The Astounding Illustrated History Of Science Fiction

A truly astonishing, illustrated history of Science fiction, covering fantasy, and horror, with forays into crime, mystery and the gothic. Using timelines, online links, illustrations, posters, movie stills, book covers, and more, this amazing new book propels us into the well of modern imagination, from its roots in Frankenstein, through Verne, H.G. Wells, the late gothic and weird horror of Lovecraft to the mass market sensationalism of the Pulp magazines. The Pulps then invoked a new generation of writers (such as Ray Bradbury and Robert Bloch) of the Golden Age before many transitioned to screenwriting for the movies and early TV (Psycho, Star Trek, Twilight Zone), inspiring, in turn, the invasion of superheroes, gigantic spaceships, and dystopian landscapes onto our data-streaming tablets and computers. The book explores the interplay between great writers, (Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke) and story-telling directors (Kubrick, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, George Lucas) who create powerful Sci-Fi, reflecting and challenging the developments of technology, science and society. Each have played a major role in this all-consuming, speculative form of world-building, from its early manifestation as a shocking literary event, to the mass market sensation is today.

Companion title to The Astounding Illustrated History of Science Fiction this new book reflects the same roots in Gothic literature but follows a complementary path through the 20th century, to the movies of Peter Jackson, the success of streaming TV series such as Grimm, and the fantasy of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. From the wellspring of Frankenstein, Germanic fairy tales, and heroic, epic myths a dark and fantastic path can be found to the fragmentation of the 1930s: the schlock horror of early modern movies, the invention of High Fantasy by Tolkien and fellow Inkling C.S. Lewis, and the pulp magazine powerhouse Weird Tales with Robert E. Howard’s sword and sorcery archetype Conan. A brilliant concoction of movie posters, stills, book covers, fantastic art and incredible timelines.

"This book presents for the first time a broad view of the themes, authors, development, and ideas of the genre on an international scale. It embraces science fiction in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Russia, and Australasia, as well as the better-known American and British areas."--Cover.

Journey through time and space with this graphic novel history of the science fiction genre.

Newly reprinted and redesigned, this special edition is vividly illustrated with images of film posters, magazines, and books. From dime store novels to pulp magazines, science fiction has chronicled both our hopes for the future and our fear of it.. Learn the story-behind-the-story in this monumental volume documenting 100 years of science fiction. Deeply researched and meticulously documented.

The History of Science Fiction traces the origin and development of science fiction from Ancient Greece up to the present day. The author is both an academic literary critic and acclaimed creative writer of the genre. Written in lively, accessible prose it is specifically designed to bridge the worlds of academic criticism and SF fandom.

Discusses the history of science fiction, including Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau, Mars stories, dime novels and pulp heroes, Cyrano de Bergerac, Hugo Gernsback, Tsiolkovsky, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Abraham Merritt, robots, E.E. "Doc" Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, John W. Campbell Jr., Jules Verne, Olaf Stapledon, C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, hollow earth stories, Arthur Conan Doyle, anti-utopian fiction, Albert Robida, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Hannes Bok, Buck Rogers, Superman, television science fiction, aliens, science fiction in the Soviet Union, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Rumania, and Germany, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Stanislaw Lem, science fiction fandom, the Nebula Awards and the Hugo Awards.