About book Seekers Of Tomorrow: Masters Of Modern Science Fiction (1974)
This volume presents some fascinating biographies and career histories of a host of science fiction writers who were active in the 50s, 40s and 30s. The authors given chapter-length coverage are:E.E. "Doc" SmithJohn W. CampbellMurray LeinsterEdmond HamiltonJack WilliamsonJohn WyndhamEric Frank RussellL. Sprague De CampLester Del ReyRobert A. HeinleinA.E. Van VogtTheodore SturgeonIsaac AsimovClifford D. SimakFritz LeiberC.L. MooreHenry KuttnerRobert BlochRay BradburyArthur C. ClarkePhilip Jose FarmerA number of other authors get briefer treatment in a final chapter, and for some unknown reason there is also a chapter titled "Superman," covering the career of Mort Weisinger, who edited the early Superman comic books.The book was originally published in 1966, so it only covers authors and writings up to that date.Moskowitz' writing is fluent and engaging, and he had a vast knowledge of his subject. Thanks to his all-encompassing study of science fiction, he had a gift for finding links between stories that thread their way back through the history of the genre. Thus, for example, he could name no less than three precursors to the idea (or at least significant parts of the idea) that Theodore Sturgeon presented in his classic "Microcosmic God."Moskowitz wasn't afraid to express his opinions about various issues, and any given reader is bound to disagree with him from time to time. At one point he bizarrely claims that Robert Heinlein was responsible for "the decline of science fiction [...] through the entire decade of the 1950s", stating that Heinlein's success resulted in a host of imitators and thus a bland uniformity in the field. No doubt Heinlein had his second-rate imitators, but the very existence of this "decline" of the 50s is something that I think few historians of SF would agree with.Elsewhere he gives an unsparing account of A.E. van Vogt's career-long hopscotching from one quack-belief to another, noting how this did significant harm to his writing. But he has nothing but the highest praise for van Vogt's novel Slan, which by the standards of anyone over the age of 12 is a laughable piece of rubbish.And so on; endless examples of good, bad, and just plain odd passages in the book could be given. But "good" passages definitely predominate. Overall it's an excellent read, full of fun and interesting information. I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the science fiction of the early 60s and before.
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