933- ) UK writer. Most of his books are nonfiction
studies in fields
like ECOLOGY, but his The Greening of Mars (1984) with
James (Ephraim)
Lovelock (1919-), though basically a nonfiction study of how
that planet
might be settled, is told as a fictionalized narrative whose tone
is
upliftingly UTOPIAN.
ALLBEURY, TED
Working name of UK spy-fiction writer Theodore Edward le
Bouthillier
Allbeury (1917- ), some of whose NEAR-FUTURE thrillers, like
Palomino
Blonde (1975; vt OMEGA-MINUS 1976 US), The Alpha List (1979) and
The
Consequences of Fear (1979), edge sf-wards. All our Tomorrows
(1982)
depicts a Russian-occupied UK and the resistance movement that soon
takes
shape.
ALLEN, F.M.
Pseudonym of Irish-born UK writer and publisher Edmund
Downey
(1856-1937), whose short DISASTER sequence, set in Ireland - The
Voyage of
the Ark, as Related by Dan Banim (1888) and The Round Tower of
Babel
(1891) - conflates hyperbolic comedy and sf instruments, ending in
a
visionary plan to build a great tower for profit. A House of Tears
(1888
US), as by Edmund Downey, is fantasy, as are Brayhard: The
Strange
Adventures of One Ass and Seven Champions (1890) and The Little Green
Man
(1895). The Peril of London (1891 chap as by FMA; vt London's Peril
1900
chap as Downey), set in the NEAR FUTURE, warns against a Channel
Tunnel
being constructed by the nefarious French.
ALLEN, (CHARLES) GRANT (BLAIRFINDIE)
(1848-1899) UK writer, born in Canada,
known primarily for his work
outside the sf field, including the notorious
The Woman who Did (1895),
which attacked contemporary sexual mores. He was
professor of logic and
principal of Queen's College, Jamaica, before moving
to the UK. He wrote a
series of books based on EVOLUTION theory before
turning for commercial
reasons to fiction. After the success of The Woman who
Did he published a
self-indulgent novel of social criticism, The British
Barbarians (1895),
in which a time-travelling social scientist of the future
is scathing
about tribalism and taboo in Victorian society. GA's interest
in
ANTHROPOLOGY is manifest also in the novel The Great Taboo (1890) and
in
many of the short stories assembled in Strange Stories (coll 1884);
this
collection includes two sf stories originally published under
the
pseudonym J.Arbuthnot Wilson: Pausodyne (1881), an early story
about
SUSPENDED ANIMATION, and A Child of the Phalanstery (1884), about a
future
society's eugenic practices. (The former is also to be found in The
Desire
of the Eyes and Other Stories coll 1895 the latter in Twelve Tales,
with a
Headpiece, a Tailpiece and an Intermezzo coll 1899.) GA's
other
borderline-sf stories are The Dead Man Speaks (1895) and The Thames
Valley
Catastrophe (1897). The above-mentioned collections also feature a
handful
of fantasy stories. The Devil's Die (1897) is a mundane melodrama
which
includes an account of a bacteriological research project. GA's
early
shilling shocker Kalee's Shrine (1886), written with May Cotes
(not
credited in some US reprint editions), is a fantasy of mesmerism with
some
sf elements. See also: CANADA; SATIRE; SOCIOLOGY; TABOOS; TIME
TRAVEL.
ALLEN, HENRY WILSON
(1912-1991) US author, as Will Henry, of many Westerns,
including
MacKenna's Gold (1963), later filmed. His sf novel, Genesis Five
(1968),
narrated by a resident Mongol, depicts the Soviet creation of a
dubious
SUPERMAN in Siberia.
ALLEN, IRWIN
(1916-1991) US film-maker long associated with sf subjects. He
worked in
radio during the 1940s; later, with the arrival of tv, he created
the
first celebrity panel show. In 1951 he began producing films for RKO,
and
in 1953 won an Academy Award for The Sea Around Us, a
pseudo-documentary
which he wrote and directed. He then made a similar film
for Warner
Brothers, The Animal World (1956), which contained dinosaur
sequences
animated by Willis H.O'BRIEN and Ray HARRYHAUSEN. In 1957 he made
The
Story of Mankind, a bizarre potted history with a fantasy framework,
and
then turned to sf subjects: a bland remake of TheLOST WORLD (1960),
VOYAGE
TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (1961) and Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).
In
1964 he returned to tv and produced a series, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF
THE
SEA (1964-8), based on the movie. Other sf tv series followed: LOST
IN
SPACE (1965-8), TheTIME TUNNEL (1966-7) and LAND OF THE GIANTS
(1968-70).
A further tv project, CITY BENEATH THE SEA, failed to generate
the
necessary interest and was abandoned, the pilot episode being released
as
a feature film (vt One Hour to Doomsday) in 1970. Ever resilient,
IA
switched back to films. In 1972 he made the highly successful The
Poseidon
Adventure, which began the disaster film cycle of the 1970s,
followed by
the even more successful The Towering Inferno (1974).
Theatrically, IA's
fortunes with disaster films began to founder with The
Swarm (1978), based
on the 1974 novel by Arthur HERZOG about killer bees
attacking Houston.
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) and When Time Ran
Out... (1980; vt
Earth's Final Fury) were similar to The Swarm in their
absurdity and their
parade of embarrassed star cameos; their box-office
failure contributed
significantly to the petering out of the borderline-sf
disaster movie
cycle. However, IA had already transferred the essential
formula - B-movie
dramatics, spectacular (often secondhand) devastation
footage, large casts
- of the disaster movie to tv with Flood! (1976),
followed by the
diminishing returns of Fire! (1977) and Cave-In (1979,
transmitted 1983).
Another made-for-tv movie by IA (pilot for an unsold tv
series planned as
a return to the themes of The Time Tunnel) was Time
Travelers (1976),
based on an unpublished story by Rod SERLING; its use of
stock footage as
the story's centrepiece - here the fire from In Old Chicago
(1938) - is an
IA trademark. Subsequently his sf/fantasy work for tv has
included The
Return of Captain Nemo (1978), a three-part miniseries (based on
Jules
VERNE's characters and themes recycled from Voyage to the Bottom of
the
Sea) which was edited into a feature film for release outside the USA,
and
a two-part Alice in Wonderland (1985) with second-string stars.
Throughout
his career IA has reworked a limited repertoire of basic formulae
- the
Verne/DOYLE expedition drama, the juvenile sf-series format, the
disaster
scenario - invariably setting groups of lazily stereotyped
characters
against colourful, threatening, bizarre but somehow cheap
backdrops. His
productions are wholly contemptuous (or ignorant) of
scientific accuracy
or even plausibility. The only variation in tone and
effect has been
strictly budgetary, with Michael Caine and Paul Newman
essentially no
different from David Hedison and Gary Conway, and even the
most
earth-shattering cataclysm failing to disturb the tidy complacency of
IA's
Poverty-Row worldview. In the end, his most interesting work might
just
have been The Story of Mankind, in which Harpo Marx played Isaac
Newton.
JB/KN/PNSee also: DISASTER; TELEVISION.
ALLEN, JOHANNES
(1916-1973) Danish journalist and author of popular fiction
and film
scripts. Among his few sf titles the best known is Data for din dod
(1970;
trans Marianne Helweg as Data for Death 1971 UK), which tells of
a
criminal organization whose acquisition of advanced computer
techniques
permits it to blackmail people with information about their time
of death.
ALLEN, ROBERT
Working name of UK writer Allen Robert Dodd (1887- ?), whose
only sf
novel, Captain Gardiner of the International Police: A Secret
Service
Novel of the Future (1916 US), is set 60 years after WW1, when
an
International Federation governs all the world but for the sinister
East,
whose plots are foiled by the eponymous secret agent.
ALLEN, ROGER MacBRIDE
(1957- ) US writer who began writing with a SPACE-OPERA
series, The Torch
of Honor (1985) and Rogue Powers (1986), whose considerable
impact may
seem excessive to anyone familiar only with the books in synopsis,
as
neither might have appeared to offer anything new. The Torch of
Honor
begins with a scene all too evocative of Robert A.HEINLEIN's sf
juveniles
from three decades earlier, as a batch of space cadets graduates
from
academy into interstellar hot water after learning - in a scene which
any
viewer of John Ford's Cavalry Westerns would also recognize - of the
death
of many of their fellows in a space encounter. But RMA, while
clearly
making no secret of his allegiance to outmoded narrative
conventions,
remained very much a writer of the 1980s in the physical
complexity and
moral dubiety of the Galaxy his crew enters, fighting and
judging and
having a fairly good time in the task of saving planets. The
second novel,
which features a no-nonsense female protagonist and a lovingly
described
ALIEN culture, builds on the strengths of the first while
disengaging to
some degree from the debilitating simplicities of military sf.
Orphan of
Creation (1988), a singleton, demonstrates with greater clarity
than the
series the clarity and scientific numeracy of RMA's mind and
narrative
strategies. The story of a Black anthropologist who discovers in
the USA
the bones of some Australopithecines who had been transported there
by
slave traders, the novel gives an impressive accounting of the nature
of
ANTHROPOLOGY as a science, and mounts a welcome attack on the
strange
1980s vogue for Creationism. Farside Cannon (1988), in which
the
NEAR-FUTURE Solar System witnesses political upheaval on
time-tested
grounds, and The War Machine (1989) with David A.DRAKE, part of
the
latter's Crisis of Empire sequence, were sufficiently competent to
keep
interest in RMA alive. Supernova (1991), with Eric KOTANI, relates,
again
with scientific verisimilitude, the process involved in discovering
that a
nearby star is due to go supernova and flood Earth with hard
radiation.
The Modular Man (1992) deals complexly with the implications of a
ROBOT
technology sufficiently advanced for humans to transfer
their
consciousnesses into machines. But potentially more interesting than
any
of these titles is the Hunted Earth sequence, comprising The Ring
of
Charon (1991) and The Shattered Sphere (1994). After the passing of a
beam
of phased gravity-waves - a new human invention - has awakened a
long
dormant semi-autonomous being embedded deep within the Moon, the Earth
is
shunted via wormhole to a new solar system dominated by a
multifaceted
culture occupying a DYSON SPHERE. The remnants of humanity must
work out -
over the course of the second volume - where Earth is while
countering, or
coming to terms with, the attempted demolition of the Solar
System to make
a new sphere. Although the human cultures described in the
first volume
are unimaginatively presented, the exuberance of RMA's
large-scale
plotting (and thinking) makes it seem possible that Hunted Earth
will
become one of the touchstone galactic epics of the 1990s. Other
Works:
Isaac Asimov's Caliban (1993) and its sequel, Isaac Asimov's
Inferno
(1994), both tied to ASIMOV's Robot universe. See also: ASTEROIDS;
BLACK
HOLES; MOON; OUTER PLANETS; WEAPONS.
ALLEY OOP
US COMIC strip, created and drawn by V(incent) T(rout)
Hamlin
(1900-1993), initially in 1932 for a firm which collapsed, then from
1933
for the NEA syndicate until his retirement in 1971, when it was taken
over
by other artists. Drawn in a style more comically exaggerated than
usual
in adventure strips, though with clear affection, Oop is a tough
and
likeable Neanderthal warrior, half Popeye, half Buck Rogers.
His
adventures were initially restricted to his home territory of Moo
(the
echo of Mu clearly being deliberate) but he soon began to visit
various
human eras - and the Moon - via Professor Wonmug's TIME-TRAVEL
device.
There were several pre-War comic-book versions, including Alley Oop
and
Dinny (graph 1934), a Big Little Book; Alley Oop in the Invasion of
Moo
(graph 1935), an original story in a format similar to the Big
Little
Books; as a one-short comic, issue 35 of The Funnies in 1938; and
Alley
Oop and the Missing King of Moo (1938 chap). Some extended tales appear
in
Hamlin's Alley Oop: The Adventures of a Time-Traveling Caveman:
Daily
Strips from July 20, 1946 to June 20, 1947 (graph coll 1990).
ALLHOFF, FRED
(1904-1988) US journalist and writer known in the sf field for
Lightning
in the Night (1940 Liberty; 1979), a future-WAR tale which,
when
serialized, caused considerable stir because of its defence of
the
arguments of General Billy Mitchell (1879-1936) about the primacy of
air
power in any future conflict, for its portrayal of a semi-defeated USA
in
1945 as she recoups her moral and physical forces and begins to
thrust
back the Axis invaders, and for its presentation of a vast and
successful
US effort to develop the atomic bomb before Hitler can, and to use
the
threat of dropping it to end the war (HITLER WINS).
ALLIGATOR
Film (1980). Alligator Associates/Group 1. Dir Lewis Teague,
starring
Robert Forster, Robin Riker, Michael Gazzo, Dean Jagger. Screenplay
John
SAYLES, based on a story by Sayles and Frank Ray Perilli. 91 mins cut
to
89 mins. Colour. A pet baby alligator is flushed down the toilet, and
it
or another grows into a monster, aided by hormone-experiment
waste
materials illicitly dumped in the sewers. A policeman investigates
the
increasingly violent and bizarre alligator attacks, climaxing in
the
destruction of a wedding party held by (of course) the wicked polluter.
A
is funny and well made. Sayles has remarked that my original idea was
that
the alligator eats its way through the whole socio-economic system.
Many
1970s and 1980s MONSTER MOVIES, including this one, have been
deliberately
subversive of comfortable social norms.
ALLIGHAM, GARRY
(1898- ?) South African writer whose imaginary history,
written as from
the year 1987, Verwoerd - The End: A Lookback from the Future
(1961),
argues for a benevolently administered apartheid. See also:
POLITICS.
ALLOTT, KENNETH
(1912-1973) UK writer best known for his distinguished and
melancholy
poetry, which was assembled in Collected Poems (coll 1975). The
Rhubarb
Tree (1937), with Stephen Tait, is one of several 1930s novels
predicting
a fascist government in the UK. Jules Verne (1940) is a fluent
study, free
of the usual literary condescensions.
ALLPORT, ARTHUR
Raymond Z.GALLUN.
ALL-STORY, THE
US PULP MAGAZINE published by the Frank A.MUNSEY Corp.; ed
Robert Hobard
Davis. AS appeared monthly Jan 1905-Mar 1914, weekly from 7 Mar
1914 (as
All-Story Weekly), incorporated Cavalier Weekly (The CAVALIER) to
form
All-Story Cavalier Weekly from 16 May 1914, and reverted to
All-Story
Weekly 15 May 1915-17 July 1920, when it merged with Argosy Weekly
to form
Argosy All-Story Weekly (The ARGOSY). TAS was the most prolific
publisher
of sf among the pre-1926 pulp magazines; it became important
through its
editor's discovery of several major authors. Foremost of these
in
popularity were Edgar Rice BURROUGHS, who was represented with 16
serials
and novelettes 1912-20, Ray CUMMINGS, notably with The Girl in the
Golden
Atom (1919-20; fixup 1921), and A.MERRITT. Other authors who
contributed
sf to TAS included Douglas DOLD, George Allan ENGLAND, Homer Eon
FLINT, J.
U.GIESY, Victor ROUSSEAU, Garrett P.SERVISS, Francis STEVENS and
Charles
B.STILSON. Many of TAS's stories were reprinted in FAMOUS
FANTASTIC
MYSTERIES and FANTASTIC NOVELS. Further reading: Under the Moons of
Mars:
A History and Anthology of the Scientific Romances in the Munsey
Magazines
1912-1920 (anth 1970) ed Sam MOSKOWITZ.
ALL-STORY CAVALIER WEEKLY
The ALL-STORY.
ALL-STORY WEEKLY
The ALL-STORY.
ALMEDINGEN, E.M.
Working name of Russian-born writer Martha Edith von
Almedingen
(1898-1971), who emigrated to the UK in 1923. Of her children's
fictions,
which made up about half her total works, several are of fantasy
interest.
Her only title of clear sf import is Stand Fast, Beloved City
(1954),
about a DYSTOPIAN tyranny.
ALPERS, HANS JOACHIM
(1943- ) German sf editor, critic, SMALL-PRESS
publisher, literary agent
and author, sometimes as Jurgen Andreas; editor
1978-80 of Knaur SF and
1980-86 of the Moewig SF list. With Ronald M.Hahn
(1948- ) he edited the
first anthology of native German sf (GERMANY), Science
Fiction aus
Deutschland Science Fiction from Germany (anth 1974), and he was
a
co-editor of Lexicon der Science Fiction Literatur (2 vols 1980; rev
1988;
new edn projected 1993), an important sf encyclopedia covering almost
all
authors with German editions of their work. Further lexicons, of
weird
fiction and fantasy, are projected for 1993-4. With Hahn again and
Werner
Fuchs, HJA edited Reclams Science Fiction Fuhrer (1982), an
annotated
survey of sf novels with listings by author. With Fuchs HJA edited
for
Hohenheim six anthologies of sf stories (1981-4) covering sf history
by
the decades 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with 2 vols for each, and has
edited
the Kopernikus sf anthologies for Moewig (15 vols 1980-88). Also
for
Moewig he edited a German paperback edition of Analog
(ASTOUNDING
SCIENCE-FICTION) (8 vols 1981-4) and a series of sf almanacs and
year
books - Science Fiction Jahrbuch (1981-7) and Science Fiction
Almanach
(1982-7) - containing sf data, stories and essays, the
Almanac
concentrating on the German scene. He wrote the GERMANY entry in
this
encyclopedia.
ALPHAVILLE
(vt Une Etrange Aventure de Lemmy
Caution)
Pathe-contemporary/Chaumiane-Film Studio. Dir Jean-Luc Godard,
starring
Eddie Constantine, Anna Karina, Howard Vernon, Akim Tamiroff.
Screenplay
Godard. 100 mins. B/w. In this archetypal French New Wave
film,
intergalactic secret agent Lemmy Caution (Constantine) arrives at
the
planet Alphaville to deal with Alpha 60, the computer used to
impose
conformity on the inhabitants. He succeeds, meeting the computer's
logic
with his own illogic, and at the same time wins the affections of
the
ruler's daughter (Karina). A typical pulp-sf plot is transformed into
an
allegory of feeling versus technology, the past versus the
present:
Alphaville itself is an undisguised (but selectively seen) Paris of
the
1960s; Caution (a tough guy from the 1940s, hero of many novels by
UK
thriller writer Peter Cheyney 1896-1951) does not use a spaceship to
get
there, but simply drives his own Ford car through intersidereal space -
an
ordinary road. A is filmed in high contrast, deep shadows and
glaring
light. It is a not always accessible maze of allusions culled from a
wide
variety of sources: semantic theory, the myth of Orpheus and
Eurydice,
Hollywood B-movies, comic books and pulp sf. The latter, like the
other
components of A, is used by Godard as a means of playfully
imaging
philosophical debate. See also: CINEMA.
ALRAUNE
(vt Unholy Love; vt Daughter of Destiny) Film (1928). Ama Film.
Dir
Henrik Galeen, starring Brigitte Helm, Paul Wegener, Ivan
Petrovich.
Screenplay Galeen, from Alraune (1911; trans 1929) by Hanns Heinz
EWERS.
125 mins. B/w. A professor of genetics (Wegener) conducts a
cold-blooded
experiment into the Nature-versus-nurture controversy. Using the
semen of
a hanged man to fertilize a whore, he creates life - a girl baby
called
Alraune - by artificial insemination in the laboratory. After
this
sciencefictional beginning, A becomes, like Frankenstein (1818) by
Mary
SHELLEY, a fantastic GOTHIC melodrama of retribution for a crime
against
Nature; nevertheless, in its distrust of the scientist, A is
wholly
central to the development of sf. Alraune (Helm), who is named after
and
compared throughout with the mythic mandrake root that grows where
a
hanged man's seed falls, appears to have no soul, and when, as a
young
woman, she learns of her dark origins, she revenges herself against
her
father, the professor - although at the end there is hope she will
be
heartless no longer. Usually spoken of as a great classic of the
German
silent cinema, A is actually more of an early exploitation movie,
stylish
but prurient, with more than a whiff of incest in the theme.
Helm's
eroticism, which we are to deplore, was in fact the reason for the
film's
commercial success. However, Galeen considerably softened the portrait
of
Alraune rendered in Ewers' sensationalist novel: whereas in the book
she
is a monster of depravity, causing illness and suicide wherever she
goes,
in the film she merely causes mayhem and a little pain. This is
generally
agreed to be the best of the five film versions of the 1911 book,
the
others being from 1918 (twice - Germany and Hungary - the latter
being
directed by Mihaly Kertesz, who became Michael Curtiz, the director
of
Casablanca, 1942), 1930 (Germany, again starring Helm) and 1952
(Germany,
starring Hildegard Knef and Erich von Stroheim). See also: CINEMA;
SEX.
ALTERED STATES
Film (1980). Warner Bros. Dir Ken Russell, starring William
Hurt, Blair
Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid. Screenplay Sidney Aaron
(Paddy
CHAYEFSKY), based on Altered States (1978) by Chayefsky. 102 mins.
Colour.
Research scientist Jessup (Hurt) experiments with altered states
of
consciousness, with drugs, and with a sensory-deprivation tank.
The
alterations allow the primitive DNA in his genes to express
itself
(DEVOLUTION and METAPHYSICS for why this is lunatic); he devolves into
an
apeman (APES AND CAVEMEN), and later spends some time as primordial
ooze.
This is bad for his marriage. In this hearty blend of New Age
mysticism
and old-fashioned Jekyll-and-Hyde horror, director Russell has
great fun
with hallucinatory psychedelic trips and serious-sounding (but
strictly
bogus) scientific talk. The seriousness is skin-deep, and so is the
film.
However, even Russell's bad films - some claim there is no other
category
- are watchable.
ALTERNATE HISTORIES
ALTERNATE WORLDS; HISTORY IN SF.
ALTERNATE WORLDS
An alternate world - some writers and commentators prefer
the designation
alternative world on grammatical grounds - is an account of
Earth as it
might have become in consequence of some hypothetical alteration
in
history. Many sf stories use PARALLEL WORLDS as a frame in which
many
alternate worlds can be simultaneously held, sometimes interacting
with
one another. Hypothetical exercises of this kind have long been
popular
with historians (HISTORY IN SF) and their virtue was proclaimed by
Isaac
d'Israeli in The Curiosities of Literature (coll 1791-1823). A
classic
collection of such essays, ed J.C.Squire, If It had Happened
Otherwise
(anth 1931; vt If, or History Rewritten; exp 1972) took its
inspiration
from G.M.Trevelyan's essay If Napoleon had Won the Battle of
Waterloo
(1907); its contributors included G.K.CHESTERTON, Andre MAUROIS,
Hilaire
BELLOC, A.J.P.Taylor and Winston Churchill. The most common
preoccupations
of modern speculative historians were exhibited in two essays
written for
Look: If the South had Won the Civil War (1960; 1961) by
MacKinlay KANTOR
and If Hitler had Won World War II (1961), by William
L.Shirer. The
tradition has been continued in the MAINSTREAM by the film IT
HAPPENED
HERE (1963), Frederic MULLALLY's Hitler Has Won (1975) and Len
DEIGHTON's
SS-GB (1978). Another event seen today as historically pivotal,
the
invention of the atom bomb, is the basis of two novels by Ronald
W.CLARK:
Queen Victoria's Bomb (1967), in which the atom bomb is developed
much
earlier in history, and The Bomb that Failed (1969; vt The Last Year
of
the Old World UK), in which its appearance on the historical scene
is
delayed. Alternative histories are used satirically by non-genre
writers
in R.Egerton Swartout's It Might Have Happened (1934) and
Marghanita
LASKI's Tory Heaven (1948), and the notion is given a more
philosophical
twist in Guy DENT's Emperor of the If (1926). The continuing
popularity of
alternative histories with mainstream writers is further
illustrated by
John HERSEY's White Lotus (1965), Vladimir NABOKOV's Ada
(1969), Martin
Cruz SMITH's The Indians Won (1970), Guido Morselli's Past
Conditional
(1975; trans 1981) and Douglas Jones's The Court Martial of
George
Armstrong Custer (1976). Murray LEINSTER introduced the idea of
alternate
worlds to GENRE SF in Sidewise in Time (1934), and Stanley
G.WEINBAUM used
it in a light comedy, The Worlds of If (1935); but the first
serious
attempt to construct an alternative history in sf was L.Sprague DE
CAMP's
LEST DARKNESS FALL (1939; 1941), in which a man slips back through
time
and sets out to remould history by preventing or ameliorating the
Dark
Ages. This story is set entirely in the distant past, but in The Wheels
of
If (1940) de Camp displayed a contemporary USA which might have
resulted
from 10th-century colonization by Norsemen. Most subsequent sf
stories in
this vein have tended to skip lightly over the detailed process
of
historical development to examine alternative presents, but sf
writers
with a keen interest in history often devote loving care to
the
development of imaginary pasts; a recent enterprise very much in
the
tradition of LEST DARKNESS FALL is Harry TURTLEDOVE's Agent of
Byzantium
(coll of linked stories 1986). The extraordinary melodramatic
potential
inherent in the idea of alternate worlds was further revealed by
Jack
WILLIAMSON's THE LEGION OF TIME (1938; 1952), which features
alternative
futures at war for their very existence, with crucial battles
spilling
into the past and present. The idea of worlds battling for survival
by
attempting to maintain their own histories was further developed by
Fritz
LEIBER in Destiny Times Three (1945; 1957) and in the Change War
series,
which includes THE BIG TIME (1958; 1961). Such stories gained rapidly
in
extravagance: The Fall of Chronopolis (1974) by Barrington
J.BAYLEY
features a time-spanning Empire trying to maintain its reality
against the
alternative versions which its adversaries are imposing upon it.
Attempts
by possible futures to influence the present by friendly persuasion
were
presented by C.L.MOORE in Greater than Gods (1939) and by Ross
ROCKLYNNE
in The Diversifal (1951). The notion of competing alternative
histories is
further recomplicated in TIME-TRAVEL stories in which the heroes
range
across a vast series of parallel worlds, each featuring a
different
alternative history (alternate universes are often created
wholesale,
though usually ephemerally, in tricky time-travel stories; see
also TIME
PARADOXES). The policing of time-tracks - either singly, as in
Isaac
ASIMOV's The End of Eternity (1955), which features the
totalitarian
control of history by social engineers, or in great profusion -
has
remained a consistently popular theme in sf. One of the earliest
such
police forces is featured in Sam MERWIN's House of Many Worlds (1951)
and
Three Faces of Time (1955); the exploits of others are depicted in
H.Beam
PIPER's Paratime series, begun with Police Operation (1948), in
Poul
ANDERSON's Time Patrol series, whose early stories are in Guardians
of
Time (coll 1960), in John BRUNNER's Times without Number (fixup 1962
dos),
and - less earnestly - in Simon Hawke's Time Wars series
(Nicholas
Yermakov), begun with The Ivanhoe Gambit (1984). Keith LAUMER's
Worlds of
the Imperium (1962 dos) and sequels, Avram DAVIDSON's Masters of
the Maze
(1965), Jack L.CHALKER's Downtiming the Night Side (1985), Frederik
POHL's
The Coming of the Quantum Cats (1986), Mike MCQUAY's Memories (1987)
and
Michael P.KUBE-MCDOWELL's Alternities (1988) are convoluted
adventure
stories of an essentially similar kind. John CROWLEY's Great Work
of Time
(1989) is a more thoughtful work about a conspiracy which attempts to
use
time travel to take charge of history. Early genre-sf stories of
conflict
between alternate worlds tend to assume that our world is better
than most
of the alternatives. This assumption owes much to our conviction
that the
right side won both the American Civil War and WWII. Ward MOORE's
classic
BRING THE JUBILEE (1953) paints a relatively grim portrait of a USA
in
which the South won the Civil War; and images of worlds in which the
Nazis
triumphed (HITLER WINS) tend to be nightmarish - notable examples
include
Two Dooms (1958) by C.M.KORNBLUTH, THE SOUND OF HIS HORN (1952) by
SARBAN,
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE (1962) by Philip K.DICK, The Proteus
Operation
(1985) by James P.HOGAN, and Moon of Ice (1988) by Brad LINAWEAVER.
An
interesting exception is Budspy (1987) by David DVORKIN, where
a
successful Third Reich is presented more evenhandedly.
Other
turning-points in which our world is held to have gone the right
way
include the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution - whose
suppression
produces technologically primitive worlds in Keith ROBERTS's
excellent
PAVANE (fixup 1968), Kingsley AMIS's The Alteration (1976), Martin
GREEN's
The Earth Again Redeemed (1978), Phyllis EISENSTEIN's Shadow of
Earth
(1979) and John Whitbourn's A Dangerous Energy (1992) - and the
Black
Death, which aborts the rise of the West in Robert SILVERBERG's The
Gate
of Worlds (1967) and L.Neil SMITH's The Crystal Empire (1986). The
idea
that our world might have turned out far better than it has is more
often
displayed by ironic satires, including: Harry HARRISON's Tunnel
Through
the Deeps (1972; vt A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! UK), in which
the
American colonies never rebelled and the British Empire remains
supreme;
D.R.BENSEN's And Having Writ... (1978), in which the aliens whose
crashing
starship is assumed to have caused the Tunguska explosion survive
to
interfere in the course of progress; S.P.SOMTOW's The Aquiliad
(fixup
1983), in which the Roman Empire conquered the Americas; and
William
GIBSON's and Bruce STERLING's THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE (1990), in
which
Babbage's calculating machine precipitates an
information-technology
revolution in Victorian England. More earnest examples
are fewer in
number, but they include The Lucky Strike (1984) by Kim Stanley
ROBINSON,
in which a US pilot refuses to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima,
and
Elleander Morning (1984) by Jerry YULSMAN, which imagines a world
where
Hitler was assassinated before starting WWII. More
philosophically
inclined uses of the alternate-worlds theme, involving the
worldviews of
individual characters rather than diverted histories, were
pioneered in
genre sf by Philip K.Dick in such novels as Eye in the Sky
(1957), Now
Wait for Last Year (1967) and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
(1974).
Intriguing homage is paid to Dick's distinctive use of the theme
by
Michael BISHOP's The Secret Ascension (1987; vt Philip K.Dick is
Dead,
Alas). Other novels which use alternate worlds to explore
personal
problems and questions of identity include Bob SHAW's The
Two-Timers
(1968), Gordon EKLUND's All Times Possible (1974), Sheila
FINCH's
Infinity's Web (1985), Josephine SAXTON's Queen of the States (1986),
Ken
Grimwood's Replay (1986) and Thomas BERGER's Changing the Past
(1989).
Radical alternative histories, which explore the consequences
of
fundamental shifts in biological evolution, include Harry
Harrison's
series about the survival of the dinosaurs, begun with West of
Eden
(1984); Harry Turtledove's A Different Flesh (fixup 1988), in which
Homo
erectus survives in the Americas until 1492; and Brian M.STABLEFORD's
The
Empire of Fear (1988), in which 17th-century Europe and Africa are
ruled
by vampires. More radical still are novels which portray universes
where
the laws of physics are different. Some of these are described in
George
GAMOW's series of educative parables Mr Tompkins in Wonderland
(coll
1939), and the many worlds interpretation of quantum theory has
encouraged
their use in more recent sf, a notable example being The Singers
of Time
(1990) by Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson. Worlds of Maybe:
Seven
Stories of Science Fiction (anth 1970) ed Robert Silverberg
contains
further work on the theme by Poul Anderson, Philip Jose FARMER,
Larry
NIVEN and Silverberg, as well as the Murray Leinster story cited above.
In
addition to further stories, including the de Camp story mentioned
above,
Alternative Histories: Eleven Stories of the World as it Might have
Been
(anth 1986) ed Martin H.GREENBERG and Charles G.WAUGH includes
the
definitive version of Barton C.Hacker's and Gordon
B.Chamberlain's
invaluable bibliography of the theme, Pasts that Might Have
Been, II; the
first version appeared in EXTRAPOLATION in 1981. Gregory
BENFORD edited
four anthologies on the theme: Hitler Victorious (anth 1985);
plus What
Might Have Been 1: Alternate Empires (anth 1989), 2: Alternate
Heroes
(anth 1989) and 3: Alternate Wars (anth 1991). Alternatives (anth
1989),
ed Robert ADAMS and Pamela Crippen Adams, presented original stories
told
from LIBERTARIAN perspectives. Alternate Presidents (anth 1992) ed
Michael
RESNICK examines a particular aspect from Benjamin Franklin to
Michael
Dukakis; the same editor's Alternate Kennedys (anth 1992) narrows
the
focus yet further. See also: PARANOIA; STEAMPUNK.
ALTMAN, ROBERT
COUNTDOWN; QUINTET.
ALTOV, GENRIKH
Pseudonym of Russian writer and sf critic Henrikh (Saulovich)
Altschuller
(1926- ); a trained engineer, he has registered dozens of
patents. His
unpublished Altov's Register is a mammoth catalogue of sf ideas,
topics
and situations. His three collections of sf stories, some written with
his
wife Valentina Zhuravlyova, Legendy O Zviozdnykh Kapitanakh Legends of
the
Star Captains (coll 1961), Opaliaiuschii Razum The Scorching Mind
(coll
1968) and Sozdan Dlia Buri Created for Thunder (coll 1970), represent
the
best of the Soviet style of brainstorming HARD SF. Some of these
tales
were assembled in Ballad of the Stars (anth trans Roger DeGaris 1982
US),
which GA ed with Zhuravlyova.
ALVAREZ, JOHN
Lester DEL REY.
AMAZING ADULT FANTASY
MARVEL COMICS.
AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, THE
Film (1957). Malibu/AIP. Prod and dir Bert
I.Gordon, starring Glenn
Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson. Screenplay Mark
Hanna and Gordon,
from a story by Gordon. 81 mins. B/w. An attempt to
duplicate the
commercially successful pathos of The INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
(1957) by
reversing its procedure, TACM has an army officer exposed to the
radiation
from a plutonium bomb and consequently growing to 60ft (18m)
tall.
Poignant dialogues take place between the colossal man (Langan) and
his
fiancee (Downs): At high school I was voted the guy most likely to
reach
the top. He goes mad and is shot, falling into the Hoover Dam. The
poorly
matted special effects allow people standing behind the colossal man
to be
seen through his body. Often regarded as schlock producer Gordon's
best
film, it raises the question of what his worst must look like: the
sequel,
War of the Colossal Beast (1958; vt The Terror Strikes), would be a
good
candidate. See also: FOOD OF THE GODS; GREAT AND SMALL; MONSTER
MOVIES.
AMAZING DETECTIVE TALES
SCIENTIFIC DETECTIVE MONTHLY.
AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION
AMAZING STORIES.
AMAZING SCIENCE FICTION STORIES
AMAZING STORIES.
AMAZING SCIENCE STORIES
UK PULP MAGAZINE published in Manchester by
Pembertons in 1951. Two
unmemorable issues appeared, largely reprints from 2
and 3 of the
Australian THRILLS, INCORPORATED, but also 2 stories reprinted
from SUPER
SCIENCE STORIES, a UK edition of which had been published by
Pembertons.
AMAZING STORIES
1. The magazine of scientifiction, with whose founding Hugo
GERNSBACK
announced the existence of sf as a distinct literary species. It
was a
BEDSHEET-sized PULP MAGAZINE issued monthly by Gernsback's
Experimenter
Publishing Co. as a companion to SCIENCE AND INVENTION; 1 was
dated Apr
1926. The title survived to 1994, having been several times
modified in
the interim, but it saw great changes. Gernsback lost control
of
Experimenter in 1929 and it was acquired by B.A.Mackinnon and H.K.Fly,
who
were almost certainly operating as front-men for Bernarr MACFADDEN.
The
name of the company was modified more than once, then changed
to
Radio-Science Publications in 1930, then to Teck Publications in 1931;
but
these name changes were cosmetic, at least some of the new
publishers
being in fact Macfadden employees, and Macfadden was himself
listed as
publisher and owner in December 1931; he did not interfere with
his
editors. Arthur H.Lynch was named as editor of the May-Oct issues,
but
Gernsback's assistant T.O'Conor SLOANE, who had stayed with the
magazine,
soon (Nov 1929) assumed full editorship. The magazine reverted to
standard
pulp format with the Oct 1933 issue. The title was sold in 1938
to
ZIFF-DAVIS, who installed Raymond A.PALMER as editor (June 1938).
Palmer
adopted a radically different editorial policy, concentrating
on
action-adventure fiction, much of it mass-produced by a stable of
authors
using house names. Howard BROWNE became editor in Jan 1950 and
the
magazine became a DIGEST with the Apr-May 1953 issue. After a brief
period
with Paul W.FAIRMAN as editor (June 1956-Nov 1958) - during which time
the
title was changed to Amazing Science Fiction (Mar 1958) and then
Amazing
Science Fiction Stories (May 1958) - Cele GOLDSMITH took over (Dec
1958),
using her married name of Cele Lalli from Aug 1964; she ran the
magazine
until June 1965, when the title, which had changed back to Amazing
Stories
in Oct 1960, was sold to Sol Cohen's Ultimate Publishing Co. For
some
years thereafter the bulk of the magazine's contents consisted
of
reprints, with Joseph ROSS acting as managing editor (from Aug
1965).
Harry HARRISON became editor in Dec 1967, but a period of
confusion
followed as he handed over to Barry N.MALZBERG in Nov 1968, who was
in
turn soon replaced by Ted WHITE in May 1969. White eliminated the
reprints
and remained editor until Oct 1978, when Sol Cohen sold his interest
in
the magazine to his partner Arthur Bernhard; White's last issue was
Feb
1979. Elinor Mavor, using the pseudonym Omar Gohagen (May 1979-Aug
1980)
and then her own name, became editor until the Sep 1982 issue. But
in
March 1982 - by which time it had again become Amazing Science
Fiction
Stories and had been combined with its long-time companion FANTASTIC
(from
the Nov 1980 issue) - the title was sold to TSR Hobbies, the marketers
of
the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game (GAMES AND TOYS), who
installed
George SCITHERS as editor, his first issue being Nov 1982. Scithers
was
replaced in Sep 1986 by Patrick Lucien Price. AMZ's circulation hit
an
all-time low in 1984 and recovery was slow, but a surge in sales in
1990
prepared the ground for the magazine to be relaunched in May 1991 in
a
large-sized slick format, with the original masthead restored. Kim
Mohan
took over as editor at the time of the image-change, and AMZ once
again
became monthly rather than bimonthly. Publication was
temporarily
suspended with the Dec 1993 issue - renamed Winter 1994 - as AMZ
was
continuing to lose money. It resumed with a Spring 1994 issue, now
in
digest-format, but only two further digest issues were published
that
year, the last being marked as Winter 1995. It seems probable that
this
will prove to be the last issue ever. In its earliest days AMZ used
a
great many reprints of stories by H.G.WELLS, Jules VERNE and Edgar
Allan
POE (considered by Gernsback to be the founding fathers of sf)
alongside
more recent pulp stories by Garrett P.SERVISS, A.MERRITT and
Murray
LEINSTER. The artwork of Frank R.PAUL was a distinctive feature of
the
magazine in this period. Original material began to appear in
greater
quantity in 1928, in which year Miles J.BREUER, David H.KELLER and
Jack
WILLIAMSON published their first stories in AMZ. SPACE OPERA made
a
spectacular advent when the first BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY
story,
Armageddon 2419 A.D. (1928; 1962) by Philip Francis NOWLAN appeared in
the
same issue (Aug 1928) that E.E.Doc SMITH's The Skylark of Space
(1928:
1946) began serialization. Sloane maintained Gernsback's policy
of
favouring didactic material that was sometimes rather stilted
by
pulp-fiction standards, but extravagant serial novels - notably
Smith's
Skylark Three (1930; 1948), Edmond HAMILTON's The Universe Wreckers
(1930)
and Jack Williamson's The Green Girl (1930; 1950) - maintained
the
balance. From 1930 AMZ faced strong competition from ASTOUNDING
STORIES,
whose higher rates of pay secured its dominance of the market. When
Ray
Palmer took over the ailing AMZ in 1938 he attempted to boost
circulation
in several ways. He aimed at a younger audience, obtaining
several stories
from Edgar Rice BURROUGHS, and ultimately (in the mid-1940s)
elected to
support a series of PARANOID fantasies by the obsessive Richard
S.SHAVER
with insinuations that Shaver's theories about evil subterranean
forces
dominating the world by superscientific means were actually true.
However,
the bulk of AMZ's contents in the Palmer era consisted of lurid
formulaic
material by such writers as Don WILCOX, David Wright O'BRIEN and
William
P.McGivern (1922-1982); Palmer was probably a frequent
pseudonymous
contributor himself. The fiction-factory system operated by
ZIFF-DAVIS
reached its height in the mid-1950s when the contents of several
of their
magazines were produced on a regular basis by a small group of
writers
including sometime AMZ editor Paul Fairman, Robert SILVERBERG,
Randall
GARRETT, Harlan ELLISON and Henry SLESAR. This system resulted in
some
confusion with regard to the correct attribution of several
floating
PSEUDONYMS, especially Ivar JORGENSEN. Few stories of note appeared
under
the first three Ziff-Davis editors, although Edmond Hamilton, Nelson
BOND
and Walter M.MILLER were occasional contributors. Under Cele
Goldsmith's
editorship AMZ improved dramatically, publishing good work by
many leading
authors. Notable contributions included Marion Zimmer BRADLEY's
first
Darkover novella, The Planet Savers (Nov 1958; 1962 dos), Harlan
Ellison's
first sf novel, The Sound of the Scythe (Oct 1959; rev as The Man
with
Nine Lives 1960 dos), and Roger ZELAZNY's NEBULA-winning He Who
Shapes
(Jan-Feb 1965; exp as THE DREAM MASTER 1966). Zelazny was one of
several
writers whose careers were aided in their early stages by
Goldsmith;
others include Ben BOVA (who did a series of science articles),
David
R.BUNCH, Thomas M.DISCH, Ursula K.LE GUIN and Robert F.YOUNG. When
Ted
White became editor he renewed the attempt to maintain a
consistent
standard of quality; although handicapped by having to offer a
word-rate
payment considerably less than that of his competitors, he achieved
some
degree of success. The special 50th-anniversary issue which he
compiled
appeared two months late (it bears the date June 1976) owing to
scheduling
difficulties. AMZ's continued survival during the next 15 years
was
something of a surprise, given its poor sales, though Scithers
in
particular made considerable efforts to maintain its literary
quality.
Patrick Lucien Price published good work, too, by such writers as
Gregory
BENFORD and Paul J.MCAULEY, and also new writers like Paul Di
Filippo, but
the magazine seemed to receive almost no promotion. The new
slick
packaging from 1991 was much more attractive than any of AMZ's
previous
incarnations, and arguably the most attractive of any sf magazine.
Alas,
it proved to be not commercially viable and by Dec 1994 AMZhad
subsided
into what may be suspended animation but is more probably death. AMZ
had
three UK reprint editions, 1946 (1 undated issue, pulp), 1950-53
(24
undated issues, pulp) and 1953-4 (8 undated issues, digest).
Anthologies
based on AMZ stories include The Best of Amazing (anth 1967) ed
Joseph
Ross, The Best from Amazing Stories (anth 1973) ed Ted White,
Amazing
Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction (anth 1985) ed Isaac
ASIMOV
and Martin H.GREENBERG, Amazing Stories: Vision of Other Worlds
(anth
1986) ed Greenberg, and a number of others ed Greenberg. 2. US tv
series
(vt Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories) (1985-7). Amblin/Universal
for
NBC. Created by Steven SPIELBERG. Producers included Joshua Brand,
John
Falsey, David E.Vogel. Writers included Spielberg, Frank Deese,
Richard
Christian MATHESON, Mick Garris, Joseph Minion, Menno Meyjes,
Michael
McDowell, Paul Bartel. Directors included Spielberg, Robert
Zemeckis,
Peter Hyams, Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Joe DANTE, Martin
Scorsese,
Paul Bartel, Irvin Kershner, Danny DeVito, Tom Holland, Tobe
Hooper. Two
seasons, each of 22 25min episodes. An ambitious attempt to
revive the
1950s-60s anthology format - which came at the same time as
actual
revivals of The TWILIGHT ZONE (1985-7) and Alfred Hitchcock
Presents
(1985-6), and a few competitors like The Hitch Hiker (1983-6) and
Tales
from the Darkside (1984-7) - this was less an sf series than
its
pulp-derived title suggested, more often going for the blend of
fantasy
and sentiment found in the less scary episodes of the original
Twilight
Zone. Kept afloat for two years through NBC having committed
themselves -
astonishingly - to 44 episodes from the very beginning, AS,
despite its
large budget and the unusually strong directing talent Spielberg
was able
to attract (Eastwood, Zemeckis, Scorsese, Bartel, etc.), was
unsuccessful.
