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Cargando... Hell's Cartographers: Some Personal Histories of Science Fiction Writerspor Brian W. Aldiss (Editor), Harry Harrison (Editor)
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What motivates great science fiction writers? Why did they choose the genre? Where do they get their ideas? In this illuminating volume, six of the field's bestselling authors present lively personal histories that provide fascinating insights into the creative process - and offer inspiration for aspiring wordsmiths. In the introduction, Brian W. Aldiss observes, "Never have critics and readers in any field been more divided than they are over science fiction." Aldiss goes on to define his concept of the difference between fiction and nonfiction in "Magic and Bare Boards." His coeditor, Harry Harrison, reminisces about his bookish childhood in "The Beginning of the Affair." "Ah, science fiction, science fiction!" sighs Alfred Bester in "My Affair with Science Fiction." He notes, "I've read it all my life, off and on, with excitement, with joy, sometimes with sorrow." Other heartfelt and insightful contributions include Robert Silverberg's "Sounding Brass, Tinkling Cymbal," Damon Knight's "Knight Piece," and Frederik Pohl's "Ragged Claws." AUTHORS: Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE, was an English writer and anthologies editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960s. Harry Max Harrison was an American science fiction author, known for his character the Stainless Steel Rat and for his novel Make Room! Make Room! The latter was the rough basis for the motion picture Soylent Green. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.0876Literature English (North America) American fiction By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fictionClasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio: (3.63)
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Hell’s Cartographers is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the group of science fiction authors who grew up during the Depression and whose personal histories include World War II, the Cold War, and Viet Nam. Brian Aldiss (1925-2007), Alfred Bester (1913-1973), Harry Harrison (1925-2012), Damon Knight (1922-2002), Frederik Pohl (1919-2013), and Robert Silverberg (b. 1935) grew up reading science fiction pulp magazines edited by the likes of Hugo Gernsback and John W. Campbell. They got their start writing and editing for these same magazines and their often-short-lived successors. Their output of pulp short stories was prodigious—it had to be at the standard rate of half-a-cent a word. At his height, Silverberg says he was publishing a million words a year. Many of them were members of a New York group of leftist science fiction fans who called themselves Futurians; they shared beer money, slept on each other’s couches, and promoted each other’s work. They had mixed feelings about the pulp they read and wrote as young men, and as they matured, they looked for ways to deepen and expand their range giving pulp a satirical edge, writing more character-driven stories, researching more deeply, and creating the postmodern style that came to be called New Wave.
In a final section, each of them discusses his writing process. In the mid-seventies they were still working with typewriters, but one of them was looking forward to a time when some of the drudgery would be taken over by computers. They said they were revising more and writing more slowly than they did in their youth.
One small caveat. The title suggests that they like Dante, writing anatomies of human failings and misery. While they do find fault with human foolishness and perfidy, their own stories are upbeat tales of success, and their outlooks are optimistic. 4 stars, an important contribution to literary history. (