Nineteen essays by such writers as Brian W. Aldiss, Philip K. Dick, Erich Fromm, and Ursula K. Le Guin examine science fiction's place within the literary tradition and its movements, literary conventions, themes, and assessment. Also includes a chronology and a bibliography.
Content Note
Science fiction as a literary movement / William Atheling -- The literature of human possibility / Ben Bova -- Science fiction as classic romance / Janice Antczak -- The potential for social criticism / Robert Bloch -- The feminist struggle in science fiction / Debra Benita Shaw -- Verne and Wells: the two fathers of modern science fiction / Kingsley Amis -- An insider remembers the pulp era -- Jack Williamson -- New worlds and the new wave / Brian W. Aldiss with David Wingrove -- A cyberpunk manifesto / Bruce Sterling -- Negative utopias and Orwell's dark vision / Erich Fromm -- The paradoxes of time travel / Paul A. Carter -- Understanding the alien / Gregory Benford -- The robot as symbol / Sam Moskowitz -- Religious and spiritual aspects of science fiction / Tom Woodman -- Frankenstein and the female voice in science fiction / Jane Donawerth -- Asimov and the morality of artificial intelligence / Patricia S. Warrick -- The nature of reality / Philip K. Dick -- An un-credible genre / Michel Butor -- Good and bad mythmaking / Ursula K. Le Guin.