The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
The Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Matthew
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have been reading "The Boat of a Million Years" by Poul Anderson lately. I have had the book in my possession for years and I have only just started reading it. It is not a quick read but it has gotten my interest up about Anderson and other works and authors of what is called the First Golden age of Sci-fi. Believed to have begun int he late 1930's and extended through the 50's, it was the era of pulp, the era of the first Space Opera, it was the era of John W. Campbell, and it was the era were many superstar writers of the genre came into being.
This wiki page is a good intro on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction
This era saw the introduction of Heinlein and Asimov, and the fabled "Three rules of Robotics," Something that practically every author with a robotic character has eluded to at least once.
How this era ended is a little hard to tell, as there are several different theories, including over-inflation of the pulps, and cancellation of much sci-fi on television
What, to you guys, stood out the most about this era? For me, it was the Foundation, Asimov's most legendary work (alongside the three laws), and E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen, arguably the foundation of all Space opera fiction.
This wiki page is a good intro on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Science_Fiction
This era saw the introduction of Heinlein and Asimov, and the fabled "Three rules of Robotics," Something that practically every author with a robotic character has eluded to at least once.
How this era ended is a little hard to tell, as there are several different theories, including over-inflation of the pulps, and cancellation of much sci-fi on television
What, to you guys, stood out the most about this era? For me, it was the Foundation, Asimov's most legendary work (alongside the three laws), and E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen, arguably the foundation of all Space opera fiction.
Matthew on
0
Posts
What would be considered the "Golden Age" of Science Fiction?
One of the novellas was a "speculative fiction" type story about the first moon landing, written in the late 40's. His forward was really funny, pointing out just how far off his speculation was from reality. He had the mission being run by the Brits on a budget of a few million pounds, using an atomic engine, and launching from Australia. Pretty fun to read. Some of the short stories were really great, too.
Here's Black Destroyer by A. E. Van Vogt, one of the classics.
http://www.webscription.net/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___5.htm
Damon Knight was the first real Science Fiction reviewer to take a critical eye to works. His reviews of the a lot of the Golden Age works was collected in a book called In Search of Wonder. He also wrote a number of works in the period, although his best known work was a screenplay for the Twilight Zone called "To Serve Man". As an editor, he convinced Tom Chilton to publish Dune. The initial printing of Dune was met with lackluster sales and got Knight fired. He was the founding President of the SFWA. In 2002 the organization changed the title of the Grand Master Award to the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.
I'm not sure if they count as "golden age" sci-fi off the top of my head, though.
Clear ether, Spaceman!
I've tried to read Heinlein before, but the books i've tried to read...it's like he's obsessed with sex. Frankly, I found it a bit of a turn-off. I've considered trying some of hus juveniles though, most specifically Citizen of the Galaxy.
I'm "kupiyupaekio" on Discord.
He basically wrote the world's most badass word problems. "Mission of Gravity" legitimately needs to be a movie. I want to see an adventure epic starring a 15-inch long ultrapede.
I wouldn't know who Alfred Bester was if not for reverse engineering Babylon 5.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Frank Herbert is still my favorite of the bunch. His far-into-the-future plots were always the most captivating to me.
Murry Leinster (William F Jenkins) was the Dean of Science Fiction. He predated Campbell, and actually managed to survive the transition. He gave us the idea of how to handle a first contact, the universal translator and the alternate timeline. In the collection I linked he describes a device called a logic. It can do math and science, as well as retrieving information, advice and entertainment from a central location via a series of tubes. Predicting the internet in 1946 isn't too shody.
Ted would have been about 23 at the time.
Yeah, you're getting some of the stuff from his post-shark-jumping phase. Give The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress a try.
Yep, TMIAHM is by far one of my favorite Heinlein novels, and his weird obsession with sex(not that its weird to have some sex in a novel, but he really does go quite overboard later on) is nowhere to be found. Definitely one of his best works when his working of political ideas come into play.
Number of the beast is really a good example of a author who has slipped deeply into indulging himself. It happens to some of the best of them. Asimov succumbed to it a bit, but not nearly to the level Heinlein did.
Any Lazarus Long story is indulgent, some more than others, but in the end its basically a wish-fulfillment character.
There was also 'Macroscope', 'The Witling', 'Plague of Demons'... pretty good stuff. There's plenty more but I can't recall them all offhand.
'Plague of Demons' by Keith Laumer was particularly awesome in my opinion, especially because it went from 'Alien-invasion-conspiracy' to
That was awesome.
Visit him at Monstrous Pigments' Instagram and Facebook pages!
The horrible sociopath protagonist?
He writes big, cataclysmic space opera stuff with a dose of horror. He also did a lot of writing for Superman (one of which was Superman Under the Red Sun) and Batman.
His StarWolf books are about a guy. He's like this Space Viking from the planet of Varna, a heavy gravity world. That means he's really strong and fast. He travels around with a bunch of mercenaries after getting kicked out of the StarWolf Space Viking club. He has awesome adventures. There are three books, total. The Weapon from Beyond, The Closed Worlds, and World of the StarWolves.
"The stars whispered: Die, StarWolf! Die!"
Also, TMIAHM is one of my favorite novels. I reread it every couple years.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, and "--And He Built A Crooked House--" are really fun short stories.
Okay, I gotta ask. Does anyone know anyplace where I can buy the Lensman series? I've been trying to find this series all over the internet, but NO ONE has it!! Any help would be appreciated.
Waaaaaaiit, isn't TMIAHM also the one where nearly all the protagonists are in that weird line marriage thing or eventually join it? That would count as a weird sex thing IMO.
The Golden Age refers to the 1930s-1960s (early 70s too maybe?), so no author writing in recent times, even if they had written works in that period would count.
I picked up some of Murray Leinster's works a few months back at a market - hurrah for Calhoun of the Med Service!
Don't forgot WW2 navel battles fought in space!
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Although, to be fair, Ender's Game battles are similarly ridiculous. Wrong in three dimensions does not make a right.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Triplanetary-Lensman-E-Doc-Smith/dp/0843959495/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264362478&sr=1-2
Yeah, Triplanetary, but the rest of the books seem to be nowhere in sight.
What's so golden about it? Modern sci-fi is so much better...
Other golden age stuff out there I like are the Cities in Flight and Hothouse (James Blish and Brian Aldiss respectively) the first detailing Cities that are turned into spaceships using antigravity and the second about a world where global warwarming has turned the whole world into a super giant Jugle and the world is alot like Pandora in Avatar but more brutal both great books.
For the guy looking for Lensman books online there are dead cheap audiobook versions on Itunes. Additionally I recommend the books from the SF Masterworks series pretty much every top class sci-fi book written is in that series and again cheap on amazon.