| Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970 Contributor(s): Ashley, Mike (Author) |
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ISBN: 0853237794 ISBN-13: 9780853237792 Publisher: Liverpool University Press OUR PRICE: $30.49 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2005 Annotation: When we think of science fiction, we think primarily of movies and television shows, but this assumption belies the fact that the genre's initial rise to prominence came in pulp magazines. With lurid covers and titles like "Galaxy," "If," and "Thrilling Wonder Stories," the science fiction pulp magazines created the visual and thematic vocabulary that continues to animate today's science fiction blockbusters. In "Transformations," the second volume in his acclaimed three-volume history of science fiction magazines, science fiction historian Mike Ashley brings his unparalleled knowledge to bear on the period from the beginning of the Cold War through the end of the 1960s, an era of tremendous change in the writing of and the marketplace for science fiction. Ashley begins his story with the decline of the pulp magazines at the end of the 1940s and their replacement by new digest-sized and glossy magazines. That switch, and the increased respectability that came with it, coincided with a true golden age of science fiction writing in the early 1950s, with such giants of the genre as Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Frank Herbert, and Harlan Ellison all publishing regularly in a wide range of such magazines. As Ashley shows, by the end of the decade, sales had slumped, all but six of the science fiction magazines had folded, and the future looked bleak--until the surprising rebirth of the genre through the work of British writers Michael Moorcock and J. G. Ballard. Ashley also considers how the popularity of "Star Trek" and the movie version of "2001: A Space Odyssey" influenced the future of the science fiction magazine. For fans of science fiction seeking to understand how their favoritegenre evolved from "Amazing Storie"s to "Babylon 5," "Transformations" will be essential reading. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Dewey: 813.087 |
| Series: Liverpool University Press - Liverpool Science Fiction Texts |
| Physical Information: 0.92" H x 6.34" W x 9.18" (1.38 lbs) 424 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This is the second of three volumes which chart the history of the science fiction magazine from the earliest days to the present. The first volume Time Machines traced the development of the sf magazine from its earliest days and the creation of the first specialist magazine, Amazing Stories. Transformations takes up the story to reveal a turbulent period that was to witness the extraordinary rise and fall and rise again of science. Britain's foremost sf historian, Mike Ashley charts the sf boom years in the wake of the nuclear age that was to see the 'The Golden Age' of Science Fiction with the emergence of magazines such as Galaxy, Startling Stories and Fantastic, as well as authors like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Frank Herbert . He then goes on to explore the bust years of 1954-1960 followed by the renaissance in the 1960s led by the new wave of British authors like Michael Moorcock and J.G. Ballard and the rise in interest of fantasy fiction, encouraged by Lord of the Rings and the Conan |