Malcolm Edwards
Autor de Realms of Fantasy
Sobre El Autor
Obras de Malcolm Edwards
Tour of the Universe: The Journey of a Lifetime: The Recorded Diaries of Leio Scott and Caroline Luranski (1980) — Autor — 52 copias
A personal choice 1 copia
Vector 67/68 1 copia
Obras relacionadas
Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors From the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day (1982) — Contribuidor — 33 copias
The California diary of General E. D. Towsend — Editor — 6 copias
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Nombre legal
- Edwards, Malcolm John
- Fecha de nacimiento
- 1949-12-03
- Género
- male
- Nacionalidad
- UK
- Educación
- University of Cambridge
- Ocupaciones
- editor
critic - Organizaciones
- Orion Books
HarperCollins
Grafton
Gollancz - Premios y honores
- British Book Award (Imprint and Editor of the Year, 1996)
BSFA Awards (Best Short Fiction, 1983) - Biografía breve
- Malcolm John Edwards (born 1949) is a British editor and critic in the science fiction field.
Miembros
Debates
Sci-Fi Classics Art Book en Name that Book (agosto 2010)
Reseñas
Listas
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Autores relacionados
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 21
- También por
- 8
- Miembros
- 493
- Popularidad
- #50,127
- Valoración
- 3.6
- Reseñas
- 5
- ISBNs
- 25
- Idiomas
- 2
It begins with a well-written introduction by someone who loves the genre, giving a fair overview of the history and categorizations for science fiction settings, contrasting them with fantasy, and listing the ways in which invented worlds can serve a story. There are many more cited examples than the ones featured in this book. One of the last citations is from George R. R. Martin, which stands as testament to his work long before Game of Thrones existed.
The rest of the volume presents a sampling of invented worlds, each portrayed with three enormous paintings that focus on evoking the setting. As a young teenager I was most swept up by the images of worlds I wasn't yet familiar with: the Okie Cities grabbed my imagination, Hothouse looks wonderfully bizarre (is this artist a Salvador Dali protégé?), and Mesklin is intriguing. For the worlds I was familiar with I had a harder time digesting the clash with my own imagination, especially the renderings of Pern. I've seen more stirring images of Arrakis but these are still good. All of those impressions held on my revisit these many years later, although I've since gotten to know James Blish's work. Brian Aldiss and Hal Clement, you're next.
Reading about Rama made little impression on me, but the images here do a lot to evoke its scale and wonder; more than the novel did. Eros and Trantor unfortunately aren't conveyed with much impact. Ringworld was made interesting enough to get me to read Larry Niven, but doesn't seem as impressive now. The futuristic rendering of The Time Machine makes no sense to me, given the era it was constructed in.
Considerable text accompanies the images, presented as a sort of travel guide that describes the major features and a bit of the workings for each world. There's no plot spoilers, although the identifying of certain elements and places does convey what each story will cover.
I'm glad to have reviewed this treasure and compare my impressions now to then, but I don't find myself desiring a copy. You can google up the best images from this book without having to look for it now, and reading the novels is always a better introduction than an invented tour guide which can only summarize from them. But as an indicator of must-visit science fiction it's not entirely a bad place to start (it certainly helped teenage me), and it can definitely stir the imagination.… (más)