Many disappointed viewers and critics felt that Spielberg had
stretched
himself too thin, as had Rod SERLING with Twilight Zone, by
generating the
often fragile storylines for the bulk of the episodes (16 out
of 22 in the
first season); one such projected episode looked even more
fragile when
expanded into a feature, BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED (1987). Too many
of the
stories, despite good special effects and performances, led
nowhere.
Typical of AS's uneven tone was the extended Spielberg-directed
episode
The Mission, a 50min WWII-bomber anecdote presciently cast (Kevin
Costner,
Kiefer Sutherland) and suspensefully directed, but sinking limply
into a
ludicrous and irritating fantasy finale. AS did have surprises -
the
gritty cartoon episode The Family Dog, designed by Tim Burton,
being
perhaps the overall highlight - but mainly it expressed
the
diminishing-return whimsy that was beginning to affect even
Spielberg's
big-screen work. Three episodes - The Mission, Mummy, Daddy and
Go to the
Head of the Class - were released together as a feature film,
Amazing
Stories (1987), outside the USA, and many other episodes have
been
released in groups of three on videotape. The versions of
individual
episodes are collected in Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (anth
1986)
and Volume II of Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (anth 1986), both
ed
Steven Bauer.
AMAZING STORIES ANNUAL
US BEDSHEET-size 128pp PULP MAGAZINE published by Hugo
GERNSBACK's
Experimenter Publishing Co. Its only issue (1927) ran the
first
publication of The Master Mind of Mars (1927; 1928) by Edgar
Rice
BURROUGHS. A successor, AMAZING STORIES QUARTERLY, resulted from
the
success of ASA.
AMAZING STORIES QUARTERLY
US BEDSHEET-size PULP MAGAZINE, companion to
AMAZING STORIES (but twice
as fat) and successor to AMAZING STORIES ANNUAL.
22 issues, Winter
1928-Fall 1934, first under the aegis of Hugo GERNSBACK's
Experimenter
Publishing Co. and later (1929-34), ed T.O'Conor SLOANE after
Gernsback
had lost control, under several publishers. In addition to short
stories
it featured a complete novel in every issue, beginning with
H.G.WELLS's
When the Sleeper Wakes (1899) but thereafter using mainly
original
material. It published many of the most important early pulp sf
novels:
White Lily (Winter 1930; as The Crystal Horde 1952) and Seeds of
Life
(Fall 1931; 1951), both assembled as Seeds of Life & White Lily
(omni
1966), by John TAINE; The Black Star Passes (Fall 1930; 1953) and
Invaders
from the Infinite (Spring/Summer 1932; 1961) by John W.CAMPBELL
Jr;
Paradise and Iron (Summer 1930) and The Birth of a New Republic
(Winter
1930; 1981) by Miles J.BREUER (the latter with Jack WILLIAMSON);
The
Sunken World (Summer 1928 and Fall 1934; 1949) by Stanton A.COBLENTZ;
and
The Bridge of Light (Fall 1929; 1950) by A.Hyatt VERRILL. Gernsback's
own
Ralph 124C 41+ (1911 Modern Electrics; 1925; ASQ Winter 1929)
was
reprinted. Some rebound issues of AMZ were re-released, three to a
volume,
in 1940-43 (13 issues) and 1947-51 (15 issues) as Amazing
Stories
Quarterly.
AMAZING STORIES SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL
US DIGEST-size magazine. One undated
issue, June 1957, published by
ZIFF-DAVIS; ed (uncredited) Paul W.FAIRMAN.
This was to be a quarterly
magazine printing book-length novels in imitation
of GALAXY SCIENCE
FICTION NOVELS. The only novel was Henry SLESAR's routine
novelization of
the film 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957).
AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON
Joe DANTE; FEMINISM.
AMERICAN CYBORG: STEEL WARRIOR
Film (1992). Yoram Globus and Christopher
Pearce Present a Global
Pictures Production. Exec prods Amnon Globus and
Marcus Szwarcfiter, prod
Marti Raz, dir Boaz Davidson, starring Joe Lara,
Nicole Hansen and John
Ryan. Screenplay Brent Friedman and Bill Crounse and
Don Pequingot, based
on a story by Davidson and Pearce. 91 mins. Colour. The
production
background is obscure, but this straight-to-video exploitation
thriller
appears to be, unusually, an Israeli/Canadian co-production. In
a
postHOLOCAUST stereotype, a depleted world (we only see one city),
17
years after global nuclear war, has nearly invulnerable cyborgs ruling
the
now infertile and dying human race in the service of a malign
artificial
intelligence. One woman is able to carry a foetus (which she does
in a
bottle, rather than her womb). If she (Hansen) can cross the deadly
city
to the docks (a ship awaits to carry her and the baby to Europe,
where
things are not so bad), avoiding the killer cyborg (Ryan), aided
by
enigmatic warrior Austin (Lara), then there will be new hope for
the
world. Story, script and acting are uniformly sub-standard, but
the
photography is fine, and the film has a faintly exotic quality,
perhaps
because of its Israeli background. This is representative of the
many
low-budget attempts to recapture the human-versus-cyborg thrills
of
TERMINATOR, and it has the now standard plot twist of BLADE RUNNER
as
well.
AMERICAN FICTION
UK numbered pocketbook series which could be regarded (being
numbered) as
either an anthology series or a magazine. 12 issues known, most
36pp,
numbered only from 2. Published by Utopian Publications, London; ed
Benson
HERBERT and Walter GILLINGS (who jointly owned the company).
Irregular,
Sep 1944-Jan 1946. AF was a reprint publication. All issues
featured
quasi-erotic covers, with the title story often being an already
known sf
or fantasy work under a racy new name. Thus S.P.MEEK's Gates of
Light
became Arctic Bride (1944 chap), Edmond HAMILTON's Six Sleepers
(1935)
became Tiger Girl (c1945 chap), John Beynon Harris's (John WYNDHAM)
The
Wanderers of Time (1933) became Love in Time (1945 chap),
Jack
WILLIAMSON's Wizard's Isle (1934) became Lady in Danger (c1945 chap)
and
Stanton A.COBLENTZ's Planet of Youth (1932) became Youth Madness
(1945
chap). Other featured authors were Ralph Milne FARLEY and Robert
BLOCH.
All but 1 and 6 in the series contained short stories as well as
the
featured novella, hence their usual listing in indexes as if
they
constituted separate book publication of a single novella is
technically
incorrect. The emphasis was on weird fiction rather than sf,
though
stories from other genres were also used.
AMERICAN FLAGG!
US COMIC-book series (1983-9, 63 issues), published by First
Comics,
created by writer/ artist Howard V.CHAYKIN. Generally considered one
of
the best sf COMICS of the 1980s, AF is set in a media-saturated
USA
reduced to Third-World status, and stars Reuben Flagg, drafted into
the
Plexus Rangers in Chicago in the 2030s (Plexus being a
Mars-based
mega-cartel planning to sell off the USA piece by piece). AF
is
sophisticated fun, featuring cynically humorous writing and male
and
female characters with large sexual appetites. Except for 27, written
by
Alan MOORE, Chaykin wrote the first 30 issues and drew all but two of
the
first 26. The post-Chaykin issues of AK were not well received, and
First
Comics took the unprecedented step of making 46 an apology for
these.
Chaykin returned with 47 and continued to 50, the end of the first
series.
In 1988 a second series, now called Howard Chaykin's American Flagg!,
sent
Flagg to the USSR; it had 12 issues, with Chaykin editing, writing
(with
John Moore) and providing art direction. There was also a one-off
American
Flagg Special in 1986. The first 9 issues of AK have been collected
as
First Comics Graphic Novels 3, 12 and 20.
AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE
Australian monthly pocketbook magazine, a
companion to SELECTED SCIENCE
FICTION. 41 issues, June 1952-Dec 1955,
unnumbered and undated 32pp
booklets. Published by Malian Press, Sydney; no
editor named. The first 24
issues did not carry the word magazine on the
cover, and it has been
suggested that the publishers had bought book rights
rather than serial
rights to stories, which would explain the coyness about
its being a
regular periodical. ASFM contained reprints from US magazines of
quite a
good standard, including stories by James BLISH, John W.CAMPBELL Jr
and
Robert A.HEINLEIN.
A.MERRITT'S FANTASY MAGAZINE
US PULP MAGAZINE. 5 issues, Dec 1949-Oct 1950,
published by Popular
Publications; no ed listed - it may have been Mary
GNAEDINGER. AMFM was a
companion magazine to FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES and
FANTASTIC NOVELS, and
was begun in response to the considerable enthusiasm
engendered by the
reprinting of A.MERRITT's fiction in those magazines and
elsewhere. Until
the appearance in 1954 of VARGO STATTEN SCIENCE FICTION
MAGAZINE, and then
in 1977 of ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE, AMFM
was the only sf
magazine which attempted to build its appeal on the
popularity of a single
author - even though Merritt himself had died in 1943
and much of his
fiction was available elsewhere. In any event, the magazine
failed to
establish itself. AMFM also published reprints of stories by
other
authors. There was a Canadian reprint edition.
AMERY, CARL
GERMANY.
AMES, CLINTON
Rog PHILLIPS.
AMES, MILDRED
(1919- ) US writer of novels for older children. Of sf interest
is Is
There Life on a Plastic Planet? (1975), which effectively transforms
the
PARANOID theme of substitution - in this case a shop contains
dolls
identical to the young women its owner attempts to suborn - into
a
resonant tale of adolescence and identity. Questions of identity also
lie
at the heart of Anna to the Infinite Power (1981), whose protagonist
sees
another girl in her mirror image, eventually uncovering an experiment
in
cloning (CLONES). Other novels, like The Silver Link, the Silken
Tie
(1984) and Conjuring Summer In (1986), are fantasy.
AMIS, KINGSLEY (WILLIAM)
(1922- ) UK novelist, poet and critic; father of
Martin AMIS. He took his
MA at Oxford, and was a lecturer in English at
Swansea 1949-61 and Fellow
of Peterhouse, Cambridge, 1961-3. Though KA is
best known for such social
comedies as his first novel, Lucky Jim (1954),
which won him the sobriquet
Angry Young Man, in the catch-phrase of the time,
he has also been closely
connected with sf throughout his professional life.
He delivered a series
of lectures on sf in 1959 at Princeton University,
probably to their
surprise since sf was presumably not the context in which
he was invited
to speak. Revised, these were published as a book, New Maps of
Hell (1960
US), which was certainly the most influential critical work on sf
up to
that time, although not the most scholarly. It strongly emphasized
the
DYSTOPIAN elements of sf. KA, himself a satirist and debunker of note,
saw
sf as an ideal medium for satirical and sociological
extrapolation;
hitherto, most writing on sf had regarded it as primarily a
literature of
TECHNOLOGY. As a survey the book was one-sided and by no means
thorough,
but it was witty, perceptive and quietly revolutionary. KA went on
to edit
a memorable series of ANTHOLOGIES, Spectrum, with Robert CONQUEST
(like KA
a novelist, poet, political commentator and sf fan). They were
Spectrum
(anth 1961), Spectrum II (anth 1962), Spectrum III (anth 1963),
Spectrum
IV (anth 1965) and Spectrum V (anth 1966). These, too, were
influential in
popularizing sf in the UK and to some extent in rendering it
respectable.
The last of these volumes is selected almost entirely from ASF,
a
reflection, perhaps, of KA's increasing conservatism about HARD SF (and
in
his politics) which went along with a dislike for stories of the NEW
WAVE,
also evident in The Golden Age of Science Fiction (anth 1981) ed KA
alone.
As a writer, too, KA was influenced by sf. He wrote several sf
short
stories including Something Strange (1960), a minor tour de force
about
appearance and reality and about psychological conditioning. His short
sf
can mostly be found in My Enemy's Enemy (coll 1962) and later in
Collected
Short Stories (coll 1980; exp 1987). The Anti-Death League (1966)
is an
extravagant spy story featuring miniaturized nuclear devices. The
James
Bond pastiche Colonel Sun: A James Bond Adventure (1968) as by
Robert
Markham contains occasional sf elements. The fantasy The Green Man
(1969),
one of KA's best works, blends satirical social comedy with Gothic
HORROR;
it was dramatized as a miniseries by BBC TV in 1991. KA's major
full-scale
sf work is The Alteration (1976), set in an ALTERNATE WORLD in
which the
Reformation has not taken place and Roman Catholic domination
has
continued to the present. It won the JOHN W.CAMPBELL MEMORIAL AWARD
for
best sf novel in 1977. Russian Hide-and-Seek (1980) is a blackly
amusing,
pessimistic story about the vulnerability of English culture, set in
a
future England that has for decades been subject to the USSR.
KA's
controversial artistic evolution from supposed radical to
national
institution (during which he remained always his own man) was
neatly
summed up by his receipt of a knighthood in 1990. An autobiographical
work
is Memoirs (1991). See also: CHILDREN IN SF; CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL
WORKS
ABOUT SF; DEFINITIONS OF SF; FEMINISM; The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND
SCIENCE
FICTION; RELIGION; SATIRE; SF IN THE CLASSROOM.
AMIS, MARTIN (LOUIS)
(1949- ) UK writer, son of Kingsley AMIS. From the first
his novels have
threatened and distressed their protagonists - and their
readers - with
narrative displacements that gnaw away at consensual reality,
so that
moments of normality in his work are, like as not, intended to
reveal
themselves as forms of entrapment. His interest in sf-like
(and
sf-mocking) venues dates back to his second novel, Dead Babies (1975),
set
in an indistinct NEAR FUTURE and featuring a protagonist who has made
his
pile by working at a local abortion factory. MA was responsible for
the
screenplay for SATURN 3 (1980), though Steve GALLAGHER wrote the book
tie.
Other People: A Mystery Story (1981) - which took its title from
Jean-Paul
Sartre's definition of Hell, in Huis Clos (1945; trans Stuart
Gilbert as
In Camera 1946 UK), as being other people - is an afterlife
fantasy.
Einstein's Monsters (coll 1987) assembles several sf stories
variously
concerned with the decay of the world into HOLOCAUSTS, nuclear
and
otherwise. London Fields (1989) is set in 1999 in a world approaching
a
dread millennium. Time's Arrow (1991) - which begins, as does
Other
People, at the moment at which its protagonist awakens into a
radically
displaced world - is a full and genuine sf novel, based on the
premise
that the arrow of time has been reversed (MA's acknowledged sf
sources for
this premise run from Philip K.DICK's Counter-Clock World 1967 to
Kurt
VONNEGUT Jr's Slaughterhouse-Five, 1969), but very much complexifies
the
implications of the conceit by making the protagonist an old Nazi,
whose
involvement in the death camps now becomes a hymn to life. Throughout
the
book, the reversal of the 20th century reads as a reprieve. It is a
tale
whose joys encode ironies so grim that the happier moments of return
and
redemption are impossible to read without considerable pain. Time's
Arrow
was, inevitably, received as a FABULATION; at the same time, it reads
with
all the clarity of reportage. See also: PERCEPTION; TIME TRAVEL.
AMOSOV, N(ICOLAI MIKHAILOVITCH)
(1913- ) Russian engineer and writer. In his
sf novel Zapiski iz
budushchego (1967; trans George St George as Notes from
the Future 1970 US
as by N.Amosoff) a frozen sleeper awakens to 1991, where
he is cured of
leukaemia and reflects somewhat heavily upon the nature of the
world he
has come into. See also: CRYONICS.
AMRA
George H.SCITHERS.
ANALOG
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION.
ANANIA, GEORGE
ROMANIA.
ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTIAN
DENMARK
ANDERSON, ADRIENNE
ROBERT HALE LIMITED.
ANDERSON, ANDY
[s] William C.ANDERSON.
ANDERSON, CHESTER (VALENTINE JOHN)
(1932-1991) US novelist and poet, member
of the Beat Generation, editor
of underground journals on both coasts, and of
Paul WILLIAMS's Crawdaddy,
a rock'n'roll magazine, during the 1980s; he wrote
poetry as c v j
anderson. His sf was written in association with Michael
KURLAND. Ten
Years to Doomsday (1964), a straight collaboration, is a lightly
written
INVASION tale with a good deal of activity in space and on other
planets.
The Butterfly Kid (1967) was written by CA alone, but stands as the
first
volume of a comically surrealistic SHARED-WORLD trilogy set in
Greenwich
Village, the second instalment being The Unicorn Girl (1969) by
Kurland
and the third The Probability Pad (1970) by T.A.WATERS. The trilogy
stars
all three authors (RECURSIVE SF), who become involved in the attempts
of a
pop group to fight off a more than merely psychedelic invasion
menace:
Greenwich Village is being threatened by a pill which actualizes
people's
fantasies. Other works: Fox & Hare (1980), a fictionalized
memoir of the
real lives behind the trilogy. See also: PERCEPTION.
ANDERSON, COLIN
(1904-1980) UK writer whose novel Magellan (1970) depicts
a
post-HOLOCAUST Earth dominated by a single city, and the
somewhat
metaphysical apotheosis afforded its inhabitants. See also:
CITIES.
ANDERSON, DAVID
Raymond F.JONES.
ANDERSON, GERRY
(1929- ) and SYLVIA (? - ) UK tv producers and writers; GA
was also an
animator and SA a voice artist. They will forever be remembered
for a
succession of 1960s children's puppet adventure shows on tv
that
occasionally dealt with sf themes on a far more extensive scale
than
contemporary adult programming. GA's first two series, The Adventures
of
Twizzle (1958) and Torchy the Battery Boy (1959), were fairly
conventional
15min puppet shows, albeit featuring characters whose gimmicks
(extensible
arms, electrical powers) were notionally scientific. The Western
series
Four Feather Falls (1960) began his run of SuperMarionation shows,
its
magical feathers giving it a fantastical touch. With the half-hour
series
SUPERCAR (1961-2) GA was joined by his wife SA - who would provide
female
voices for and write for subsequent series - and came up with the
format
that continued for eight years in FIREBALL XL5 (1962-3),
STINGRAY
(1964-5), THUNDERBIRDS (1965-6) and CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE
MYSTERONS
(1967-8). All these feature a wonderful vehicle from the 21st
century, an
ongoing struggle with evil forces, a catchy score suitable for
spin-off
records, impressively designed miniature sets, a
quasi-military
organization of good guys, and a family-like regular cast with
a
square-jawed hero, a stammering boffin, a non-weedy girl, a crusty
chief
and a sidekick, and usually a mysterious master villain with a
bumbling
accomplice. Stingray was the first in colour, and introduced
marginally
more adult characterizations: Mike Mercury and Steve Zodiac, the
heroes of
Supercar and Fireball XL5, were never as bad-tempered as Troy
Tempest in
Stingray could be, and they would certainly never have been caught
up in a
three-way romance. Thunderbirds experimented with a 50min running
time and
a less confrontational plot premise - the Tracy family were
rescuing
innocents, not fighting ALIENS as Troy Tempest had done and
Captain
Scarlet would do - and became perhaps the highlight of the As'
career,
spinning off two feature films, Thunderbirds are Go (1966) and
Thunderbird
Six (1968), and creating a set of characters - Lady Penelope,
Parker, the
Hood, Brains and Jeff Tracy and his sons - who would remain
identifiable
enough to crop up in tv commercials as late as the early 1990s,
when the
series was also rerun on UK tv by the BBC. Captain Scarlet,
returning to
the half-hour format, tried for a more realistic approach by
scaling down
the exaggerated features of the puppets and adding a premise -
spun off
from Thunderbirds are Go - about a war between Earth and the
Mysterons of
Mars that was less clear-cut than previous conflicts insofar as
Earth
(admittedly by accident) was the initial aggressor. Also, the device
of
resurrecting dead personnel and equipment for use in battle raised
the
level of violence beyond the cosy destructiveness of the earlier shows.
In
1994 a new GA live-action tv production appeared in syndication in the
US,
Space Precinct, described by him as a New York cop show transferred
to
outer space, and received a not very favourable critical
reception.
Captain Scarlet was as far as the As' format could be stretched,
and their
subsequent puppet shows - JOE 90 (1968-9) and The Secret Service
(1969) -
were far less successful. The first, focusing on a boy genius,
appeared
childish to audiences who had become used to the increasing maturity
of
each new show - who had in effect grown up with SuperMarionation.
The
second, using live actors alongside puppets, was seen by few and
cancelled
mid-season. The As had already produced a live-action film,
DOPPELGANGER
(1969; vt Journey to the Far Side of the Sun), by the time they
determined
to abandon tv puppets altogether and marry their skills with
miniature
effects to real-life actors - who, unfortunately, were almost
always
accused of being as wooden as their predecessors - in UFO (1970-73).
This
was a marginally more realistic rerun of Captain Scarlet with
elements
also of The INVADERS (1967-8), in which a secret organization tried
to
fight off a plague of flying saucers. After a nondescript non-sf
series,
The Protectors (1972-4), the As launched on their most elaborate
venture
yet, SPACE 1999 (1975-7), an internationally cast and impressively
mounted
attempt to produce a show with both mass and cult appeal along the
lines
of STAR TREK. It is frequently and not entirely without
justification
remembered as the worst sf series ever aired. During its run
the As
divorced, and GA, who remained on the series, gradually lost control
to
his varied UK and US backers. Subsequently GA went back to puppetry
with
TERRAHAWKS (1983-6), a feeble imitation of his 1960s triumphs, and
worked
extensively in commercials, some re-using characters from his
earlier
shows. In their heyday, the SuperMarionation shows - which overlapped
to a
degree, creating a detailed 21st-century Universe as a backdrop -
gave
birth to TV 21, a successful and well drawn COMIC, along with toys,
games,
annuals, books and other now-valued ephemera. See also:
TELEVISION.
ANDERSON, KAREN
Poul ANDERSON.
ANDERSON, KEVIN J(AMES)
(1962- ) US technical writer and author who began
publishing sf with Luck
of the Draw in Space & Time 63 in 1982, and who
gradually became a
prolific contributor of short fiction and articles to
various sf journals,
over 100 items having been published by 1992. His first
novel,
Resurrection, Inc. (1988), combines elements of the usual sf
near-future
DYSTOPIA with elements of the horror novel, reanimated bodies
serving a
corrupt society as a worker-class. There followed the Gamearth
trilogy -
Gamearth (1989), Gameplay (1989) and Game's End (1990) - which
treats with
some verve a GAME-WORLD crisis involved the coming to life of
game-bound
personas who (or which) refuse to be cancelled. More
interestingly,
Lifeline (1990) with Doug BEASON sets up and solves a
technically complex
sequence of problems in space after a nuclear HOLOCAUST
(the result of a
USSR-US contretemps of the sort which, unluckily for the
authors, had in
the months before publication abruptly become much less
likely) has
stripped four habitats of all Earth support; the Filipino station
boasts a
GENETIC-ENGINEERING genius who can feed everyone, a US station has
the
eponymous monofilament, and so on. Some of the protagonists carrying
on
the quadripartite storyline are of interest in their own right. If
one
puts aside the whiplashes of Earth's realtime history, the book stands
as
a fine example of HARD SF and a gripping portrayal of the complexities
of
near space. The Trinity Paradox (1991), also with Beason, treats
the
now-standard sf TIME-PARADOX tale with overdue seriousness,
suggesting
that untoward moral consequences attend the sudden capacity of
its
protagonist - who has been accidentally timeslipped back to Los Alamos
in
1943 - to stop nuclear testing in its tracks. See also: MEDICINE;
NUCLEAR
POWER; REINCARNATION.
ANDERSON, MARY
(1872-1964) UK writer whose novel, A Son of Noah (1893),
features many of
the conventions of prehistoric sf with the added spice
of
pterodactyl-worship on the part of a speciously advanced race. But
the
Flood will soon clear the air.
ANDERSON, OLOF W.
(1871-1963) US author of a routinely occult novel with sf
elements, The
Treasure Vault of Atlantis (1925 US), with a 70-word subtitle;
revived
Atlanteans bring ancient knowledge to bear on contemporary problems.
See
also: SUSPENDED ANIMATION.
ANDERSON, POUL (WILLIAM)
(1926- ) US writer born in Pennsylvania of
Scandinavian parents; he lived
in Denmark briefly before the outbreak of
WWII. In 1948 PA gained a degree
in physics from the University of Minnesota.
His knowledge of Scandinavian
languages and literature and his scientific
literacy have fed each other
fruitfully through a long and successful career.
He is Greg BEAR's
father-in-law. PA's first years as a writer were spent in
Minnesota, where
after WWII he joined the Minneapolis Fantasy Society (later
the MFS) and
associated with such writers as Clifford D.SIMAK and Gordon
R.DICKSON,
both of whom shared with him an attachment to semi-rural (often
wooded)
settings peopled by solid, canny stock (frequently, in PA's case,
of
Scandinavian descent) whose politics and social views often register
as
conservative, especially among readers from the urban East and the
UK,
although perhaps this cultural style could more fruitfully be regarded
as
a form of romantic, Midwestern, LIBERTARIAN individualism. Although he
is
perhaps sf's most prolific writer of any consistent quality, PA
began
quite slowly, starting to publish sf with Tomorrow's Children,
with
F.N.Waldrop, for ASF in 1947, but not publishing with any frequency
until
about 1950 - a selection of eloquent early tales appears in Alight in
the
Void (coll 1991) - when he also released his first novel, a
post-HOLOCAUST
juvenile, Vault of the Ages (1952). In 1953 PA seemed to come
afire: in
addition to 19 stories, he published magazine versions of three
novels,
Brain Wave (1953 Space Science Fiction as The Escape, first
instalment
only before magazine ceased publication; 1954), Three Hearts and
Three
Lions (1953 FSF; exp 1961) and War of Two Worlds (1953 Two
Complete
Science-Adventure Books as Silent Victory; 1959 dos). The last of
these is
one of PA's many well told but routine adventures, in this case
involving
a betrayed Earth, alien overlords and plucky humans; but the other
two are
successful, mature novels, each in a separate genre. In Three Hearts
and
Three Lions, an ALTERNATE-WORLD fantasy, an Earthman is translated
from
the middle of WWII into a SWORD-AND-SORCERY venue where he fights
the
forces of Chaos in a tale whose humour is laced with the slightly
gloomy
Nordic twilight colours that have become increasingly characteristic
of
PA's work (noticeably in Three Hearts's sequel, Midsummer Tempest
1974).
Brain Wave, perhaps PA's most famous single novel, remains very nearly
his
finest. Its premise is simple: for millions of years the part of
the
Galaxy containing our Solar System has been moving through a
vast
forcefield whose effect has been to inhibit certain electromagnetic
and
electrochemical processes, and thus certain neuronic functions. When
Earth
escapes the inhibiting field, synapse-speed immediately increases,
causing
a rise in INTELLIGENCE; after the book has traced various
absorbing
consequences of this transformation, a transfigured humanity
reaches for
the stars, leaving behind former mental defectives and bright
animals to
inherit the planet. After Brain Wave PA seemed content for several
years
to produce competent but unambitious stories - in such great numbers
that
it was not until many years had passed that they were adequately
assembled
in volumes like Explorations (coll 1981) and its stablemates - and
SPACE
OPERAS with titles like No World of Their Own (1955 dos; with
restored
text vt The Long Way Home 1975 UK); he occasionally wrote under
the
pseudonyms A.A.Craig and Winston P.Sanders, and in the mid-1960s
as
Michael Karageorge. It was during these years, however, that he began
to
formulate and write the many stories and novels making up the
complex
Technic History series, in reality two separate sequences. The
first
centres on Nicholas van Rijn, a dominant merchant prince of
the
Polesotechnic League, an interstellar group of traders who dominate
a
laissez-faire Galaxy of scattered planets. Anderson has been
widely
criticized for the conservative implications it is possible (though
with
some effort) to draw from these stories, whose philosophical
implications
he modestly curtails. The second sequence properly begins about
300 years
later, after the first flowering of a post-League Terran Empire,
which,
increasingly decadent and corrupt, is under constant threat from
other
empires. Most of the sequence features Dominic Flandry, a Terran agent
who
- sophisticated, pessimistic and tough - gradually becomes a figure
of
stature as Anderson fills in and expands his story, begun in 1951.
The
internal chronology of the double sequence is not secure, but
the
following list is close. Van Rijn: War of the Wing-Men (1958 dos;
with
restored text and new introduction vt The Man who Counts 1978); Trader
to
the Stars (coll 1964; with 1 story cut 1964 UK); The Trouble
Twisters
(coll 1966); Satan's World (1969); Mirkheim (1977); The Earth Book
of
Stormgate (coll 1978; in 3 vols 1980-81 UK); The People of the
Wind
(1973). Flandry: Ensign Flandry (1966); A Circus of Hells (1970)and
The
Rebel Worlds (1969; vt Commander Flandry 1978 UK), both assembled
as
Flandry (omni 1993) The Day of Their Return (1973) andThe People of
the
Wind both assembled as The Day of Their Return/The People of the
Wind
(omni 1982); Mayday Orbit (1961 dos) and Earthman, Go Home! (1960
dos),
both assembled with revisions as Flandry of Terra (omni 1965); We
Claim
These Stars (1959 dos), which is included in Agent of the Terran
Empire
(coll 1965); A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (1974; vt Knight Flandry
1980
UK) and The Rebel Worlds both assembled as The Rebel Worlds/A Knight
of
Ghosts and Shadows (omni 1982); A Stone in Heaven (1979); The Game
of
Empire (1985), featuring Flandry's daughter, and pointing the way to
two
post-Flandry tales: Let the Spacemen Beware (1960 Fantastic Universe as
A
Twelvemonth and a Day; 1963 chap dos; with new introduction vt The
Night
Face 1978), also included in a separate collection, The Night Face
and
Other Stories (coll 1978); and The Long Night (coll 1983). Stories
written
later tend to moodier, darker textures. A somewhat smaller sequence,
the
Psychotechnic League stories, traces the gradual movement of Man into
the
Solar System and eventually the Galaxy itself. There is a good deal
of
action-debate about AUTOMATION, the maintenance of freedom in an
expanded
polity, and so forth. The sequence comprises, by rough
internal
chronology: The Psychotechnic League (coll 1981), Cold Victory
(coll
1982), Starship (coll 1982), The Snows of Ganymede (1955 Startling
Stories
1958 dos), Virgin Planet (1959), and Star Ways (1956; vt with
new
introduction The Peregrine 1978). There are several further series.
The
early Time Patrol stories (ALTERNATE WORLDS) are contained in Guardians
of
Time (coll 1960; with 2 stories added vt The Guardians of Time 1981)
and
Time Patrolman (coll of linked novellas 1983), both assembled as Annals
of
the Time Patrol (omni 1984); subsequently, early and later material
was
rearranged as The Shield of Time (coll of linked stories 1990) and
The
Time Patrol (omni/coll 1991), which re-sorted long stories from the
first
volumes along with a new novel, Star of the Sea, plus The Year of
the
Ransom (1988) and other new material. The History of Rustum
sequence,
mainly concerned with the establishing on laissez-faire lines of a
human
colony on a planet in the Epsilon Eridani system, includes Orbit
Unlimited
(coll of linked stories 1961) and New America (coll of linked
stories
1982). With Gordon R.Dickson, PA wrote the Hoka series about furry
aliens
who cannot understand nonliteral language (i.e., metaphors, fictions)
and
so take everything as truth, with results intended as comic:
Earthman's
Burden (coll of linked stories 1957), Star Prince Charlie (1975)
and Hoka!
(coll of linked stories 1984). The Last Viking sequence - The
Golden Horn
(1980), The Road of the Sea Horse (1980) and The Sign of the
Raven (1980)
- is fantasy, as are the King of Ys novels, written with PA's
wife Karen
Anderson (1932- ): Roma Mater (1986), Gallicenae (1987), Dahut
(1988) and
The Dog and the Wolf (1988). Although many of the novels and
stories
listed as linked to series can be read as singletons, there seems
little
doubt that the interlinked complexity of reference and storyline in
PA's
fiction has somewhat muffled its effect in the marketplace. This
situation
has not been helped by a marked lack of focus in its publication,
so that
the interested reader will find considerable difficulty tracing both
the
items in a series and their intended relation to one another. With
dozens
of novels and hundreds of stories to his credit - all written with
a
resolute professionalism and widening range, though also with a
marked
disparity between copious storytelling skills and a certain banality
in
the creation of characters - PA is still not as well defined a figure
in
the pantheon of US sf as writers (like Isaac ASIMOV from the GOLDEN AGE
OF
SF and Frank HERBERT from a decade later) of about the same age
and
certainly no greater skill. Nonetheless he has been repeatedly honoured
by
the sf community, serving as SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA
President
for 1972-3, and receiving 7 HUGOS for sf in shorter forms: in 1961
for The
Longest Voyage (Best Short Story); in 1964 for No Truce With Kings
(Best
Short Story); in 1969 for The Sharing of Flesh (Best Novelette); in
1972
for The Queen of Air and Darkness (Best Novella), which also won a
NEBULA;
in 1973 for Goat Song (Best Novelette), which also won a Nebula; in
1979
for Hunter's Moon (Best Novelette); and in 1982 for The Saturn Game
(Best
Novella), which also won a Nebula. PA also won the Gandalf (Grand
Master)
Award for 1977. Out of the welter of remaining titles, four
singletons and
one short series can be mentioned as outstanding. The High
Crusade (1960)
is a delightful wish-fulfilment conception; an alien SPACESHIP
lands in
medieval Europe where it is taken over by quick-thinking Baron Roger
and
his feudal colleagues who, when the ship takes them to the stars,
soon
trick, cajole, outfight and outbreed all the spacefaring races they
can
find, and found their own empire on feudal lines. It is PA's most
joyful
moment. Tau Zero (1967 Gal as To Outlive Eternity; exp 1970) is
less
successful as fiction, though its speculations on COSMOLOGY
are
fascinating, and the hypothesis it embodies is strikingly well
conceived.
A spaceship from Earth, intended to fly near the speed of light so
that
humans can reach the stars without dying of old age (as a consequence
of
the time-dilatation described by the Lorentz-Fitzgerald
equations),
uncontrolledly continues to accelerate at a constant one gravity
after
reaching its intended terminal velocity, so that the disparity
between
ship-time and external time becomes ever greater: eons hurtle by
outside,
until eventually the Universe contracts to form a monobloc. After a
new
Big Bang the ship begins to slow gradually and the crew plans to settle
a
new planet in the universe that has succeeded our own. The felt scope
of
the narrative is convincingly sustained throughout, though the
characters
tend to soap opera. In The Avatar (1978) a solitary figure typical
of PA's
later work searches the Galaxy for an alien race
sufficiently
sophisticated to provide him with the means to confound a
non-libertarian
Earth government. THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS (1989)
ambitiously follows
the long lives of a group of immortals, whose growing
disaffection with
the recent course of Earth history again points up the
sense of
disenchantment noticeable in the later PA, along with a feeling
that, in
an inevitably decaying Universe, the tough thing (and the worthy
thing) is
to endure. In Harvest of Stars (1993) and its sequel, The Stars Are
Also
Fire (1994), that sense of disenchantment once again governs a tale
in
which Earth - after centuries of savage environmental exploitation - is
no
longer capable of sustaining humanity's quest for new adventures, and
for
a new home. The elegy is perhaps soured by some political
point-scoring;
but the escape from the dying planet is sustained and
exhilarating. Other
works: The Broken Sword (1954; rev 1971); Planet of No
Return (1956 dos;
vt Question and Answer 1978); THE ENEMY STARS (1959; with
one story added
exp as coll 1987); Perish by the Sword (1959) and The Golden
Slave (1960;
rev 1980) and Murder in Black Letter (1960) and Rogue Sword
(1960) and
Murder Bound (1962), all associational; Twilight World (2 stories
ASF 1947
including Tomorrow's Children with F.N.Waldrop; fixup 1961);
Strangers
from Earth (coll 1961); Un-Man and Other Novellas (coll 1962 dos);
After
Doomsday (1962); The Makeshift Rocket (1958 ASF as A Bicycle Built
for
Brew; 1962 chap dos); Shield (1963); Three Worlds to Conquer (1964);
Time
and Stars (coll 1964; with 1 story cut 1964 UK); The Corridors of
Time
(1965); The Star Fox (fixup 1965); The Fox, the Dog and the Griffin:
A
Folk Tale Adapted from the Danish of C.Molbeck (1966), a juvenile
fantasy;
World without Stars (1967); The Horn of Time (coll 1968); Seven
Conquests
(coll 1969; vt Conquests 1981 UK); Beyond the Beyond (coll 1969;
with 1
story cut 1970 UK); Tales of the Flying Mountains (1963-5 ASF as
by
Winston P.Sanders; fixup 1970); The Byworlder (1971); Operation
Chaos
(coll of linked stories 1971); The Dancer from Atlantis (1971) and
There
Will Be Time (1972), later assembled together as There Will Be Time,
and
The Dancer from Atlantis (omni 1982); Hrolf Kraki's Saga (1973),
a
retelling of one of the greatest Icelandic sagas, associational; The
Queen
of Air and Darkness and Other Stories (coll 1973); Fire Time
(1974);
Inheritors of Earth (1974) with Gordon EKLUND - the novel was in
fact
written by Eklund, based on a 1951 PA story published in Future; The
Many
Worlds of Poul Anderson (coll 1974; vt The Book of Poul Anderson
1975),
not the same as The Worlds of Poul Anderson (omni 1974), which
assembles
Planet of No Return, The War of Two Worlds and World without
Stars;
Homeward and Beyond (coll 1975); The Winter of the World (1975),
later
assembled with The Queen of Air and Darkness as The Winter of the
World,
and The Queen of Air and Darkness (omni 1982); Homebrew (coll 1976
chap),
containing essays as well as stories; The Best of Poul Anderson
(coll
1976); Two Worlds (omni 1978), which assembles World without Stars
and
Planet of No Return; The Merman's Children (1979); The Demon of
Scattery
(1979) with Mildred Downey Broxon (1944- ); Conan the Rebel (1980);
The
Devil's Game (1980); Winners (coll 1981), a collection of PA's
Hugo
winners; Fantasy (coll 1981); The Dark between the Stars (coll 1982);
the
Maurai series comprising Maurai and Kith (coll 1982), tales
of
post-catastrophe life, and Orion Shall Rise (1983), a
pro-technology
sequel, in which humanity once again aspires to the stars; The
Gods
Laughed (coll 1982); Conflict (coll 1983); The Unicorn Trade (coll
1984)
with Karen Anderson; Past Times (coll 1984); Dialogue with Darkness
(coll
1985); No Truce with Kings (1963 FSF; 1989 chap dos); Space Folk
(coll
1989); The Saturn Game (1981 ASF; 1989 chap dos); Inconstant Star
(coll
1991), stories set in Larry NIVEN's Man-Kzin universe; The Longest
Voyage
(1960 ASF; 1991 chap dos); Losers' Night (1991 chap); Kinship with
the
Stars (coll 1991); How to Build a Planet (1991 chap), nonfiction;
The
Armies of Elfland (coll 1992). As Editor: West by One and by One
(anth
1965 chap); Nebula Award Stories No 4 (anth 1969); The Day the Sun
Stood
Still (anth 1972), a common-theme anthology with Gordon R.Dickson
and
Robert SILVERBERG; A World Named Cleopatra (anth 1977) ed Roger ELWOOD,
a
SHARED-WORLD anthology built around the title story and concept
supplied
by PA; 4 titles ed with Martin H.GREENBERG and Charles
G.WAUGH,
Mercenaries of Tomorrow (anth 1985), Terrorists of Tomorrow (anth
1985),
Time Wars (anth 1986) and Space Wars (anth 1988); The Night
Fantastic
(anth 1991) with Karen Anderson and (anon) Greenberg. About the
author:
Against Time's Arrow: The High Crusade of Poul Anderson (1978 chap)
by
Sandra MIESEL; Poul Anderson: Myth-Maker and Wonder-Weaver: A
Working
Bibliography (latest edition 1989 in 2 vols, each chap) by Gordon
BENSON
Jr and Phil STEPHENSEN-PAYNE. See also: ALIENS; ANTHROPOLOGY;
ASTEROIDS;
ATLANTIS; BLACK HOLES; CLONES; COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS; CRIME
AND
PUNISHMENT; CYBORGS; DESTINIES; ECOLOGY; ECONOMICS; END OF THE
WORLD;
ESCHATOLOGY; FANTASTIC VOYAGES; FANTASY; FASTER THAN LIGHT; FORCE
FIELD;
GALACTIC EMPIRES; GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION; GAMES AND SPORTS;
GENETIC
ENGINEERING; GODS AND DEMONS; GRAVITY; HEROES; HISTORY IN SF;
HUMOUR;
IMMORTALITY; JUPITER; The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION;
MAGIC;
MATTER TRANSMISSION; MUTANTS; MYTHOLOGY; NUCLEAR POWER; PLANETARY
ROMANCE;
POLITICS; PSI POWERS; PSYCHOLOGY; RELIGION; ROBERT HALE LIMITED;
ROBOTS;
SCIENTIFIC ERRORS; SENSE OF WONDER; SOCIAL DARWINISM; SOCIOLOGY;
SPACE
FLIGHT; STARS; SUN; SUPERMAN; TECHNOLOGY; TERRAFORMING; TIME
PARADOXES;
UNDER THE SEA; UTOPIAS; VENUS; WAR; WEAPONS.
ANDERSON, WILLIAM C(HARLES)
(1920- ) USAF pilot and writer in various genres
who published his first
sf, The Valley of the Gods (1957) as Andy Anderson.
Like his Pandemonium
on the Potomac (1966), it features a father and
daughter: in the former
book they philosophize about the extinction of
mankind; in the latter they
act on their anxiety about Man's imminent
self-destruction, blowing up a
US city as a Dreadful Warning. Penelope (1963)
and Adam M-1 (1964) are
further sf comedies, the former concerned with a
communicating porpoise -
which appears also in Penelope, the Damp Detective
(1974) - and the latter
with an ANDROID, the first Astrodynamically Designed
Aerospace Man. Other
works: Five, Four, Three, Two, One - Pffff (1960); The
Gooney Bird (1968);
The Apoplectic Palm Tree (1969). See also: ADAM AND
EVE.
ANDOM, R.
Pseudonym of UK writer Alfred Walter Barrett (1869-1920), who
remains
best known for We Three and Troddles: A Tale of London Life (1894)
and
other light fiction in the mode of popular figures like Jerome
K.Jerome
(1859-1927). His sf and fantasy were similarly derivative; titles
of
interest include The Strange Adventure of Roger Wilkins and Other
Stories
(coll 1895), The Identity Exchange: A Story of Some Odd
Transformations
(1902; vt The Marvellous Adventures of Me 1904), The
Enchanted Ship: A
Story of Mystery with a Lot of Imagination (1908) and The
Magic Bowl, and
the Blue-Stone Ring: Oriental Tales with Occi(or Acci)dental
Fittings
(coll 1909), all exhibiting an uneasy fin de siecle
flippancy
characteristic of F.ANSTEY but with less weight. In Fear of a
Throne
(1911) is a RURITANIAN fantasy.
ANDRE, ALIX
Gail KIMBERLY.
ANDREAS, JURGEN
Hans Joachim ALPERS.
ANDREISSEN, DAVID
David C.POYER.
ANDREWS, FELICIA
Charles L.GRANT.
ANDREWS, KEITH WILLIAM
Technically a house name, though all titles here
listed are in fact by US
writer William H(enry) Keith Jr (1950- ). The
Freedom's Rangers sequence
of military-sf adventures, whose heroes roam into
various epochs to combat
the KGB, comprises Freedom's Rangers (1989),
Freedom's Rangers 2: Raiders
of the Revolution (1989), 3: Search and Destroy
(1990), 4: Treason in Time
(1990), 5: Sink the Armada (1990) and 6: Snow Kill
(1991). The first
volume features a commando raid through time to kill
Hitler; as some of
the titles indicate, the targets thereafter vary. It may
be that the
course of real history has determined the progress of the series.
Under
his own name Keith has written two Battletech game ties (GAMES AND
TOYS):
Mercenary's Star (1987) and The Price of Glory (1987); Renegades
Honor
(1988) is another game novelization.
ANDROIDS
Film (1982). New World. Dir Aaron Lipstadt, starring Klaus Kinski,
Brie
Howard, Norbert Weisser, Crofton Hardester, Don Opper. Screenplay
James
Reigle and Opper, based on a story by Will Reigle. 80 mins. Colour.
The
co-scriptwriter, Don Opper, plays Max, the innocent ANDROID (part
flesh,
part metal) who does imitations of James Stewart and works for mad
Dr
Daniel (Kinski) in a space laboratory, soon invaded by three criminals.
He
experiences sex (Max, you're a doll!), is programmed to become a
ruthless
killer just as we were accepting him as human, participates in
the
awakening of a female android, learns Daniel's true nature (a plot
twist
stolen from ALIEN) and gets the girl. A is made with skill and panache,
is
good on android politics (for which one might read
working-class
politics), and is one of the most confident sf movies yet made,
despite
its low budget. The scriptwriters are infinitely more at home with
the
themes of written sf than is usual in sf cinema. Lipstadt's subsequent
sf
movie, CITY LIMITS (1984), was disappointing.
ANDROIDS
The term android, which means manlike, was not commonly used in sf
until
the 1940s. The first modern use seems to have been in Jack
WILLIAMSON's
The Cometeers (1936; 1950). The word was initially used of
automata, and
the form androides first appeared in English in 1727 in
reference to
supposed attempts by the alchemist Albertus Magnus (c1200-1280)
to create
an artificial man. In contemporary usage android usually denotes
an
artificial human of organic substance, although it is sometimes applied
to
manlike machines, just as the term ROBOT is still occasionally applied
(as
by its originator Karel CAPEK) to organic entities. The
conventional
distinction was first popularized by Edmond HAMILTON in his
CAPTAIN FUTURE
series, where Captain Future's sidekicks were a robot, an
android and a
brain in a box. The most important modern exceptions to the
conventional
rule are to be found in the works of Philip K.DICK. The notion
of
artificial humans is an old one, embracing the GOLEM of Jewish
mythology
as well as alchemical homunculi. Until the 19th century, though, it
was
widely believed that organic compounds could not be synthesized, and
that
humanoid creatures of flesh and blood would therefore have to be
created
either by magical means or, as in Mary SHELLEY's Frankenstein (1818),
by
the gruesome process of assembly. Even after the discovery that
organic
molecules could be synthesized, some time passed before, in R.U.R.
(1920;
trans 1923), Capek imagined androids grown in vats as
mass-produced
slaves; these robots were made so artfully as to acquire souls,
and
eventually conquered their makers. There was some imaginative
resistance
to the idea of the android because it seemed a more outrageous
breach of
divine prerogative than the building of humanoid automata. Several
authors
toyed with the idea but did not carry it through: the androids in
The
Uncreated Man (1912) by Austin Fryers and in The Chemical Baby (1924)
by
J.Storer CLOUSTON prove to be hoaxes. Edgar Rice BURROUGHS played
a
similar trick in The Monster Men (1913; 1929), but did include
some
authentic artificial men as well, as he did also in Synthetic Men of
Mars
(1940). In the early sf PULP MAGAZINES androids were rare,
authors
concentrating almost exclusively on mechanical contrivances. It was
not
until after WWII that Clifford SIMAK wrote the influential Time and
Again
(1951; vt First He Died 1953), the first of many stories in which
androids
seek emancipation from slavery; here they are assisted in their
cause by
the discovery that, in common with all living creatures, they have
ALIEN
commensals - sf substitutes for souls. Sf writers almost invariably
take
the side of the androids against their human masters,
sometimes
eloquently: the emancipation of the biologically engineered
Underpeople is
a key theme in Cordwainer SMITH's Instrumentality series; a
Millennarian
android religion is memorably featured in Robert SILVERBERG's
Tower of
Glass (1970); and androids whose personalities are based on
literary
models are effectively featured in Port Eternity (1982) by
C.J.CHERRYH.
Cherryh's CYTEEN (1988) is one of the few novels to attempt to
present a
society into which androids are fully integrated. Other pleas
for
emancipation are featured in Down among the Dead Men (1954) by
William
TENN, Slavers of Space (1960 dos; rev as Into the Slave Nebula 1968)
by
John BRUNNER and Birthright (1975) by Kathleen SKY, but the
liberated
androids in Charles L.GRANT's The Shadow of Alpha (1976) and its
sequels
are treated far more ambivalently. An android is used as an
innocent
observer of human follies in Charles PLATT's comedy Less than
Human
(1986), and to more sharply satirical effect in Stephen FINE's Molly
Dear:
The Autobiography of an Android, or How I Came to my Senses, Was
Repaired,
Escaped my Master, and Was Educated in the Ways of the World
(1988).
Androids also feature, inevitably, in stories which hinge on the
confusion
of real and ersatz, including Made in USA (1953) by J.T.MCINTOSH,
Synth
(1966) by Keith ROBERTS, the murder mystery Fondly Fahrenheit (1954)
by
Alfred BESTER, and Replica (1987) by Richard BOWKER. The confusion
between
real and synthetic is central to the work of Philip K.Dick, who tends
to
use the terms android and robot interchangeably; he discusses
the
importance this theme had for him in his essays The Android and the
Human
(1972) and Man, Android and Machine (1976), both of which are reprinted
in
The Dark-Haired Girl (coll 1988). His most notable novels dealing with
the
subject are DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? (1968) and We Can
Build
You (1972). Stories featuring androids designed specifically for use
at
least in part as sexual partners have become commonplace as
editorial
taboos have relaxed; examples include The Silver Metal Lover (1982)
by
Tanith LEE and The Hormone Jungle (1988) by Robert REED. Science
Fiction
Thinking Machines (anth 1954) ed Groff CONKLIN has a brief
section
featuring android stories; The Pseudo-People (anth 1965 vt Almost
Human:
Androids in Science Fiction) ed William F.NOLAN mostly consists of
stories
of robots capable of imitating men.
ANDROMEDA BREAKTHROUGH, THE
UK tv serial (1962). A BBC TV production. Prod
John ELLIOT, written Fred
HOYLE, Elliot. 6 episodes, 5 at 45 mins, the 6th 50
mins. B/w. The cast
included Peter Halliday, Mary Morris, Barry Linehan, John
Hollis, Susan
Hampshire. In this sequel to A FOR ANDROMEDA the android woman
built
according to instructions from the stars is played by Susan Hampshire,
not
Julie Christie; she has not drowned, as previously thought. She
is
kidnapped along with scientist Fleming (Halliday) by a Middle Eastern
oil
state where a new COMPUTER has been built according to plans stolen
from
the Scottish original. This is used by an international cartel in
an
attempt at world domination. The plot becomes ever more
melodramatic.
World weather is changed by the influence of computer-designed
bacteria on
the oceans. The extraterrestrial beings who sent the original
computer
instructions are not, we are implausibly told, just malicious: they
are
merely undertaking social engineering on other worlds by
administering
salutary shocks. (It seems that yellow-star races tend to wipe
themselves
out using nuclear weapons or other devices.) This was a less
powerful
serial than its memorable predecessor. The novelization is The
Andromeda
Breakthrough (1964) by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot.
ANDROMEDA NEBULA, THE
TUMANNOST ANDROMEDY.
ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE
Film (1971). Universal. Dir Robert WISE, starring
Arthur Hill, David
Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid. Screenplay Nelson Gidding,
based on The
Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael CRICHTON. 130 mins. Colour.
This film,
whose director had in 1951 made the classic sf film TheDAY THE
EARTH STOOD
STILL, concerns a microscopic organism, inadvertently brought to
Earth on
a returning space probe, which causes the instant death of everyone
in the
vicinity of the probe's landing (near a small town) with the exception
of
a baby and the town drunk. These two are isolated in a vast
underground
laboratory complex, where a group of scientists attempts to
establish the
nature of the alien organism. The real enemy seems to be not
the Andromeda
virus but technology itself: it is mankind's technology that
brings the
virus to Earth, and the scientists in the laboratory sequences -
most of
the film - are made to seem puny and fallible compared to the
gleaming
electronic marvels that surround them; they have, in effect,
become
unwanted organisms within a superior body. (Wise deliberately
avoided
using famous actors in order to get the muted performances he wished
to
juxtapose with the assertive machinery.) The celebration of technology
is
only apparent - the film, despite its implausible but exciting ending,
is
coldly ironic, and rather pessimistic.
ANDROMEDA THE MYSTERIOUS
TUMANNOST ANDROMEDY.
ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN
FRANKENSTEIN.
ANESTIN, VICTOR
ROMANIA.
ANET, CLAUDE
Pseudonym of Swiss writer Jean Schopfer (1868-1931). His sf
novel La fin
d'un monde (1925; trans Jeffery E.Jeffery as The End of a World
(1927 US;
vt Abyss) describes the cultural destruction of a prehistoric Ice
Age
people by a more advanced culture. See also: ORIGIN OF MAN.
ANIMAL FARM
George ORWELL.
ANMAR, FRANK
William F.NOLAN.
ANNA LIVIA
Working name of Irish-born UK writer and editor Anna Livia Julian
Brawn
(1955- ), a lesbian feminist of radical views, which she has advanced
in
tales of considerable wit, though at book length her effects
become
uneasy. Her second novel, Accommodation Offered (1985), invokes a
spirit
world which has a ring of fantasy. Her third, Bulldozer Rising (1988),
is
an sf DYSTOPIA which depicts a culture rigidly dominated by young males
in
which old women, unpersoned and unperceived from the age of 40,
represent
the only remaining human potential, the only hope for revolt. About
half
the stories assembled in Saccharin Cyanide (coll 1990) present
similar
lessons in sf terms. Other works: Minimax (1992), a feminist
vampire
novel.
ANONYMOUS SF AUTHORS
This rubric covers the authors of works which, in their
first edition,
appeared with no indication of authorship whatsoever, and any
in which
authorship is indicated only by a row of asterisks or some similar
symbol.
Works attributed to the author of... are considered only if the
work
referred to is itself anonymous. Cases where subsequent editions
reveal
authorship are not excluded. All other attributions are regarded
as
PSEUDONYMS. Anonymously edited sf ANTHOLOGIES are not particularly
common,
unlike the case with ghost and horror stories. Before the 20th
century
literary anonymity was prevalent. Though this was most notable among
the
numerous works of Grub-Street fictional journalism of the early
19th
century, many novels of a higher status likewise hid their authorship.
On
some occasions the practice was adopted by well known writers - e.g.,
Lord
LYTTON - when the content of a novel differed radically from their
earlier
writings; although such works are anonymous in a bibliographic sense
(and
so within our purview), their authorship was often widely known at
the
time of publication. Other authors used anonymity because their work
was
controversial, an attribute common in early sf. Such was the case
with
UTOPIAN novels, where the depiction of an ideal state highlighted
faults
the writer saw in his (or, rarely, her) own society. Falling into
this
category is The Reign of George VI, 1900-1925 (1763), the earliest
known
example of the future-WAR novel. Showing the forceful George VI
becoming
master of Europe following his successes in the European War of
1917-20,
the anonymous UK author gave no consideration to possible change
in
society, technology or military strategy, his depicted future being
very
similar to contemporary reality. Of more importance in the HISTORY OF
SF
is L'an deux mille quatre cent quarante (1771 France; trans W.Hooper
as
Memoirs of the Year Two Thousand Five Hundred 1772 UK) (by L.-S.
MERCIER),
the first futuristic novel to show change as an inevitable process.
It was
widely translated and reprinted, inspiring many imitators. Also
anonymous,
but set in an imaginary country, was the first US utopian work,
Equality,
or A History of Lithconia (1802 The Temple of Reason as Equality:
A
Political Romance; 1837), which depicted a communal economy in a
society
where conurbations had been rejected in favour of an equal
distribution of
houses. Other anonymous utopian works, some of considerable
importance,
appeared throughout the 19th century. Probably the most
influential was
Lytton's The Coming Race (1871). Of similar importance is
W.H.HUDSON's A
Crystal Age (1887), whose Darwinian extrapolation, although
obscured by
the author's animistic view of the world, shows humankind evolved
towards
a hive structure (HIVE-MINDS) and living in perfect harmony with
Nature.
Another noteworthy Darwinian novel was Colymbia (1873) (by Robert
Ellis
DUDGEON, a friend of and physician to Samuel BUTLER), which describes
a
remote archipelago where humans have evolved into amphibious
beings.
Integral to this gentle SATIRE is a scene in which the country's
leading
philosophers debate their common origins with the seal family.
Particular
mention should also be made of Ellis James Davis (?1847-1935),
author of
the highly imaginative and carefully detailed novels Pyrna, a
Commune, or
Under the Ice (1875) and Etymonia (1875) - both utopias, the
first located
under a glacier, the second on an ISLAND - and of Coralia: A
Plaint of
Futurity (1876), a supernatural fantasy. Other anonymous sf
authors
eschewed the utopian format for a more direct attack on aspects
of
contemporary society. Following the build-up in power by Germany in
the
early 1870s there appeared The Battle of Dorking; Reminiscences of
a
Volunteer (1871 chap) (by Sir George T.CHESNEY), the most
socially
influential sf novel of all time. Advocating a restructuring of the
UK
military system to meet a conceived INVASION, it provoked a storm
in
Parliament and enjoyed numerous reprints and translations throughout
the
world; it inspired many anonymous refutations. Many other anonymous
sf
works, by contrast, enjoyed only rapid obscurity, in some case to
the
detriment of sf's development. Perhaps the three most important of
these
are: Annals of the Twenty-ninth Century, or The Autobiography of the
Tenth
President of the World Republic (1874) (by Andrew BLAIR), a massive
work
describing the step-by-step COLONIZATION of our Solar System; In
the
Future: A Sketch in Ten Chapters (1875 chap), the story of a struggle
for
religious tolerance in a future European empire; and Thoth: A
Romance
(1888) (by J.S.Nicholson 1850-1927), an impressive LOST-WORLD novel
set in
Hellenic times and depicting a scientifically advanced race using
airships
in the North African desert. Among the diversity of ideas expressed
by
anonymous sf authors were the stress inflicted upon an ape (APES
AND
CAVEMEN) when taught to speak, in The Curse of Intellect (1895),
the
emancipation of women, in the futuristic satire The Revolt of Man
(1882)
(by Sir Walter BESANT) and, in Man Abroad: A Yarn of Some Other
Century
(1887), the notion that humankind will take its international
disputes
into space. The Checklist of Fantastic Literature (1948) by
Everett
F.BLEILER lists 127 anonymous works (though many are fantasy rather
than
sf). A number of anonymous authors whose identities are now known
receive
entries in this volume, the most famous being Mary SHELLEY, author
of
Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818). Others are too numerous
and
their works too slight to merit mention. The Supplemental Checklist
of
Fantastic Literature (1963) by Bradford M.DAY adds a further 27 titles
to
Bleiler's total, and there are certainly more waiting to be found -
such
as The History of Benjamin Kennicott (1932). Anonymous sf authors
are
still with us today, particularly in the COMICS and in BOYS' PAPERS,
often
retaining their role as social critics or outrageous
prognosticators.
However, most modern authors, when seeking to retain their
privacy, make
use of PSEUDONYMS. Very few anonymous books - except for
anthologies
(which are often released without crediting the compiler) and
erotica -
are published today.
ANOTHER FLIP FOR DOMINICK
The FLIPSIDE OF DOMINICK HIDE.
ANSIBLE
1. The imaginary device invented by Ursula K.LE GUIN for
instantaneous
communication between two points, regardless of the distance
between them.
The physics which led to its invention is described in The
Dispossessed
(1974), but the device is mentioned in a number of the Hainish
series of
stories written before The Dispossessed, and indeed is central to
their
rationale. It compares interestingly with James BLISH's
DIRAC
COMMUNICATOR. (FASTER THAN LIGHT and COMMUNICATION for further
discussion
of both.) The ansible has since been adopted as a useful device by
several
other writers. 2. Fanzine (1979-87 and 1991 onwards), first sequence
being
50 issues, quarto, 4-10pp, ed from Reading, UK, by David LANGFORD. A is
a
newszine, a fanzine that carries news on sf and FANDOM. It replaced
the
earlier UK newszine Checkpoint (1971-9, 100 issues) ed Peter
Roberts
(briefly ed Ian Maule and ed Darroll Pardoe), which in turn had
replaced
Skyrack (1959-71, 96 issues) ed Ron Bennett. A's news items were
given
sparkle by Langford's witty delivery. A was initially monthly,
but
latterly gaps between its issues grew ever longer. In 1987, at the time
of
but not due to the appearance of a later newszine, CRITICAL WAVE,
Langford
- who had long expressed weariness with the labour of producing A -
folded
it. However, he revived A in 1991, the second sequence being
an
approximately monthly A4 2pp newssheet with occasional extra issues
(given
numbers), beginning with 51. It had reached 93 by April 1995. A won a
HUGO
in 1987, and its editor won Hugos as Best Fan Writer in 1985, 1987,
and
every year from 1989 to 1994.
ANSON, AUGUST
(? - ) UK writer whose When Woman Reigns (1938) transports
its
protagonist to first the 26th and then the 36th century. Author and
hero
take a rather dim view of these two periods, because in both men
are
subservient to women.
ANSON, CAPTAIN (CHARLES VERNON)
(1841- ?) UK writer, in the Royal Navy
1859-96. His future-WAR tale, The
Great Anglo-American War of 1900 (1896
chap), warrants modest interest for
the worldwide scope of the conflict and
for the UK's use of a new
invention to destroy San Francisco and win the war.
For verisimilitude,
the tale should perhaps have been set many years further
into the future.
ANSTEY, F.
Pseudonym of Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1856-1934), UK writer and
humorist,
best known for his many contributions to the magazine Punch and for
his
classic satirical fantasies, most of which follow the pattern
of
introducing some magical item into contemporary society, with
chaotic
consequences. These were widely imitated by many writers,
including
R.ANDOM, W.D.Darlington (1890-1979) and Richard Marsh (1857-1915),
and
thus became the archetypes of a distinctive subgenre of
Ansteyan
fantasies. In his most successful work, Vice Versa, or A Lesson to
Fathers
(1882; rev 1883), a Victorian gentleman and his schoolboy son
exchange
personalities; the novel has to date been twice filmed and at least
twice
adapted as a tv serial. In The Tinted Venus (1885) a young
man
accidentally revives the Roman goddess of love, and in A Fallen
Idol
(1886) an oriental deity exerts a sinister influence on a young
artist.
The protagonist of The Brass Bottle (1900) acquires the services of
a
djinn; a stage version is The Brass Bottle: A Farcical Fantastic
Play
(1911). In Brief Authority (1915) reverses the pattern, with a
Victorian
matron established as queen of the Brothers Grimm's M-rchenland.
FA's work
comes closest to sf in Tourmalin's Time Cheques (1891; vt The
Time
Bargain), one of the earliest TIME-PARADOX stories. The
anonymously
published The Statement of Stella Maberley, Written by Herself
(1896) is
an interesting story of abnormal PSYCHOLOGY. Other works: The Black
Poodle
and Other Tales (coll 1884); The Talking Horse (coll 1891); Paleface
and
Redskin, and Other Stories for Girls and Boys (coll 1898); Only
Toys!
(1903), for children; Salted Almonds (coll 1906); Percy and Others
(coll
1915), the first 5 stories in which feature the adventures of a bee;
The
Last Load (coll 1928); Humour and Fantasy (coll
1931).
=====================================================
ANTHOLOGIES
Before
the late 1940s, sf short stories, novellas and novelettes (HUGO
for
definitions) were largely restricted to MAGAZINES. (Magazines are, of
course,
a form of anthology, but they are not so counted in this
encyclopedia.) Since
then, increasingly, many readers have been introduced
to sf through stories
collected in books. Books are less fragile, kept in
print longer, available
in libraries and (especially for young readers in
the days of the lurid PULP
MAGAZINES) more acceptable to parents. The
history of sf's ever-increasing
respectability over the past half century
has been in part the history of the
gradual displacement of magazines by
books, especially paperback books -
although many anthology series have
been given their initial publication in
hardcover. Much sf was
anthologized in book form from quite early on, in a
variety of fantasy and
weird-fiction collections, but none of these was
exclusively sf, although
The Moon Terror and Other Stories (anth 1927) ed
A.G.Birch, a collection
of four stories from WEIRD TALES, came close to it.
The earliest sf
anthology could more properly be described as an anthology of
PROTO
SCIENCE FICTION. It is Popular Romances (anth 1812) ed Henry Weber,
and
contains Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan SWIFT, Journey to the
World
Underground (1741) by Ludwig HOLBERG, Peter Wilkins (1751) by
Robert
PALTOCK, Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel DEFOE and The History
of
Automathes (1745) by John Kirkby; the latter is a lost-race (LOST
WORLDS)
story set in the Pacific Ocean. The usually accepted candidate as
first sf
anthology is Adventures to Come (anth 1937) ed J.Berg Esenwein. It
was
also sf's first ORIGINAL ANTHOLOGY - i.e., its stories were all
previously
unpublished - but they were by unknowns, and it seems the
anthology had no
influence at all. Much more important was The Other Worlds
(anth 1941) ed
Phil STONG, a hardcover publication reprinting stories by
Harry BATES,
Lester DEL REY, Henry KUTTNER, Theodore STURGEON and many other
well known
writers from the sf magazines. The first notable paperback
anthology was
The Pocket Book of Science-Fiction (anth 1943) ed Donald
A.WOLLHEIM, 8 of
whose 10 stories are still well remembered, an
extraordinarily high
batting average considering that half a century has
since elapsed. The
year that presaged the advancing flood was 1946, when two
respectable
hardcover publishers commissioned huge anthologies, both
milestones. In
Feb 1946 came The Best of Science Fiction (anth 1946) ed Groff
CONKLIN,
containing 40 stories in 785pp, and in Aug came Adventures in Time
and
Space (anth 1946) ed Raymond J.HEALY and J.Francis MCCOMAS, containing
35
stories in 997pp. The latter was the superior work and even today
reads
like a roll of honour, as all the great names of the first two decades
of
GENRE SF parade past. But Conklin's book is not to be despised,
including
as it does Sturgeon's Killdozer (1944), Robert A.HEINLEIN's
Universe
(1941) and Murray LEINSTER's First Contact (1945). Both Conklin and
Healy
went on to do further pioneering work with anthologies.
Conklin
specialized in thematic anthologies, of which two of the earliest
were his
Invaders of Earth (anth 1952) and Science Fiction Thinking Machines
(anth
1954). The thematic anthology has since become an important part of
sf
publishing, and many such books are listed in this volume at the end
of
the relevant theme entries. Healy did not invent the original
sf
anthology, but he was one of the first to edit one successfully. His
New
Tales of Space and Time (anth 1951) contains such well remembered
stories
as Bettyann by Kris NEVILLE, Here There Be Tygers by Ray BRADBURY and
The
Quest for Saint Aquin by Anthony BOUCHER. Kendell Foster CROSSEN was
not
slow to take the hint, and half of his compilation Future Tense
(anth
1953) consists of original stories, including Beanstalk by James
BLISH.
Wollheim had produced (anonymously) an original anthology, too: The
Girl
with the Hungry Eyes and Other Stories (anth 1949), the title story
being
by Fritz LEIBER. Until the 1970s the original anthology went from
strength
to strength, becoming an important alternative market to the sf
magazines.
The STAR SCIENCE FICTION STORIES series (1953-9) ed Frederik POHL,
of
which there were 6 vols in all, was its next important landmark.
John
CARNELL followed, in the UK, with his NEW WRITINGS IN SF series
(1964-78;
ed Kenneth BULMER from 22), with 30 vols in all. This was followed
rather
more dramatically in the USA by Damon KNIGHT, whose policy was
more
experimental and literary than Carnell's, with his ORBIT series
(1965-80),
which published 21 vols. Since then the most influential
original
anthology series have been Harlan ELLISON's two DANGEROUS
VISIONS
anthologies (1968 and 1972), Robert SILVERBERG's NEW DIMENSIONS
series
(1971-81), 10 vols in all, and Terry CARR's UNIVERSE series (1971-87),
17
vols in all. The zenith of influence of the original anthologies
was
probably the early to mid-1970s; they became a less important component
of
sf PUBLISHING in the 1980s. Nonetheless, the 1970s saw a remarkable
number
of HUGO and NEBULA nominees drawn from the ranks of the
original
anthologies, including a good few winners, and this is a measure of
the
change of emphasis from magazines to books. Other original
anthologies
which, like the above, receive separate entries in this volume
are BERKLEY
SHOWCASE, CHRYSALIS, DESTINIES, FULL SPECTRUM, INFINITY, L.RON
HUBBARD
PRESENTS WRITERS OF THE FUTURE, NEW VOICES, NOVA, OTHER EDENS,
PULPHOUSE:
THE HARDBACK MAGAZINE, QUARK, STELLAR and SYNERGY; New Worlds
Quarterly
(NEW WORLDS) was also in book format. This list is not
fully
comprehensive, but contains most of the sf original anthology series
that
ran for three or more numbers. Another original anthology series is
WILD
CARDS, ed George R.R.MARTIN, which is also an interesting
representative
of a kind of volume that began to flourish only in the 1980s,
the
SHARED-WORLD anthology. The majority of these are fantasy rather than
sf.
Sf has been one of the few areas of literature to have kept alive the
art
of the short story. It is therefore unfortunate that, as
sf-magazine
circulations dropped further in the 1980s, so did the popularity
of
original anthologies. Nevertheless, as of the early 1990s, the quality
of
the best sf short-story writing remains high, and fears expressed
about
the imminent death of sf short fiction caused by shrinking markets
seem
premature. The general standard of reprint anthologies has dropped
since
the mid-1960s, probably because the vast backlog of sf magazines had
been
mined and re-mined for gold and not much was left, though obviously
new
collectable stories are published every year. In terms of numbers
of
anthologies published, however, there has been no very perceptible
falling
off. Two extraordinarily prolific anthologists have been Roger
ELWOOD,
from 1964 to 1977, and Martin Harry GREENBERG, from 1974 to date,
both of
them often in partnership with others and both specializing in
thematic
anthologies. Greenberg, who has edited more anthologies than anyone
else
in sf, maintains the higher standard. The other two important
categories
of anthology are the several Best series, and the various series
devoted
to award-winning stories. The Best concept was introduced to sf by
Everett
F.BLEILER and T.E.DIKTY, who between them edited 6 annual vols,
beginning
with The Best Science-Fiction Stories 1949 (anth 1949); Dikty went
on to
edit a further 3 vols alone in 1955, 1956 and 1958 (1957 was
omitted).
Judith MERRIL's record was long and distinguished, with 12 annual
vols
(1967 was omitted) beginning with SF: The Year's Greatest
Science-Fiction
and Fantasy Stories and Novelettes (anth 1956) and ending
with SF 12 (anth
1968; vt The Best of Sci-Fi 12 UK 1970). Merril's
anthologies were always
lively, with an emphasis on stories of wit and
literacy, and certainly
helped to improve standards in sf generally. The
editors of the major
magazines, notably ASF, FSF, Gal and NW, published Best
anthologies of one
kind or another from their own pages, most consistently
and influentially
in the case of FSF. Anthologies had a great deal to do with
finding a new
audience for sf in the UK. Here the important date was 1955,
when Edmund
CRISPIN launched his Best SF series (1955-70), 7 vols in all.
Among the
finest anthologies produced, always gracefully introduced, they
were not
selected on an annual basis and are thus not directly comparable
to
Merril's books. Later important anthologists in the UK were Kingsley
AMIS
and Robert CONQUEST with their Spectrum series (1961-6), 5 vols in
all,
and Brian W.ALDISS with the Penguin Science Fiction series (1961-4),
3
vols in all. Aldiss remained an active anthologist for some time, and
with
Harry HARRISON he edited 9 Best SF books annually 1967-75, beginning
with
Best SF: 1967 (anth 1968 US; vt The Year's Best Science Fiction No 1
UK).
More recent Best series have been edited by Lester DEL REY
(1971-5),
starting with Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1971) (anth
1972),
from E.P.Dutton & Co., Del Rey's successor as editor of this
series being
Gardner DOZOIS (1976-81); by Donald A.Wollheim with Terry Carr
(1965-71)
from ACE BOOKS starting with World's Best Science Fiction: 1965
(anth
1965); by Wollheim alone (1972-81) and with Arthur W.SAHA (1982-90)
for
DAW BOOKS, starting with The 1972 Annual World's Best SF (anth 1972);
by
Carr alone (1972-87), first for BALLANTINE, later various publishers,
UK
edition from GOLLANCZ, beginning with The Best Science Fiction of the
Year
(anth 1972); by Gardner Dozois alone (1984 to date), beginning with
The
Year's Best Science Fiction, First Annual Collection (anth 1984),
from
BLUEJAY BOOKS to 1986, then from St Martin's (with UK reprint
from
Robinson) starting with Year's Best Science Fiction, Fourth
Annual
Collection (anth 1987; vt The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction
UK)
and Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifth Annual Collection (anth 1988;
vt
Best New SF 2 UK); and by David S.GARNETT in the UK (1988-90), in
a
short-lived but interesting series starting with The Orbit Science
Fiction
Yearbook (anth 1988). Tastes in these matters are subjective, but
the
critical consensus is clearly that Terry Carr's selection was on the
whole
the most reliable through to the mid-1980s, and that his mantle has
passed
to Gardner Dozois, whose selection is now both the biggest and the
best.
Carr's and Dozois's Year's Best collections are required reading
for
anybody seriously interested in sf in short forms. Anthologies
consisting
of award-winning stories, of course, are of an especially high
standard.
Hugo-winning short fiction has been collected in a series of
anthologies
ed Isaac ASIMOV (whom see for details). Nebula-winning short
fiction has
been regularly anthologized along with some runners up, and also
winners
of the Rhysling Award for POETRY; the Science Fiction Hall of
Fame
stories, which like the Nebulas are judged by members of the
SCIENCE
FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA, have also been anthologized (for details
of
both these anthology series see NEBULA). A number of anthologies from
the
1970s onwards have been specifically designed for teaching SF IN
THE
CLASSROOM, and some are discussed in that entry. Also important have
been
various anthologies characterizing particular historical periods of
sf
through reprinting their most interesting stories. Sam MOSKOWITZ has
been
an important editor in this area, as have been Mike ASHLEY, Brian
W.Aldiss
and Harry Harrison, and Isaac Asimov and Martin Harry Greenberg with
a
series in which each book reprints stories all from a single
year,
beginning with Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories Volume 1,
1939
(anth 1979), from DAW Books, complete in 25 vols. Aside from
those
mentioned above, notable anthologists have included Michael
BISHOP,
Anthony BOUCHER, Jack DANN, Ellen DATLOW, August DERLETH, Thomas
M.DISCH,
James E.GUNN, David HARTWELL, Richard LUPOFF and Barry N.MALZBERG.
There
have been many others. A problem for all sf readers is the location
in
book collections or anthologies of short stories that have
been
recommended to them. Early indexes to sf anthologies, by Walter R.COLE
and
Frederick Siemon, have been superseded by a series of books by
William
G.CONTENTO, which are essential tools of reference for the serious
sf
researcher (see also BIBLIOGRAPHIES), beginning with Index to
Science
Fiction Anthologies and Collections (1978) and Index to Science
Fiction
Anthologies and Collections: 1977-1983 (1984). After that,
researchers
need to turn to the annual compilations produced by Contento with
Charles
N.BROWN and published by LOCUS Press (CONTENTO for details).
ANTHONY, PATRICIA
(1947- ) US teacher and writer who began publishing sf with
"Blood
Brothers" for Aboriginal in 1987. Her first published-though
4th
completed-novel, COLD ALLIES (1993), aroused considerable interest for
its
fast and sophisticated plotting; its hard-nosed liberal take on the
moral
quagmires that complicate human actions during the NEAR FUTURE
Lebensraum
war, between the Old West and the seemingly ascendent land-hungry
Moslem
world, that serves as its setting and ostensible subject; and for
its
subtly ambiguous presentation of the eponymous ALIENS, who may be
feeders
on the sufferings of other species, who may simply be tourists, or
who may
be potential friends in need for a human race near the end of its-and
its
planet's-tether. As friends in need, PA's cold allies fit with
remarkable
neatness into any analysis of late-century sf as evolving from
the
triumphalism of "First SF" into a sobered set of ruminations on the
human
race's needto marry out: to seek help wherever we can find help.
Perhaps
even more impressive is Brother Termite (1993), which also uses
alien
visitors as complex mirrors in whose behaviour-genetic exigencies
have
forced them into a ruthlessly manipulative treatment of humans
as
expendable "partners", rather like women-it is possible to
draw
conclusions about human actions. The story itself-which involves
some
glancing satire on contemporary life and politics, and on human
obsession
with UFOs and other True-Believer diseases of the psyche-is both
complex
and neat. Conscience of the Beagle (1993) - 3rd published but
first
written-is a less impressive tale set on a planet inhabited
by
fundementalist Christians and infested by terrorism; but Happy
Policeman
(1994) continues impressively PA's scrutiny of human beings and
human
cultures through the alien mirror. In this case, an ALTERNATE
WORLD
reality is created for a small Texas town, and within this enclave
aliens
study us, for a while. PA has almost instantly become a writer who
speaks
to our current state.
ANTHONY, PIERS
Working name of US writer Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob
(1934- ) for all
his published work. Born in England, he was educated in the
USA and took
out US citizenship in 1958. He began publishing short stories
with
Possible to Rue for Fantastic in 1963, and for the next decade
appeared
fairly frequently in the magazines, though he has more and
more
concentrated on longer forms; his early work is fairly represented
in
Anthonology (coll 1985). His two most ambitious novels came early in
his
career. Chthon (1967), his first, is a complexly structured adventure
of
self-discovery partially set in a vast underground prison, and
making
ambitious though sometimes over-baroque use of PASTORAL and
other
parallels; its sequel, Phthor (1975), is less far-reaching,
less
irritating, but also less involving. PA's second genuinely ambitious
novel
is the extremely long MACROSCOPE (1969; cut 1972 UK), whose
complicated
SPACE-OPERA plot combines astrology with old-fashioned
SENSE-OF-WONDER
concepts like the use of the planet Neptune as a spaceship.
In
constructing a series of sf devices in this book to carry across
his
concern with representing the unity of all phenomena, microscopic
to
macroscopic, PA evokes themes from SUPERMAN to COSMOLOGY and
Jungian
PSYCHOLOGY; of all his works, this novel alone manages to seem
adequately
structured to convey the burden of a sometimes mercilessly
hasty
imagination. The allegorical implications of MACROSCOPE received
more
expansive - but less sustained or intense - treatment in two later
series.
In the Tarot series - God of Tarot (1979), Vision of Tarot (1980)
and
Faith of Tarot (1980), all recast as Tarot (omni 1987) -
various
protagonists engage in a quest for the meaning of an
emblem-choked
Universe. The Incarnations of Immortality series - On a Pale
Horse (1983),
Bearing an Hourglass (1984), With a Tangled Skein (1985),
Wielding a Red
Sword (1986), Being a Green Mother (1987), For Love of Evil
(1988) and And
Eternity (1990) - features protagonists who are themselves
embodiments of
a meaningful Universe, representing in their very being
aspects of the
Universe like Death and Fate. The final volume involves a
search to
replace an increasingly indifferent God. In distinct contrast to
complex
works like these lies the post-HOLOCAUST sequence comprising Sos the
Rope
(1968), winner of the $5000 award from Pyramid Books, FSF and
Kent
Productions, Var the Stick (1972 UK; cut 1973 US) and Neq the
Sword
(1975), a combat-oriented trilogy assembled as Battle Circle (omni
1978).
Here and in other novels PA resorts to stripped-down protagonists
with
monosyllabic and/ or generic names, like Sos or Neq, or like Cal, Veg
and
Aquilon, whose adventures on various planets make up his second
trilogy,
Omnivore (1968), Orn (1971) and Ox (1976), assembled as Of Man and
Manta
(omni 1986 UK): humanity turns out to be the omnivore. Both these
series
use action scenarios with thinly drawn backgrounds and linear plots
not
comfortably capable of sustaining the weight of significance the
author
requires of them. Perhaps the most successful of such books is
Steppe
(1976 UK), a singleton featuring Alp, whose single-minded career
playing
Genghis Khan in a future dominated by a galaxy-spanning
computer-operated
game (GAMES AND SPORTS) is refreshingly unadulterated with
any attempts at
significance. Prostho Plus (1967-8 If; fixup 1971) and Triple
Detente
(1968 ASF; exp 1974) are both interstellar epics, the former comic
and
featuring a dentist, the latter concentrating on an OVERPOPULATION
theme
and its solution through culling by INVASION. Far more ambitious -
though
again by no means more assured - are two series in the same vein.
The
Cluster series, comprising Cluster (1977; vt Vicinity Cluster 1979
UK),
Chaining the Lady (1978), Kirlian Quest (1978), Thousandstar (1980)
and
Viscous Circle (1982), is an elaborate space opera; it relates to Tarot
in
its use of Kirlian auras and other similar material in a
Universe
ultimately obedient to occult commands. The Bio of a Space Tyrant
sequence
- Refugee (1983), Mercenary (1984), Politician (1985), Executive
(1985)
and Statesman (1986) - slowly but surely embroils its initially
ruthless
protagonist in a world whose complexities demand of him a moral
(and
therefore self-limiting) response. PA is a writer capable of
sweepingly
intricate fiction, though his tendency to produce less demanding
work may
obscure this ambitiousness of purview. He is fluent and extremely
popular,
though his great success has done little to modify the truculent
and
solitary tone of his utterances on a variety of subjects. The
critical
apparatus surrounding the republication of But What of Earth?
(1976
Canada; text restored 1989 US) with Robert COULSON, related to the
Tarot
sequence, serves as an extraordinary (and, with the original Laser
Books
edition not in print, not easily testable) exercise in special
pleading;
and his autobiography, Bio of an Ogre (1988), similarly reveals a
man
unreconciled, unforgiving. It might be added, too, that few of
PA's
numerous fantasies (listed below) seem built to last. When he
is
helter-skelter - and much of even his better work is marred
by
hasty-seeming digressions - PA is of merely marginal interest; but
the
ongoing Geodyssey sequence - comprising Isle of Women (1993) and Shame
of
Man (1994) - is a strongly argued presentation of humanity's life
on
planet Earth, conducted through successive incarnations of exemplary
human
types. It is only, in other words, when he embraces a
complex
mythologizing vision of the meaningfulness of things that PA
becomes
fierce. Other works: The Ring (1968) with Robert E.MARGROFF;
The
E.S.P.Worm (1970) with Margroff; Race Against Time (1973), a
juvenile;
Rings of Ice (1974), a DISASTER novel based on Isaac Newton Vail's
Annular
Theory (PSEUDO-SCIENCE); a series of martial arts fantasies, all
with
Roberto Fuentes (1934- ), comprising Kiai! (1974), Mistress of
Death
(1974), The Bamboo Bloodbath (1974), Ninja's Revenge (1975) and
Amazon
Slaughter (1976); the Xanth series of fantasies comprising A Spell
for
Chameleon (1977), The Source of Magic (1979) and Castle Roogna (1979),
all
three assembled as The Magic of Xanth (omni 1981), and Centaur
Aisle
(1982), Ogre, Ogre (1982), Night Mare (1983), Dragon on a Pedestal
(1983),
Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn (1984), Golem in the Gears (1986), Vale of
the
Vole (1987), Heaven Cent (1988), Man from Mundania (1989), Isle of
View
(1990) and Question Quest (1991), The Color of her Panties (1992),
Demons
Don't Dream (1993) and Harpy Thyme (1993), plus Piers Anthony's
Visual
Guide to Xanth (1989) with Jody Lynn Nye; Hasan (1969-70 Fantastic;
exp
1977; exp 1986); Pretender (1979) with Frances Hall (1914- );
the
Apprentice Adept sequence comprising Split Infinity (1980), Blue
Adept
(1981) and Juxtaposition (1982), all three assembled as Double
Exposure
(omni 1982), and Out of Phaze (1987), Robot Adept (1988), Unicorn
Point
(1989) and Phaze Doubt (1990); Mute (1981); Ghost (1986); Shade of
the
Tree (1986); the Kelvin of Rud series of fantasies with Robert
E.Margroff
comprising Dragon's Gold (1987), Serpent's Silver (1988) and
Chimaera's
Copper (1990), all three being assembled as The Adventures of
Kelvin of
Rud: Across the Frames (omni 1992; vt Three Complete Novels 1994);
and
Orc's Opal (1990) and Mouvar's Magic (1992), both being assembled as
The
Adventures of Kelvin of Rud: Final Magic (omni 1992); Total Recall
(1989),
a novelization of the film TOTAL RECALL (1990), itself based on
Philip
K.DICK's We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (1966); Through the
Ice
(1989) with Robert Kornwise (?1971-1987), a collaborative gesture to
a
dead teenage writer; Pornucopia (1989), a pornographic fantasy; Hard
Sell
(fixup 1990), humorous sf; Dead Morn (1990) with Roberto Fuentes,
a
TIME-TRAVEL tale of a visit from the 25th century to a revolutionary
Cuba
familiar to the book's co-author; Firefly (1990), horror; Balook
(1991),
young-adult sf; the Mode fantasy series, beginning with Virtual
Mode
(1991), Fractal Mode (1992) and Chaos Mode (1993) Tatham Mound (1991),
a
fantasy based on Amerindian material; Mer-Cycle (1991); vt Mercycle
1993
UK), an sf singleton; The Caterpillar's Question (1992) with Philip
Jose
FARMER; Alien Plot (1992); Killobyte (1992); If I Pay Thee Not in
Gold
(1993) with Mercedes LACKEY. As Editor: Uncollected Stars (anth 1986)
with
Barry N.MALZBERG, Martin H.GREENBERG and Charles G.WAUGH; Tales from
the
Great Turtle (anth 1994) with Richard Gilliam. Nonfiction: Letters
to
Jenny (coll 1993). About the author: Piers Anthony (1983 chap) by
Michael
R.COLLINGS; Piers Anthony: Biblio of an Ogre: A Working Bibliography
(1990
chap) by Phil STEPHENSEN-PAYNE. See also: ASTRONOMY; CRIME AND
PUNISHMENT;
DEL REY BOOKS; ECOLOGY; GODS AND DEMONS; HUMOUR; The MAGAZINE OF
FANTASY
AND SCIENCE FICTION; MEDICINE; MUSIC; UNDER THE SEA.
ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology is the scientific study of the genus Homo,
especially its
species H.sapiens. Physical anthropology deals with the
history of
H.sapiens and its immediate evolutionary precursors (some of which
in fact
coexisted with H.sapiens); cultural anthropology (ethnology) deals
with
the contemporary diversity of human cultures (see also SOCIOLOGY).
The
founding fathers of the science - Sir Edward Tylor (1832-1917) and
Sir
James Frazer (1854-1941) among them - made the dubious assumption that,
by
studying the diversity of contemporary societies and describing
a
hierarchy extending from the most primitive to the most highly
developed,
they could discover a single evolutionary pattern; this assumption
is
built into much early anthropological sf. Modern anthropologists take
care
to avoid this kind of thinking, and tend to refer to pre-literate,
tribal,
traditional or non-technological societies, rather than primitive
ones, in
order to emphasize that there is no single path of progress which
all
societies must tread. Anthropological speculations feature in sf in
a
number of different ways, representing various approaches to the
two
dimensions of inquiry. There is a subgenre of stories dealing
directly
with the issues surrounding the physical EVOLUTION of humans from
bestial
ancestors and with the cultural evolution of human societies in
the
distant past (ORIGIN OF MAN for discussion of such stories); these
are
speculative fictions that owe their inspiration to scientific theory
and
discovery but, as they participate hardly at all in the
characteristic
vocabulary of ideas and imaginative apparatus of sf, they are
often seen
as borderline sf at best, although the evocation of ideas drawn
from
physical anthropology in such works as NO ENEMY BUT TIME (1982)
and
Ancient of Days (1985) by Michael BISHOP is entirely sciencefictional.
The
species of fantasy which straightforwardly represents the other
dimension
of the anthropological spectrum by dealing in the imaginary
construction
of contemporary societies is also borderline; most such stories
are
lost-race fantasies (LOST WORLDS) that usually make little use
of
scientific anthropology in the design of their hypothetical cultures.
Some
prehistoric fantasies are pure romantic adventure stories - e.g.,
Edgar
Rice BURROUGHS's The Eternal Lover (1925; vt The Eternal Savage) - but
the
subgenre includes a considerable number of thoughtful analytical works:
J.
H.ROSNY, aine's La guerre du feu (1909; trans as Quest for Fire 1967),
the
first 4 vols of Johannes V.JENSEN's Den Lange Rejse (1908-22; vols 1 and
2
trans as The Long Journey: Fire and Ice 1922; vols 3 and 4 trans as
The
Cimbrians: The Long Journey II 1923), J.Leslie MITCHELL's Three Go
Back
(1932), William GOLDING's The Inheritors (1955) and Bjorn KURTEN's
Den
svarta tigern (1978; trans by the author as Dance of the Tiger 1978)
are
the most outstanding. There were also anthropological speculations
in
travellers' tales, but they were mostly too early to be informed by
any
genuinely scientific ideas. One of the most notable of
such
proto-anthropological speculations is to be found in Denis
Diderot's
Supplement to Bougainville's Voyage (1796), which masquerades as
an
addendum to a real travelogue in order to present a debate between
a
Tahitian and a ship's chaplain on the advantages of the state of
Nature
versus those of civilization. Benjamin DISRAELI's Adventures of
Captain
Popanilla (1828) also features a confrontation between the innocent
and
happy life of an imaginary South-Sea-island culture and the principles
of
Benthamite Utilitarianism. The earliest stories of this kind which
embody
speculations drawn from actual scientific thought include some of
the
items in Andrew LANG's In the Wrong Paradise and Other Stories (coll
1886)
and a handful of stories by Grant ALLEN, including The Great Taboo
(1890)
and some of his Strange Stories (coll 1884). Allen was also the
first
writer to bring a hypothetical anthropologist from another culture
to
study tribalism and taboo in Victorian society, in The British
Barbarians
(1895). Another SATIRE in a similar vein is H.G.WELLS's Mr
Blettsworthy on
Rampole Island (1928), in which a deranged young man sees the
inhabitants
of New York as a brutal and primitive ISLAND culture. Recent sf
stories
which submit humans to the clinical eyes of alien anthropologists
include
Mallworld (1981) by S.P.SOMTOW, Cards of Grief (1986) by Jane YOLEN
and
(although they are FAR-FUTURE humans) AN ALIEN LIGHT (1988) by
Nancy
KRESS. The failings of the lost-race story as anthropological sf lie
not
so much in the ambitions of writers as in limitations of the form.
These
limitations have occasionally been transcended in more recent times.
In
You Shall Know Them (1952; vt Borderline; vt The Murder of the
Missing
Link) by VERCORS a species of primate is discovered which fits in
the
margin of all our definitions of humanity; it becomes the focal point of
a
speculative attempt to specify exactly what we mean - or ought to mean
-
by Man. Brother Esau (1982) by Douglas Orgill and John GRIBBIN, Father
to
the Man (1989) by Gribbin alone and Birthright (1990) by Michael
STEWART
develop similar premises in more-or-less conventional thriller
formats,
while Maureen DUFFY's Gor Saga (1981) uses a half-human protagonist
as an
instrument of clever satire (APES AND CAVEMEN). Providence Island
(1959)
by Jacquetta HAWKES is a painstaking analysis of a society which has
given
priority to the development of the mind rather than technological
control
of the environment, thus calling into question the propriety of such
terms
as primitive and advanced. Aldous HUXLEY's Island (1962) is
somewhat
similar, and a pulp sf story with the same fundamental message
is
Forgetfulness (1937) by John W.CAMPBELL Jr (writing as Don
A.Stuart),
though this latter skips over any actual analysis of the
culture
described. The demise of the lost-race fantasy as an effective
vehicle for
anthropological speculation has led to a curiously paradoxical
situation,
in that the format has been recast in modern sf by use
of
non-technological ALIEN societies on other worlds in place
of
non-technological human societies on Earth. Ideas derived from
the
scientific study of humankind are widely - and sometimes very
effectively
- applied to the designing of cultures which are by definition
nonhuman.
So, while most sf aliens have always been surrogate humans, this
has not
necessarily been just through idleness or lack of imagination on the
part
of writers: there is a good deal of sf in which alien beings are
quite
calculatedly and intelligently deployed as substitutes for
mankind.
Post-WWII sf has managed to ameliorate the paradoxicality of the
situation
by developing a convention which allows a more straightforward
revival of
the lost-race format: the lost colony scenario in which long-lost
human
colonists on an alien world have reverted to barbarism, often
following
the fall of a GALACTIC EMPIRE. The anthropologist and sf writer
Chad
OLIVER has written a great many stories which deal with the
confrontation
between protagonists whose viewpoints are similar to ours
and
non-technological alien societies or human colonies. Notable are Rite
of
Passage (1954), Field Expedient (1955) and Between the Thunder and the
Sun
(1957). Like Grant Allen, Oliver has also attempted the more
ambitious
project of imagining the situation in reverse, with alien
anthropologists
studying our culture, in Shadows in the Sun (1954). Other
impressive sf
stories which use alien societies in this way are Mine Own Ways
(1960) by
Richard MCKENNA, A Far Sunset (1967) by Edmund COOPER, The Sharing
of
Flesh (1968) by Poul ANDERSON, Beyond Another Sun (1971) by Tom
GODWIN,
THE WORD FOR WORLD IS FOREST (1972; 1976) by Ursula K.LE GUIN
(daughter of
anthropologist Alfred Kroeber) and Death and Designation Among
the Asadi
(1973; exp vt TRANSFIGURATIONS 1979) by Michael Bishop. Works which
use
the lost-colony format to model non-technological human societies
include
several interesting novels by Jack VANCE, notably The Blue World
(1966),
Le Guin's Rocannon's World (1966) and Planet of Exile (1966),
Joanna
RUSS's AND CHAOS DIED (1970), Cherry WILDER's Second Nature (1982)
and
Donald KINGSBURY's COURTSHIP RITE (1982; vt Geta). These human
societies
are often more different from non-technological human societies
than are
the alien examples, and the injection of some crucial
distinguishing
feature - usually PSI POWERS - is common. This tends to move
the stories
away from strictly anthropological speculation toward a more
general
hypothetical SOCIOLOGY. This convergence of the roles of aliens
and
technologically unsophisticated humans is shown off to its
greatest
advantage in Ian WATSON's THE EMBEDDING (1973), which juxtaposes
an
examination of a South American tribe who have a strange language and
a
correspondingly strange worldview with the arrival in
Earth's
neighbourhood of an equally enigmatic alien race. This is one of the
very
few stories to reflect the current state of anthropological science
and
its intimate links with modern linguistics and semiology; many sf
writers
prefer to take their inspiration from the scholarly fantasies of
such
mock-anthropological studies as Robert GRAVES's The White Goddess
(1948);
a notable example is Joan VINGE's THE SNOW QUEEN (1980). Another
much-used
narrative framework for the establishment of hypothetical human
societies
is the post-disaster scenario (DISASTER; HOLOCAUST AND AFTER;
SOCIOLOGY).
Most fictions in this area deal with the destruction and
reconstitution of
society, and are perhaps of more general sociological
interest. Where they
bear upon anthropology is not so much in their
envisaging different states
of social organization but in their embodiment of
assumptions regarding
social evolution. Interesting speculations are to be
found in such novels
as William GOLDING's Lord of the Flies (1954), Angela
CARTER's HEROES AND
VILLAINS (1969) and Russell HOBAN's RIDDLEY WALKER
(1980), and in the
Pelbar series by Paul O. WILLIAMS, begun with The Breaking
of Northwall
(1981). By far the most richly detailed of such accounts
of
technologically primitive future societies is Le Guin's tour de force
of
speculative anthropology, ALWAYS COMING HOME (1985), which describes
the
tribal culture of the Kesh, inhabitants of a post-industrial
California.
It is ironic that in the real world cultural anthropology's field
of study
is rapidly being eroded. No other science suffers so dramatically
from
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle: the effect the process of
observation
has on the subject of that observation. Cultural anthropology may
soon
become a largely speculative discipline, looking forward to a
possible
future rebirth if and when the possibilities mapped out in sf
are
realized; this point is neatly made by Robert SILVERBERG's story
Schwartz
Between the Galaxies (1974). There is, of course, a much broader
sense in
which a great deal of sf may be said to embody
anthropological
perspectives. Sf must always attempt to put human
individuals, human
societies and the entire human species into new contexts.
Sf writers
aspire - or at least pretend - to a kind of objectivity in
their
examination of the human condition. Such an attitude is by no
means
unknown in mainstream fiction, but it is not typical. The attitude
and
method of sf writers are easily comparable to the difficult
but
fundamental task facing anthropologists, who must detach themselves
from
the inherited attitudes of their own society and immerse themselves in
the
life of an alien culture without ever losing their ability to stand
back
from their experience and take the measure of that culture as
objectively
as possible. Because of this, workers in the human sciences might
find
much to interest them in the study of sf. It is not surprising that
the
first sf anthology compiled as a teaching aid in a scientific subject
(SF
IN THE CLASSROOM) was the anthropological Apeman, Spaceman (anth 1968)
ed
Leon E.STOVER and Harry HARRISON; a more recent example is
Anthropology
through Science Fiction (anth 1974) ed Carol Mason, Martin
H.GREENBERG and
Patricia WARRICK. A collection of critical essays on the
theme is Aliens:
The Anthropology of Science Fiction (anth 1987) ed Eric
S.RABKIN and
George Edgar SLUSSER. Further to the last point, it is worth
taking note
of the fairly considerable body of sf which represents a
speculative
anthropology with no analogue in the science itself, dealing
with
H.sapiens not as it is or has been but as it might be or might become.
The
ultimate example is, of course, Olaf STAPLEDON's LAST AND FIRST
MEN
(1930), which describes the entire evolutionary history of the human
race
and its lineal descendants, but there are many other works which deal
with
the possibilities of future developments in human nature. Now that
the
advent of GENETIC ENGINEERING promises to deliver control of our
future
EVOLUTION into our own hands, discussions of the physical anthropology
of
the future have acquired a new practical relevance. This point was
first
made by J.B.S.HALDANE in his prophetic essay Daedalus, or Science and
the
Future (1924); it is elaborately extrapolated in Brian M.STABLEFORD's
and
David LANGFORD's future history The Third Millennium (1985) and in
many
other works which wonder how human beings might remake their own
nature,
once they have the power to do so. See also: PASTORAL; SUPERMAN.
ANTIGRAVITY
The idea of somehow counteracting GRAVITY is one of the great sf
dreams:
it is gravity that kept us earthbound for so long, and even now the
force
required to escape the gravity well of Earth or any other celestial
body
is the main factor that makes spaceflight so difficult and expensive.
The
theme of antigravity appeared early in sf, a typical 19th-century
example
being apergy, an antigravity principle used to propel a spacecraft
from
Earth to Mars in Percy GREG's Across the Zodiac (1880) and borrowed
for
the same purpose by John Jacob ASTOR in A Journey in Other Worlds
(1894).
C.C.DAIL's Willmoth the Wanderer, or The Man from Saturn (1890) uses
a
convenient antigravity ointment to smear on the wanderer's space
vehicle.
More famously, in THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1901) H.G.WELLS used
movable
shutters made of Cavorite, a metal that shields against gravity,
to
navigate a spacecraft to the Moon. Other unexplained antigravity
devices
remained popular for a long time, especially in juvenile sf, as in
the
flying belt used by BUCK ROGERS or the antigravitic flubber,
flying
rubber, in the film The ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR (1961). In two
notable
short stories of the 1950s about the discovery of antigravity,
however -
Noise Level (1952) by Raymond F.JONES and Mother of Invention
(1953) by
Tom GODWIN - there are (not very convincing) attempts to give it
a
scientific rationale. Much more famous (and more convincing -
although
still wrong) is James BLISH's explanation of the antigravity effect
used
by his SPINDIZZIES, the devices that enable whole cities to cross
the
Galaxy in the series of stories and novels collected as CITIES IN
FLIGHT
(omni 1970): in one, Bridge (1952), he invokes physicists Paul
Dirac
(1902-1984) and P.M.S.Blackett (1987-1974) in several pages of
formulae
purporting to show that both magnetism and gravity are phenomena
of
rotation. The term antigravity is scorned by physicists.
Einstein's
General Theory of Relativity sees a gravitational field as
equivalent to a
curving of spacetime. Thus an antigravity device could work
only by
locally rebuilding the basic framework of the Universe itself;
antigravity
would require negative mass, a concept conceivable only in a
universe of
negative space which could not co-exist with our own. Charles
Eric MAINE
confronted Einstein head-on when, in Count-Down (1959; vt Fire
Past the
Future US), he proposed that, if gravity were curved space, all that
was
necessary to permit antigravity - he made it sound easy - was to
simply
bend space the other way. The proliferation in the 1970s and 1980s
of
bestselling popularizing books about modern physics may have something
to
do with the fact that antigravity, for so long a popular theme, is
now
seldom used by sf writers. See also: IMAGINARY SCIENCE; POWER
SOURCES.
ANTIHEROES
HEROES.
ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM IN SF
Anti-intellectualism takes two forms in sf: a
persistent if minor theme
appears in stories in which the intellect is
distrusted; more common are
stories about future DYSTOPIAS in which society
at large distrusts the
intellect although the authors, themselves
intellectuals, do not. In
stories of the first sort, INTELLIGENCE is usually
seen to be sterile if
unmodified by intuition, feeling or compassion - a
familiar theme in
literature generally. That Hideous Strength (1945) by
C.S.LEWIS attacks a
government-backed scientific organization for its
thoughtlessness and
smugness about the consequences for humanity of
scientific development;
one of the villains, a vulgar journalist, is clearly
modelled on
H.G.WELLS. The symbol of the sterile intellect is a disembodied
head, cold
and evil, in a bottle. In GENRE SF, too, brains in bottles - or at
least
in dome-shaped heads attached to merely vestigial bodies - have been
among
the commonest CLICHES, especially in the 1930s. The archetype here
is
Alas, All Thinking! (1935) by Harry BATES, in which the EVOLUTION
of
mankind is shown to culminate in just such a figure, rendered in
a
memorable image; the horrified protagonist, an intelligent man from
the
present, resolves to start spending less time on intellectual
activities.
The theme of intelligence as insufficient on its own frequently
takes the
form of mankind learning to adapt harmoniously to an Eden-like
world (LIFE
ON OTHER WORLDS) to which individuals somehow come to belong
organically
and transcendentally, a process that bypasses the intellect and
proves
impossible to humans whose minds outweigh their hearts. Such an
evolution
occurs towards the end of Michael SWANWICK's STATIONS OF THE TIDE
(1991)
and is central to J.G.BALLARD's The Drowned World (1962
US).
Significantly, in both books - as in many others - the union with
the
non-intellectual world is envisaged as a return to water: back to
the
bloodstream, so to speak. Anti-intellectual sf stories were given
some
impetus by the bombing of Hiroshima: a distrust of SCIENTISTS and of
the
potentially awesome results of irresponsibly wielded scientific
knowledge
became quite widespread. These moral issues were often quite
responsibly
examined in sf stories, but sf CINEMA tended to take a more
simplistic
line. The mid-1950s saw a procession of MONSTER MOVIES in which
very often
the monsters were the products of scientific irresponsibility;
commonly a
religiose voice, impressively baritone, would intone on the
sound-track:
There are some things Man was not meant to know. A new twist on
the
anti-intellectual theme became quite common in the pessimistic 1980s:
the
uselessness of the intellect in the face of cosmic indifference
and
boundless ENTROPY. It has even been suggested, in both sf and
science
fact, that intelligence may one day prove to have been a
non-viable
mutation, a mere comma in the long, mindless sentence of our
Universe.
Bruce STERLING's Swarm (1982) has a clever superhuman outmanoeuvred
by an
alien HIVE-MIND which has intelligence genetically available for
special
circumstances, but most of the time repudiates it as being an
antisurvival
trait. The theme is seldom spelled out as clearly as this, but
it appears
- by implication, as a subtext - in all sorts of surprising
places, as in
Douglas ADAMS's HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY books, which
are
generally thought of as being funny but in which any intellectual
activity
at all is seen as hubris - to be instantly, in Brian W.ALDISS's
phrase,
clobbered by nemesis. Indeed, the evanescence of the life of the mind
has
long been a wistful theme of Aldiss's own, all the way from The
Long
Afternoon of Earth (1962 US; rev vt Hothouse 1962 UK) to his
Helliconia
series of the 1980s. It is an implied theme, too, of Richard
GRANT's
Rumours of Spring (1987). Books like this are not anti-intellectual
as
such; they merely suggest that, in the evolutionary race, it is an
error
to bet too heavily on the brain. In written sf, however, we more
commonly
find the opposite tack taken: that the life of the intellect is
strong and
precious, but needs constantly to be guarded from philistines
and
rednecks; that the prejudices of an ill-informed population
against
scientists and intellectuals might in the short term result in acts
of
violence against thinking people and, in the long term, lead to
the
stifling of all progress. One of the commonest themes in sf is the
static
society (CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH; DYSTOPIAS; POLITICS; UTOPIAS).
Wells,
who was attacked by Lewis for a narrow and unfeeling humanism,
feared
this, and he did indeed believe that the world would be better off
if
governed by a technocracy of trained, literate and numerate experts
rather
than by a hereditary ruling class or by demagogues elected
through
manipulation of an uninformed democracy. These ideas are expressed in
A
Modern Utopia (1905) and many of Wells's later works, but he had
already
given them dramatic expression in The Food of the Gods, and How it
Came to
Earth (1904), in which the anti-intellectual stupidity and fear of
the
general population are contrasted bitterly with the splendour of the
new
race of giants unencumbered by medieval prejudice. On the other hand,
in
THE TIME MACHINE (1895 US; rev 1895 UK) Wells had rather implied,
in
giving the beauty to the Eloi and the brains to the Morlocks, that
neither
part of the equation was much good on its own. Many years later Fred
HOYLE
was to take up the theme of A Modern Utopia, notably in The Black
Cloud
(1957) and Ossian's Ride (1959), where he argues for an intellectual
elite
of scientists and technologists and proposes that
traditionally
arts-educated intellectuals are in reality anti-intellectual in
that,
being innumerate, they distrust and misunderstand science. SATIRE
against
anti-intellectualism came to prominence in sf with the generation of
the
1950s, especially among those writers associated with GALAXY
SCIENCE
FICTION, prominently C.M.KORNBLUTH, Frederik POHL and Robert
SHECKLEY.
H.Beam PIPER wrote a satirical plea for thought in Day of the Moron
(1951
ASF), but better known is Kornbluth's The Marching Morons (1951 Gal),
in
which a small coterie of future intellectuals secretly manipulates
the
vast anti-intellectual, moronic majority. Damon KNIGHT and James
BLISH
were two other writers who satirically defended eggheads (a
newly
fashionable word) against philistine attack. Fritz LEIBER's The
Silver
Eggheads (1958 FSF; 1961) presents an appalling if
amusing
anti-intellectual future in which only ROBOTS are in the habit
of
constructive thought. The 1950s were the era of McCarthyism: it was
a
common fear of US writers and artists that to be viewed as a smart
aleck
might be a preliminary to being attacked as a homosexual and thence, by
a
curious progression, as a communist - that is, to be an
intellectual
implied that one was suspicious and unreliable. It is therefore
not
surprising that satires of the type noted above should be so
densely
clustered during this period. Anti-intellectualism is commonly
presented
in connection with two of sf's main themes. One is that of the
SUPERMAN
who, through mutation (MUTANTS) or for some other reason,
develops
unusually high intelligence. Two such books are MUTANT (1945-53 ASF;
fixup
1953) by Henry KUTTNER and Children of the Atom (1948-50 ASF; fixup
1953)
by Wilmar H.SHIRAS; in both, superior intelligence incurs the anger
of
normals, and even persecution by them. The second relevant theme
concerns
stories set after the HOLOCAUST. In these the survivors, often
living in a
state of tribalism or medieval feudalism, are - in a very popular
variant
of the story - deeply suspicious of intellectuals, fearing that
the
renewal of technology will lead to another disaster. Three good novels
of
just such a kind are The Long Tomorrow (1955) by Leigh BRACKETT,
A
CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ (1960) by Walter M.MILLER, and Re-Birth (1955
US;
rev vt The Chrysalids 1955 UK) by John WYNDHAM. Surprisingly
few
full-length works have taken anti-intellectualism as their
overriding
central theme. One such is The Burning (1972) by James E.GUNN, in
which
violent anti-intellectualism leads to the destruction of scientists;
the
return of science is via witchcraft, a theme that owes something to
Robert
A.HEINLEIN's Sixth Column (1941 ASF as by Anson MacDonald; 1949)
and
Leiber's Gather Darkness (1943 ASF; 1950). Ursula K.LE GUIN's early
sf
story, The Masters (1963), deals movingly with a similar theme in a
story
of a world dominated by religion in which independent thought is a
heresy
punishable by burning at the stake. But the classic novel of the
intellect
at bay is of course Ray BRADBURY's FAHRENHEIT 451 (1953), set in
a
not-too-distant future where reading books is a crime.
ANTIMATTER
The concept in PHYSICS that forms of matter may exist composed
of
antiparticles, opposite in all properties to the particles which
compose
ordinary matter, has a special appeal to sf writers. The idea itself
was
first formulated by the physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984) in 1930;
the
confirmation of the existence of such particles came soon, with
the
discovery of the positron (the anti-electron) in 1932. However,
although
antiparticles can be and are created in the laboratory, this has
never
been done in sufficient quantity (less than one trillionth of a gram
to
date) to form what we would think of as antimatter. It is a concept
that
must at the moment remain theoretical; aside from isolated
particles
(low-energy antiprotons have been detected in high-altitude
balloon
experiments), there may be little or no natural antimatter anywhere
in the
Universe. Antimatter cannot easily exist in our world, since it
would
combine explosively with conventional matter, mutually annihilating
100%
of both forms of matter to create energy, a point basic to the plot
of
Paul DAVIES's Fireball (1987). Thus antimatter would make a fine
power
source if only we knew how to store it: no problem it seems for
Scottie,
the engineer in STAR TREK, since the starship Enterprise is fuelled
by it.
An early sf view of antimatter's potential usefulness appears in
Jack
WILLIAMSON's Seetee Ship (1942-43 ASF; 1951) and its sequel Seetee
Shock
(1949 ASF; 1950), originally published as by Will Stewart. (Seetee
stands
for CT, which in turn stands for ContraTerrene matter, an old sf term
for
antimatter.) Antimatter galaxies, or even an entire antimatter
universe
created in the Big Bang at the same time as our matter universe,
have been
postulated by physicists, with the enthusiastic support of the
sf
community. A.E.VAN VOGT was one of the first to use this idea, which
has
since become a CLICHE
ANTON, LUDWIG
(1872- ?) German novelist whose Anglophobe novel Brucken uber
den
Weltraum (1922; trans by Konrad Schmidt as Interplanetary Bridges
1933
Wonder Stories Quarterly) describes the colonization of VENUS.
Other
works: Die japanische Pest The Japanese Plague (1922); Der Mann
im
Schatten Man in the Shadows (1926).
ANTROBUS, JOHN
The BED-SITTING ROOM; Spike MILLIGAN.
ANVIL, CHRISTOPHER
Pseudonym of US writer Harry C.Crosby Jr (?- ), whose two
earliest
stories were published under his own name in Imagination in 1952 and
1953,
the first being Cinderella, Inc.. CA has been popularly identified
with
ASF since his initial appearance in that magazine with The Prisoner
in
1956. He soon followed with the first of the stories making up the
Centra
series: Pandora's Planet (1956 ASF; exp 1972), Pandora's Envoy (1961),
The
Toughest Opponent (1962), Sweet Reason (1966) and Trap (1969).
His
prolific fiction has been noted from the beginning for its vein of
comic
ethnocentricity, a vein much in keeping with the expressed feelings
of
John W.CAMPBELL Jr who, in his later years at least, felt
it
philosophically necessary for humans to win in any significant
encounter
with ALIENS. CA supplied this sort of story effortlessly, though
his first
novel, The Day the Machines Stopped (1964), is a DISASTER story in
which a
Soviet experiment permanently cuts off all electrical impulses in
the
world. Chaos results, but Americans are soon making do again with
steam
engines and reconstructing a more rural civilization. Most of CA's
stories
take place in a consistent future galactic federation (GALACTIC
EMPIRES),
and quite a number deal with COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS. Within
this
larger pattern are a number of lesser series, most of whose
individual
stories were published (usually in ASF) in magazine form only.
Archaic,
simplistic, insistently readable, Warlord's World (1975) and
Strangers in
Paradise (fixup 1969) are representative of this material; The
Steel, the
Mist, and the Blazing Sun (1980), which depicts a Soviet-US war
200 years
hence, is similar. Only the occasional non-ASF story, like Mind
Partners
(1960) from Gal, hints at the supple author who remained content
within
the cage of Campbell's expectations. Since Campbell's death, CA has
been
less active as a writer. What he might have offered has long been
missed.
See also: ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION; WAR.
APA
An acronym taken from National Amateur Press Association, an
organization
founded in 1869 to coordinate the distribution of its members'
writings.
An apa is a collection of individually produced contributions which
have
been sent to a central editor, who has then collated them and
distributed
the assembled result to all contributors. Apas - the term was
most often
found used in the plural, and was pronounced as a word - were
common in
the late 19th century, and became of genre significance with
productions
like The Recluse, published in the 1920s by W.Paul Cook
(1881-1948), which
distributed the work of H.P.LOVECRAFT and his circle.
Figures involved in
apas like The Recluse soon turned to more formal
publishing (SMALL PRESSES
AND LIMITED EDITIONS), but younger fans came into
the scene. In 1937,
Donald A.WOLLHEIM founded the Fantasy Amateur Press
Association, which
produced in FAPA the first sf apa proper. Many others
followed, and apas
remained for many decades an important device within
FANDOM for
maintaining affinities and circulating fiction by young writers.
In recent
years, computer bulletin boards have tended to supplant the apa as
a
forum; but many remain active.
APES AND CAVEMEN (IN THE HUMAN WORLD)
The heading for this entry should be
seen as no more than a rough
short-hand designation for a subject whose
nature is diffuse. As apes we
include the great apes, chimpanzees,
orang-utans and monkeys; by cavemen
we mean to designate proto-human races,
including Neanderthals, but
without taking a particular stand in the debate
on the evolutionary tree
(or grove). We do not, however, refer here to
Neanderthals or other
cavemen in their natural habitat, which is the distant
past (for which see
ANTHROPOLOGY; ORIGIN OF MAN): our interest here is in
survivors,
Neanderthals thawed out of ice-floes or surviving in lost garden
enclaves
of our fallen world (like Bigfoot, the Yeti and other legendary
humanoid
creatures, who are also relevant to the discussion) or even
immortal. Our
reason for conflating apes and cavemen is simple enough:
insofar as sf
writers take them both to embody the same set of metaphors -
whether as
innocent Candide-like observers of our corrupt mores or funhouse
mirrors
of humanity to whom we respond with horror - apes and cavemen have
almost
identical functions in the literature of the 19th and early
20th
centuries. For there to have been a sustained imaginative interest in,
and
use for, apes and cavemen as observers or mirrors of the human
condition,
two conditions were probably necessary. The first is obvious: the
human
condition itself must have become an issue for discourse. Though
the
pre-18th-century literatures of the world are full of animal
doubles,
monsters and prodigies, the degree of kinship to us of these
creations has
nothing to do with any attempt to define Homo sapiens as a
species; and,
in the absence of any sense (or hope) that we are a species
distinct as a
species from other species, there is in traditional literatures
an absence
of any propaganda intended to distinguish between us and those
others -
except, perhaps, discourse designed to argue the presence or absence
of a
soul. Hierarchies of living things in earlier literature are various,
and
principles of exclusion and inclusion tend to cross species, but,
before
taxonomical thinking emerged in the 18th century, beings tended to
be
thought of as human (or not human) according to their location, actual
and
symbolic. It is because he is a cusp figure, a Janus monster facing
the
deep past and the exposed future, that the Caliban of Shakespeare's
The
Tempest (c1612) - who reappears as a kind of ape in Mrs Caliban (1982)
by
Rachel Ingalls (1941- ) - is so terribly difficult to reduce to
a
stereotype. The second necessary circumstance was of course Time,
or
Progress. Moderns instinctively think of beasts and monsters as
being
prior. For there to have been an 18th-century Primitivist vision of
the
Noble Savage there must have been a sense that we had advanced -
or
retreated - from some earlier state. So it is no surprise that the
first
apes-as-human texts of interest to an sf reader are probably two works
by
a Primitivist philosopher, James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714-1799),
whose
Of the Origin and Progress of Language (1773-92) and Ancient
Metaphysics
(1779-99) contrast humanity's corrupt nature with that of the
pacific
orang-utan, a vegetarian flautist who may not have learned to speak
but
who was otherwise capable of human attainments. Monboddo's orang-utan
was
a potent and poignant figure, and soon entered fiction in Thomas
Love
Peacock's Melincourt, or Sir Oran Haut-ton (1817), where he saves a
young
maiden from rape, enters Parliament, and gazes wisely upon the
human
spectacle. But Peacock was an author of disquisitional SATIRES, a form
of
fiction soon swamped in the 19th century by the mimetic novel,
where
avatars of Sir Oran Haut-ton could not comfortably abide. The
Monikins
(1835) by James Fenimore COOPER features several captured specimens
of an
articulate monkey civilization who come from an Antarctic LOST WORLD;
but
they relate far more closely to that form of the imaginary-voyage
satire
brought into focus by Jonathan SWIFT in Gulliver's Travels (1726;
rev
1735), as do the intelligent race of monkeys discovered in Les Emotions
de
Polydore Marasquin (1857; trans anon as The Man Among the Monkeys:
or,
Ninety Days in Apeland 1873 UK; vt The Emotions of Polydore Marasquin
1888
UK; vt Monkey Island 1888 UK) by Leon Gozlan (1806-1866). The use of
apes
or yahoos or houyhnhnms as exemplary inhabitants of a UTOPIA or
DYSTOPIA
represents a very different - and ultimately more significant -
tradition
than the use of apes as illustrative examples embedded into our own
human
world. Indeed, it would not be until the publication of Charles
Darwin's
Origin of Species (1859) that the apes-as-human topic became
sufficiently
ambiguous or threatening (EVOLUTION) to be of widespread
imaginative use
(the ape in Edgar Allan POE's The Murders in the Rue Morgue
1841 is more
or less a trained animal). But now that humans and other
primates - as
well as the Neanderthals whose existence soon entered public
consciousness
- could all seem members of one family, then the observer
became a mirror.
Apes-as-human could be seen as literal parodies of our
species (and the
reverse); in an uncomfortably intimate sense, they could
represent the
brother or sister we locked in the cellar for their protection,
or to
prevent them from shaming us. The terror Thomas De Quincey
(1785-1859)
felt whenever he envisioned the East (which he never in fact saw,
but
whose imagined inhabitants clearly represented a psychopathic
self-image)
turned into opium nightmares of being surrounded by apes. Mr
Hyde, in
Robert Louis STEVENSON's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(1886),
may not be a literal ape-as-human, but he surely fulfils the
symbolic
function of the brother-within-the-skin whom it is death to
recognize. A
perfectly understandable dis-ease therefore afflicted
late-19th-century
versions of the theme, from the frivolousness of Bill
Nye'sPersonal
Experiences in Monkey Language (1893) to the pathos and
parodic
horrificness of the animal victims of H.G.WELLS's The Island of Dr
Moreau
(1896). Further examples are Haydon Perry's The Upper Hand in
Contraptions
(anth 1895), Frank Challice Constable's The Curse of Intellect
(1895), and
Don Mark Lemon's The Gorilla (1905). The 20th century saw a
flourishing,
and a routinization, of the apes-as-human tale, though it never
attained
the popularity of its close cousin, the
enfant-sauvage-as-Noble-Savage
genre, which featured intensely readable
wish-fulfilment tales like
Rudyard KIPLING's Mowgli stories (which mostly
appeared in The Jungle Book
coll 1894 and The Second Jungle Book coll 1895)
and the Tarzan books of
Edgar Rice BURROUGHS (from 1914). Apes-as-human (or
Neanderthals-as-human)
appeared, variously emblematic, in the anonymous The
Curse of Intellect
(1895), in Dwala: A Romance (1904) by George Calderon
(1868-1915), in
James Elroy FLECKER's The Last Generation (1908 chap), in
Gaston LEROUX's
Balaoo (1912; trans 1913), in Max BRAND's That Receding Brow
(1919), in
Clement FEZANDIE's The Secret of the Talking Ape (1923), in Erle
Stanley
GARDNER's Monkey Eyes (1929), in Sean M'Guire's Beast or Man (1930),
in
Mogglesby (1930 Adventure) by T(homas) S(igismund) Stribling
(1881-1965),
in John COLLIER's brilliant His Monkey Wife (1930), in an
evolutionary
pas-de-deux with the Second Men in Olaf STAPLEDON's LAST AND
FIRST MEN
(1930), in G.E.Trevelyan's Appius and Virginia (1932), in
Alder
Martin-Magog's Man or Ape? (1933), in L.Sprague DE CAMP's The Gnarly
Man
(1939), in Thor Swan's Furfooze (1939), in Aldous HUXLEY's After Many
a
Summer Dies the Swan (1939; vt After Many a Summer 1939 UK)
(see
alsoDEVOLUTION), in Justin ATHOLL's The Grey Beast (1944 chap), in
David
V.REED's The Whispering Gorilla (1950), in Hackenfeller's Ape (1953)
by
Brigid Brophy (1929- ), in Philip Jose FARMER's The Alley Man (1959;
in
The Alley God coll 1962), in Robert NATHAN's The Mallott Diaries
(1965),
and elsewhere. Towards the end of this sequence, something of a new
note
could be perhaps detected - in De Camp's fine tale, or in
Stephen
GILBERT's Monkeyface (1948) - a lessening of the sense of latent
or
explicit menace, perhaps because the process of evolution no longer
seemed
quite so insulting to the race which was inflicting WWII upon itself
and
upon its cousins. But, in general, ironies or horror or
condescension
governed the presentation of the theme. It is possible to
detect two very
broad tendencies in more recent years. Articulate and wise
apes-as-humans
(streetwise Candides) can be used, as in Roger PRICE's J.G.,
the Upright
Ape (1960), to present, more or less straightforwardly, a satiric
vision
of the contemporary world; other examples would be The Right
Honourable
Chimpanzee (1978) by David ST GEORGE and Hans Werner Henze's
opera, Der
junge Lord The Young Lord (1965). However, work of this sort tends
not to
be created by anyone deeply immersed in sf, where the concept now
tends to
be treated with troubled complexity; the ironic distance has been
lost. No
longer is it sufficient merely to posit an articulate cousin who
looks us
in the eyes: the contemporary sf writer is much more interested in
the
moral and speculative consequences (GENETIC ENGINEERING) of our
capacity
actually to implement the process of transformation. Stories like
Joseph
H.DELANEY's Brainchild (1982), Leigh KENNEDY's Her Furry Face
(1983),
Judith MOFFETT's Surviving (1986) and Pat MURPHY's Rachel in Love
(1987
IASFM; 1992 chap) are dark fables of that transformation, the last
three
importing a FEMINIST agenda through metaphorical identifications of
caged
primates and women. Further tales with similar burdens include
Deutsche
Suite (1972; trans Arnold Pomerans as German Suite 1979 UK) by
Herbert
Rosendorfer (1934- ), Experiment at Proto (1973) by Philip Oakes
(1928- ),
Ian MCEWAN's Reflections of a Kept Ape (1978), Paddy CHAYEFSKY's
Altered
States (1978), Michael CRICHTON's Congo (1980), Maureen DUFFY's Gor
Saga
(1981), Stephen GALLAGHER's Chimera (1982), Douglas Orgill's and
John
GRIBBIN's Brother Esau (1982), Bernard MALAMUD's God's Grace (1982),
Peter
VAN GREENAWAY's Manrissa Man (1982), Michael BISHOP's Ancient of
Days
(1985), L.Neil SMITH's North American Confederacy series
(1986-8)
(intermittently), Justin LEIBER's Beyond Humanity (1987),
Peter
DICKINSON's Eva (1988), Harry TURTLEDOVE's A Different Flesh (fixup
1988),
Michael STEWART's Monkey Shines (1983), about the genetic
transformation
of a monkey (the film version is discussed below), and the
same author's
less sophisticated Birthright (1990), about the exploitation of
a
Neanderthal survival, Ardath MAYHAR's and Ron Fortier's Monkey
Station
(1989), Isaac ASIMOV's and Robert SILVERBERG's Child of Time
(1991),
Daniel QUINN's Turner Fellowship Award-winning novel, Ishmael
(1992),
whose searching simplicity of idiom returns us all the way back
to
Peacock, Niall Duthie's The Duchess's Dragonfly (1993) and Monkey's
Uncle
(1994) by Jenni Diski (1947- ). Generally less seriously, perhaps,
the
cinema has always been fond of the theme, at least since the archetype
of
ape-as-innocent-in-the-human-world appeared in KING KONG (1933) and
again
in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949). One aspect of the theme perhaps more
nakedly
apparent in films than in books is the religious subtext
of
ape/caveman/Yeti/Bigfoot as, even if savage and dangerous, untainted
by
the Fall of Man. Such innocents discovered by a corrupt humanity,
and
usually envisaged sentimentally, are the Neanderthal or
Cro-Magnon
survivors in TROG (1970), SCHLOCK (1973) - a parody of Trog -
ICEMAN
(1984) and Encino Man (1992), the Yeti in The Abominable Snowman of
the
Himalayas (1957), and the Bigfoot in many low-budget films and one
rather
good big-budget film, HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS (1987). Something
rather
different seems to be happening in ACOLD NIGHT'S DEATH (1975), in
which
experimental apes experiment on scientists; in Link (1985), in which
an
experimental ape becomes homicidal; and in MONKEY SHINES (1988), based
on
Michael Stewart's 1983 novel, in which an experimental ape injected
with
human genetic material gets more lethal the more human it
becomes.
However, in all these films, although the apes are a source of
horror, it
is suggested that it is human contact that has infected them; only
in
PROJECT X (1987) do the experimental apes remain decent, despite
attempts
by the military to teach them to fly nuclear bombers. It is also,
indeed,
an increase in INTELLIGENCE, catalysed by an alien monolith, that
teaches
the apemen of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) how to use weapons. While
most
of these films show apes behaving like humans, a persistent subgenre
going
back to Stevenson's THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
shows
humans becoming apes (DEVOLUTION). Such, with cod seriousness, is
the
theme of ALTERED STATES (1980) and, a great deal more amusingly,
James
Ivory's Savages (1972), in which primitive Mud People become human
guests
at a sophisticated country-house party only to revert again, and
Howard
Hawks's MONKEY BUSINESS (1952), the only sf movie to star Cary
Grant,
Ginger Rogers and Marilyn Monroe. PLANET OF THE APES (1968) and
its
sequels have apes replacing humans, initially to complex satirical
effect,
eventually - with ever increasing simplemindedness - as a
metaphorical
stick with which to beat people; however, because they are set
deep into
the future, they escape the natural confines of this entry, as
did
L.Sprague de Camp's and P.Schuyler MILLER's Genus Homo (1941; rev 1950)
in
an earlier generation, and as does David BRIN's Uplift sequence
more
recently. Similarly, Robert Silverberg's At Winter's End (1988) and
The
Queen of Springtime (1989 UK; vt The New Springtime 1990 US) place
into
the FAR FUTURE the revelation that the surviving inhabitants of Earth
are
in fact transformed primates. But none of us has survived in that
world.
The ape-as-human story, at its heart, is a tale of siblings.
APHELION
Australian magazine, Summer 1985/6 to Summer 1986/7, 5 issues, ed
Peter
McNamara from Adelaide, BEDSHEET-format. One of many short-lived,
quixotic
Australian attempts to produce a viable sf magazine in a country
with a
population too small to support one, A soon failed, but honourably.
Good
stories by George TURNER, Greg EGAN, Rosaleen LOVE and, most often,
Terry
DOWLING, were among the better work published in an uneven
magazine.
McNamara has gone on to publish well produced sf books by
Australian
writers under his SMALL-PRESS imprint, Aphelion Publications.
APOCALYPSE
DISASTER; END OF THE WORLD; ESCHATOLOGY; HOLOCAUST AND AFTER;
RELIGION.
APOSTOLIDES, ALEX
Mark CLIFTON.
APPEARANCE VERSUS REALITY
CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH; METAPHYSICS;
PERCEPTION.
APPEL, ALLEN (R.)
(1945- ) US writer whose Alex Balfour TIME-TRAVEL sequence
- Time after
Time (1985), Twice Upon a Time (1988) and Till the End of Time
(1990) -
hovers, as do so many tales of this sort, between sf and fantasy.
The
protagonist's visits, first to the Russian Revolution, then to the time
of
Mark Twain and General Custer, and finally to Hiroshima, are without
sf
explanation; but Balfour's opportunity to intervene in the
1945
catastrophe engages him potentially in the sort of time-track
manipulation
generally conceded to be an sf trope. What distinguishes the
books from
many others is their intense focus on the ethical dilemmas that
must face
any adult protagonist given the chance to manipulate time-tracks,
to kill
a butterfly and change the world.
APPEL, BENJAMIN
(1907-1977) US writer, long and variously active, known
mainly for such
work outside the sf field as The Raw Edge (1958). In his sf
novel, The
Funhouse (1959; vt The Death Master 1974), satirical (SATIRE)
and
LINGUISTIC sideshows sometimes illuminate the story of two UTOPIAS as
the
Chief of Police from the anti-technological Reservation is called upon
to
save a future USA (the computer-dominated Funhouse) from
atomic
demolition. Other works: The Devil and W.Kaspar (1977). Nonfiction:
The
Fantastic Mirror: Science Fiction across the Ages (1969), not so much
a
critical study as a series of excerpts linked by commentary.
APPLEBY, KEN
Working name of US writer Kenneth Philip Appleby (1953- ). His
first sf
novel, The Voice of Cepheus (1989), presents a clear-voiced,
optimistic
vision of the consequences of First Contact with an ALIEN species
whose
signals have been detected by the young female protagonist and
her
astronomer boss.
APPLETON, VICTOR
House name of the US Stratemeyer Syndicate, used mainly on
the fourTom
Swift series, which together constitute a central example of
the
importance and persistence of the EDISONADE in US sf. Howard R.GARIS
wrote
the first 35 of the first series, which stopped at 38. The second
series,
which deals with Tom Swift, Jr., was initially the work of
Harriet
S.ADAMS, Edward STRATEMEYER's daughter; she generally upgraded
the
scientific side of the enterprise, though some of the flavour of the
early
Tom Swifts was lost. A third series began in 1981 and a fourth, now
with
Byron PREISS as packager, in 1991. The first novel of the first series
is
Tom Swift and his Motor Cycle (1910), which is modest enough; but
very
soon, as in Tom Swift and his Giant Cannon (1913), the mundane world
is
left far behind. The second series begins with Tom Swift and his
Flying
Lab (1954) and mounts to titles like Tom Swift and his Repelatron
Skyway
(1963). The third series began with The City in the Stars (1981) and
ended
with 11, The Planet of Nightmares (1984); writers involved included
Neal
BARRETT Jr., Mike MCQUAY and William ROTSLER. The fourth series
begins
with Tom Swift 1: The Black Dragon (1991) by Bill MCCAY; other
writers
involved include Debra DOYLE and James D.MACDONALD in
collaboration,
Steven Grant, F.Gwynplaine MACINTYRE and Mike MCQUAY. (For
further
information see TOM SWIFT.) See also: CHILDREN'S SF.
ARABIC SF
There are, of course, many fantastic motifs in medieval
Arabic
literature, as in the collection of stories of various genres Alf
layla wa
layla One Thousand and One Nights (standard text 15th century; trans
by
Sir Richard Burton as The Arabian Nights, 16 vols, 1885-8). In this,
the
stories of The City of Brass and The Ebony Horse could be regarded
as
PROTO SCIENCE FICTION. A few UTOPIAS were written, too,
including
al-Farabi's Risala fi mabadi' ara' ahl al-madina al-fadila (first
half of
10th century; trans by Richard Walzer as Al-Farabi on the Perfect
State
1985). The first real sf stories were published in the late 1940s by
the
famous mainstream Egyptian writer Tawfiq Al-HAKIM, but are not
considered
genre sf by Arabic critics, who nominate Mustafa MAHMUD (often
transcribed
Mahmoud) as the Father of Arabic sf. Both of these authors have
been
translated into English. Although there have been a lot of sf
stories
published in Arabic since the 1960s, few authors could be described
as sf
specialists. Among them, the most important is probably Imran Talib,
a
Syrian, author of seven sf novels and short-story collections to date.
The
most interesting of these are the three collections, Kawkab
al-ahlam
Planet of Dreams (coll 1978), Laysa fi al-qamar fuqara' There are No
Poor
on the Moon (coll 1983) and Asrar min madina al-hukma Secrets of the
Town
of Wisdom (coll 1988), and the novel Khalfa hajiz az-zaman Beyond
the
Barrier of Time (1985). Talib is also the author of the sole
theoretical
study of sf in Arabic: Fi al-khayal al-ilmi About Science Fiction
(1980).
Sf is written in practically all Arab countries. In Libya, for
example,
Yusuf al-Kuwayri has published the novel Min mudhakkirat rajul lam
yulad
From the Diary of a Man Not Yet Born (1971), which gives an
optimistic
view of life in Libya in the 32nd century. Mysterious ALIENS
affect the
life and work of the hero, a Palestinian living in the
occupied
territories, in Palestinian Amil Habibi's popular mainstream sf
novel
Al-waqa' al-ghariba fi ikhtifa' Said Abu an-Nahs al-Mutasha'il
(1974;
trans as The Secret Life of Saeed, the Ill-Fated Pessoptimist:
A
Palestinian who Became a Citizen of Israel 1982). Various other
mainstream
writers have written occasional sf stories, as in Qisas Short
Stories
(coll) by the Syrian Walid Ikhlasi and Khurafat Legends (coll 1968)
by the
Tunisian Izzaddin al-Madani. The Algerian Hacene Farouk Zehar, who
writes
in French, has published Peloton de tete Top Platoon (coll 1966). The
role
of drama in the Arab world is more important than in the West, and
plays
are very often published; some are of sf interest. The famous
Egyptian
dramatist Yusuf Idris wrote Al-jins ath-thalith The Third Sex
(1971), in
which the protagonist, a scientist called Adam, attempts to
discover the
enzymes of life and death and travels to the Fantastic World.
Another
Egyptian, Ali Salim, a satirist who writes in colloquial Arabic,
has
written several sf plays. In En-nas elli fi es-sama' et-tamna People
from
the Eighth Heaven (1965) a protagonist called Dr Mideo struggles
against
the bureaucratic Academy of Sciences of the Universe.
Fantastic
discoveries and excavations are the main topic of Ali Salim's other
sf
plays, Barrima aw bi'r el-qamh Brace, or the Well of Wheat
(1968),
Er-ragel elli dihik el-mala'ika A Man who Laughed at Angels (1968)
and
Afarit Masr el-gadida Satan from Heliopolis (1972).
ARACHNOPHOBIA
Film (1990). Hollywood Pictures/ Amblin/Tangled Web. Executive
prods
Steven SPIELBERG, Frank Marshall. Dir Marshall, starring Jeff
Daniels,
Harley Jane Kozak, John Goodman, Julian Sands, Henry Jones.
Screenplay by
Don Jakoby, Wesley Strick, from a story by Jakoby and Al
Williams. 109
mins. Colour. Frank Marshall, a longtime colleague of Spielberg
as a
producer, here made his directorial debut with an almost
perfectly
choreographed MONSTER MOVIE. The sf element in this social comedy
is a
large, male, hitherto-unknown variety of lethal Venezuelan spider
which,
accidentally carried in the coffin of its first victim to a
small
Californian town, mates with a local female to produce hordes of
smaller
but still lethal offspring, fortunately incapable of reproduction.
Aimed
at adults rather than teenagers, the film is as much about the horrors
of
small-town life - seen from the perspective of the new
(arachnophobic)
doctor in town - as it is about the horrors of killer
spiders. The science
is mystifying; nobody who sees the film understands the
explanation of how
a sterile male fathers a large family. Goodman's role as
the local
exterminator is a tour de force of bizarre comedy. Sophisticated,
tartly
observed and more than adequately scary, A is certainly the
best
spider-invasion film ever made.
ARANGO, ANGEL
LATIN AMERICA
ARBES, JAKUB
CZECH AND SLOVAK SF.
ARCH, E.L.
The pseudonym under which Rachel Ruth Cosgrove Payes (1922- ),
originally
a research biologist, publishes her sf, though her first novel,
a
juvenile, Hidden Valley of Oz (1951), appeared as by Rachel Cosgrove.
Her
sf, from Bridge to Yesterday (1963) onwards, has been efficient
but
routine. Other works: The Deathstones (1964); Planet of Death (1964);
The
First Immortals (1965); The Double-Minded Man (1966); The Man with
Three
Eyes (1967).
ARCHER, LEE
ZIFF-DAVIS house name used 1956-7 on 3 stories in AMZ and
Fantastic.
Escape Route (1957 AMZ) is by Harlan ELLISON. The authors of the
others
have not been identified.
ARCHER, RON
Ted WHITE.
ARCHETTE, GUY
Chester S.GEIER.
ARCHETYPES
MYTHOLOGY.
ARDREY, ROBERT
(1908-1980) US playwright, novelist and speculative journalist
known
mainly for his work outside the sf field, formerly for such plays
as
Thunder Rock (performed 1939;1941), which was filmed (1942) by
the
Boulting Brothers, latterly for his series of
sociobiological
speculations, beginning with African Genesis (1961),
commercially the most
successful. As the implications of his biological
determinism have sunk in
on advocates of FEMINISM and others, he has seemed
increasingly isolated
as an ethological popularizer. The uncomfortable nature
of his speculative
attempts may be found in his sf novel, World's Beginning
(1944), where US
society is benevolently rationalized by a chemicals company.
See also:
ECONOMICS; METAPHYSICS.
ARGENTINA
LATIN AMERICA.
ARGOSY, THE
US PULP MAGAZINE published by the Frank A.MUNSEY Corp.; ed
Matthew White
Jr (from 1886 to 1928) and others. It appeared weekly from 9
Dec 1882 as
The Golden Argosy, became The Argosy from 1 Dec 1888, went
monthly Apr
1894-Sep 1917, then weekly, as Argosy Weekly, 6 Oct 1917-17 July
1920. It
combined with All-Story Weekly (The ALL-STORY) to become Argosy
All-Story
Weekly 24 July 1920-28 Sep 1929. It then combined with MUNSEY'S
MAGAZINE
to form two magazines, Argosy Weekly and All-Story Love Tales, the
former
continuing as a weekly 5 Oct 1929-4 Oct 1941; it went biweekly from 1
Nov
1941, monthly from July 1942, and became a men's adventure magazine in
Oct
1943, publishing its last sf in the July 1943 issue. Of
the
general-fiction pulp magazines, TA was one of the most consistent
and
prolific publishers of sf. Prior to 1910 it had featured sf and
fantasy
serials and short stories by Frank AUBREY, James Branch CABELL,
William
Wallace COOK, Howard R.GARIS, George GRIFFITH and others. Its sf
output
slackened during the first half of the next decade, a period in which
it
published sf by Garrett P.SERVISS and Garret SMITH, as well as stories
in
the Hawkins series by Edgar FRANKLIN, but picked up on becoming a
weekly.
It discovered a major author on publishing The Runaway Skyscraper
(1919)
by Murray LEINSTER (whose memorable The Mad Planet appeared in 1920)
and
published novels by Francis STEVENS before the merger with
All-Story
Weekly. Following this, White retained the editorship and
continued
publishing sf with many works by authors later to appear in the
SF
MAGAZINES, notably Edgar Rice BURROUGHS, Ray CUMMINGS, Ralph Milne
FARLEY,
Otis Adelbert KLINE, and A.MERRITT. Even in the 1930s such sf
and
weird-magazine authors as Eando BINDER, Donald WANDREI, Manly
Wade
WELLMAN, Jack WILLIAMSON and Arthur Leo ZAGAT were still appearing in
its
pages. Its last serialization was Earth's Last Citadel 1943; 1964) by
C.L.
MOORE and Henry KUTTNER. Many of TA's stories were reprinted in
FAMOUS
FANTASTIC MYSTERIES and FANTASTIC NOVELS. The US TA should not be
confused
with UK magazines of the same name. There were two of these. The
Argosy,
pulp-size, Dec 1865-Sep 1901, ed Mrs Henry Wood (1814-1887),
published
occasional stories of the supernatural but was not known for sf.
The
Argosy, pulp-size, June 1926-Jan 1940, became a DIGEST in Feb
1940,
retitled Argosy of Complete Stories. In both its pulp and digest
forms
this magazine primarily published reprints in many genres. Early on
it
serialized Mary SHELLEY's Frankenstein (1818; rev 1831) and Bram
Stoker's
Dracula (1897), and published stories by Lord DUNSANY. Later, in
its
digest form, it published many stories by Ray BRADBURY. It lasted into
the
1960s. Further reading: Under the Moons of Mars: A History and
Anthology
of the Scientific Romances in the Munsey Magazines 1912-1920 (anth
1970)
ed Sam MOSKOWITZ.
ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY
The ARGOSY.
ARGOSY WEEKLY
The ARGOSY.
ARIEL: THE BOOK OF FANTASY
Large-BEDSHEET-size US magazine (9 x 12in; about
230 x 305mm); 4 issues
(Autumn 1976, 1977, Apr and Oct 1978), published by
Morning Star Press; ed
Thomas Durwood. A: TBOF was lavishly produced on
glossy paper, emphasizing
fantastic art and HEROIC FANTASY, including
episodes of the COMIC strip
Den by Richard CORBEN and a feature on Frank
FRAZETTA. Critical and
historical articles were interspersed with fiction by
Harlan ELLISON,
Michael MOORCOCK, Keith ROBERTS, Roger ZELAZNY and others. In
the main A:
TBOF can be said to have been a triumph of form (good) over
content
(generally indifferent).
ARIOSTO, LUDOVICO
ITALY.
ARISS, BRUCE (WALLACE)
(1916-1977) US writer and illustrator. He published
Dreadful Secret of
Jonas Harper as early as 1948 in What's Doing? Magazine.
Full Circle
(1963), his sf novel about a post-HOLOCAUST conflict between
Amerindians
and other survivors after the War of Poisoned Lightning, appeared
much
later. He also did a good deal of scriptwriting, served in tv and films
as
an art director, and did the illustrations for Reginald BRETNOR's
Through
Time and Space with Ferdinand Feghoot (coll 1962) as Grendel
Briarton.
ARKHAM COLLECTOR, THE
ARKHAM SAMPLER.
ARKHAM HOUSE
US SMALL PRESS founded in Sauk City, Wisconsin, by August
DERLETH and
Donald WANDREI in order to produce a collection of
H.P.LOVECRAFT's
stories, The Outsider and Others (coll 1939). Although this
was not
initially a success, the imprint continued (Derleth bought out
Wandrei in
1943) and published a variety of weird, fantasy and horror
collections by
Lovecraft, Robert E.HOWARD, Frank Belknap LONG, Clark Ashton
SMITH and
many others, later including original stories and novels; it
produced the
first books of Ray BRADBURY, Fritz LEIBER and A.E.VAN VOGT. By
the
mid-1940s it was becoming a legend, and an example to other small
presses.
In 1948-9 it published a magazine, ARKHAM SAMPLER. Lovecraft
remained a
main interest of the company, but after Derleth's death in 1971,
AH (later
under James Turner) began to change direction, publishing among
other
things some excellent collections by sf writers (sf previously having
been
a rather minor part of the company's output). These were not
conservative
choices: they included books from the cutting edge of sf by, for
example,
Greg BEAR, Michael BISHOP, John KESSEL and Joanna RUSS. AH remains a
power
in sf publishing, with books like GRAVITY'S ANGELS (coll 1991) by
Michael
SWANWICK; and with the memorial and definitive Her Smoke Rose up
Forever
(coll 1990) AH did for James TIPTREE JR. what half a century earlier
it
had done for Lovecraft and Smith. Its early Lovecraft and
Smith
collections are among the most valuable collectors' items in the
field.
Two useful books about AH are Thirty Years of Arkham House
1939-1969
(1970) by Derleth, and Horrors and Unpleasantries: A
Bibliographical
History and Collectors' Guide to Arkham House (1983; exp vt
The Arkham
House Companion 1989) by Sheldon JAFFERY. The GRAPHIC NOVEL Arkham
Asylum:
A Serious House on Serious Earth (graph 1989) by Grant Morrison
(writer)
and Dave MCKEAN (artist), published by DC COMICS, is a sort of
tribute.
ARKHAM SAMPLER
US magazine, intermediate format (6 x 9in; about 150 x 230mm),
quarterly,
8 issues, Winter 1948-Autumn 1949, published by ARKHAM HOUSE, ed
August
DERLETH. An offshoot of Arkham House's book-publishing activities, AS
was
a fantasy magazine that used many reprints, but also published
original
fiction by Ray BRADBURY and others; a celebrated reprint
was
H.P.LOVECRAFT's The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (1943; Winter-Fall
1948;
1955). The Winter 1949 issue was devoted to sf, containing stories by
Ray
BRADBURY, A.E.VAN VOGT and others. At $1.00 AS was rather expensive,
which
may have contributed to the shortness of its life. A later Arkham
House
periodical was The Arkham Collector, in booklet format, 10 issues
Summer
1967-Summer 1971, which mixed publishing news with some fiction,
mostly
fantasy and horror. See also: SF MAGAZINES.
ARLEN, MICHAEL
(1895-1956) UK-Armenian writer, born Dikran Kouyoumidjian, who
is mainly
remembered for The Green Hat (1924) and other novels of fashionable
London
life. His supernatural fiction is to be found in These Charming
People
(coll 1923) and May Fair (coll 1924); Ghost Stories (coll 1927)
assembles
the supernatural stories from the previous volumes. MA's sf novel,
Man's
Mortality (1933) - although derivative of Rudyard KIPLING's
pax
aeronautica tale With the Night Mail (1905; 1909 chap US) -
vividly
depicts the collapse of International Aircraft and Airways in 1987
after
50 years of oligarchy; the melodramatic story carries some moral
bite.
Hell! Said the Duchess (1934) is set in 1938, with Winston Churchill
as
premier. A succubus is impersonating the duchess, who is accused of
being
a Jane the Ripper but is eventually exonerated. About the author:
Michael
Arlen (1975) by Harry Keyishian. See also: TRANSPORTION.
ARMSTRONG, ANTHONY
Working name of UK author and journalist George Anthony
Armstrong Willis
(1897-1976), a regular contributor to the magazine Punch. AA
began writing
as a novelist with two historical fantasies, Lure of the Past
(1920) and
The Love of Prince Raameses (1921), which were linked by the
common theme
of REINCARNATION. The historical framework was again used in
his
LOST-WORLD adventure Wine of Death (1925), a bloodthirsty novel about
a
surviving community of Atlanteans. When the Bells Rang (1943), with
Bruce
Graeme (1900-1982), is a morale-boosting alternate-history tale of a
1940
INVASION of the UK by the Nazis, and of their subsequent defeat
(HITLER
WINS). AA's short stories are, by comparison, slight, and are
generally
humorous. Of note are his two early Edgar Rice BURROUGHS parodies,
The
Visit to Mars and The Battlechief of Mars (1926 Gaiety) which
briefly
outline the extraordinary exploits of John Waggoner; they have yet to
be
reprinted. Other works: The Prince Who Hiccupped and Other Tales
(coll
1932); The Pack of Pieces (1942; vt The Naughty Princess 1945);
The
Strange Case of Mr Pelham (1957). See also: ALTERNATE WORLDS; HITLER
WINS.
ARMSTRONG, CHARLES WICKSTEED
(1871- ?) UK writer, still alive in 1951, whose
first sf novel, The Yorl
of the Northmen, or The Fate of the English Race:
Being the Romance of a
Monarchical Utopia (1892) as by Charles
Strongi'th'arm, envisions a feudal
and eugenics-dominated world partially
modelled on the works of William
MORRIS. CWA's second novel, Paradise Found,
or Where the Sex Problem Has
Been Solved (1936), uncovers once again a UTOPIA
founded on eugenic
principles, this time in South America.
ARMSTRONG, GEOFFREY
John Russell FEARN.
ARMSTRONG, MICHAEL (ALLAN)
(1956- ) US writer who began publishing sf with
Going after Arviq in
Afterwar (anth 1985) ed Janet MORRIS; this story was
expanded (with the
name respelled) into his second novel, Agviq: The Whale
(1990), a
post-HOLOCAUST tale set in Alaska and featuring a woman
anthropologist
whose book-knowledge of the ancient ways of the Eskimo
usefully
sophisticates the vitality of the tribal survivors. MA's first
novel,
After the Zap (1987), is likewise set in Alaska, in this case in
a
People's Republic which has survived the phenomenon of the title, a
pulse
that, down south, has scrambled brains and computers alike. The
young
protagonist of his third novel, The Hidden War (1994), attempts to
defend
his asteroid-belt home (whose culture is nostalgically based on the
Beat
literature of the 1950s), is captured and imprisoned, but then finds
Earth
to differ vastly from his preconceptions.
ARMSTRONG, T.I.F.
John GAWSWORTH.
ARMYTAGE, W(ALTER) H(ARRY) G(REEN)
(1915- ) South-African born UK writer and
professor of education. Of
interest to sf readers among WHGA's 14 books is
Yesterday's Tomorrows: A
Historical Survey of Future Societies (1967).
Primarily concerned with
literary versions of the shape the future may take,
it assembles its
materials mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries, sometimes
from books
not well known to sf readers. It is not a critical work, and the
material
in its wide range seems sometimes to be merely cited rather than
digested;
it is, nevertheless, a useful work of scholarship. See also:
CRITICAL AND
HISTORICAL WORKS ABOUT SF; UTOPIAS.
ARNASON, ELEANOR (ATWOOD)
(1942- ) US writer who began to publish sf with A
Clear Day in the Motor
City for New Worlds Quarterly 6 (anth 1973) ed Michael
MOORCOCK and
Charles PLATT. She has since published stories and poems with
some
regularity. Her first novel, The Sword Smith (1978), is a fantasy
notable
for the spare elegance of its narrative, which focuses with
modest
intensity upon its young protagonist's slow grasp of life's meaning.
To
the Resurrection Station (1986), which is sf with touches of
GOTHIC
imagery, brings a wide range of characters together in contexts
which
wittily embody FEMINIST readings of the world. Daughter of the Bear
King
(1987) is another fantasy. With A WOMAN OF THE IRON PEOPLE (1991; vt in
2
vols as In the Light of Sigma Draconis 1992 and Changing Women 1992)
EA
came suddenly to wider notice. The long tale is set on a
complicated
stage: on the planet of Sigma Draconis II, inhabited by an ALIEN
race
seemingly in thrall - as is frequently the case in 1980s sf - to
the
imperatives of a sexually coercive biology (SEX), a party of Terrans
is
attempting to come to some understanding of this species. The plot,
in
true PLANETARY-ROMANCE fashion, takes two humans and two aliens on a
trek
through the various domains and landscapes of the world, and lessons
not
unlike those taught in The Sword Smith - though far more complexly put
-
are shared by all about sexual dimorphism, the nature of violence and
the
intrinsic value of individual persons; and evidence is presented that
Homo
sapiens may have learned some wisdom from the DISASTERS which, prior
to
the novel's timespan, have almost destroyed Earth. Similar dilemmas
are
examined, even more sharply, in Ring of Swords (1993), where
an
interstellar war between humans and an alien race is at the point of
being
resolved in mutual understanding, or exploding calamitously. The
chaotic
ruthlessness of humanity, and the rigid gender separation of the
alien
hwarhath, are scrupulously exposed and judged in scenes of
very
considerable intellectual force; and the outcome - as perceived by some
of
the most complexly conceived characters in modern sf - is hopeful.
Other
work: Time Gum (anth 1988 chap) ed with Terry A.Garey, sf POETRY.
ARNAUD, G.-J.
FRANCE.
ARNETT, JACK
Mike MCQUAY.
ARNETTE, ROBERT
A ZIFF-DAVIS house name used in AMZ, Fantastic Adventures and
Fantastic
by Robert SILVERBERG and Roger P.Graham (Rog PHILLIPS) for 1
identified
story each and by unidentified authors for 6 stories 1951-7.
ARNO, ELROY
Leroy YERXA.
ARNOLD, EDWIN LESTER
(1857-1935) UK writer, son of Sir Edwin Arnold
(1832-1904), Victorian
poet and popularizer of Buddhism. His fantasies
include two REINCARNATION
tales, The Wonderful Adventures of Phra the
Phoenician (1890 US; vt Phra
the Phoenician 1910 UK) and Lepidus the
Centurion: A Roman of Today
(1901). His best-known novel is Lieut. Gullivar
Jones: His Vacation (1905;
vt Gulliver of Mars 1964 US), in which Jones tells
the story of his brief
disgruntlement with the US Navy, his trip by flying
carpet to MARS, his
rescue of a princess, his witnessing of the destruction
of her domain,
their adventures together, and his return to a trustful
fiancee and
promotion. In the preface to the retitled 1964 edition Richard
A.LUPOFF
claims this story as a source for Edgar Rice BURROUGHS's Barsoom.
The
provenance is visible in hindsight. Other work: The Story of Ulla
and
Other Tales (coll 1895), in which 1 story, Rutherford the Twice-Born,
is
fantasy. See also: HISTORY OF SF.
ARNOLD, FRANK
Working name of UK writer Francis Joseph Eric Edward Arnold
(1914-1987),
active in WWII; in the 1930s he was an early member of UK
FANDOM. Four of
his pulp sf stories from this period are collected in Wings
Across Time
(coll 1946), published in the short-lived Pendulum Popular
Spacetime
Series, of which he was editor. They are strong on action.
ARNOLD, JACK
(1916-1992) US film-maker who made a number of sf films during
the 1950s.
In WWII, while in the Army Signal Corps, which was producing
training
films, JA found himself working with the great documentary-maker
Robert
Flaherty and received an invaluable crash course in film-making.
After
WWII he made several successful documentaries. This led to an offer
from
Universal Studios to direct feature films, beginning with Girls in
the
Night (1953). In 1953 he directed his first sf film, IT CAME FROM
OUTER
SPACE, based on a treatment by Ray BRADBURY. His other relevant films
are
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954), REVENGE OF THE CREATURE
(1955),
TARANTULA (1956), TheINCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (1957), MONSTER ON
THE
CAMPUS (1958) and TheSPACE CHILDREN (1958). In 1959 he made the
Peter
Sellers comedy The Mouse that Roared, the last of his sf-oriented
films.
His MONSTER MOVIES, several of which make excellent, moody use of
their
cheap desert locations, have other moments of beauty, as in the
underwater
ballet of Creature from the Black Lagoon, when the Creature mimics
the
movements of the woman swimmer, unseen by her, with a curious,
alien
eroticism. His sf masterwork is The Incredible Shrinking Man, a
surreal
classic of sf cinema, with its tragic, suburban hero going mad, like
some
King Lear on the blasted heath of his own menacing cellar. JA was a
genius
of B-movies. Further reading: Directed by Jack Arnold (1988) by
Dana
M.Reemes. See also: CINEMA.
ARNO PRESS
US publisher specializing in facsimile reprint series. In 1975
Arno
published a series of 62 sf titles (49 fiction and 13 nonfiction)
ed
R.REGINALD and Douglas MENVILLE. The fiction titles date mostly from
the
period 1885-1925; the nonfiction includes useful reprints of
various
bibliographic and critical works originally published in very
small
editions. In 1976 Arno produced a companion series of 63 supernatural
and
occult volumes, also ed Reginald and Menville, and including
several
anthologies assembled by them.
ARONICA, LOU
(1958- ) US publisher and editor, with BANTAM BOOKS from 1979,
as Vice
President and Publisher of the Spectra sf list which he established
in
1985, Vice President and Publisher of mass-market books 1989-1992,
and
Vice President and Deputy Publisher 1992-1994; he was also editor of
the
Foundation sf programme until it was merged into the Bantam list. In
1994
he became Senior Vice President and Publisher of The Berkley
Publishing
Group. As editor in his own right, he produced The Bantam Spectra
Sampler
(anth 1985 chap) and, more importantly, edited the FULL SPECTRUM
original
anthology series: Full Spectrum (anth 1988) with Shawna MCCARTHY; 2
(anth
1989) with Pat Lobrutto, McCarthy and Amy Stout; 3 (anth 1991) and 4
(anth
1993) with Betsy Mitchell and Stout. As a knowledgeable reader of sf
and
fantasy, and as a senior figure in the publishing world, LA has for
much
of the past decade exercised considerable influence on the shape of the
sf
market.
AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA
Film (1966). Ivan Tors Productions/MGM. Dir
Andrew Marton, starring Lloyd
Bridges, Shirley Eaton, David McCallum.
Screenplay Arthur Weiss, Art
Arthur. 120 mins. Colour. This routine melodrama
was produced by Ivan
Tors, best known for such marine tv series as Flipper.
After tidal waves,
underwater experts use a futuristic submarine to plant a
series of
earthquake-warning devices along a fault that encircles the world.
The
characters, dialogue and giant eel are hackneyed, and the special
effects
cheap. The underwater sequences - not bad - were directed by
Ricou
Browning.
ARROW, WILLIAM
House name used by BALLANTINE BOOKS. Donald PFEIL; PLANET OF
THE APES;
William ROTSLER.
ART
For art in sf ARTS; for sf artists COMICS, ILLUSTRATION and entries
on
individual artists.
ARTHUR, PETER
Arthur PORGES.
ARTHUR C.CLARKE AWARD
This award is given to the best sf novel whose UK first
edition was
published during the previous calendar year, and consists of an
inscribed
plaque and a cheque forps 1000 from a grant donated by Arthur
C.CLARKE.
The winner is chosen by a jury, whose membership varies from year
to year,
and the award is administered by the SCIENCE FICTION FOUNDATION (of
which
Clarke is Patron), the BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION and
the
International Science Policy Foundation. Each organization provides
two
jurors. Clarke's generosity is all the more notable, in hindsight, in
that
the award has generally gone to rather non-Clarkean books; the
first
award, for novels published during 1986, interestingly went to a
non-genre
novel. The awards are listed below by date of announcement.
Winners: 1987:
Margaret ATWOOD, THE HANDMAID'S TALE1988: George TURNER, The
Sea and
Summer (vt Drowning Towers)1989: Rachel POLLACK, Unquenchable
Fire1990:
Geoff RYMAN, The Child Garden1991: Colin GREENLAND, TAKE BACK
PLENTY1992:
Pat CADIGAN, SYNNERS1993: Marge PIERCY, Body of Glass1994: Jeff
NOON, Vurt
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AI; COMPUTERS; CYBERNETICS; CYBERPUNK.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
It’s a hot topic today, but science fiction writers
have been interested
in Artificial Intelligence ever since it was the
intellectual plaything of
computer theorists. Proof of wider interest in AI
was a 1994 contest to
determine if a computer program could convince a judge
that it was an
actual human being. The prize? $100.000 dollars... to the
human
contestant, of course. No one won. But SF writer Charles Platt,
whose
cunning strategy of being "moody, irritable, and obnoxious", struck
the
judges as authentic. They gave him a bronze medal for being the
"most
human human."
ARTS
By virtue of its nature, sf has one foot firmly set in each of
C.P.Snow's
two cultures, and sf stories occasionally exhibit an exaggerated
awareness
of that divide. Charles L.HARNESS's notable novella The Rose (1953)
takes
the reconciliation of an assumed antagonism between art and science as
its
theme, the author adopting the view that the emotional richness of art
is
necessary to temper and redeem the cold objectivity of science. Most
sf
writers argue along similar lines; even when they cannot celebrate
the
triumph of art they lament its defeat. The decline of theatrical
artistry
in the face of mechanical expertise is the theme of Walter
M.MILLER's
HUGO-winning novelette The Darfsteller (1955), and there are
similar
stories dealing with other arts: sculpture in C.M.KORNBLUTH's With
These
Hands (1951), fiction in Clifford D.SIMAK's So Bright the Vision
(1956),
even COMIC-book illustration in Harry HARRISON's Portrait of the
Artist
(1964). The concern of sf writers with the arts is almost entirely
a
post-WWII phenomenon; early PULP-MAGAZINE sf writers and writers
of
scientific romance paid them little heed. Some 19th-century stories
about
artists may be considered to be marginal sf because of the
remarkable
nature of the particular enterprises featured therein:
Nathaniel
HAWTHORNE's Artist of the Beautiful (1844) concerns the making of
a
wondrous mechanical butterfly, and Robert W.CHAMBERS's The Mask (1895)
is
about a sculptor who makes statues by chemically turning living things
to
stone; but these are allegories rather than speculations.
Scrupulous
attention to the arts is paid by many UTOPIAN novels, although
some
utopians overtly or covertly accept PLATO's (ironic) claim in The
Republic
that artists comprise a socially disruptive force and ought to be
banished
from a perfect society. This thesis is dramatically extrapolated in
Damon
KNIGHT's The Country of the Kind (1956), where the world's only artist
is
an antisocial psychotic and is necessarily expelled from social life.
Karl
Marx's related dictum that in the socialist utopia there would be
no
painters but only men who paint is similarly dramatized in
Robert
SILVERBERG's The Man with Talent (1955). Most utopians find the idea
of
abundant LEISURE without art nonsensical, but they have sometimes
been
hard-pressed to find material appropriate to fill the gap. The
enthusiasm
of Edward BELLAMY's Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (1888) for the
wonders of
mechanically reproduced music reminds us how dramatically our
relationship
with the arts has been transformed by technology, and the
treatment of
arts and crafts in such novels as William MORRIS's News from
Nowhere
(1890) now seems irredeemably quaint, despite being echoed in such
more
recent works as Robert M.Pirsig's Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle
Maintenance (1974). More ambitious attempts to represent the
artistic life
of the future are featured in Herman HESSE's Magister Ludi
(1943; trans
1949; retrans as The Glass Bead Game 1960), in which the life of
society's
elite is dominated by the aesthetics of a game, and in Franz
WERFEL's
ironic Stern der Ungeborenen (1946; trans as Star of the Unborn 1946
US).
The aesthetic life and its possible elevation to a universal modus
vivendi
are, however, mercilessly treated in some utopian satires - notably
in
Alexandr MOSZKOWSKI's account of the island of Helikonda in Die Inselt
der
Weisheit (1922; trans as The Isles of Wisdom 1924) and Andre
MAUROIS's
Voyage aux pays des Articoles (1927; trans as A Voyage to the
Island of
the Articoles 1928). An early sf novel which deals satirically with
the
arts is Fritz LEIBER's The Silver Eggheads (1961), in which
human
literateurs use wordmills and authored fiction is strictly for the
ROBOTS.
In The Return of William Shakespeare (1929) Hugh KINGSMILL used an
sf
framework for a commentary on Shakespeare, audaciously crediting
his
interpretations to the revivified bard himself. Isaac ASIMOV used
a
similar idea for a brief joke, The Immortal Bard (1954), in which
a
time-travelling Shakespeare fails a college course in his own works.
More
earnest stories of scientifically resurrected artists include
Ray
BRADBURY's Forever and the Earth (1950), which features Thomas Wolfe,
and
James BLISH's A Work of Art (1956), in which the resurrection of
Richard
Strauss into the brain of another man is hailed as a work of art in
its
own right, although Strauss discovers that rebirth has failed to
re-ignite
his creative powers. TIME-TRAVEL stories featuring the great
artists of
the past include Manly Wade WELLMAN's Twice in Time (1940; 1957),
whose
hero becomes Leonardo da Vinci, Barry N.MALZBERG's Chorale (1978),
whose
hero becomes Beethoven, and Lisa GOLDSTEIN's The Dream Years (1976),
which
features the pioneers of the Surrealist movement. Sf writers who have
a
considerable personal interest in one or other of the arts often
reflect
this in their work. Fritz Leiber's theatrical background is less
obvious
in his sf than in his fantasy, though it is manifest in No Great
Magic
(1963) and - obliquely - in THE BIG TIME (1961). Samuel R.DELANY is one
sf
writer in whose works artists play prominent and significant parts;
their
aesthetic performances, especially their music, are sufficiently
central
to shape the meanings of the stories - a method taken to its extreme
in
DHALGREN (1975). Another is Alexander JABLOKOV, who makes much of
the
cultural significance of artistry in The Death Artist (1990) and Carve
the
Sky (1991). Music is the art most commonly featured in sf, as
discussed
under MUSIC IN SF. Theatre is also widely featured, and much easier
to
deploy convincingly. Sf novels which use theatrical backgrounds
for
various different purposes include Doomsday Morning (1957) by
C.L.MOORE,
John BRUNNER's The Productions of Time (1967) and Showboat World
(1975) by
Jack Vance, while the hero of Robert A.HEINLEIN's Double Star
(1956) is an
actor. The single work of art most often featured in sf stories
is the
Mona Lisa, which receives respectful treatment in Ray Bradbury's The
Smile
(1952) and disrespectful treatment in Bob SHAW's The Gioconda
Caper
(1976); but the most extravagant use of a work of pictorial art as
an
anchor for an sf story is in Ian WATSON's Bosch-inspired The Gardens
of
Delight (1980). When it comes to inventing new arts, sf writers
are
understandably tentative. The aesthetics of time-tourism are
elegantly
developed in C.L.Moore's Vintage Season (1946), but the mask-making
art of
Jack Vance's The Moon Moth (1961), the holographic sculpture of
William
ROTSLER's Patron of the Arts (1973; exp 1974) and Ian Watson's The
Martian
Inca (1977), the music-and-light linkages of John Brunner's THE WHOLE
MAN
(1958-9; fixup 1964 US; vt Telepathist 1965 UK), the sartorial art
of
Barrington J.BAYLEY's The Garments of Caean (1976 US),
the
psycho-sculpture of Robert Silverberg's The Second Trip (1972) and
the
laser-based artform of J.Neil SCHULMAN's The Rainbow Cadenza (1983)
are
all fairly modest extrapolations of extant arts. The most
commonly
depicted class of new artform in modern sf involves the recording
of
dreams. An early use of this notion was Isaac Asimov's Dreaming is
a
Private Thing (1955); more recent and much more elaborate explorations
of
the idea are Hyacinths (1983) by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and The Continent
of
Lies (1984) by James MORROW. The aesthetic uses of
GENETIC-ENGINEERING
techniques are featured in several stories by Brian
M.STABLEFORD,
including Cinderella's Sisters (1989) and Skin Deep (1991).
There have
been several notable attempts by sf writers to portray the
artists'
colonies of the future, many of them imitative of J.G.BALLARD's
lushly
ironic stories of Vermilion Sands (coll 1971 US), which includes a
story
about the novel art of cloud-sculpting, The Cloud-Sculptors of Coral
D
(1967). Lee KILLOUGH's Aventine (coll 1982) is the most blatant
exercise
in Vermilion Sands pastiche; more obliquely influenced items are
Michael
CONEY's The Girl with a Symphony in her Fingers (fixup 1975; vt The
Jaws
that Bite, the Claws that Catch) and several stories by Eric
BROWN,
including The Girl who Died for Art and Lived (1987). Pat MURPHY's
The
City, Not Long After (1989) is more original and more
interesting.
Anthologies of sf stories about the arts include New Dreams this
Morning
(1966) ed James Blish and The Arts and Beyond: Visions of Man's
Aesthetic
Future (anth 1977) ed Thomas F.MONTELEONE. In Pictures at an
Exhibition
(anth 1981) ed Ian WATSON writers base their stories on selected
works of
art. See also: GAMES AND SPORTS.
ARZHAK, NIKOLAI
Yuli DANIEL.
AS ALIEN AS APPLE PIE
Aliens in American pulp fiction were almost always
monstrous. They looked
like reptiles or insects and their goal was to conquer
Earth. And even
though it was biologically implausible, they had an eye for
earthly women.
Why did American audiences love to hate aliens? One theory is
that many
Americans feared and felt threatened by the waves of immigrants
coming to
the United States in the early 20th century. British writers,
less
fascinated by alien invasions, were busily writing about
military
invasions... something that really did threaten them during the
first half
of the 20th century.
ASCHER, EUGENE
Harold Ernest KELLY.
ASH, ALAN
(1908- ?) UK writer in whose routine sf adventure, Conditioned for
Space
(1955), a SLEEPER AWAKES, having been encased in a block of ice, to
find
himself in the front line of Earth defence in a space war.
ASH, BRIAN
(1936- ) UK writer, scientific journalist and editor. His Faces of
the
Future: The Lessons of Science Fiction (1975) assumes that its
readers
might be ignorant of sf, which leads to more plot summarizing than
is
palatable for sf readers. BA's Who's Who in Science Fiction (1976;
rev
1977) was well received by the general press, but heavily attacked in
the
sf specialist press for omissions and errors. The revised
edition
corrected many of the inaccuracies. BA then edited the
thematically
arranged The Visual Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1978),
whose coverage
is not in fact truly encyclopedic, consisting for the most
part of largely
unsigned essays and compilations, by various contributors
(listed in the
prelims), arranged in chapters which trace the development of
the major sf
themes. A handsome volume, illustrated in colour, it did not
work well as
a reference work for people interested in particular writers,
and was
widely regarded as a coffee-table book. On the other hand, Who's Who
in H.
G.Wells (1979) is a useful guide which encompasses all the fiction,
not
only the well known early works.
ASH, FENTON
Frank AUBREY.
ASHE, GORDON
John CREASEY.
ASHLEY, FRED
Frank AUBREY.
ASHLEY, MIKE
Working name of UK editor and researcher Michael Raymond Donald
Ashley
(1948 ), who has a special expertise in the history of magazine
sf,
fantasy and weird fiction. MA's first major work as an anthology
editor
was the 4-vol The History of the Science Fiction Magazines: Part
1
1926-35: (anth 1974), Part 2 1936-45 (anth 1975), Part 3 1946-55
(anth
1976) and Part 4 1956-65 (anth 1978), now projected for 1995 release
-
minus the reprinted stories - as a straightforward reference work.
The
long introductions to the stories are packed with information, much of
it
unfamiliar, and there are useful bibliographical appendices. MA's
other
anthologies are Souls in Metal (anth 1977), Weird Legacies (anth 1977),
SF
Choice 77 (anth 1977), The Best of British SF (anth in 2 vols 1977),
The
Mammoth Book of Short Horror Novels (anth 1988) and The
Pendragon
Chronicles: Heroic Fantasy from the Time of King Arthur (anth 1990)
and
its sequel, The Camelot Chronicles (anth 1992); he edited Mrs
Gaskell's
Tales of Mystery and Horror (coll 1978), and 2 collections of
Algernon
BLACKWOOD stories. MA's work has also resulted in a number of
nonfiction
books, the first being Who's Who in Horror and Fantasy Fiction
(1977),
which is markedly superior to its companion volume dealing with sf,
ed
Brian ASH, and draws interestingly on original research; it covers
some
400 writers. Two useful indexes, showing increasing evidence of
MA's
thoroughness, are Fantasy Readers' Guide: A Complete Index and
Annotated
Commentary to the John Spencer Fantasy Publications (1950-66)
(1979chap)
and The Complete Index to Astounding/ Analog (1981 US), the latter
with
Terry Jeeves. The Illustrated Book of Science Fiction Lists (1982; vt
The
Illustrated Science Fiction Book of Lists US) is well organized and
fun
for trivia buffs. But MA's main contribution to sf scholarship lies in
his
next three books. Monthly Terrors: An Index to the Weird Fantasy
Magazines
Published in the United States and Great Britain (1985 US),
compiled by
Frank H.Parnell with the assistance of MA, gives proper
professional
coverage to an area indexed previously, if at all, mainly in
mimeographed
fan publications. Algernon Blackwood: A Bio-Bibliography (1987
US) is an
admirable work, around 300pp of scrupulous bibliography with a
34pp
biographical preface. MA's masterwork, however, may be the 970pp
Science
Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines (1985 US), ed MA and
Marshall
B.TYMN. This book (which is not an index) dramatically superseded -
in
number of magazines discussed and in detail - the first edition of
The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1979) ed Peter NICHOLLS as the
most
comprehensive account of this difficult area of publishing, and
is
interestingly written, much of it by MA himself. The book has
uneven
sections, but is generally a triumph. Of similar importance is
The
Supernatural Index (1995), which records the contents of
approximately
2,200 anthologies in the field. Other works: The Seven Wonders
of the
World (1979); Fantasy Readers' Guide to Ramsey Campbell (chap 1980);
The
Writings of Barrington J.Bayley (1981 chap); When Spirits Talk (anth
1990
chap); The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits (anth
1993),
associational; The Work of William F.Temple: An Annotated Bibliography
&
Guide (1994 US). See also: ANTHOLOGIES; ASTOUNDING
SCIENCE-FICTION;
BIBLIOGRAPHIES; SF MAGAZINES.
ASHTON, FRANCIS LESLIE
(1904- ?) UK writer whose first sf novel, The Breaking
of the Seals
(1946), sets a psychic time-traveller into a prehistoric world
where
primitive society ends in chaos with the breaking up of Bahste,
Earth's
then moon; a Deluge follows. Its thematic sequel, Alas, That Great
City
(1948), set in ATLANTIS, propounds a similar catastrophe, with a
new
planet arriving to become the Earth's moon and sinking the
continent.
Wrong Side of the Moon (1952), written with Stephen Ashton, deals
more
mundanely with an attempt at space travel.
ASHTON, MARVIN
Dennis HUGHES.
ASIMOV, ISAAC
(1920-1992) US writer whose second marriage, in 1973, was to
fellow
writer J.O.Jeppson (who now signs herself Janet ASIMOV). IA, born
in
Russia, was brought to the USA by his family in 1923, and became a
US
citizen in 1928. He discovered sf through the magazines sold in
his
father's candy store; and, although he was not strongly involved in
sf
FANDOM, he was for a while associated with the FUTURIANS, one of
whose
members, Frederik POHL, later published several of IA's early stories
in
his magazines ASTONISHING STORIES and SUPER SCIENCE
STORIES.
Intellectually precocious, IA obtained his undergraduate degree
from
Columbia University in 1939, majoring in chemistry, and proceeded to
take
his MA in 1941 and PhD in 1948, after a wartime hiatus which he
mostly
spent working in the US Naval Air Experimental Station alongside
L.Sprague
DE CAMP and Robert A.HEINLEIN. In 1949 he joined the Boston
University
School of Medicine, where he became associate professor of
biochemistry, a
position he resigned in 1958 (although he retained the title)
in order to
write full-time. IA's fame as an sf writer grew steadily from
1940, and
next to Heinlein he was the most influential US sf writer of his
era. His
life story is told in three volumes of memoirs - In Memory Yet
Green: The
Autobiography of Isaac Asimov (1920-1954) (1979), In Joy Still
Felt: The
Autobiography of Isaac Asimov (1954-1978) (1980)and I.Asimov: a
Memoir
(1994) - plus a volume of anecdotes, Asimov Laughs Again (1992), the
four
together comprising the most extensive autobiographical record
yet
supplied by any sf figure. IA began publishing sf with Marooned off
Vesta
for AMAZING STORIES in 1939, and, although his first stories did
not
attract the immediate attention accorded to contemporaries like
Heinlein
and A.E.VAN VOGT, he very soon developed a strong relationship with
John
W.CAMPBELL Jr, editor of ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, who encouraged
him,
advised him, and eventually began to publish him. His tutelage
was
astonishingly fruitful, as the comments woven into The Early Asimov,
or
Eleven Years of Trying (coll 1972; vt in 2 vols The Early Asimov, Book
One
1974 and Book Two 1974; vt in 3 vols The Early Asimov, or Eleven Years
of
Trying 1 1973 UK, 2 1974 UK and 3 1974 UK) exhaustively demonstrate.
The
apprenticeship was, in fact, short. By 1942 the young IA, barely out
of
his teens, had already written or had clearly embarked upon the
three
works or sequences with which his name would be most associated for
the
following half century: first, Strange Playfellow (1940 Super
Science
Stories; vt Robbie in all later appearances from 1950), the first
story in
the Robot series, during the course of which he articulated the
Three Laws
of Robotics; second, Nightfall (1941 ASF), his most famous story
and
probably the single most famous US sf story of all time; and,
third,
Foundation (1942), the first instalment of the celebrated
Foundation
series, during the course of which IA established the GALACTIC
EMPIRE as a
template for almost every future HISTORY generated in the field
from 1940
onwards. As the Robot and Foundation sequences dominated IA's
career into
the 1990s, it is perhaps best to describe Nightfall first. Its
success has
been astonishing. Poll after poll, including one conducted by the
SCIENCE
FICTION WRITERS OF AMERICA, has found it considered the best sf
short
story of all time. The original idea - as was often the case in the
GOLDEN
AGE OF SF - was largely Campbell's. Emerson had said that, if the
stars
were visible only once in a thousand years, how men would believe
and
adore; but Campbell suggested to IA that something else would
happen.
Nightfall is set upon a world which complexly orbits six suns, at
least
one of which is always shining, except for one night of universal
eclipse
every two millennia. As the night approaches once again, scientists
and
others begin to sense that the psychological effects (PSYCHOLOGY) of
utter
darkness may explain the fact that civilization on this world is
cyclical,
and every 2000 years the race must start again from scratch.
Darkness
falls. But it is not the darkness that finally deranges everyone. It
is
the thousands of suddenly and overwhelmingly visible stars. A
novel
version, Nightfall (1990 UK) with Robert SILVERBERG, opens out
the
original story but in so doing fatally flattens the poetic intensity
and
SENSE OF WONDER felt by so many readers at the moment when the stars
are
seen. It was the third story of the Robot series, Liar! (1941 ASF;
rev
1977 chap), that saw the introduction of the Three Laws of Robotics,
whose
formulation IA credited essentially to Campbell, but which
Campbell
credited essentially to IA. (The laws are detailed in the entry on
ROBOTS.
) That the constraints engendered by these laws were matters
of
jurisprudence rather than scientific principle could have been no
secret
to IA, who almost certainly promulgated them for reasons that had
nothing
to do with science. In the first instance, the Laws helped put paid
to the
increasingly worn-out PULP-MAGAZINE convention that the robot was
an
inimical metal monster; they allowed IA to create a plausible
alternative
for the 1940s in his POSITRONIC ROBOTS; and - in lawyerly fashion
- they
generated a large number of stories which probed and exploited
various
loopholes. The early stories in the sequence tend, as a consequence,
to
treat the history of the robot as a series of conundrums to be
solved;
these early tales were assembled as I, ROBOT (coll of linked stories
1950;
cut 1958 UK), a title which included Liar! and Little Lost Robot
(1947
ASF; rev 1977 chap). In his two robot novels of the 1950s - The Caves
of
Steel (1954) and The Naked Sun (1957) - IA definitively articulated
the
problem-solving nature of the series, creating in the human detective
Lije
Baley and his robot colleague R.Daneel Olivaw two characters far
more
memorable than usually found in his work. The two novels - his best of
the
1950s - are set in a future in which the crowded inhabitants of Earth
have
moved underground (OVERPOPULATION) while their cultural descendants
and
rivals, the Spacers, glory in naked suns. The conflict between the
two
contrasting versions of humanity's proper course forward would fuel
the
Robot novels (see below) of IA's second career as a fiction writer;
his
first came near to its close with the Baley/Olivaw books, which
were
assembled in The Rest of the Robots (omni 1964), along with some
hitherto
uncollected stories, these latter being separately republished as
Eight
Stories from the Rest of the Robots (coll 1966), while the two novels
were
also assembled without the stories as The Robot Novels (omni 1971).
The
Foundation tales were from the first conceived on a different scale,
and
were set sufficiently far into the future so that IA need experience
none
of the difficulties of verisimilitude he faced in the Robot
sequence,
where his plumping for a robot-dominated NEAR FUTURE came to
seem
dangerously parochial as COMPUTERS increasingly came into actual
being.
The first Foundation sequence, set thousands of years hence in the
closing
centuries of a vast Galactic Empire, comprises Foundation (1942-4
ASF;
fixup 1951; cut vt The 1,000 Year Plan 1955 dos), Foundation and
Empire
(1945 ASF; fixup 1952; vt The Man who Upset the Universe 1955) and
Second
Foundation (1948-50 ASF; fixup 1953; vt 2nd Foundation: Galactic
Empire
1958), with all 3 vols being assembled as THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY
(1963; vt
An Isaac Asimov Omnibus 1966 UK). Deriving background elements from
an
earlier story, Black Friar of the Flame (1942), the series was
originally
conceived by IA as a single extended tale, the fall of the Roman
Empire
rewritten as sf; it evolved into a much larger undertaking
through
consultation with Campbell, whose refusal to accept in ASF the
presence of
ALIENS superior to humanity was responsible for IA's decision not
to
introduce any aliens at all into his future history. Grandiose
in
conception, although suffering in overall design through having
been
written piecemeal over a period of years, the first Foundation trilogy
was
nevertheless a landmark, winning a HUGO for 1965 as Best All-Time
Series.
Like its model, the Galactic Empire is entering a long senescence;
but the
hidden protagonist of the series, Hari Seldon, inventor of the
IMAGINARY
SCIENCE of PSYCHOHISTORY, has established two Foundations to
shorten the
period of interregnum between the fall and a new galactic order.
The first
Foundation, which is public, is given the explicit task of
responding
creatively to the historic impulses predicted by psychohistory;
the second
Foundation, which is secret, copes with the unknown, as in later
tales
represented by the Mule, a MUTANT, the effect of whose paranormal
powers
on history Seldon could not have anticipated. The first trilogy
closes
open to the future. IA's first three published novels - Pebble in the
Sky
(1950), The Stars, Like Dust (1951; cut vt The Rebellious Stars 1954
dos)
and The Currents of Space (1952), all three assembled as Triangle
(omni
1961; vt A Second Isaac Asimov Omnibus 1969 UK) - are set earlier in
the
galactic empire of the Foundation stories, but have no direct
connection
with them; they are relatively minor. Before 1958, when he closed
off his
first career as a fiction writer, IA wrote only one completely
separate
singleton, The End of Eternity (1955), a complex story of TIME
TRAVEL and
TIME PARADOXES considered by some critics to be his best work. As
Paul
French, he produced the Lucky Starr CHILDREN'S SF sequence: David
Starr,
Space Ranger (1952; vt Space Ranger 1973 UK), Lucky Starr and the
Pirates
of the Asteroids (1953; vt Pirates of the Asteroids 1973 UK), Lucky
Starr
and the Oceans of Venus (1954; vt The Oceans of Venus 1974 UK),
Lucky
Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury (1956; vt The Big Sun of Mercury
1974
UK), Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter (1957; vt The Moons of
Jupiter
1974 UK), Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn (1958; vt The Rings
of
Saturn 1974 UK). The sequence was assembled in the UK as An Isaac
Asimov
Double (omni 1972 UK),; vt Lucky Starr Book 1 1993 US), A Second
Isaac
Asimov Double (omni 1973 UK); vt Lucky Starr Book 2 1993 US) and A
Third
Isaac Asimov Double (omni 1973 UK); and in the USA the first three
titles
were assembled as The Adventures of Lucky Starr (omni 1985). Most of
the
best of his short stories - like The Martian Way (1952), Dreaming is
a
Private Thing (1955), The Dead Past (1956) and The Ugly Little Boy
(1958
Gal; 1989 chap dos) - also came from the 1950s; his short work,
very
frequently reprinted in the 1980s, was initially assembled in a series
of
impressive volumes, including The Martian Way, and Other Stories
(coll
1955), Earth is Room Enough (coll 1957) and Nine Tomorrows: Tales of
the
Near Future (coll 1959). But then he stopped. In 1958, there was
every
sense that the Robot and Foundation sequences were complete, and no
sense
that they could in any plausible sense be related to one another.
IA
himself, having abandoned fiction, plunged first into the writing of
a
popular-science column in The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE
FICTION,
which began in November 1958 and appeared continuously, for 399
unbroken
issues, until mounting illness prevented his completing the 400th
essay
late in 1991; it won IA a special Hugo in 1963 for adding science
to
science fiction. More significantly, he also began to produce
an
extraordinary stream of nonfiction titles, many of them very
substantial,
on all aspects of science and literature and - more or less -
anything
else. The triumphant Opus 100 (coll 1969) was followed by Opus 200
(coll
1979), both being assembled as Opus (omni 1980 UK); and these two
were
followed in turn by Opus 300 (coll 1984). By the time of his death
in
1992, IA's total of published works had long passed the 400 mark.
During
the years from 1958 to about 1980, however, little sf appeared, and
what
did varied widely in quality. A film tie, Fantastic Voyage (1966) -
which
much later was not so much sequelled as recast in Fantastic Voyage
II:
Destination Brain (1987) - did his name no good; but THE GODS
THEMSELVES
(1972), which was only the second genuine singleton of his career
and
which won both Hugo and NEBULA awards, proved to be his finest
single
creation, a complex tale involving catastrophic energy transfers
between
alternate universes (ALTERNATE WORLDS) and - rarely for him -
intriguing
alien beings. Two collections, Buy Jupiter, and Other Stories
(coll 1975;
vt Buy Jupiter!) - which incorporated Have You Seen These (coll
1974 chap)
- and The Bicentennial Man (coll 1976), contained both desultory
fillers
and, in the title story of the second volume, his finest single
Robot
tale. His presence in the sf world may have been intermittent, but
his
reputation continued to grow, and in Spring 1977 IA was involved
in
founding the first successful new US sf magazine since 1950,
ISAAC
ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE, which soon became - and remains -
one
of the two or three dominant journals in the field. In the 1980s, to
the
relief of his very numerous readers and to the trepidation of critics,
he
returned to the sf field as a fully active writer. Never in fact
prolific
as an author of fiction, IA began at this time to produce large
novels at
intervals of a year or less, most of them comprising an ambitious
attempt
to amalgamate the Robot and Foundation sequences into one
overarching
series, a task not made easier by the total absence of robots
from the
Galactic Empire. The bridging premise is simple: the Galactic Empire
(and
Hari Seldon's own career) are the consequences of a robot plot - based
on
their by-now enormously sophisticated reading of the Three Laws, by
which
they argue that the First Law requires robots to protect the human race
as
a whole - to ensure the survival of humanity among the stars. In terms
of
internal chronology, the new series comprises THE ROBOTS OF DAWN
(1983),
Robots and Empire (1985), Prelude to Foundation (1988), FOUNDATION'S
EDGE
(1982), which won a Hugo, Foundation and Earth (1986) and Forward
the
Foundation (coll of linked stories 1993), IA's last completed
fiction,
which advances the sequence into the lifetime of Hari Seldon. Each
tale
was longer than anything IA had ever written before and sold
enormously
well, but disappointed some readers because of the undue
relaxedness of
the new style, the ponderousness of the action, and the
memorial sense
that was given off by the entire enterprise. Meanwhile,
earlier material
was assiduously intermixed with the new. The Robot
Collection (omni 1983)
assembled The Robot Novels and The Complete Robot
(coll 1982), the latter
title containing all the robot stories barring the
novels; and The Robot
Novels, in its original 1971 form an omnibus containing
the Bayley/Olivaw
tales, now reappeared as The Robot Novels (omni 1988)
incorporating THE
ROBOTS OF DAWN as well. Robot Dreams (coll 1986) and Robot
Visions (coll
1990), both ed anon by Martin H.GREENBERG, while re-sorting
much old
material, also contained new short stories; and The Positronic Man
(1976
Stellar Science Fiction Stories, anth ed Judith DEL REY asThe
Bicentennial
Man; exp 1992 UK) with Robert Silverberg reworked a relatively
late robot
story. With Janet ASIMOV (whom see for titles) IA began a new
robot
series, the Norby books for children. Further singletons
arrived,
including Azazel (coll of linked stories 1988), Nemesis (1989) and
Child
of Time (1958 Gal as The Ugly Little Boy by IA alone; exp 1991; vt
The
Ugly Little Boy 1992 US) with Robert Silverberg. New stories
were
assembled in The Winds of Change (coll 1986), and the entire career
was
memorialized in The Asimov Chronicles: Fifty Years of Isaac Asimov
(coll
1989; vt in 6 vols as The Asimov Chronicles 1 1990, 2 1990, 3 1990,
4
1991, 5 1991 and 6 1991) ed Martin H.Greenberg; while at the same
time
there appeared The Complete Stories, Volume One (omni 1990),
comprising
the contents of Earth is Room Enough, Nine Tomorrows and
Nightfall, and
The Complete Stories, Volume Two (coll 1992), assembling work
from 1941
through 1976. A cascade of anthologies (see listing below) appeared
during
this decade; the Isaac Asimov's Robot City series of TIES by
various
writers were issued regularly. During the last two decades of his
life,
IA's name seemed ubiquitous; he was given a Nebula Grand Master Award
for
1986. It remained the case, however, that for younger generations it
had
become hard to see the forest for the trees. Their best course might
well
be to stick to the Robots and the Foundation, to THE GODS THEMSELVES,
and
to The Asimov Chronicles. There they would hear the clear unerring
voice
of the rational man, and the tales he told about solving the true
world.
For 50 years it was IA's tone of address that all the other voices of
sf
obeyed, or shifted from - sometimes with an eloquence he could not
himself
have achieved. It may indeed be said that he lacked poetry; but for
five
decades his was the voice to which sf came down in the end. His was
the
default voice of sf. Other works: The Death Dealers (1958; vt A Whiff
of
Death 1968), associational; Through A Glass, Clearly (coll 1967
UK);
Asimov's Mysteries (coll 1968), associational; Nightfall and Other
Stories
(coll 1969; vt in 2 vols Nightfall One 1971 UK and Nightfall Two 1971
UK);
The Best New Thing (1971), a juvenile; The Best of Isaac Asimov (coll
1973
UK) ed anon Martin H.Greenberg; the Black Widowers sequence
of
associational detective tales comprising Tales of the Black Widowers
(coll
1974), More Tales of the Black Widowers (coll 1976), Casebook of the
Black
Widowers (coll 1980), Banquets of the Black Widowers (coll 1984)
and
Puzzles of the Black Widowers (coll 1990); The Heavenly Host (1975),
a
juvenile; The Dream, Benjamin's Dream and Benjamin's Bicentennial
Blast:
Three Short Stories (coll 1976 chap); Good Taste (1976 chap); Murder
at
the ABA (1976; vt Authorized Murder 1976 UK), a detection with
RECURSIVE
elements; The Key Word and Other Mysteries (coll 1977),
associational; The
Far Ends of Time and Earth (omni 1979) assembling Pebble
in the Sky, Earth
is Room Enough and The End of Eternity; Prisoners of the
Stars (omni
1979), assembling The Stars Like Dust and The Martian Way; 3 by
Asimov
(coll 1981 chap); The Union Club Mysteries (coll 1983), associational;
The
Alternate Asimovs (coll 1985), ed anon Greenberg, containing
early
versions of Pebble in the Sky, The End of Eternity and Belief (1953);
The
Edge of Tomorrow (coll 1985), part nonfiction; The Best Mysteries of
Isaac
Asimov (coll 1986); The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov (coll
1986);
Other Worlds of Isaac Asimov (omni 1987) assembling THE GODS
THEMSELVES,
The End of Eternity and The Martian Way; The Ugly Little Boy
(1958 Gal;
1989 chap dos); Cal (1991 chap). As Editor: Because of the huge
number of
IA anthologies, we omit those that are not of genre interest and
also
break our listing into two main divisions: Miscellaneous and
Series.
Greenberg is understood always to refer to Martin H.GREENBERG
as
collaborator, Waugh to Charles G.WAUGH as collaborator, and Olander
to
Joseph D.OLANDER as collaborator. Miscellaneous titles Soviet
Science
Fiction (anth 1962) and More Soviet Science Fiction (anth 1962), both
of
which IA introduced but did not edit; Fifty Short Science Fiction
Tales
(anth 1963) with Groff CONKLIN; Tomorrow's Children (anth 1966); Where
Do
We Go from Here? (anth 1971; vt in 2 vols Where Do We Go from Here? Book
1
1974 UK and Book 2 1974 UK); Nebula Award Stories 8 (anth 1973);
Before
the Golden Age (anth 1974; paperback edn split into 3 vols in the USA,
4
in the UK); 100 Great Science Fiction Short-Short Stories (anth 1978)
with
Greenberg and Olander; The 13 Crimes of Science Fiction (anth 1979)
with
Greenberg and Waugh; The Science Fictional Solar System (anth 1979)
with
Greenberg and Waugh; Microcosmic Tales (anth 1980) with Greenberg
and
Olander; Space Mail (anth 1980) with Greenberg and Olander; The Future
in
Question (anth 1980) with Greenberg and Olander; The Seven Deadly Sins
of
Science Fiction (anth 1980) with Greenberg and Waugh; Isaac
Asimov's
Science Fiction Treasury (omni 1981) assembling Space Mail and The
Future
in Question; The Future I (anth 1981) with Greenberg and
Olander;
Catastrophes! (anth 1981) with Greenberg and Waugh; The Seven
Cardinal
Virtues of Science Fiction (anth 1981) with Greenberg and Waugh;
Space
Mail, Volume II (anth 1982) with Greenberg and Olander; TV: 2000
(anth
1982), all with Greenberg and Waugh; Laughing Space (anth 1982)
with
J.O.Jeppson (Janet ASIMOV); Speculations (anth 1982) with Alice
Laurance;
Flying Saucers (anth 1982) with Greenberg and Waugh; Dragon Tales
(anth
1982) with Greenberg and Waugh; The Last Man on Earth (anth 1982)
with
Greenberg and Waugh; Science Fiction A to Z (anth 1982) with Greenberg
and
Waugh; Caught in the Organ Draft: Biology in Science Fiction (anth
1983)
with Greenberg and Waugh; Hallucination Orbit: Psychology in
Science
Fiction (anth 1983) with Greenberg and Waugh; Starships (anth 1983)
with
Greenberg and Waugh; The Science Fiction Weight-Loss Book (anth 1983)
with
Greenberg and George R.R.MARTIN; Creations: The Quest for Origins in
Story
and Science (anth 1983) with Greenberg and George ZEBROWSKI; 100
Great
Fantasy Short Short Stories (anth 1984) with Terry CARR and
Greenberg;
Machines that Think: The Best Science Fiction Stories about Robots
&
Computers (anth 1984) with Greenberg and Patricia S.WARRICK; Isaac
Asimov
Presents the Best Science Fiction Firsts (anth 1984) with Greenberg
and
Waugh; Computer Crimes & Capers (anth 1984) with Greenberg and
Waugh;
Sherlock Holmes through Time and Space (anth 1984) with Greenberg
and
Waugh; Election Day 2084: Science Fiction Stories about the Future
of
Politics (anth 1984) with Greenberg; Great Science Fiction Stories by
the
World's Greatest Scientists (anth 1985) with Greenberg and Waugh;
Amazing
Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction (anth 1985) with
Greenberg;
Science Fiction Masterpieces (anth 1986); The Twelve Frights of
Christmas
(anth 1986) with Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh; Young
Star
Travelers (anth 1986) with Greenberg and Waugh; Hound Dunnit (anth
1987)
with Greenberg and Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh; Encounters (anth 1988);
Tales
of the Occult (anth 1989) with Greenberg and Waugh; Visions of
Fantasy:
Tales from the Masters (anth 1989). Series titles Hugo Winners: The
Hugo
Winners (anth 1962); The Hugo Winners, Vol II (anth 1971; vt in 2
vols
Stories from The Hugo Winners 1973 and More Stories from The Hugo
Winners
1973; vt in 2 vols The Hugo Winners, Volume One, 1963-1967 1973 UK
and
Volume Two, 1968-1970 1973 UK); The Hugo Winners, Vol III (anth 1977);
The
Hugo Winners, Vol IV: 1976-1979 (anth 1985; vt in 2 vols Beyond the
Stars
1987 UK and The Dark Void 1987 UK); The Hugo Winners, Vol V:
1980-1982
(anth 1986); The New Hugo Winners: Award-Winning Science Fiction
Stories
(anth 1989) with Martin H.Greenberg; The New Hugo Winners Volume 2
(anth
1992) with Greenberg. The Hugo Winners and The Hugo Winners, Vol II
were
assembled as The Hugo Winners, Volumes One and Two (omni 1972). The
Great
SF Stories, all ed with Greenberg: Isaac Asimov Presents the Great
SF
Stories 1 (1939) (anth 1979); 2 (1940) (anth 1979); 3 (1941) (anth
1980);
4 (1942) (anth 1980); 5 (1943) (anth 1981); 6 (1944) (anth 1982); 7
(1945)
(anth 1982); 8 (1946) (anth 1982); 9 (1947) (anth 1983); 10 (1948)
(anth
1983); 11 (1949) (anth 1984); 12 (1950) (anth 1984); 13 (1951)
(anth
1985); 14 (1952) (anth 1985); 15 (1953) (anth 1986); 16 (1954)
(anth
1987); 17 (1955) (anth 1987); 18 (1956) (anth 1988); 19 (1957)
(anth
1989); 20 (1958) (anth 1990); 21 (1959) (anth 1990); 22 (1960)
(anth
1991); 23 (1961) (anth 1991); 24 (1962) (anth 1992); 25 (1963)
(anth
1992), at which point the series ended. 1 and 2 of the above
were
assembled as The Golden Years of Science Fiction 1 (omni 1982); 3 and 4
as
2 (omni 1983); 5 and 6 as 3 (omni 1984); 7 and 8 as 4 (omni 1984); 9
and
10 as 5 (omni 1986) and 11 and 12 as 6 (omni 1988). The Science
Fiction
Shorts, all ed with Greenberg and Waugh: After the End (anth 1982
chap);
Earth Invaded (anth 1982 chap); Mad Scientists (anth 1982 chap);
Mutants
(anth 1982 chap); Thinking Machines (anth 1982 chap); Tomorrow's TV
(anth
1982 chap); Travels through Time (anth 1982 chap) and Wild
Inventions
(anth 1982 chap). The Nineteenth Century series, all ed with
Greenberg and
Waugh: Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Science Fiction of the
Nineteenth
Century (anth 1981); Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Fantasy of the
19th
Century (anth 1982) and Isaac Asimov Presents the Best Horror
and
Supernatural of the 19th Century (anth 1983). The Magical Worlds
of
Fantasy, all ed with Greenberg and Waugh: Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds
of
Fantasy 1: Wizards (anth 1983); 2: Witches (anth 1984); 3: Cosmic
Knights
(anth 1985); 4: Spells (anth 1985); 5: Giants (anth 1985); 6:
Mythical
Beasties (anth 1986; vt Mythic Beasts 1988 UK); 7: Magical Wishes
(anth
1986); 8: Devils (anth 1987; vt Devils 1989); 9: Atlantis (anth 1987);
10:
Ghosts (anth 1988; vt Ghosts 1989); 11: Curses (anth 1989) and 12:
Faeries
(anth 1991). Numbers 1 and 2 of the above were assembled as Isaac
Asimov's
Magical Worlds of Fantasy: Witches & Wizards (omni 1985). The
Wonderful
Worlds of Science Fiction, all ed with Greenberg and Waugh: Isaac
Asimov's
Wonderful Worlds of Science Fiction 1: Intergalactic Empires (anth
1983);
2: The Science Fictional Olympics (anth 1984); 3: Supermen (anth
1984); 4:
Comets (anth 1984); 5: Tin Stars (anth 1986); 6: Neanderthals (anth
1987);
7: Space Shuttles (anth 1986); 8: Monsters (anth 1988; vt Monsters
1989);
9: Robots (anth 1989) and 10: Invasions (anth 1990). The Young series,
all
ed with Greenberg and Waugh: Young Extraterrestrials (anth 1984;
vt
Asimov's Extraterrestrials 1986; vt Extraterrestrials 1988); Young
Mutants
(anth 1984; vt Asimov's Mutants 1986; vt Mutants 1988); Young Ghosts
(anth
1985; vt Asimov's Ghosts 1986) and Young Monsters (anth 1985; vt
Asimov's
Monsters 1986) - both assembled as Asimov's Ghosts & Monsters
(omni 1988
UK) - and Young Witches & Warlocks (anth 1987). The Mammoth
books, all ed
with Greenberg and Waugh: Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Fantasy
Novels (anth
1985; vt The Mammoth Book of Short Fantasy Novels 1988 UK); The
Mammoth
Book of Short Science Fiction Novels (anth 1986 UK); The Mammoth Book
of
Classic Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1930s (anth 1988 UK; cut
vt
Great Tales of Classic Science Fiction 1990 US); The Mammoth Book
of
Golden Age Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1940s (anth 1989 UK);
The
Mammoth Book of Vintage Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1950s
(anth
1990 UK); The Mammoth Book of New World Science Fiction: Great
Short
Novels of the 1960s (anth 1991); The Mammoth Book of Fantastic
Science
Fiction: Short Novels of the 1970s (anth 1992); The Mammoth Book of
Modern
Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1980s (anth 1993). Nonfiction:
We
make no attempt to list IA's enormous nonfiction output; however, of
the
hundreds of titles published since Biochemistry and Human
Metabolism
(1952; rev 1954; rev 1957) with Burnham Walker and William C.Boyd,
more
than half are likely to be of interest to sf readers for their lucid
and
comprehensive popularizations of all forms of science. Only a
Trillion
(coll 1957) contains three SATIRES. IA's FSF science columns have
been
regularly assembled, in many volumes, from Fact and Fancy (coll 1962)
on.
Recent non-popular-science titles of interest include: Isaac Asimov
on
Science Fiction (coll 1981); Futuredays: A 19th-Century Vision of the
Year
2000 (1986); How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort (1987)
with
Janet Asimov; Asimov's Galaxy: Reflections on Science Fiction (coll
1989);
Frontiers (coll 1990); Our Angry Earth (1991) with Frederik
POHL.
Nonfiction as editor: Robots: Machines in Man's Image (anth 1985)
with
Karen A.Frenkel; Cosmic Critique: How and Why Ten Science Fiction
Stories
Work (anth 1990) with Greenberg. About the author: FSF Oct 1966,
Special
Isaac Asimov Issue; The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov by
Joseph
F.Patrouch Jr (1974); Asimov Analysed (1972) by Neil GOBLE; Isaac
Asimov
(anth of critical articles 1977) ed Joseph D.Olander and
Martin
H.Greenberg; Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction
Success
(1982) by James E.GUNN. See also: ANTHOLOGIES; APES AND CAVEMEN (IN
THE
HUMAN WORLD); ARTS; ASTEROIDS; BIOLOGY; CHILDREN IN SF; CITIES;
CLICHES;
CLUB STORY; COLONIZATION OF OTHER WORLDS; CONCEPTUAL BREAKTHROUGH;
CRIME
AND PUNISHMENT; CYBERNETICS; DEVOLUTION; DIMENSIONS; DISCOVERY
AND
INVENTION; ENTROPY; FANTASY; FUTUROLOGY; GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION;
HISTORY
OF SF; JUPITER; JUVENILE SERIES; LONGEVITY (IN WRITERS AND
PUBLICATIONS);
MEDIA LANDSCAPE; MERCURY; MUSIC; OUTER PLANETS; PARALLEL
WORLDS; PHYSICS;
PLANETARY ROMANCE; POLITICS; PSEUDO-SCIENCE; PUBLISHING;
RADIO; RELIGION;
SF MAGAZINES; SCIENTISTS; SERIES; SEX; SHARED WORLDS;
SOCIOLOGY; SPACE
OPERA; STARS; TECHNOLOGY; TRANSPORTATION; UNDER THE SEA;
UTOPIAS; VENUS;
VILLAINS.
ASIMOV, JANET (OPAL JEPPSON)
(1926- ) US psychoanalyst and writer, married to
Isaac ASIMOV from 1973
until his death in 1992; she signed her early books
J.O.Jeppson. She began
to publish sf, most of it for children, with The
Second Experiment (1974)
as Jeppson, as were The Last Immortal (1980) and The
Mysterious Cure, and
Other Stories of Pshrinks Anonymous (coll 1985), the
latter comprising
comical tales of psychiatry. As JA, and in collaboration
with Isaac
Asimov, she wrote the Norby Chronicles, a sequence of tales for
younger
readers about a ROBOT and the scrapes it gets into: Norby, the
Mixed-Up
Robot (1983) and Norby's Other Secret (1984), both assembled as The
Norby
Chronicles (omni 1986); plus Norby and the Lost Princess (1985) and
Norby
and the Invaders (1985), both assembled as Norby: Robot for Hire
(omni
1987); plus Norby and the Queen's Necklace (1986) and Norby Finds
a
Villain (1987), both assembled as Norby through Time and Space
(omni
1988); plus Norby Down to Earth (1988), Norby and Yobo's Great
Adventure
(1989), Norby and the Oldest Dragon (1990) and Norby and the Court
Jester
(1991). Of greater general interest is her third solo novel, Mind
Transfer
(1988) as JA, which carries over her interest in robots into an
adult tale
involving the proposal to gift them with brain structures so
sophisticated
that human minds can be transferred into the matrix provided.
Sex, aliens
and interstellar travel supervene, and the nature of human
identity is
explored with some panache. Other works: Laughing Space: Funny
Science
Fiction Chuckled Over (anth 1982) as Jeppson with Isaac Asimov; How
to
Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort (1987) with Isaac Asimov.
ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION
ISAAC ASIMOV 'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE.
ASNIN, SCOTT
(? - ) US writer known exclusively for A Cold Wind from Orion
(1980), one
of several near-future DISASTER novels published around 1980, and
not the
least effective of them. The falling object in this case is a
satellite.
ASPRIN, ROBERT LYNN
(1946- ) US writer who began publishing sf with his first
novel, The Cold
Cash War (1977), which alarmingly conflates GAME-WORLD antics
(like fake
wars between mercenaries representing rival corporations on rented
turf -
Brazil, for instance, being visualized mainly as an arena
for
world-dominating firms to play games in) and a political rationale
to
legitimize the corporate control of Earth. RLA's later novels continued
to
chafe against similar real-life constraints, and it was not until
the
invention of the Thieves' World universe that he came into his own.
The
individual volumes in the sequence - a SHARED-WORLD fantasy
enterpise
crafted by a number of writers - were designed by RLA to comprise a
number
of stories written (or edited) so that they read as BRAIDS; he may
have
been the first sf or fantasy editor to create a significant
braided
anthology or novel. The sequence comprises Thieves' World (anth
1979),
Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn (anth 1980) and Shadows of Sanctuary
(anth
1981) - these three being assembled as Sanctuary (omni 1982) -
Storm
Season (anth 1982), The Face of Chaos (anth 1983), with Lynn Abbey
(1948-
) and Wings of Omen (anth 1984) with Abbey - these three being
assembled
as Cross-Currents (omni 1985) - The Dead of Winter (anth 1985),
Soul of
the City (anth 1985) and Blood Ties (anth 1986) - these three all
with
Abbey and assembled as The Shattered Sphere (omni 1986) - and
Aftermath
(anth 1987), Uneasy Alliances (anth 1989) and Stealer's Sky (anth
1989) -
these three all with Abbey and assembled as The Price of Victory
(omni
1990). Six GRAPHIC-NOVEL versions of material from the sequence
were
published, all with Abbey and Tim Sale, beginning with Thieves'
World
Graphics 1 (graph 1985), 2 (graph 1986) and 3 (graph 1986). Since
1979
almost all of RLA's work has been fantasy, mostly comic, though
his
Phule's Company sequence - Phule's Company (1990) and 2: Phule's
Paradise
(1992) - deploys the eponymous passel of ragbag soldiers in a
SPACE-OPERA
Universe. His reputation lies mainly in the ingenuity of his
braiding
activities as editor, but his comic fiction is craftsmanlike. Other
works:
The Myth sequence of fantasy adventures in an Arabian Nights
universe,
comprising Another Fine Myth... (1978), Myth Conceptions (1980),
Myth
Directions (1982), Hit or Myth (1983) - all 4 being assembled as
Myth
Adventures (omni 1984) - and Myth-ing Persons (1984), Little Myth
Marker
(1985), M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link (1986), Myth-Nomers and Im-pervections
(1987),
M.Y.T.H. Inc in Action (1990) and Sweet MYTHtery of Life (1994) the
first
6 volumes being assembled as The Myth-ing Omnibus (omni 1992 UK) and
The
Second Myth-ing Omnibus (omni 1992 UK), along with Myth Adventures
One
(graph coll 1985) and Myth Adventures Two (graph coll 1986), both
with
Phil Foglio and assembling comics versions based on Another Fine
Myth...;
Mirror Friend, Mirror Foe (1979) with George TAKEI; The Bug Wars
(1979);
Tambu (1979); the Duncan and Mallory sequence of graphic novels, all
with
Mel White, comprising Duncan and Mallory (graph 1986), The Bar-None
Ranch
(graph 1987), and The Raiders (graph 1988); For King and Country
(1991)
with Dafydd ab Hugh (1960- ); Catwoman (1992; vt Catwoman: Tiger Hunt
1993
UK) with Lynn Abbey, a Batman tie. Further RLA work in comics, not
yet
collected in book form, includes Myth Adventures 9-12 (all 1986) and
Myth
Conceptions 1-8 (1985-7). As Editor: Some of the Elfquest series
of
braided anthologies, based on the fantasy sequence created by
Richard
Pini, RLA's contributions being The Blood of Ten Chiefs (anth 1986)
with
Lynn Abbey and Richard Pini and 2: Wolfsong (anth 1988) with Pini.
See
also: HUMOUR.
ASTEROIDS
The asteroids (or minor planets) mostly lie between the orbits of
Mars
and Jupiter. The first to be discovered was Ceres, identified by
Giuseppe
Piazzi (1746-1826) in 1801; three more, including Vesta and Pallas,
were
discovered in the same decade, and more than 2000 have now
been
catalogued. Only a few are over 150km (100 miles) in diameter, the
largest
(Ceres) being some 700km (435 miles) across. A once popular but
now
unfashionable theory originated by Heinrich Olbers (1755-1840) holds
that
the asteroids may be the debris of a planet torn asunder in some
long-ago
cosmic disaster. A few moral tales of the 1950s - and works
of
PSEUDO-SCIENCE to this day - suggested that atomic WAR might have
been
responsible. The theory features prominently in James BLISH's thriller
The
Frozen Year (1957; vt Fallen Star), while the hypothetical war
transcends
time to continue in the mind of a human astronaut in Asleep in
Armageddon
(1948) by Ray BRADBURY. Some asteroids have extremely eccentric
orbits
which take them inside - in some cases well inside - the orbit of Mars
or
even that of the Earth. One such is featured in Arthur
C.CLARKE's
Summertime on Icarus (1960), and the climax of James Blish's and
Norman L.
KNIGHT's A Torrent of Faces (1967) involves a collision between
Earth and
asteroid Flavia. In primitive SPACE OPERAS the asteroid belt tended
to
figure as a hazard for all ships venturing beyond Mars. Near misses
and
actual collisions were common; Isaac ASIMOV's Marooned off Vesta
(1939)
begins with one such. Modern writers, however, generally realize both
that
the matter in the asteroid belt is very thinly distributed and that,
as
the asteroids all lie roughly in the plane of the ecliptic, it is easy
to
fly over or under them en route to the outer planets. The asteroids
figure
most frequently in sf in connection with mining. In early pulp sf
they
became an analogue of the Klondike, where men were men and mules
were
second-hand spaceships. Notable examples of this species of
sub-Western
space opera include Clifford D.SIMAK's The Asteroid of Gold
(1932),
Stanton COBLENTZ's The Golden Planetoid (1935), Malcolm
JAMESON's
Prospectors of Space (1940) and Jack WILLIAMSON's Seetee Ship
(1942-3;
fixup 1951; magazine stories and early editions as by Will Stewart).
The
analogy between the asteroid belt and the Wild West was soon extended,
so
that the lawless asteroids became the perfect place for
interplanetary
skulduggery, and they featured frequently in space-piracy
stories of the
kind popularized by PLANET STORIES; examples are Asteroid
Pirates (1938)
by Royal W.Heckman and The Prison of the Stars (1953) by
Stanley MULLEN.
The mythology was co-opted into juvenile sf by Asimov in
Lucky Starr and
the Pirates of the Asteroids (1953 as by Paul French; vt The
Pirates of
the Asteroids). The use of the asteroids as alien worlds in their
own
right or as places fit for COLONIZATION has been understandably
limited:
they are too small to offer much scope. Clark Ashton SMITH's The
Master of
the Asteroid (1932) and Edmond HAMILTON's The Horror on the
Asteroid
(1933) feature humans being marooned as a result of unfortunate
collisions
and meeting unpleasantly strange fates. The creature in Eden
PHILLPOTTS's
Saurus (1938) was dispatched to Earth from the asteroid Hermes
but, as he
was still an egg at the time, he was unable later to give much of
an
account of life there. Asteroidal Shangri-Las are featured in
Fox
B.Holden's The Death Star (1951) and Poul ANDERSON's Garden in the
Void
(1952), but in general the most interesting sf asteroids are those
which
turn out to be SPACESHIPS in disguise, like the one in Murray
LEINSTER's
The Wailing Asteroid (1961). The asteroid/spaceship in Greg BEAR's
EON
(1985) turns out to be pregnant with all manner of
astonishing
possibilities. Jack VANCE's I'll Build Your Dream Castle (1947)
depicts a
series of asteroidal real-estate deals, but the feats of
TERRAFORMING
involved stretch the reader's credulity. Charles PLATT's Garbage
World
(1967) features an asteroid which serves as the dumping-ground
for
interplanetary pleasure resorts, but this is not to be taken
too
seriously. A scattered, tough-minded asteroid-belt society, the
Belters,
plays an important role in Larry NIVEN's Tales of Known Space
series.
Niven, in traditional fashion, sees the Belters as miners similar
in
spirit to the colonists of the Old West. One major work on this theme
is
Poul Anderson's Tales of the Flying Mountains (1963-5 ASF as by Winston
P.
Sanders; fixup 1970), an episodic novel tracing the development of
the
asteroid culture from its inception to its declaration of
independence.
(An earlier Sanders story set in the asteroid belt was Barnacle
Bull 1960.
) A more up-to-date image of life on the belt frontier is offered
in
Mother in the Sky with Diamonds (1971) by James TIPTREE Jr, and a
notable
modern HARD-SF story partly set on an unusual asteroid is Starfire
(1988)
by Paul PREUSS. Stories in which asteroids are removed from their
natural
orbits include Bob SHAW's melodramatic The Ceres Solution (1981), in
which
Ceres is used to destroy the MOON, and Farside Cannon (1988) by
Roger
McBride ALLEN, in which a similar but less desirable collision is
averted.
The asteroids have become less significant as action-adventure sf
has
moved out into the greater galactic wilderness, but the idea
that
colonization of the Solar System might involve the construction
of
purpose-built SPACE HABITATS rather than descents into
hostile
gravity-wells has suggested to some writers that hollowed-out
asteroids
might have their uses; the most extravagant extrapolation of this
notion
can be found in George ZEBROWSKI's Macrolife (1979).
ASTONISHING STORIES
US PULP MAGAZINE, 16 issues Feb 1940-Apr 1943, mostly
bimonthly,
published by Fictioneers, Inc., Chicago; ed Feb 1940-Sep 1941
Frederik
POHL and Nov 1941-Apr 1943 Alden H.Norton. Fictioneers, Inc. was
a
subsidiary of Popular Publications. After the success of this magazine
and
its sister publication, SUPER SCIENCE STORIES, both ed by the
19-year-old
Pohl, Popular Publications went on to acquire various of the
Frank
A.MUNSEY magazines, including The ARGOSY, FAMOUS FANTASTIC MYSTERIES
and
FANTASTIC NOVELS, and put Alden H.Norton in overall control of their
sf,
including the two being edited by Pohl. AS was a lively and
successful
magazine under Pohl and his successor, publishing mainly short
stories
while Super Science Stories emphasized novels. Although AS was in
part a
training ground for writers who would become famous later, its
stories
were surprisingly good considering how little was paid for them: the
total
budget per issue was $405. AS was also, with a cover price of 10
cents,
the cheapest sf magazine on the market. It featured stories by,
among
others, Isaac ASIMOV, Alfred BESTER, Ray CUMMINGS, Neil R.JONES
(several
Professor Jameson stories), Henry KUTTNER, Clifford D.SIMAK and,
under
pseudonyms, various FUTURIANS (including Pohl himself and
C.M.KORNBLUTH).
A Canadian reprint edition published 3 issues in 1942.
ASTOR, JOHN JACOB
(1864-1912) US writer, descendant of the celebrated fur
trader; he went
down with the Titanic. His A Journey in Other Worlds: A
Romance of the
Future (1894) features an ANTIGRAVITY device - apergy,
borrowed from Percy
GREG's Across the Zodiac (1880) - that powers a craft in
a tour of the
Solar System in AD2000. Earth itself is a conventional UTOPIA;
JUPITER is
Edenic; Saturn is a kind of Heaven. There is much mystical
speculation,
the journey having as much to do with theological allegory as
with
scientific prophecy or the theory of parallel EVOLUTION. See also:
OUTER
PLANETS; POWER SOURCES; RELIGION.
ASTOUNDING SF
(Ultimate Reprint Co. magazine) ASTOUNDING STORIES
YEARBOOK.
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION
US magazine, pulp-size Jan 1930-Dec 1941,
BEDSHEET-size Jan 1942-Apr
1943, pulp size May 1943-Oct 1943, DIGEST-size Nov
1943-Feb 1963,
bedsheet-size Mar 1963-Mar 1965, digest-size Apr 1965 to date.
It changed
its title to ANALOG (details below) in 1960. Published by
Publisher's
Fiscal Corporation (which later became Clayton Magazines) Jan
1930-Mar
1933, STREET & SMITH Oct 1933-Jan 1961, Conde Nast Feb 1961-Aug
1980,
Davis Publications Sep 1980-1992; ed Harry BATES Jan 1930-Mar
1933,
F.Orlin TREMAINE Oct 1933-Nov 1937, John W.CAMPBELL Jr Dec 1937-Dec
1971,
Ben BOVA Jan 1972-Nov 1978, Stanley SCHMIDT Dec 1978-current. ASF was
sold
to Dell Magazines, part of the BANTAM/ DOUBLEDAY/Dell publishing
group,
early in 1992; the first redesigned ASF under the new management
is
projected to be (new logo and different cover style) was Nov 1992. By
June
1995 the numeration had reached Vol. 115, no. 6. ASF was brought
into
being when the PULP-MAGAZINE publisher William Clayton suggested to one
of
his editors, Harry Bates, the idea of a new monthly magazine
of
period-adventure stories, largely in order to fill a blank space on
the
sheet on which all the covers of his pulp magazines were
simultaneously
printed. Bates counterproposed a magazine to be called
Astounding Stories
of Super-Science. The idea was accepted, and the first
issue appeared in
Jan 1930 under that title. Bates was editor, with assistant
editor Desmond
W.HALL and consulting editor Douglas M.DOLD (who in 1931
became editor of
the short-lived MIRACLE SCIENCE AND FANTASY STORIES). Where
its
predecessors AIR WONDER STORIES, AMAZING STORIES and SCIENCE
WONDER
STORIES were larger than the ordinary pulp magazines and attempted a
more
austere respectability, in response to Hugo GERNSBACK's
proselytizing
desire to communicate an interest in science through
SCIENTIFICTION, ASF
was unashamedly an action-adventure pulp magazine where
science was
present only to add a veneer of plausibility to its outrageous
melodramas.
The flavour is suggested by the following editorial blurb (for
The Pirate
Planet by Charles W.Diffin, Feb 1931): From Earth & Sub-Venus
Converge a
Titanic Offensive of Justice on the Unspeakable Man-Things of
Torg. The
covers of the Clayton ASF, all the work of Hans Waldemar
Wessolowski (H.W.
WESSO), show, typically, men (or women) menaced by giant
insects or -
anticipating KING KONG (1933) - giant apes. Regular contributors
included
such names as Ray CUMMINGS, Paul ERNST, Francis FLAGG, S.P.MEEK and
Victor
ROUSSEAU. One of the most popular authors was Anthony GILMORE
(the
collaborative pseudonym of Bates and Hall), whose Hawk Carse
series
epitomized ASF-style SPACE OPERA. In Feb 1931 the title was
abbreviated to
Astounding Stories; the full title was resumed in Jan 1933.
During late
1932 the magazine became irregular as the Clayton chain
encountered
financial problems. In Mar 1933 Clayton went out of business and
ASF
ceased publication. Although the vast majority of the stories in its
first
incarnation (1930-33) are deservedly forgotten, ASF was a robust
and
reasonably successful magazine and, because its rates were so much
better
than those of its competitors (two cents a word on acceptance instead
of
half a cent a word on publication or later), it had attracted such
authors
as Murray LEINSTER and Jack WILLIAMSON. The magazine's title was
bought by
STREET & SMITH, a well established pulp chain publisher, and
after a
six-month gap it reappeared in Oct 1933, restored to a monthly
schedule
which it has ever since maintained or improved upon (it has
been
four-weekly since 1981) - a record which no other magazine, even AMZ,
can
approach. Desmond Hall remained on the editorial staff for a time, but
the
new editor was F.Orlin TREMAINE. The first two Tremaine issues were
an
uneasy balance of sf, occult and straight adventure but, with the Dec
1933
issue, ASF became re-established as an sf magazine (with the Street
&
Smith takeover the name had once again become Astounding Stories). In
that
issue Tremaine announced the formulation of his thought-variant
policy:
each issue of ASF would carry a story developing an idea which, as he
put
it, has been slurred over or passed by in many, many stories. The
first
such story was Ancestral Voices by Nat SCHACHNER. Although
the
thought-variant policy can be seen as a publicity gimmick rather than as
a
coherent intellectual design for the magazine, during 1934 Tremaine
and
Hall together raised ASF to an indisputably pre-eminent position in
its
small field. The magazine's payment rates were only half what they
had
been, but they were still twice as much as their competitors' and
were
paid promptly. ASF solicited material from leading authors: in 1934
it
featured Donald WANDREI's Colossus (Jan), Williamson's Born of the
Sun
(Mar) and The Legion of Space (Apr-Sep; 1947), Leinster's Sidewise in
Time
(June), E.E.Doc SMITH's Skylark of Valeron (Aug 1934-Feb 1935; 1949),
C.L.
MOORE's The Bright Illusion (Oct), John W.Campbell Jr's first Don
A.Stuart
story, Twilight (Nov), Raymond Z.GALLUN's Old Faithful (Dec)
and
Campbell's The Mightiest Machine (Dec 1934-Apr 1935; 1947).
Furthermore,
Charles FORT's nonfiction Lo! (1931) was serialized (Apr-Nov)
and ASF's
covers featured some startling work by Howard V.BROWN. Also during
1934
the magazine's wordage increased twice, first by adding more pages,
then
by reducing the size of type. ASF continued to dominate the field in
the
following years. Superscience epics in the Campbell style were
largely
phased out as the moodier stories of Stuart became popular.
Stanley
G.WEINBAUM was a regular contributor during 1935 (the year of his
death);
H.P.LOVECRAFT's fiction appeared in 1936. Tremaine's intention
(announced
in Jan 1935) to publish ASF twice a month did not materialize, but
the
magazine prospered and in Feb 1936 made the important symbolic step
of
adopting trimmed edges to its pages, which at a stroke made its
appearance
far smarter than those of its ragged competitors. Other artists
who began
to appear in ASF included Elliott DOLD and Charles SCHNEEMAN.
Campbell and
Willy LEY contributed articles; L.Sprague DE CAMP and Eric Frank
RUSSELL
had their first stories published. At the same time, ASF's
competitors
were ailing: both AMZ and WONDER STORIES switched from monthly
to
bimonthly in 1935; Wonder Stories was sold in the following year
(becoming
THRILLING WONDER STORIES), and AMZ suffered the same fate in 1938.
When
Tremaine became editorial director at Street & Smith late in 1937
and
appointed John W.CAMPBELL Jr as his successor, he handed over a
healthy
and successful concern. For his first 18 months as editor Campbell
did not
develop the magazine significantly, although in 1938 he published
the
first sf stories of Lester DEL REY and L.Ron HUBBARD and
reintroduced
Clifford D.SIMAK. In Mar 1938 he altered the title to
Astounding
Science-Fiction. His intention was to phase out the word
Astounding, which
he disliked, and to retitle the magazine Science Fiction;
however, the
appearance in 1939 of a magazine with that title (SCIENCE
FICTION)
prevented him from doing so. He toyed briefly with
thought-variant
adaptations: Mutant issues (which would show significant
changes in the
direction of ASF's evolution - and that of sf generally) and
Nova stories
(which would be unusual in manner of presentation rather than
basic
theme). Such gimmicks were soon forgotten. In Mar 1939 he began
ASF's
successful fantasy companion, UNKNOWN. The beginning of
Campbell's
particular GOLDEN AGE OF SF can be pinpointed as the summer of
1939. The
July ASF (later reproduced as Astounding Science Fiction, July,
1939 anth
1981 ed Campbell and Martin H.GREENBERG) contained A.E.VAN VOGT's
first sf
story, Black Destroyer, and Isaac ASIMOV's Trends (not his first
story,
but the first he had managed to sell to Campbell); the Aug issue
had
Robert A.HEINLEIN's debut, Life-Line; in the Sep issue Theodore
STURGEON's
first sf story, Ether Breather, appeared. During the same period
Hubert
ROGERS became established as ASF's major cover artist. The authors
that he
published have frequently attested to Campbell's dynamic
editorial
personality. Certainly he fed them ideas, but it was the
coincidental
appearance of a number of prolific and imaginative writers which
gave ASF
its remarkable domination of the genre-sf field during the WWII
years -
when, to begin with, a boom in sf-magazine publishing meant there was
more
competition than ever before. The key figure in 1940 and 1941
was
Heinlein. His stories alone would have made the magazine notable, as
a
partial listing will indicate. In 1940 there were Requiem (Jan), If
This
Goes On - (Feb-Mar), The Roads Must Roll (June), Coventry (July)
and
Blowups Happen (Sep); in 1941 Sixth Column (Jan-Mar; 1949), And He Built
A
Crooked House (Feb), Logic of Empire (Mar), Universe (May),
Solution
Unsatisfactory (May), Methuselah's Children (July-Sep; 1958), By
His
Bootstraps (Oct), Common Sense (Oct). At the same time there were a
number
of stories by van Vogt, notably SLAN (Sep-Dec 1940; 1946; rev 1951),
and
by Asimov, including Nightfall (Sep 1941) and the early ROBOT
series.
Although Campbell lost Heinlein to war work in 1942, he gained
Anthony
BOUCHER, Fritz LEIBER and Lewis Padgett (Henry KUTTNER and
C.L.MOORE). In
Jan 1942 the magazine switched to bedsheet size - which gave
more wordage
while saving paper - but it reverted to pulp size in 1943 for a
few months
before becoming the first digest-size sf magazine in Nov 1943 as
paper
shortages (which killed off Unknown) became more acute. William
Timmins
replaced Rogers as ASF's regular cover artist. ASF's leadership of
the
field continued through the 1940s. Most of its regular authors had
popular
series to reinforce their appeal: Asimov's Robot and Foundation
stories;
van Vogt's Weapon Shops tales and his two Null-A novels; George
O.SMITH's
Venus Equilateral stories; Jack Williamson's Seetee stories (as by
Will
Stewart); Padgett's Gallegher stories; and E.E.Smith's epic
Lensman
series, the last two novels of which marked the last throes of
the
superscience epic in ASF. The only serious challenge to ASF's
superiority
came from Sam MERWIN Jr's vastly improved STARTLING STORIES,
which by 1948
was publishing much good material. However, Startling Stories
was a
particularly garish-looking pulp while ASF became more sober and
serious
in appearance as the decade went on; the covers featuring
Chesley
BONESTELL's astronomical art contributed to this effect. The
word
Astounding was reduced to a small-size italic script, often coloured so
as
to be virtually invisible. At a casual glance it looked as if Campbell
had
achieved his ambition of retitling the magazine. But, with the
appearance
of The MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION in 1949 and GALAXY
SCIENCE
FICTION in 1950, ASF's leadership was successfully challenged.
It
continued on an even, respectable keel, but the exciting new authors
of
the 1950s, by and large, made their mark elsewhere. The May 1950 issue
of
ASF featured Hubbard's first article on DIANETICS, which launched
the
PSEUDO-SCIENCE that would later become SCIENTOLOGY. This was
symptomatic
of Campbell's growing wish to see the ideas of sf made real, a
wish that
led him into a fruitless championing of backyard inventors' space
drives
and PSIONIC machines. His editorials - idiosyncratic,
deliberately
needling, dogmatic, sometimes uncomfortably elitist and
near-racist -
absorbed much of the energy which had previously gone into the
feeding of
ideas to his authors. Many of the notions propounded in the
editorials
were duly reworked into fiction by a stable of unexceptional
regular
authors such as Randall GARRETT and Raymond F.JONES. ASF's
new
contributors included Poul ANDERSON, James BLISH, Gordon R.DICKSON,
Robert
SILVERBERG and many others, and its new artists included, notably,
Ed
EMSHWILLER (Emsh), Frank Kelly FREAS and H.R.VAN DONGEN. It had
settled
into respectable middle age. Still popular with sf fans, it won
HUGO
awards in 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1957. During 1960 the magazine's title
was
gradually altered to Analog Science Fact Science Fiction,
Astounding
fading down as Analog became more visible. That little symbol...
is a
home-invented one, wrote Campbell (Jan 1964): In all
mathematics,
etcetera, there is... no symbol meaning 'is analogous to'. We
invented
one... We do not expect our readers to enunciate our title as
clearly as
'ANALOG - Science Fact is analogous to Science Fiction' but we
thought you
might be interested in why we did not use the traditional
ampersand - &.
(With the Apr 1965 issue the order of the two elements
changed, without
explanation, so that it became sf analogous to science
fact.) Street &
Smith expired and the magazine was taken over by Conde
Nast in Feb 1962.
This was an important change, because it assured ASF of
excellent
distribution (as one of a group which included such titles as
Good
Housekeeping) at a time when its rivals faced increasing difficulties
in
getting distributed and displayed. In Mar 1963 the magazine adopted a
very
elegant bedsheet-size format but, lacking the advertising support such
an
expensive production required, it reverted to digest size in Apr 1965.
The
large issues are most notable for Frank HERBERT's first two Dune
serials:
Dune World (Dec 1963-Feb 1964) and The Prophet of Dune (Jan-May
1965),
combined as DUNE (fixup 1965); both were superbly illustrated by
John
SCHOENHERR, who became one of the magazine's regular artists of the
1960s.
Other authors who became frequent contributors included Christopher
ANVIL,
Harry HARRISON and Mack REYNOLDS. The magazine won further Hugos in
1961,
1962, 1964 and 1965. Although it maintained a circulation above 100,
000
(nearly twice that of its nearest rival) it continued on a slow
decline
into predictability. Campbell died in July 1971, being replaced as
editor
by Ben BOVA (the first issue credited to Bova was that for Jan 1972).
Not
surprisingly, the magazine gained considerably in vitality through
having
a new editor after nearly 34 years. Authors such as Roger ZELAZNY,
who
would not readily have fitted into Campbell's magazine, began to
appear.
While the editorial policy remained oriented towards traditional sf,
a
more liberal attitude prevailed, leading to some reader protest
over
stories by Joe HALDEMAN and Frederik POHL, which, though mild
by
contemporary standards, were not what some old-time readers expected
to
find in ASF. New writers like Haldeman and George R.R.MARTIN
established
themselves. The range of artists was widened with the addition of
Jack
GAUGHAN and the discovery of Rick STERNBACH and Vincent DI FATE. A
first
for ASF was the special women's issue (June 1977), which contained a
HUGO
winner, Eyes of Amber by Joan D.VINGE, and a NEBULA winner, The
Screwfly
Solution, by Raccoona Sheldon (better known as James TIPTREE Jr).
Bova won
the Hugo for Best Editor (which had replaced the award for Best
Magazine)
every year 1973-7 and again in 1979. The magazine's circulation
remained
extremely healthy. Bova resigned in 1978, soon afterwards joining
OMNI as
fiction editor. His replacement, Stanley SCHMIDT, was a HARD-SF
writer
whose debut had been in ASF in 1968 with A Flash of Darkness. His
editing
style is quieter and more modest than Campbell's and Bova's, but he
has
continued the magazine with dignity. Magazine publishing, however,
was
becoming a less important component of the sf-publishing
business
(ANTHOLOGIES; SF MAGAZINES), and, while subscription sales continued
to
hold up through the 1970s and 1980s, newsstand sales were dropping.
In
1980 Conde Nast decided ASF no longer fitted their list, but they had
no
trouble finding a buyer. Davis Publications (whose owner, Joel Davis,
was
son of B.G.Davis, a partner in ZIFF-DAVIS, publisher of AMZ) had
already
begun publishing sf digest periodicals in 1977 with ISAAC ASIMOV'S
SCIENCE
FICTION MAGAZINE. In 1980 Davis bought ASF, and soon changed
the
publication schedule from 12 to 13 issues a year, presumably in a bid
to
gain more newsstand space. Increasingly during the 1980s there was
a
feeling that ASF, with its image as the last magazine bastion of
the
hard-sf problem story, was becoming a dinosaur: a still
formidable
anachronism, but an anachronism nevertheless. The paid
circulation
oscillated, but the general direction was down, from 104,000 in
1980 to
83,000 in 1990; newsstand sales dropped from 45,000 to 15,000 during
the
same period. In 1990 ASF nevertheless retained the highest circulation
of
the pure sf magazines. Though fewer of its stories were now appearing
in
Best of the Year anthologies and lists of award winners, it still
produced
occasional very good work: award winners during the 1980s included
The
Cloak and the Staff (1980) by Gordon R.Dickson, The Saturn Game (1981)
by
Poul Anderson, Melancholy Elephants (1982) by Spider ROBINSON,
Cascade
Point (1983) by Timothy ZAHN, Blood Music (1983) by Greg BEAR, The
Crystal
Spheres (1984) by David BRIN and The Mountains of Mourning (1989) by
Lois
McMaster BUJOLD. A Nebula-winning novel first serialized in ASF
was
Falling Free (1987-8 ASF; 1988) by Bujold, one of ASF's most
popular
writers in recent years. Other writers often associated with ASF in
the
1980s (and after) include Michael FLYNN, Charles SHEFFIELD and
Harry
TURTLEDOVE. Campbell, Bova and Schmidt all edited a number of
anthologies
drawn from ASF (see their entries for further details). Many
other
anthologies have drawn extensively on the magazine; indeed, of the
35
stories contained in the first major sf anthology, Adventures in Time
and
Space (1946) ed Raymond J.HEALY and J.Francis MCCOMAS, all but three
were
from ASF. The 2 vols of The Astounding-Analog Reader (anths 1972 and
1973)
ed Harry HARRISON and Brian W.ALDISS provide an informative
chronological
survey of ASF's history. The flavour of ASF's first two decades
is
nostalgically, if uncritically, captured in Alva ROGERS's A Requiem
for
Astounding (1964). A useful index is The Complete Index
to
Astounding/Analog (1981 US) by Mike ASHLEY. The UK edition, published
by
Atlas, appeared Aug 1939-Aug 1963. The contents were severely
truncated
during the 1940s, and the magazine did not appear regularly,
adopting a
variable bimonthly schedule. It became monthly from Feb 1952; from
Nov
1953, when it changed from pulp to digest, it was practically a
full
reprint (four months behind in cover date) of the US edition,
although
some stories and departments were omitted.
ASTOUNDING STORIES
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION.
ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SUPER-SCIENCE
ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION.
ASTOUNDING STORIES YEARBOOK
One of the many reprint DIGEST magazines
published by Sol Cohen's
Ultimate Reprint Co. 2 issues were released in 1970,
the second under the
title Astounding SF. Cohen's use of such a celebrated
magazine title was
thought by fans to be cheeky.
ASTROBOY
JAPAN; Osamu TEZUKA.
ASTROGATION
Literally, guidance by the stars. In sf TERMINOLOGY this is the
space
equivalent of navigation, and the astrogator is conventionally one of
the
most important officers on a SPACESHIP. After a jump through
HYPERSPACE,
perhaps, it is necessary, although less frequently now than in
the GOLDEN
AGE OF SF, for the astrogator to identify several stars, usually
through
spectroscopy, to confirm the craft's position by triangulation.
ASTRONOMY
Astronomers played the key role in developing the cosmic
perspective that
lies at the heart of sf. Their science gave birth (not
without difficulty,
given the public reluctance of the Medieval Church to
accept
non-geocentric cosmologies) to an understanding of the true size
and
nature of the Universe. To his astronomical treatise The Discovery of
a
New World (3rd edn 1640) John WILKINS appended a Discourse Concerning
the
Possibility of a Passage Thither, and took the notion of lunar travel
out
of the realms of pure fantasy into those of legitimate
speculation.
Johannes KEPLER's Somnium (1634) was developed from an essay
intended to
popularize the Copernican theory. The literary image of the
astronomer as
it developed in the 18th century was, however, by no means
entirely
complimentary. The Elephant in the Moon (1759) by Samuel Hudibras
Butler
(1613-1680) has a group of observers witnessing what they take to
be
tremendous events on the Moon, but which subsequently turn out to be
the
activities of a mouse and a swarm of insects on the objective lens
of
their telescope. Jonathan SWIFT's Gulliver's Travels (1726) includes
a
sharply parodic account of the astronomers of Laputa. Samuel
JOHNSON's
Rasselas (1759) features a comically mad astronomer. The
revelations of
astronomy inspired 19th-century writers, including Edgar Allan
POE, whose
rhapsodic poem Eureka (1848) draws heavily upon contemporary work.
They
also encouraged hoaxers like Richard Adams LOCKE, who foisted
his
imaginary descriptions of lunar life on the unwary readers of the New
York
Sun in 1835. The development of sf in France was led by the
nation's
foremost astronomer, Camille FLAMMARION, who was also one of the
first
popularizers of the science. His Lumen (1887; trans 1897) is a
remarkable
semi-fictional vehicle for conveying the astronomer's particular
sense of
wonder and awe. One of the first popularizers of astronomy in the
USA,
Garrett P.SERVISS - author of Curiosities of the Sky (1909) - also
became
an early writer of scientific romances; his most notable was A
Columbus of
Space (1911). The affinity between astronomy and sf is
eloquently
identified by Serviss in Curiosities of the Sky: What Froude says
of
history is true also of astronomy: it is the most impressive when
it
transcends explanation. It is not the mathematics, but the wonder
and
mystery that seize upon the imagination... All of the things described
in
the book possess the fascination of whatever is strange,
marvellous,
obscure or mysterious, magnified, in this case, by the portentous
scale of
the phenomena. Sf is the ideal medium for the communication of this
kind
of feeling, but it can also accommodate cautionary tales against
the
hubris that may come from the illusion of close acquaintance with
cosmic
mysteries. Astronomical discoveries concerning the MOON were
rapidly
adopted into sf - Jules VERNE's Autour de la lune (1870; trans 1873)
is
particularly rich in astronomical detail - and observations of MARS
by
Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910) and Percival Lowell (1855-1916),
which
seemed to reveal the notorious canals, were a powerful stimulus to the
sf
imagination. Many 20th-century discoveries in astronomy have
been
inconvenient for sf writers, revealing as they do the
awful
inhospitability of our nearest neighbours in space. It was astronomers
who
banished Earth-clone worlds to other solar systems and made much
early
pulp melodrama seem ludicrous. Intriguing and momentous discoveries in
the
Universe beyond the Solar System have, however, provided rich
imaginative
compensation (COSMOLOGY). One of the best-known and least
theoretically
orthodox contemporary astronomers, Sir Fred HOYLE, has written
a good deal
of sf drawing on his expertise, including the classic The Black
Cloud
(1957) and, in collaboration with his son Geoffrey, The Inferno
(1973);
unkind critics remark that Hoyle's more recent speculative
nonfiction,
written in collaboration with Chandra Wickramasinghe - including
Lifecloud
(1978), Diseases from Space (1979) and Evolution from Space (1981)
- seems
even more fanciful than his fiction. The US astronomer Robert
S.Richardson
has also been an occasional contributor to sf magazines under
the name
Philip LATHAM, and some of his stories are particularly clever
in
dramatizing the work of the astronomer and its imaginative
implications.
Examples include To Explain Mrs Thompson (1951), Disturbing Sun
(1959) and
The Dimple in Draco (1967). Modern observational astronomy has
become far
more abstruse as it has diversified into radio, X-ray and
other
frequencies, and its visionary implications have become
increasingly
peculiar as its practitioners have found explanations for such
enigmatic
discoveries as quasars and empirical evidence for the existence
of
theoretically predicted entities like BLACK HOLES and NEUTRON
STARS.
Notable sf stories featuring peculiar discoveries by astronomers
include
Gregory BENFORD's TIMESCAPE (1980) and Robert L.FORWARD's Dragon's
Egg
(1980). The advent of radio astronomy has made a considerable impact
on
post-WWII sf in connection with the possibility of picking up signals
from
an ALIEN intelligence (COMMUNICATIONS), a theme developed in sf
novels
ranging from Eden PHILLPOTTS's cautionary Address Unknown (1949)
through
James E.GUNN's enthusiastic The Listeners (fixup 1972) to Carl
SAGAN's
over-the-top Contact (1985) and Jack MCDEVITT's The Hercules Text
(1986).
In the real world, various projects connected with SETI (Search
for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) have been mounted or mooted, and
many
stories have proposed that the receipt of such a message would be
the
crucial event in the history of mankind. A satirical dissent from
this
view can be found in StanislawLEM's novel His Master's Voice (1968;
trans
1983), and there is also a PARANOID school of thought which suggests
that
aliens whose own SETI discovers us might easily turn out to be
very
unfriendly; our radio telescopes nearly become the agents of
our
destruction in Frank CRISP's The Ape of London (1959) and the tv serial
A
FOR ANDROMEDA (1961). Astronomy is sometimes confused by the ignorant
with
astrology. Although sf has been remarkably tolerant of some
other
pseudo-sciences, it has rarely tolerated astrology. An exception is
Piers
ANTHONY's MACROSCOPE (1969), which combines hard-science
devices
(including a hypothetical remote viewer of awesome power)
with
astrological analysis. Two writers outside the genre have,
however,
written satirical novels based on the hypothesis that astrology
might be
made absolutely accurate: Edward HYAMS with The Astrologer (1950)
and John
CAMERON with (again) The Astrologer (1972). See also: JUPITER;
MERCURY;
OUTER PLANETS; STARS; SUN; VENUS.
ATHELING, WILLIAM Jr
James BLISH.
ATHERTON, GERTRUDE (FRANKLYN)
(1857-1948) US novelist, biographer and
historian. In a long career that
extended from 1888 to 1946 she published
about 50 books in a multitude of
genres, her best-known fiction being The
Californians (1898; rev 1935) and
her sf novel Black Oxen (1923). In this
book, whose sexual implications
caused a scandal, women (only) are
rejuvenated by X-rays directed to the
gonads. Though her explicitness and
exuberance would not be remarked upon
today in a woman, she achieved some
notoriety in her prime as an erotic
writer; she was also a campaigning
(though ambivalent) feminist. The Bell
in the Fog, and Other Stories (coll
1905) and The Foghorn (coll 1934) both
contain fantasy stories. Other works:
What Dreams May Come (1888) as by
Frank Lin; The White Morning: A Novel of
the Power of German Women in
Wartime (1918).
ATHOLL, JUSTIN
(? - ) UK writer whose several very short sf novels appeared
obscurely
but nevertheless are of some interest. The Man who Tilted the Earth
(1943
chap) does not go quite so far as the title hints, though an
atomic
disintegrator comes close to ending life on the planet. Death in the
Green
Fields (1944 chap) features a death-dealing fungus. Land of Hidden
Death
(1944 chap) is a LOST-WORLD tale. The Oasis of Sleep (1944 chap)
invokes
SUSPENDED ANIMATION. The main story in The Grey Beast (coll 1944
chap)
features an apeman (APES AND CAVEMEN). Other works: The Trackless
Thing
(1944 chap); There Goes his Ghost (1944 chap).
ATKINS, FRANK
Frank AUBREY.
ATKINS, JOHN (ALFRED)
(1916- ) UK writer. His The Diary of William Carpenter
(1943) is a
psychological fantasy inspired by Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936).
Tomorrow
Revealed (1955) is an imaginary future HISTORY reconstructed in
AD5000
from a library containing the works of such writers as H.G.WELLS
and
C.S.LEWIS. The material assembled, often taken from the works of
GENRE-SF
writers as well, builds a picture of history directed towards
a
theological goal. A Land Fit for 'Eros (1957) with J.B. Pick (1921- )
is
fantasy.
ATLANTIDE, L'
Die HERRIN VON ATLANTIS.
ATLANTIS
The legend of Atlantis, an advanced civilization on a continent in
the
middle of the Atlantic which was overwhelmed by some geological
cataclysm,
has its earliest extant source in PLATO's dialogues Timaeus and
Critias
(c350BC). The legend can be seen as a parable of the Fall of Man,
and
writers who have since embroidered the story have generally shown
less
interest in the cataclysm itself than in the attributes of
the
prelapsarian Atlanteans, who have often been given moral and
scientific
powers surpassing those of mere modern humans. Francis BACON's The
New
Atlantis (1627; 1629) portrays Atlantean survivors as the founders of
a
scientific utopia in North America. However, it was not until
Ignatius
DONNELLY published his Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1882) that
the
lost continent became a great popular myth. Donnelly's monomaniacal
work
contained much impressive learning and professed to be nonfiction.
Unlike
Plato and Bacon, who had treated Atlantis as an exemplary
parable,
Donnelly was convinced that the continent had existed and had been
the
source of all civilization. In fact, Donnelly's was a mythopoeic book
of
considerable power, arguably ancestral to all the PSEUDO-SCIENCE texts
of
the 20th century, and the inspiration for many works of fiction.
Atlantis
had already been used in sf by Jules VERNE. His Twenty Thousand
Leagues
Under the Sea (1870; trans 1873) contains a brief but effective scene
in
which Captain Nemo and the narrator explore the tumbled ruins of
an
Atlantean city. Some of the fiction inspired by the theories of
the
Theosophists and spiritualists was less restrained - e.g., A Dweller
on
Two Planets (1894) by Phylos the Thibetan (Frederick Spencer
Oliver
1866-1899), in which the hero remembers his previous incarnation as
a
ruler of Atlantis. Other writers used Atlantis more as a setting
for
rousing adventure, one of the best examples being The Lost
Continent
(1900) by C.J.Cutcliffe HYNE, a first-person narrative framed by
the
discovery of an ancient manuscript in the Canaries. David M.PARRY's
The
Scarlet Empire (1906), on the other hand, is set in the present
(it
depicts Atlantis preserved under a huge watertight dome, an image
which
has since become a comic-strip cliche) and intended as a SATIRE
of
socialism. (Other stories about a surviving Atlantis are listed in
UNDER
THE SEA.) One of the most successful of all Atlantean romances,
filmed
four times (Die HERRIN VON ATLANTIS), was Pierre BENOIT's
L'Atlantide
(1919; trans as Atlantida 1920; vt The Queen of Atlantis UK)
which
concerns the present-day discovery of Atlantis in the Sahara. Benoit
was
accused of plagiarizing H.Rider HAGGARD's The Yellow God (1908) for
many
of the details of his story. In fact, the latter was not an
Atlantean
romance, and nor was Haggard's When the World Shook (1919), set
in
Polynesia, although it has been so described. Arthur Conan DOYLE
produced
one Atlantis story, The Maracot Deep, to be found in The Maracot
Deep
(coll 1929), which is marred as sf by a large admixture of
spiritualism.
Stanton A.COBLENTZ's The Sunken World (1928 Amazing Stories
Quarterly; rev
1949) has much in common with Parry's The Scarlet Empire: it
involves the
contemporary discovery of a domed undersea city, and the purpose
of the
story is largely satirical. Dennis WHEATLEY's They Found Atlantis
(1936)
contains more of the same, but without the satire. The heyday of
Atlantean
fiction was 1885-1930. Often a subgenre of the LOST-WORLD story,
sometimes
of the UTOPIAN story, sometimes both, it was perhaps most often
the
vehicle for occultist speculation about spiritual powers, and
therefore
only marginally sf. Incidental use of the Atlantis motif by
S.P.MEEK and
many others became common in US MAGAZINE sf. Many stories are
set in other
mythical lands cognate with Atlantis - Mu, Lemuria, Hyperborea,
Ultima
Thule, etc. Fantasy writers who have used such settings include
Lin
CARTER, Avram DAVIDSON, L.Sprague DE CAMP, Robert E.HOWARD, Henry
KUTTNER
and Clark Ashton SMITH. Two sf/historical novels, Stonehenge (1972)
by
Harry HARRISON and Leon STOVER and The Dancer from Atlantis (1971) by
Poul
ANDERSON, fit Atlantis into the Mycenean Greek world. Several UK
writers
continued the pursuit of Atlantis. Francis ASHTON's The Breaking of
the
Seals (1946) and its follow-up, Alas, That Great City (1948),
are
old-fashioned romances in which the heroes are cast backwards in time
by
mystical means. Pelham GROOM's The Purple Twilight (1948) finds
that
Martians destroyed Atlantis in self-defence, later almost
destroying
themselves by nuclear WAR. John Cowper POWYS's Atlantis (1954) is
an
eccentric philosophical novel in which the aged Odysseus visits
the
drowned Atlantis en route from Ithaca to the USA. However, for
post-WWII
readers Atlantis seems to have lost its spell-binding quality, and
the
films in which it has appeared, like ATLANTIS: THE LOST CONTINENT
(1960)
and Warlords of Atlantis (1978) have had little to recommend them -
though
more than the dire tv series TheMAN FROM ATLANTIS (1977), which
features a
hero with webbed hands. An Atlantean series by Jane GASKELL,
colourful and
inventive, but written in a gushing prose, is the Cija
sequence: The
Serpent (1963; vt in 2 vols The Serpent 1975 and The Dragon
1975), Atlan
(1965), The City (1966) and Some Summer Lands (1977). These form
the
autobiography of a princess of Atlantis, contain a considerable amount
of
sexual fantasy, and are closer to popular romance than to sf
proper.
Taylor CALDWELL's The Romance of Atlantis (1975; published version
written
with Jess Stearn), is based, she claimed, on childhood dreams of
her
previous incarnation as an Atlantean empress. A very symbolic
Atlantis
arises again from the waves in Ursula K.LE GUIN's The New Atlantis
(1975)
as a dystopian USA begins to sink. Where Le Guin's story gave
new
metaphoric life to Atlantis, most of the sunken continent's
few
appearances in the 1980s were romantic melodramas whose view of
Atlantis
was on the whole traditional. One of these was Marion Zimmer
BRADLEY's
Atlantis Chronicles: Web of Light (1982) and Web of Darkness
(1984), both
assembled as Web of Darkness (omni 1985 UK; vt The Fall of
Atlantis 1987
US). These fantasies about Atlantean conflicts between forces
of light and
darkness had their origin in a long, unpublished romance Bradley
wrote as
a teenager, and indeed their subject matter seems more appropriate
to the
1940s than the 1980s. David GEMMELL's lively post-HOLOCAUST
Sipstrassi
series of science-fantasy novels features stones of healing
and/or
destruction whose source is Atlantis; Atlantis itself plays a
prominent
role (through gateways between past and future) in the fourth of
the
series, The Last Guardian (1989) - a complex plan to save its
destruction
through changing history comes to nothing, though it does produce
Noah. A
good nonfiction work on the subject is Lost Continents: The Atlantis
Theme
in History, Science and Literature (1954; rev 1970) by L.Sprague de
Camp.
Henry M.Eichner's Atlantean Chronicles (1971) is a bibliography
with
level-headed annotations. Other rational books on the subject are few
and
far between, but The End of Atlantis (1969) by J.V.Luce and The Search
for
Lost Worlds (1975) by James Wellard are useful and entertaining. See
also:
PARANOIA.
ATLANTIS, THE LOST CONTINENT
Film (1961). Galaxy/MGM. Dir and prod George
PAL, starring Anthony Hall,
Joyce Taylor, Ed Platt, John Dall. Screenplay
Daniel Mainwaring, based on
Atalanta (1949), a play by Sir Gerald Hargreaves
(1881-1972). 90 mins.
Colour. A young Greek fisherman becomes involved with a
castaway who says
she is a princess from Atlantis. A large, fish-shaped
submarine surfaces
and they are both taken there. He is enslaved and
witnesses the evils of
the Atlantean culture, which include crimes against
God and Nature. These
lead to the eventual destruction and sinking of
Atlantis by (a) a
destructive ray generated from a giant crystal and (b) an
erupting
volcano. The scope of the special effects was obviously affected by
the
low budget, but A.Arnold Gillespie and his team achieved some
colourful
spectacles. However, the performances are wooden and the story
strictly
pulp. Pal was a better producer than director; this is one of his
weakest
films.
ATLAS PUBLICATIONS
SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY.
ATOMCRACKER, BUZZ-BOLT
Don WILCOX.
ATOMIC AGE, THE
End-of-the-world theories have always been a popular theme
for SF
writers. Comets smashed into earth, the sun grew cold in the heavens,
and
space invaders zapped everything in their path. But when the atom bomb
was
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it became apparent that
humans
had the potential to destroy their planet. Nuclear power and
radiation
became the annihilators of choice in the SF world. And writers
changed the
way they imagined the future.
ATOMIC MAN, THE
TIMESLIP.
ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN
SUPERMAN.
ATOROX AWARD
AWARDS; FINLAND.
ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS
Film (1957). Los Altos/Allied Artists. Dir Roger
CORMAN, starring Richard
Garland, Pamela Duncan, Russell Johnson, Leslie
Bradley. Screenplay
Charles B.Griffith. 70 mins cut to 64 mins. B/w. Two
giant crabs,
mutations caused by radiation from an H-bomb test on an island,
scuttle
out of the sea and destroy all of one and most of another expedition
to
the island. Eerily, they take over the minds (and voices) of
their
victims; it is disturbing when a crab the size of a van speaks to you
in
the voice of your recently deceased best friend. Vintage Corman:
fast,
absurd, intelligently scripted, made on a shoestring. One of the
more
memorable MONSTER MOVIES of the 1950s boom.
ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN
Made-for-tv movie (first screened Dec 1993). Home
Box Office/Warner Bros
Television/Bartleby Ltd. Prod Debra Hill; dir
Christopher Guest;
screenplay Joseph Dougherty, based on the screenplay of
Attack of the 50
Foot Woman (1958) written by Mark Hanna; starring Daryl
Hannah, Daniel
Baldwin, William Windom, Frances Fisher, Christi Conaway. 89
mins. Colour.
This is a remake of a rather dim affair from 1958 with
(approximately) the
same title, directed by Nathan Juran, primarily
remembered for its
wonderful advertising poster, and the unintentional
hilarity of the story.
Some feminist (see FEMINISM) criticism of the 1980s
resuscitated the film
as an early icon to do with the empowering of women.
The possibly
imaginary feminist subtext of the original is taken up with a
vengeance
and foregrounded in this rather one-note tale of a put-upon woman,
played
by Hannah (in therapy, and with a philandering husband, played by
Baldwin)
who, by alien intervention, grows to be fifty feet tall and gets her
own
back. It is a mildly amusing film, better than its original though
crudely
propagandizing, with Hannah positively glowing once she gets big
enough,
so to speak, to dominate, and to inspire other women. The film ends
with a
men's group therapy class including the Baldwin character, supervised
by
three vast women, in an alien spacecraft.
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES
Roger CORMAN.
ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS
DAIKAIJU GAMERA.
ATTANASIO, A(LFRED) A(NGELO)
(1951- ) US writer, BA (biochemistry), MFA
(creative writing), MA
(linguistics). He began publishing sf with Once More,
the Dream as aa
Attanasio for New Worlds Quarterly 7 (anth 1974) ed Hilary
BAILEY and
Charles PLATT; this tale, in its experimental heat and dark
extravagance,
proved typical of his short fiction in general. Not
particularly
attractive to the magazine markets, most of his shorter works
appeared for
the first time in Beastmarks (coll 1985). AAA came to wide
notice with the
publication of his first novel, Radix (1981), the first
volume of the
Radix Tetrad sequence, which continues with In Other Worlds
(1984), Arc of
the Dream (1986) and The Last Legends of Earth (1989). As a
whole, the
sequence works as a complex meditation on metamorphosis couched
in
SPACE-OPERA terms, so that densely ambitious moments of poetic
aspiration
alternate with episodes out of the rag-and-bone shop of
PULP-MAGAZINE
fiction. After losing her radiation shield, which guards her
against the
full nakedness of the Universe, Earth begins to mutate savagely,
a
transformation articulated clearly in Radix itself through the story of
a
mutant SUPERMAN, who undergoes the same transcendental jumpstart
that
jolts his planet through terrors and DIMENSIONS. By the time The
Last
Legends of Earth has come to a close, long after Earth itself has
become
an inordinately complicated memory, human beings are strange
creatures,
resurrected out of dream, half-persona, half-godling. At the same
time,
however, a protagonist engages in a revenge fight with spiderlike
ALIENS.
AAA's next sf novel, Solis (1994), is a singleton whose plot and
pacing
initially remind one of an early Keith LAUMERadventure, but which
expands
upon and darkens its origins in space opera; the protagonist, after
a
millennium of CRYONICsleep, awakens into an extremely complex and
cruel
world run by AIs, where he is used for pornography and enslaved before
his
eventual rescue. It could not be said that AAA is a tempered writer;
but
the splurge and dance of his prose can be, at times,
enormously
enlivening. Of his other novels, Wyvern (1988) is a
pirate-punk
historical, with little or no fantasy content; Hunting the Ghost
Dancer
(1991) is an extremely late, and rather heated, example of prehistoric
sf
(ANTHROPOLOGY) in which a last Neanderthal is pitted against several
of
us; is an historical novel with fantasy elements; The Dragon and
the
Unicorn (1994 UK), with its sequel, Arthur (1995 UK), comprises
an
Arthurian cycle; and The Moon's Wife (1993) is a fantasy of
supernatural
seduction whose roots may well lie in psychosis. See also:
MUTANTS.
ATTERLEY, JOSEPH
Pseudonym of George Tucker (1775-1861), Chairman of the
Faculty of the
University of Virginia while Edgar Allan POE was a student
there, and an
influence on him. JA's A Voyage to the Moon with Some Account
of the
Manners and Customs, Science and Philosophy, of the People of
Morosofia,
and Other Lunarians (1827) describes a trip to eccentric lunar
societies,
including one UTOPIA. The spacecraft is coated with the first
antigravitic
metal in literature, a forerunner of H.G.WELLS's Cavorite
(ANTIGRAVITY).
The book is true sf, including much scientific speculation. It
was
reprinted in 1975 - including a review of 1828 and an introduction
by
David G.HARTWELL - as by George Tucker. Another sf work, dealing
with
OVERPOPULATION, was A Century Hence, or A Romance of 1941 (1977), as
by
George Tucker, ed from his manuscript. See also: FANTASTIC
VOYAGES;
HISTORY OF SF; MOON.
AT THE EARTH'S CORE
Film (1976). Amicus/AIP. Dir Kevin Connor, starring Doug
McClure, Peter
Cushing, Caroline Munro. Screenplay Milton Subotsky, based on
At the
Earth's Core (1922) by Edgar Rice BURROUGHS. 89 mins. Colour. The
success
of Amicus's The LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (also based on a Burroughs
novel)
inspired the making of this lightweight film, in which genially
routine
adventures take place inside a vast cavern visited by a hero and
a
scientist in a mechanical mole. There are dinosaurs and ape-things.
The
wonders of Burroughs's fascinating, if illogical,
HOLLOW-EARTH
world-within-a-world (Pellucidar) are barely hinted at.
ATWOOD, MARGARET (ELEANOR)
(1939- ) Canadian poet and novelist, some of whose
poetry, like Speeches
for Doctor Frankenstein (1966 chap US), hints at sf
content; but her
interest as a prose writer in the form was minimal until the
publication
of THE HANDMAID'S TALE (1985), which won the Governor General's
Award in
Canada and the first ARTHUR C.CLARKE AWARD in 1986. The 1990 film
version
(THE HANDMAID'S TALE) stiffly travestied the book, treating it as
an
improbable but ideologically correct DYSTOPIA, rather than as a
fluid
nightmare requiem in the vein of George ORWELL's NINETEEN
EIGHTY-FOUR
(1949). The tale of Offred the Handmaid, contextually placed as
it is
within a frame dated 200 years later, reads overwhelmingly as a
personal
tragedy. The venue is dystopian - a sudden loss of fertility
has
occasioned a pre-emptive NEAR-FUTURE coup against all remaining
fertile
women by a fundamentalist New England, to keep them from power - and
the
lessons taught throughout have a sharp FEMINIST saliency. But
Offred's
liquid telling of her tale, and her ambivalent disappearance into
death or
liberation as the book closes, make for a novel whose context
leads,
liberatingly, out of nightmare into the pacific Inuit culture of
the
frame. Despite the occasional infelicity - MA's attempts at the
language
of GENRE SF are not unembarrassing - THE HANDMAID'S TALE soon gained
a
reputation as the best sf novel ever produced by a Canadian. See
also:
CANADA; SATIRE; WOMEN SF WRITERS.
ATWOOD, SAM
Thomas A.EASTON.
AUBREY, FRANK
The first and main pseudonym of UK writer Francis Henry
Atkins
(1840-1927). A contributor to the pre-sf PULP MAGAZINESS, he wrote
three
LOST-WORLD novels. The first and most successful was Devil-Tree of
El
Dorado: A Romance of British Guiana (1896), which capitalized on
the
contemporary interest in the Roraima Plateau. Weird themes continued
in
FA's writings but sf elements became more prominent: A Queen of
Atlantis:
A Romance of the Caribbean (1898) related the discovery of a
telepathic
race living in the Sargasso Sea; and King of the Dead: A Weird
Romance
(1903) showed remnants of Earth's oldest civilization employing
advanced
science to resurrect the dead of untold generations in a bid to
regain
their lost empire. The first two of these loosely connected novels
are
linked by the appearance in both of Monella, a Wandering-Jew
character.
Little is known about FA. There is evidence that he was involved
in a
scandal at the turn of the century; following a three-year hiatus,
he
began to write again, now as Fenton Ash. Publisher's files indicate
that
his son, Frank Howard Atkins Jr (1883-1921) - who wrote many
popular
nature stories as F. St Mars - also used this name, perhaps
in
collaboration. Stylistic analysis indicates that a later story as by
FA,
Caught by a Comet (1910), may have been written exclusively by
Frank
Atkins Jr. Many sf stories as by Fenton Ash, all characterized by
vividly
imaginative but less than fully realized ideas, appeared in the
BOYS'
PAPERS. The majority are lost-world adventures; e.g., The Sunken
Island
(1904), The Sacred Mountain (1904), The Radium Seekers, or The
Wonderful
Black Nugget (1905), The Temple of Fire, or The Mysterious Island
(1905;
cut 1917 ) as Fred Ashley, The Hermit of the Mountains (1906-7),
By
Airship to Ophir (1910), The Black Opal: A Romance of Thrilling
Adventure
(1906 The Big Budget; 1915), In Polar Seas (1915-16) and The Island
of
Gold (1915 The Marvel; 1918). In two further works, A Son of the
Stars
(1907-08 Young England) and A Trip to Mars (1907 The Sunday Circle as
A
King of Mars; 1909), the lost-world setting shifted to a war-torn
Mars,
preceding Edgar Rice BURROUGHS's use of the same idea by some years.
In
his chosen market FA was extremely successful and influential.
Although
contributing little to the sophistication of sf, he played an
important
role in the HISTORY OF SF.
AUEL, JEAN M(ARIE)
(1936- ) US writer who is known solely for her enormously
successful
Earth's Children sequence of prehistoric-sf novels (ANTHROPOLOGY;
ORIGIN
OF MAN): The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980), The Valley of Horses
(1982),
both assembled as The Clan of the Cave Bear/The Valley of Horses
(omni
1994 UK), The Mammoth Hunters (1985) and The Plains of Passage (1990).
It
could not be suggested that the sequence is very effective as sf, or
that,
indeed, it is intended to be read as sf; but most of the events
recounted
- as the young Cro-Magnon protagonist grows up in the
Neanderthal
community which has adopted her, and begins to effect
transformations in
her world - are legitimate anthropological extrapolations
pastwards. The
greatest displacement from what might fairly be called
romantic realism -
the plots themselves have novelettish moments - lies in
the growing
capacity of the main characters to commune with animals. In any
case,
generic definitions aside, JMA's control over masses of detail, and
her
compulsive storytelling style, put the Earth's Children books on a
level
far above most of their very numerous predecessors. See also: WOMEN
SF
WRITERS.
AUGUSTUS, ALBERT Jr
Charles NUETZEL.
AUMBRY, ALAN
Barrington J.BAYLEY.
AUREALIS
Australian SEMIPROZINE, subtitled The Australian Magazine of Fantasy
and
Science Fiction, quarterly, A5 format, published by Chimaera
Publications,
Melbourne, ed Stephen Higgins and Dirk Strasser, dated by year
only. Sep
1990-current, 14 issues to early 1995. Yet another brave attempt by
an
Australian SMALL PRESSto publish an sf magazine in a market that
has
repeatedly proven itself too small to sustain one, though an initial
print
run of 10,000 was claimed. Some stories have been promising, few
have
risen to excellence. Mostly new writers mix with a sprinkling of
better
established names like Damien BRODERICK, Terry DOWLING, Leanne Frahm
and
Rosaleen LOVE. To have lasted over four years in this market is
an
achievement.
AURORA
AWARDS; CANADA.
AURORA
Fanzine. JANUS/AURORA.
AUSTER, PAUL
(1947- ) US writer and translator who came to sudden attention -
after
years of work - with a series of FABULATIONS playing on detective
genres
and the French nouveau roman. City of Glass (1985), Ghosts (1986) and
The
Locked Room (1986), assembled as The New York Trilogy (omni 1987 UK),
are
not sf; but Moon Palace (1989) comes very close to a literal reading
of
its lunar metaphorical structure. In the Country of Last Things
(1987),
however, is sufficiently firm about its future New York setting and
the
nightmarish landscape its protagonist must traverse, to rest
comfortably
within the genre's increasingly commodious fringe. Mr. Vertigo
(1994 UK)
is a MAGIC REALIST vision of early 20th century America as
remembered by
an old man who, in his elated childhood, was literally able to
fly.
AUSTIN, F(REDERICK) BRITTEN
(1885-1941) UK writer and WWII army captain, most
noted for his
collections of stories illustrating problems for UK military
security
arising in future WARS from new weaponry and tactics: In Action:
Studies
of War (coll 1913) and The War-God Walks Again (coll 1926). The
latter
volume is occasionally eloquent. FBA also wrote several volumes of
linked
stories, each comprising a kind of anthropological romance telling
the
development of a significant aspect of Man's history through the
ages;
examples are A Saga of the Sea (coll of linked stories 1929), where
a
ship's history is told, and A Saga of the Sword (coll of linked
stories
1928). The first and last stories of each of these collections tend
to
infringe upon sf material and concerns. Other works, some marginal
sf:
Battlewrack (coll 1917); According to Orders (coll 1918); On
the
Borderland (coll 1922); Under the Lens (coll 1924); Thirteen
(coll
1925US); When Mankind was Young (coll of linked stories 1930);
Tomorrow
(coll c1930) The Red Flag (coll of linked stories 1932), the final
tale of
which is set in 1977. See also: ORIGIN OF MAN.
AUSTIN, RICHARD
Victor MILAN.
AUSTRALIA
Much early Australian sf falls into subgenres which can be
described as
sf only controversially: lost-race romances, UTOPIAN novels
and
NEAR-FUTURE political thrillers about racial invasion. Works of
utopian
speculation began appearing in Australia about the middle of the
19th
century and were set, appropriately for a new society in a
largely
unexplored land, either in the FAR FUTURE or in Australia's deep
interior
(indeed, Australia's remoteness encouraged UK and US writers to
make
similar use of the land as a venue for utopian speculation). Among
early
utopias by Australians are Joseph Fraser's Melbourne and Mars:
My
Mysterious Life on Two Planets (1889) and G.MCIVER's Neuroomia: A
New
Continent (1894). The lost-race (LOST WORLDS) theme was more
romantically
handled in novels such as Fergus HUME's The Expedition of
Captain Flick
(1896 UK) and G.Firth Scott's The Last Lemurian (1896 The
Golden Penny;
exp 1898 UK). A FEMINIST perspective on social criticism is
shown in A
Woman of Mars, or Australia's Enfranchised Woman (1901) by Mary
Ann
Moore-Bentley (pseudonym of Mrs H.H.Ling). This depicts an ideal
society
on Mars in strongly Christian terms, and deals with an attempt to
reform
Earth in conformity with the Martian model. Of more merit is an
earlier
novel, C.H.SPENCE's feminist utopia Handfasted (written c1879;
1984),
which depicts a community distinguished by its advocacy of handfasting
- a
system of year-long trial marriage by contract. The book is unusual
in
that it explores the ways in which its central utopian idea might
actually
be adopted within the real-world community. From the time of
the
mid-19th-century gold rushes, Australian society was marred by
racial
antagonism. By the end of the century, fears of Asian hordes had
found
their way into sf in such novels as The Yellow Wave: A Romance of
the
Asiatic Invasion of Australia (1895 UK) by Kenneth MACKAY, The
Coloured
Conquest (1904) by Rata (Thomas Roydhouse) and The Australian
Crisis
(1909) by C.H.Kirmess. Novels of this kind, though less vitriolic
and
racist, have persisted up to the present: see John Hooker's The
Bush
Soldiers (1984) and Eric Willmot's Up the Line (1991). INVASION by
aliens
of a more sciencefictional kind is found in Robert POTTER's The
Germ
Growers (1892), one of the earliest books with this theme.
However,
although it features space-dwelling shapechangers setting up
beachheads in
the Australian outback, and thereby looks forward to GENRE SF,
it is also
religious allegory. The various early traditions achieved their
apotheosis
in Erle COX's Out of the Silence (1919 Argus; 1925; rev 1947), in
many
ways a modern-seeming and sophisticated work of sf. A gentleman farmer
in
the outback discovers an ancient time-vault containing, in
SUSPENDED
ANIMATION, a beautiful and powerful woman, Earani. She is one of
the last
survivors of an early species of humanity which, although more
highly
developed than Homo sapiens, was ruthless: one of its cultural
heroes
purified the race by inventing a Death Rayto destroy its lower
(i.e.,
coloured) racial strains. What is disturbing to the modern reader is
the
way the novel takes racialist thinking seriously. Though it
finally
rejects the Nazi-like utopia it depicts, this rejection has to be
earned
through layers of irony and complex narrative, in all of which
Earani's
attitudes are given what today seems more than their due. Indeed,
she is
depicted as morally cleaner than many of the 20th-century people
she
meets. Little Australian sf of importance was published during the
1930s
and 1940s, though the interplanetary thrillers of J.M.WALSH, such
as
Vandals of the Void (1931 UK), should be noted. The next real milestone
is
Tomorrow and Tomorrow (cut 1947; full text 1983 as Tomorrow and
Tomorrow
and Tomorrow) by M.Barnard ELDERSHAW. Framed by a story set in the
24th
century, it sophisticatedly tells, through a novel supposedly written
by
one of the characters, of the tumultuous events occurring in
Australian
society during the late 20th century. It was cut by the censor at
the time
of first publication because of its supposedly subversive
tendencies.
Professional commercial sf is the most international of literary
forms -
although much of it has internalized distinctive US values, its
strength
is in imaginative extrapolation rather than in the depiction of any
local
experience - and so UK and US sf, requiring no translation and
readily
available, has tended to be sufficient to meet the needs of
Australian
readers. Thus the indigenous sf industry has never achieved
critical mass
in the way it has in some other countries. Nonetheless, since
the 1950s
there has always been interest in genre sf among Australian writers
and
publishers. There was a flurry of local magazine publishing around
the
1950s, with THRILLS, INCORPORATED (1950-51), FUTURE SCIENCE
FICTION
(1953-5), POPULAR SCIENCE FICTION (1953-4) and SCIENCE FICTION
MONTHLY
(1955-7). Also during the 1950s, stories by Australian sf writers
began to
appear in the US and UK magazines. The work of Frank Bryning,
Wynne
WHITEFORD and A.Bertram CHANDLER (whose magazine publishing began in
the
1940s) represented a first consolidation of genre sf by writers
in
Australia. These authors expanded from their beachhead in the 1960s
and
thereafter, being joined during the 1960s by John BAXTER,
Damien
BRODERICK, Lee HARDING, David ROME and Jack WODHAMS. The
Australian-UK
magazine VISION OF TOMORROW (1969-70) contained many stories
by
Australians, perhaps most notably Harding and Broderick. Harding
developed
into a thoughtful writer of sf, mainly for adolescents, whose
doubts and
alienation he has captured in a series of powerful metaphors. His
most
successful work is Displaced Person (1979; vt Misplaced Persons US),
in
which the characters find themselves lost in a bewildering limbo
after
they start becoming invisible to others. Other important sf for
younger
readers has been produced by Gillian RUBINSTEIN, notably Space
Demons
(1986) and Beyond the Labyrinth (1988), and by Victor KELLEHER, such
as
Taronga (1986); his The Beast of Heaven (1984) is sf for adults. At
the
end of the 1960s John Baxter began a trend by editing two anthologies
of
Australian sf, The Pacific Book of Australian Science Fiction (anth
1968;
vt Australian Science Fiction 1) and The Second Pacific Book of
Australian
Science Fiction (anth 1971; vt Australian Science Fiction 2).
Lee
Harding's anthology Beyond Tomorrow (anth 1976) brought together
stories
by Australian and overseas writers, as did his further
state-of-the-art
anthology, Rooms of Paradise (anth 1978 UK). Several other
one-off
anthologies of Australian sf were published in Australia in the 1970s
and
1980s, most notably those edited by Broderick: The Zeitgeist Machine
(anth
1977), Strange Attractors (anth 1985) and Matilda at the Speed of
Light
(anth 1988). In 1975 Paul COLLINS began the magazine VOID (1975-81),
which
published original stories by Australian writers. He expanded
this
operation in 1980 into the publishing house Cory and Collins (partnered
by
Rowena Cory). For some years this firm produced anthologies of sf
and
fantasy edited by Collins (as if they were numbers of Void) as well
as
novels and collections by David LAKE (who has also published quite
widely
overseas), Wodhams, Whiteford and others. Collins himself is a
prolific
writer of short stories. A number of other SMALL PRESSES have
attempted to
produce either magazines or books containing sf by Australian
writers, and
some still do. However, this has not generally proved to be
commercially
viable. Currently George TURNER is probably the most prominent
Australian
sf writer, having earlier established a reputation as a
mainstream
novelist and as a critic. Turner has written several very
serious
near-future novels containing detailed social and
scientific
extrapolation. His most ambitious work, The Sea and Summer (1987
UK; vt
Drowning Towers US), is a relentless extrapolation of social
divisions,
factoring in the consequences of the greenhouse effect. The novel
borrows
the frame-story technique of Tomorrow and Tomorrow, as if to state
that
Turner deliberately casts himself as M.Barnard Eldershaw's
successor.
Damien Broderick continues to publish fiction notable for its
innovation
and humour, such as The Dreaming Dragons (1980) and the comic
Striped
Holes (1988 US). Wynne Whiteford has gone from strength to strength
in
writing traditional sf. Australia has some claim upon the New
Zealand-born
Cherry WILDER, who now lives in Germany but who was in Australia
for many
years. Keith Taylor (1946- ) is a major fantasy writer. Philippa
Maddern
(1952- ), Leanne Frahm and Lucy SUSSEX have written some
successful
stories. Rosaleen LOVE's neat sf fables have been collected in The
Total
Devotion Machine and Other Stories (coll 1989 UK). Of the newer
writers,
the most exciting are Terry DOWLING and Greg EGAN. Most
significant
writers since the 1950s have aimed their work predominantly
at
international markets. While there has been little success in
establishing
Australian sf publishing, Australia has been more notable for
its efforts
in two other areas, namely serious writing about sf and,
perhaps
unexpectedly, film. In the former category Donald H.TUCK's
The
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy Through 1968 (vol 1 1974
US;
vol 2 1978 US; vol 3 1982 US) deserves special mention. Magazines such
as
John Bangsund's AUSTRALIAN SF REVIEW (1966-9) and its
successor,
AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: SECOND SERIES (1986-91),
published by a
small collective of sf fans, Bruce GILLESPIE's SF
COMMENTARY
(1969-current), and SCIENCE FICTION: A REVIEW OF SPECULATIVE
LITERATURE
(1977-current) ed Van Ikin (1951- ) have all achieved
international
respect. In regard to film, sf had its share in the renaissance
in the
Australian movie industry which began in the mid-1970s and continued
until
about 1983, with some successes still being produced. The
three
post-HOLOCAUST Mad Max films - MAD MAX (1979), MAD MAX 2 (1981; vt
The
Road Warrior US) and MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985) - have
been
particularly well received. Unfortunately, some more recent ambitious
(but
uneven) movies such as The Time Guardian (1987) and As Time Goes By
(1987)
have flopped, and the future of sf cinema in Australia is doubtful,
with
the film industry as a whole having been in decline for several years.
One
recent sf film of note, a hit in Australia and quite successful abroad,
is
the comedy YOUNG EINSTEIN (1988). Australian sf CONVENTIONS have been
held
regularly since 1952. The 1975 and 1985 World Science Fiction
Conventions
(Aussiecon and Aussiecon II) were held in Melbourne.
AUSTRALIAN SF REVIEW
Australian FANZINE (1966-9) ed John Bangsund (1939- ).
ASFR was one of
the most literate and eclectic of the serious sf fanzines
and, despite its
relative isolation, was able to attract articles from such
writers as
Brian W.ALDISS, James BLISH and Harry HARRISON. ASFR also served
as a
focal point for renewed interest in sf and FANDOM in Australia,
and
brought attention to Australian sf critics such as John BAXTER,
John
Foyster, Bruce GILLESPIE, Lee HARDING and George TURNER. ASFR was
twice
nominated for a HUGO, and won a Ditmar AWARD in 1969.
AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: SECOND SERIES
Australian FANZINE (Mar
1986-Autumn 1991), ed The Science Fiction
Collective (at first Jenny
Blackford (1957- ), Russell BLACKFORD, John
Foyster, Yvonne Rousseau and Lucy
SUSSEX; Janeen Webb joined and Sussex
left in 1987). This worthy successor to
the defunct AUSTRALIAN SF REVIEW
was effectively though not officially an
academic critical journal, of
variable but often high quality, fannishly
enlivened at times by
name-calling. Spirited and regular, it had 27 issues
before the collective
collapsed from exhaustion. The most consistent
Australian sf journal of
its period, it won little support from local FANDOM
who saw it as elitist,
but received a farewell Ditmar AWARD in 1991.
AUSTRIA
Austrian literature must be considered a part of the larger
German
literature (GERMANY), although with a distinct voice; Austrian
writers
have always been published more by German publishing houses than
by
Austrian ones. At the turn of the century, Vienna was a
veritable
laboratory for many of the ideas of modern times, from
psychoanalysis and
logical positivism to music, the arts and literature: here
were found
Freud, Wittgenstein, Mahler, Schoenberg, Klimt, Schiele,
Schnitzler, Karl
Kraus and so on. But, while the former Austro-Hungarian
Empire produced
many writers important in fantastic literature (notably
Gustav MEYRINK,
Herzmanovsky-Orlando and Leo PERUTZ), its contribution to sf
has been
rather modest. True, there is the one UTOPIA that became true: the
Zionism
of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) and his desire for the foundation of a
home
country for the Jews found a literary expression in Altneuland
(1902;
trans as Old-New Land 1947). A utopia of a more parochial
sociopolitical
character is Osterreich im Jahre 2020 Austria in 2020 AD
(1893) by Joseph
Ritter von Neupauer. The utopias Freiland (1890; trans as
Freeland 1891)
and its sequel Eine Reise nach Freiland (1893; trans as A
Visit to
Freeland 1894) by the economist Theodor HERTZKA were
internationally
successful, although the utopias of the first woman winner
(1905) of the
Nobel Peace Prize, Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914), such as Der
Menschheit
Hochgedanken The Exalted Thoughts of Mankind (1911), found
little
resonance. Under the pseudonym Ludwig Hevesi, Ludwig Hirsch
(1843-1910)
wrote MacEck's sonderbare Reise zwischen Konstantinopel und San
Francisco
MacEck's Curious Journey between Constantinople and San Francisco
(1901)
as well as humorous sketches of Jules VERNE's adventures in Heaven
and
Hell in his collection Die funfte Dimension The Fifth Dimension
(coll
1906). Hevesi was a collector of utopian literature, and upon his
death
his library was catalogued as Bibiotheca Utopistica (reprinted
Munich
1977) by an antiquarian bookstore, the first such listing in the
German
language. In Im Reiche der Homunkuliden In the Empire of the
Homunculids
(1910), Rudolf Hawel (1860-1923), another humorist, has his
protagonist
Professor Voraus Ahead sleep into the year 3907, where he
encounters a
world of asexual ROBOTS. A curious future-WAR story is the
anonymous Unser
letzter Kampf Our Last Battle (1907), presented as the legacy
of an old
imperial soldier who describes how the Austro-Hungarian Empire
perishes in
a heroic fight against Serbs, Italians and Russians. There is
the
occasional sf story among the writings of K.H.Strobl (1877-1946)
and
Gustav Meyrink. Strobl's big, sprawling novel Eleagabal Kuperus (1910)
is
an apocalyptic vision of a fight between good and evil principles
that
involves a sciencefictional attempt by the villain to deprive humanity
of
oxygen; his Gespenster im Sumpf Ghosts in the Swamp (1920) is
a
nationalistic, anti-socialist and antisemitic account of the doom
of
Vienna, and is certainly closer to sf than is the visionary novel of
the
great illustrator Alfred Kubin (1877-1959), Die andere Seite The
Other
Side (1909). At this time important work was being done at the fringes
of
sf. Highly ranked in world literature are the metaphysical parables
of
Franz KAFKA, one of a group of Jewish writers from Prague writing
in
German who included also Max Brod (1884-1968), Leo Perutz and
Franz
WERFEL, who wrote his spiritual utopia Stern der Ungeborenen (1946;
trans
as Star of the Unborn 1946) during his US exile. Kafka's texts combine
a
total lucidity of prose with a sense of the equally total
impenetrability
of the world as a whole, usually seen as having
a
totalitarian-bureaucratic character, as in Der Prozess (1925; trans as
The
Trial 1935). The story In der Strafkolonie (1919; trans 1933 as In
the
Penal Settlement) might be considered an anticipation of the
Nazi
concentration camps. Also of note is the expressionist writer
Robert
Muller (1887-1924), whose Camera Obscura (1921) is a
many-levelled
futuristic mystery novel. Two of the fantastic novels of the
great writer
Leo Perutz could be considered as psychedelic sf: Der Meister
des Jungsten
Tages (1923; trans as The Master of the Day of Judgement 1930)
and St
Petri Schnee (1933; trans as The Virgin's Brand 1934 UK). Both
involve
consciousness-altering drugs. The books have a hallucinatory quality,
and
currently Perutz is undergoing a revival. An acquaintance of Perutz
was
Oswald Levett (1889- ?), a Viennese Jewish lawyer who probably perished
in
a German concentration camp. His two sf novels have recently
been
reprinted. Verirrt in den Zeiten Lost in Time (1933) is a
TIME-TRAVEL
novel of a journey back to the Thirty Years' War and an
unsuccessful
attempt to change history; as in Perutz's works, the harder the
heroes try
to change their fate, the more they are stuck with it. Papilio
Mariposa
(1935) can be read as a fantastic allegory of the fate of the Jews:
an
ugly and strange individual is changed into a vampiric butterfly;
feelings
of inferiority and the desire for a fantastic harmony with an
inimical
environment result in tragedy. In Die Stadt ohne Juden The City
without
Jews (1925) by another Jewish writer, Hugo BETTAUER, the expelled
Jews are
finally recalled to restore the prosperity of the city. Otto
Soyka
(1882-1955), a best-selling mystery novelist in his day but now
forgotten,
wrote a novel about a chemical substance that influences people's
dreams:
Die Traumpeitsche The Dream Whip (1921). After WWII, Erich
Dolezal
(1902-1960) wrote a series of a dozen successful, although
stiffly
didactic and boring, juveniles about rocketry, starting with RS
11
schweigt RS 11 Doesn't Answer (1953). Somewhat better are 2 books by
the
chemist Friedrich Hecht (1903- ) which combine space travel
with
discoveries about ATLANTIS and a civilization on an exploded
planet
between Mars and Jupiter (ASTEROIDS): Das Reich im Mond Empire in the
Moon
(1951) and its sequel Im Banne des Alpha Centauri Under the Spell of
Alpha
Centauri (1955). But the best Austrian sf juvenile is the
anti-utopian
Totet ihn Kill Him! (1967) by Winfried Bruckner. Der
U-Boot-Pirat
(1951-2), Yuma (1951), Star Utopia (1958) and Uranus (1958) were
all
short-lived JUVENILE SERIES. Ernst Vlcek (1941- ), a professional
writer
since 1970, wrote hundreds of novels in the field, especially for
the
PERRY RHODAN series. The physicist Herbert W.FRANKE, considered the
most
important living sf writer in the German language, is also Austrian.
He
began his career with a collection of 65 short-short stories, Der
grune
Komet The Green Comet (coll 1960), in the Goldmann SF series which he
at
the time edited. His first novel was Das Gedankennetz (1961; trans as
The
Mind Net 1974 US). Two other novels that have been translated into
English
are Der Orchideenkafig (1961; trans as The Orchid Cage 1973 US) and
Zone
Null (1970; trans 1974 US). Franke has written more than a dozen
sf
novels, collections and radio plays, and has edited a number
of
international sf anthologies. Among younger writers are: the
physicist
Peter Schattschneider (1950- ), author of the two collections
Zeitstopp
Time Stop (coll1982) and Singularitaten Singularities (coll
1984);
Marianne Gruber, author of many short stories and two anti-utopian
novels,
Die glaserne Kugel The Glass Sphere (1981) and
Zwischenstation
Inter-Station (1986); Barbara Neuwirth (1958- ), who writes
brooding
fantasy tales, sometimes with sf elements, her first collection, In
den
Garten der Nacht In the Gardens of Night (coll 1990), being one of
the
best to appear in many years; and Ernst Petz (1947- ) and Kurt
Bracharz
(1947- ), who are both writers of satirical stories. Austria's
most
important (and most curious) contribution to sf cinema is a
propagandist
effort called 1 April 2000 (1952; vt April 1st, 2000), dir
Wolfgang
Liebeneiner. In AD2000 Austria is still occupied by the USA, the
USSR,
France and the UK. When, on 1st April, she declares her independence
she
is accused of breaking the peace. Forces of the world police,
equipped
with death-rays, descend upon her, and in a public trial she has to
defend
her right to exist. This is a charmingly naive period piece, sponsored
by
the Austrian Government and with a high-class cast, including the
Spanish
Riding School and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION
UK magazine. 85 issues, 1 Jan 1951-Oct 1957,
published by Hamilton & Co.,
Stafford, fortnightly to 8 then monthly,
issues numbered consecutively, no
vol numbers; ed L.G.Holmes (Gordon
Landsborough) (Jan 1951-Nov 1952), H.J.
CAMPBELL (Dec 1952-Jan 1956) and
E.C.TUBB (Feb 1956-Oct 1957).
Pocketbook-size Jan 1951-Feb 1957, DIGEST-size
Mar-Oct 1957. 1 and 2 were
entitled Authentic Science Fiction Series, 3-8
Science Fiction
Fortnightly, 9-12 Science Fiction Monthly, 13-28 Authentic
Science
Fiction, 29-68 Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, 69-77 Authentic
Science
Fiction again, and finally Authentic Science Fiction Monthly 78-85.
This
magazine began as a numbered book series, with each number containing
one
novel, but a serial was begun in 26 and short stories appeared from 29.
H.
J.Campbell, under whose editorship the magazine considerably
improved,
included numerous science articles during his tenure, but
E.C.Tubb
gradually eliminated most of the nonfiction. The proportion of
original
stories relative to reprints increased. Full-length novels were
phased out
and transferred to Hamilton's new paperbook line, Panther Books.
The
covers got off to a bad start, but from 35 many fine covers by Davis
(art
editor John Richards) and others appeared featuring space flight
and
astronomy. Authentic's rates of payment (ps1 per 1000 words) were low
even
for the time, and although the magazine sold well it seldom
published
stories of the first rank; an exception was The Rose (Mar 1953) by
Charles
L.HARNESS. House pseudonyms were common and included Jon J.DEEGAN and
Roy
SHELDON. The mainstay contributors, under their own names and
pseudonyms,
were Bryan BERRY, Sydney J.BOUNDS, H.K.BULMER, William F.TEMPLE
and Tubb.
AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION MONTHLY
AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION.
AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION SERIES
AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION.
AUTOMAN
Glen A.LARSON.
AUTOMATION
The idea that mechanical production processes might one day free
mankind
from the burden of labour is a common utopian dream, exemplified by
Edward
BELLAMY's Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (1888) and its modern
counterpart,
Mack REYNOLDS's Looking Backward from the Year 2000 (1973). But
the dream
has its nightmarish aspects: work can be seen as the way in which
people
justify their existence, and the spectres of unemployment and
redundancy,
historically associated with poverty and misery, have haunted
the
developed countries since the days of the Industrial Revolution.
The
utopian dream must be set alongside the memory of the Luddite riots
and
the Great Depression, and sociologists such as Jacques Ellul and
Lewis
Mumford have waxed eloquent upon the dangers of automation. Thus it
is
hardly surprising that an entirely negative view of the prospect
of
automation can be found in such works as Les condamnes a mort (1920;
trans
as Useless Hands 1926) by Claude FARRERE. Indeed, the history of
modern
utopian thought (DYSTOPIAS; UTOPIAS) is very largely the history of a
loss
of faith in utopia-through-automation and the growth of various
fears:
fear that MACHINES may destroy the world by using up its
resources,
poisoning it with waste, or simply by making available the means
of
self-destruction; fear that we may be enslaved by our machines,
becoming
automated ourselves through reliance upon them; and fear that
total
dependence on automated production might render us helpless were
the
machines ever to break down. The last anxiety is the basis of one of
the
most famous MAINSTREAM-sf stories, The Machine Stops (1909)
by
E.M.FORSTER, produced in response to the optimistic futurological
writings
of H.G.WELLS. The wonders of automation were extensively celebrated
by
Hugo GERNSBACK, and much is made of the mechanical provision of
the
necessities of life in his Ralph 124C 41+ (1911; 1925). Even in the
early
sf PULP MAGAZINES, however, reservations were apparent in the works
of
such writers as David H.KELLER (e.g., The Threat of the Robot 1929)
and
Miles J.BREUER (e.g., Paradise and Iron 1930). Laurence MANNING's
and
Fletcher PRATT's City of the Living Dead (1930) offers a striking image
of
the people of the future living entirely encased in silver wires, all
of
their experience as well as all their needs being provided
synthetically.
The theme played a highly significant part in the work of John
W.CAMPBELL
Jr, who wrote several stories allegorizing mankind's relationship
with
machinery. In The Last Evolution (1932) and the linked Don
A.Stuart
stories Twilight (1934) and Night (1935), machines outlive their
builders,
but in the series begun with The Machine (1935) mankind breaks free
of the
benevolent bonds of mechanical cornucopia. Powerful images of
people
enslaved and automated by machines were offered in the classic
film
METROPOLIS (1926; novelization by Thea VON HARBOU 1926; trans 1927).
The
notion of the leisurely, machine-supported life was ruthlessly
satirized
in The Isles of Wisdom (1924) by Alexandr MOSZKOWSKI and BRAVE NEW
WORLD
(1932) by Aldous HUXLEY. One of the most significant advances in
the
automation of labour was anticipated in sf, and now bears the name of
the
story in which it appeared: Robert A.HEINLEIN's Waldo (1942) (WALDO).
Much
attention has been devoted to ROBOTS, automatic workers which
have
received a good deal more careful and sympathetic consideration in
GENRE
SF than in the moral tale which coined the word: Karel CAPEK's
R.U.R
(1920; trans 1923). Fully automated factories are featured in several
of
Philip K.DICK's stories, most notably Autofac (1955), and Dick
extended
this line of thought to consider the effects of the automation
of
production on the business of warfare in Second Variety (1953).
Automated
warfare is also featured in Dr Southport Vulpes's Nightmare(1955)
by
Bertrand RUSSELL and in War with the Robots (1962) by Harry HARRISON.
The
automation of the home has been taken to its logical extreme in a
number
of ironic sf stories, including The Twonky (1942) by Lewis Padgett
(Henry
KUTTNER and C.L.MOORE), filmed as TheTWONKY (1952), The House
Dutiful
(1948) by William TENN and Nor Custom Stale (1959) by Joanna
RUSS.
Automated CITIES are the central figures in Greg BEAR's Strength of
Stones
(fixup 1981), and one, Bellwether - the automated city as Jewish
mother -
appears satirically in Dimension of Miracles (1968) by Robert
SHECKLEY.
The automation of information storage and recovery systems and
calculating
functions is a theme of considerable importance in its own
right
(COMPUTERS). The grimmer imagery of the automated future became
more
extensive in the 1950s. Kurt VONNEGUT Jr's PLAYER PIANO (1952) tells of
a
hopeless revolution against the automation of human life and the
human
spirit. Several writers working under John W.CAMPBELL Jr's
tutelage,
however, produced stories which argued passionately that robots
and
computers would be a tremendous asset to human life if only we could
learn
to use them responsibly; rhetorically powerful examples include
Jack
WILLIAMSON's The Humanoids (1949) - whose ending decisively overturned
the
moral of its classic predecessor, his own With Folded Hands... (1947)
-
and Mark CLIFTON's and Frank RILEY's They'd Rather Be Right (1954;
1957;
vt The Forever Machine). Despite this stubborn defence, the
encroachment
of the machine upon the most essential and sacred areas of human
activity
and endeavour became a common theme in post-WWII sf. Artists
find
themselves replaced by machines in numerous stories (ARTS), most
notably
Walter M.MILLER's The Darfsteller (1955), and ANDROIDS or robots
often
find a place in the most intimate of human relationships. The basic
idea
of Campbell's The Last Evolution - that automation might be the prelude
to
the establishment of a self-sustaining, independently evolving
mechanical
life-system - was first considered in Samuel BUTLER's Erewhon
(1872) and
has been a constant preoccupation of sf writers; other early
examples
include Laurence Manning's Call of the Mech-Men (1933) and Eric
Frank
RUSSELL's Mechanistra (1942). More recent developments of the
theme
include Stanisllaw LEM's The Invincible (1964; trans 1973) and
James
P.HOGAN's Code of the Lifemaker (1983), and such pointed SATIRES as
John
T.SLADEK's The Reproductive System (1968 UK; vt MECHASM US) and
Olaf
JOHANNESSON's Sagan om den stora datamaskinin (1966; trans as The Tale
of
the Big Computer 1968; vt The Great Computer; vt The End of Man?).
The
sinister twist added by stories dealing with evolving systems
of
war-machines was adapted to an interstellar stage in Fred
SABERHAGEN's
Berserker series, whose early stories were assembled in
Berserker (coll of
linked stories 1967), and the idea of a Universe-wide
conflict between
biological and mechanical systems has been further developed
by Gregory
BENFORD in Great Sky River (1987) and its sequels. The dangers
of
automation comprise one of the fundamental themes of modern
dystopian
fiction; different variations can be found in Frederik POHL's The
Midas
Plague (1954) and its sequels (collected in Midas World fixup
1983),
Harlan ELLISON's 'Repent, Harlequin!' said the Ticktockman (1965),
Michael
FRAYN's A Very Private Life (1968) and Gwyneth JONES's Escape
Plans
(1986). At a more intimate level, the notion of the automatization of
the
human psyche was a key theme in the later work of Philip K.Dick,
displayed
in such novels as DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? (1968)
and
explained in two notable essays: The Android and the Human (1972) and
Man,
Android and Machine (1976). The notion of an intimate hybridization
of
human and machine is carried forward in many stories featuring
CYBORGS.
See also: CYBERNETICS; SOCIOLOGY; TECHNOLOGY.
AVALLONE, MICHAEL (ANGELO Jr)
(1924- ) US writer active since the early 1950s
under a number of names
in various genres. Although he began publishing genre
fiction in 1953 with
The Man who Walked on Air in Weird Tales, and though
some stories of mild
interest appear in Tales of the Frightened (coll 1963;
vt Boris Karloff
Presents Tales of the Frightened 1973) as by Sidney Stuart,
his sf is
comparatively limited in amount and extremely borderline in
nature,
usually being restricted to such film or tv link-ups as his two Girl
from
U.N.C.L.E. ties, The Birds of a Feather Affair (1966) and The
Blazing
Affair (1966); his novelization of Robert BLOCH's script for the
horror
film of the same name, The Night Walker (1965) as by Sidney Stuart;
the
first Man from U.N.C.L.E. novel, The Thousand Coffins Affair (1965);
and
the film novelization Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). Only
the
latter is wholehearted sf. MA's best known pseudonym has probably been
Ed
Noon, as whom he wrote thrillers; he has also written as Nick CARTER,
Troy
Conway, Priscilla Dalton, Mark Dane, Steve Michaels, Dorothea Nile,
Edwina
Noone and probably several other names. Of the Coxeman soft-porn
thrillers
as by Troy Conway, only a few are sf: The Big Broad Jump (1968),
Had Any
Lately? (1979), The Blow-your-Mind Job (1970), The Cunning Linguist
(1970)
and A Stiff Proposition (1971). The Craghold Legacy (1971), The
Craghold
Curse (1972), The Craghold Creatures (1972) and The Craghold Crypt
(1973),
all as by Edwina Noone, are marginal horror novels; as Noone he
also
edited Edwina Noone's Gothic Sampler (anth 1967). Other works: The
Man
from Avon (1967); The Vampire Cameo (1968) as by Dorothea Nile;
Missing!
(1969); One More Time (1970), a film tie; The Beast with the Red
Hands
(1973) as by Sidney Stuart; Where Monsters Walk: Terror Tales for
People
Afraid of the Dark and the Unknown (coll 1978); Friday the 13th, Part
3,
3-D (1982), a film tie.
AVALON COMPANY, THE
SMALL PRESSES AND LIMITED EDITIONS.
AVENGERS, THE
UK tv series (1961-9). ABC TV (which became part of Thames TV
in 1968).
Created Sydney Newman. Prods Leonard White (seasons 1 and 2), John
Bryce
(seasons 2 and 3), Julian Wintle (season 4), Albert Fennell and
Brian
Clemens (seasons 5-7). Writers included Clemens, Terence Feely,
Dennis
Spooner, Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks, Eric Paice, Philip
Levene,
Roger Marshall, Terry NATION. Dirs included Don Leaver, Peter
Hammond, Roy
Baker, Sidney Hayers, Gordon Flemyng, John Moxey, Robert Day,
Robert
Fuest, Charles Crichton, Don Chaffey, Don Sharp, John Hough. 7
seasons,
161 50min episodes. B/w 1961-6, colour 1967-9. This series'
indirect
precursor, Police Surgeon, began in 1960; prod and written by Julian
Bond,
it starred Ian Hendry as a compassionate police surgeon who spent his
time
helping people and solving cases. In 1961 Newman, later to be the
BBC's
head of drama, changed the format (making it less realistic), title
(to
The Avengers), running time (from 25 to 50 mins) and slightly
changed
Hendry's character (though he was still a compassionate doctor);
most
importantly, he introduced Patrick Macnee as the new protagonist,
secret
agent John Steed, a cool, well dressed, absurdly posh gentleman. 1962
saw
the departure of Hendry and the arrival of Honor Blackman as
leather-clad
Cathy Gale, judo expert; at first she alternated with Julie
Stevens as
Venus Smith, nightclub singer, who appeared in only 6 episodes.
The
series, now far removed from its original format, became ever more
popular
as Steed and Mrs Gale battled increasingly bizarre enemies of the
Crown.
TA peaked in 1965, becoming more lavish, coincident with its sale to
US tv
and Blackman's replacement as sidekick by Diana Rigg
(strong-minded,
intelligent, cynical and beautiful) as Emma Peel. The scripts
became ever
more baroque, not to say rococo. There had been occasional sf
episodes
from early on (nuclear blackmail, terrorism using bubonic plague);
now sf
plots became the norm, involving everything from invisible men
and
carnivorous plants to Cybernauts (killer ROBOTS), ANDROIDS,
mind-control
rays and TIME MACHINES, mostly connected with plots to take over
the UK or
the world. TA had become perhaps the archetypal 1960s tv series, in
its
snobbery about the upper class, its stylish decadence, its high-camp
and
its sometimes surreal visual ambience. Robert Fuest, who later made
The
FINAL PROGRAMME (1974; vt The Last Days of Man on Earth), directed many
of
the later episodes; so did other mildly distinguished film-makers such
as
Roy Baker, John Hough and Don Sharp. The writer most associated with
the
series, and responsible for much of its new look and lunatic plotting,
was
Brian Clemens, who became coproducer of the last 3 series. The last
season
(1968-9) had Linda Thorson (playing Tara King) replacing Diana Rigg
as
female sidekick, and also introduced Steed's grossly fat boss,
Mother,
played by Patrick Newell. At least 9 original novels were based on
or
around TA, 5, 6 and 7 being by Keith LAUMER: The Afrit Affair (1968),
The
Drowned Queen (1968) and The Gold Bomb (1968). The Complete
Avengers
(1988) by Dave Rogers is a book about the series. Although TA
belonged
spiritually to the 1960s, Albert Fenell and Brian Clemens revived
the
series in 1976, with French financial backing, as The New Avengers,
again
starring Patrick Macnee, with Joanna Lumley as female sidekick Purdey
and
Gareth Hunt as kung-fu expert Mike Gambit. The series was made by
Avengers
(Film and TV) Enterprises/IDTV TV Productions, Paris, with
Canadian
episodes co-credited to Nielsen-Ferns Inc.; 2 seasons, 1976-7, 26
50min
episodes, colour. The stories lacked the ease and panache of the
1960s
version, and the sf ingredients became fewer and less inventive;
the
Cybernauts returned in one episode. John Steed's visible ageing must
have
acted as a kind of memento mori to nostalgic but dissatisfied viewers.
In
1977 the entire production company moved to Canada, where the
final
episodes were set.
AVENUE VICTOR HUGO
GALILEO.
AVERY, RICHARD
Edmund COOPER.
AVON FANTASY READER
US DIGEST-size magazine published by Avon Books, ed
Donald A.WOLLHEIM,
who considered it an anthology series, although it
resembled a magazine.
Magazine bibliographers consider it a magazine; book
bibliographers think
of it as a series of books. The Avon Fantasy Reader
sequence was primarily
devoted to reprints, although it contained also 11
original stories. With
WEIRD TALES as its chief source, it presented work by
such authors as
Robert E.HOWARD, H.P.LOVECRAFT, C.L.MOORE and Clark Ashton
SMITH. It was
numbered rather than dated, and appeared irregularly: 5 in
1947; 3 per
year 1948-51; 1 in 1952. It was partnered by the Avon Science
Fiction
Reader sequence. When Wollheim left Avon in 1952, both runs
were
terminated. Nearly two decades later, with George Ernsberger,
Wollheim
briefly attempted a kind of successor series, the titles in which
can be
treated as anthologies: The Avon Fantasy Reader (anth 1969) and The
2nd
Avon Fantasy Reader (anth 1969).
AVON PERIODICALS
OUT OF THIS WORLD ADVENTURES.
AVON SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY READER
US DIGEST-size magazine, 2 issues in
1953, published by Avon Books; ed
Sol Cohen. A hybrid successor to the AVON
FANTASY READER and AVON SCIENCE
FICTION READER, the Avon Science Fiction and
Fantasy Readerseries started
a year after those had ceased publication and
had a different policy,
concentrating on original stories rather than
reprints. Both titles
contained stories by John CHRISTOPHER, Arthur C.CLARKE
and Milton LESSER.
AVON SCIENCE FICTION READER
US DIGEST-size magazine, published by Avon Books,
ed Donald A.WOLLHEIM,
and - as with its companion series, AVON FANTASY READER
- treated by
Wollheim as an anthology series but by contemporary readers as a
magazine.
It had a policy similar to that of its companion, but featured sf -
mostly
of routine pulp quality - rather than fantasy reprints. There were
3
issues, 2 in 1951 and 1 in 1952. Both magazines were terminated
when
Wollheim left Avon Books in 1952.
AWARDS
The following 11 English-language awards receive individual entries
in
this volume: ARTHUR C.CLARKE AWARD; BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION AWARD;
HUGO;
INTERNATIONAL FANTASY AWARD; JOHN W.CAMPBELL AWARD; JOHN
W.CAMPBELL
MEMORIAL AWARD; NEBULA; PHILIP K.DICK AWARD; PILGRIM AWARD;
THEODORE
STURGEON MEMORIAL AWARD; and WRITERS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST. Awards
given
exclusively for fantasy or horror, such as the August Derleth,
Bram
Stoker, British Fantasy, Crawford, Gandalf, Gryphon, Mythopoeic and
World
Fantasy awards do not receive entries, and nor generally do awards
based
in countries other than the UK and USA: the sheer proliferation of
awards
has necessitated this chauvinist ruling. Thus we do not list
individually
the Ditmar (an Australian award given to novels, stories,
fanzines), the
William Atheling Jr Award (Australian award given to
criticism), the Prix
Jules Verne (French award given to novels in the spirit
of Jules VERNE;
discontinued in 1980), the Prix Apollo (French award given
since 1972 to
best sf novel published in France, regardless of whether it is
French or
translated), the Prix Rosny aine (best sf in French), the Seiun
(Japanese
award for novels and stories, both Japanese and foreign), the
Aurora
(known until 1991 as the Casper; Canadian sf in both English and
French),
the Gigamesh (award given by Spanish bookshops for sf in Spanish
and
translation), European Science Fiction Award (given at annual
Eurocon),
Kurd Lasswitz Award (German equivalent of the Nebula),
SFCD-Literaturpreis
(given by large German fan club), Nova Science Fiction
(Italian), Atorox
(Finnish) and many others. Other awards, such as the
Balrog, the James
Blish and the Jupiter, have not received the necessary
administrative
and/or public support and have been short-lived. There are
many fan awards
largely given to professionals, like the HUGO. There are
others given by
fans to fans; those that most strikingly demonstrate fannish
generosity
are awards like DUFF and TAFF (Down Under Fan Fund and Trans
Atlantic Fan
Fund) for which it actually costs money to vote. The winner has
his or her
expenses paid to a foreign CONVENTION each year, from Australia to
the USA
or vice versa (DUFF) and from Europe (usually the UK) to the USA or
vice
versa (TAFF). The most important awards not given a full entry are
the
Locus Awards, winners of a poll in 13 categories announced each
September
by LOCUS and voted on by about 1000 presumably well informed
readers. This
represents a constituency of voters about the same size as that
for the
Hugos (sometimes bigger). The overlap between Locus voting and Hugo
voting
a month later is large, which is why we do not list the lesser-known
award
separately. Where the awards differ, it is often thought that the
Locus
assessment is the more accurate reflection of general reading tastes.
The
Locus Award is not only good for vanity and sales: in recent years it
has
taken a very attractive form in perspex and metal. Among the
remaining
awards, the following are too specialist, recent or small-scale to
warrant
full entries: Big Heart (sponsored by Forrest J.ACKERMAN for services
to
FANDOM), Chesley Award (sf artwork, given by the Association of
Science
Fiction and Fantasy Artists), Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Memorial
Award
(Baltimore-based award for best first novel), Davis Awards (voted on
by
readers of Analog and ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE) renamed
the
Dell Awards in 1992 when Davis sold out its two sf magazines to
Dell,
First Fandom Awards (retrospective awards for services to sf prior
to
institution of the Hugos), James Tiptree Jr Award (from March 1992,
given
at Wiscon, the Wisconsin convention, for sf or fantasy fiction that
best
"explores or expands gender roles", J.Lloyd Eaton Award (from 1979, for
a
work of sf criticism), Pioneer Award (given by the SCIENCE
FICTION
RESEARCH ASSOCIATION from 1990 for best critical essay of the year
about
sf), Prometheus Award (sponsored by the Libertarian Futurist Society
for
best "libertarian" sf), Readercon Small Press Awards (inaugurated 1989
for
best work in various sf categories published by small presses),
Rhysling
Award (sf POETRY), SFBC Award (chosen by members of the US SCIENCE
FICTION
BOOK CLUB), Saturn Awards (sf/fantasy film and tv work, given by
the
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films), SFBC Awards
given
by the Science Fiction Book Club in the US according to a popularity
poll
among the members, the Turner Tomorrow Award, and the William
L.Crawford
Memorial Award (given by the International Association for the
Fantastic
in the Arts for a first novel in the fantasy field). The Turner
Tomorrow
Award is a literary competition with an unbelievable $500,000 first
prize
sponsored by broadcasting magnate Ted Turner, for best original
sf-novel
manuscript to be published in hardcover by Turner Publishing
and
containing practical solutions to world problems; when the initial
winner,
Daniel QUINN, was announced in June 1991, three of the judges,
including
novelist William Styron, declared their dismay at so huge a sum
going to
the winner of a contest in which none of the place-getters was, in
their
view, especially distinguished. The best reference on the subject
is
Reginald's Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards: A Comprehensive Guide
to
the Awards and their Winners (1991) by Daryl F.MALLETT and
Robert
REGINALD.
AXLER, JAMES
Laurence JAMES.
AXTON, DAVID
Dean R.KOONTZ.
AYES, ANTHONY or WILLIAM
William SAMBROT.
AYLESWORTH, JOHN B.
(1938- ) Canadian-born US writer whose sf novel, Fee,
Fei, Fo, Fum
(1963), is a comic story in which a pill enlarges a man to
Brobdingnagian
proportions.
AYME, MARCEL (ANDRE)
(1902-1967) French novelist and dramatist, not generally
thought of as a
contributor to the sf field, though several of his best-known
novels, such
as La jument verte (1933; appalling anonymous trans as The Green
Mare 1938
UK; retrans N.Denny 1955), are fantasies, usually with a satirical
point
to make about provincial French life. La belle image (1941; trans as
The
Second Face 1951 UK) comes close to sf nightmare in its rendering of
the
effect of being given a second, more attractive face. La vouivre
(1943;
trans as The Fable and the Flesh 1949 UK) is again a fantasy,
its
satirical targets again provincial. Across Paris and Other Stories
(coll
trans 1957 UK; vt The Walker through Walls 1962 US) assembles fantasy
and
the occasional sf tale. Pastorale (1931 France) is a regressive
UTOPIA
that makes more articulate than is perhaps entirely comfortable
the
nostalgia that lies beneath MA's urbane Gallic style. Other
works:
Clerambard (1950; trans N.Denny 1952 UK), a play; two
children's
fantasies, The Wonderful Farm (1951 US) and Return to the
Wonderful Farm
(1954 UK; vt The Magic Pictures 1954 US). See also:
PSYCHOLOGY.
AYRE, THORNTON
John Russell FEARN.
AYRTON, ELISABETH (WALSHE)
(1910-1991) UK writer, best known for books on
cooking, married first to
Nigel BALCHIN, then to Michael AYRTON. Her sf
novel, Day Eight (1978),
portrays a NEAR-FUTURE UK in ecological extremis, to
which Gaia responds
through a sudden acceleration in the EVOLUTION of species
other than
humanity.
AYRTON, MICHAEL
(1921-1975) UK painter and writer, married to Elisabeth
AYRTON until his
death. He was much respected as an illustrator, stage
designer, painter
and sculptor; through much of this work recurred images of
the Minotaur
and of Daedalus, the maker of the Labyrinth. Although little of
this was
in evidence in his first book of genre interest, Tittivulus, or
The
Verbiage Collector (1953), which was a SATIRICAL fantasy, The Testament
of
Daedalus (1962 chap) presents in prose, verse and illustration
the
eponymous fabricator's reflections on the problem of flight. The
Maze
Maker (1967) is a biography of Daedalus in novel form. Some of
the
FABULATIONS assembled in Fabrications (coll 1972) are of sf interest.