Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction

by James E. Gunn, Isaac Asimov (Introduction)

In recent years science fiction has burst from its ghetto in the pulp magazines and monster movies and has once again captured an ever-widening circle of serious readers. With best-selling novels emerging from the genre (Giles Goat-Boy, The Andromeda Strain, On the Beach, Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Terminal Man-- the list is endless) and with such big-budget movies as 2001: A Space Odyessey and Planet of the Apes, science fiction has come into its own as the most relevant fiction of our time.

In Alternate Worlds, one of the best known writers in the field traces "speculative writing" throughout man's written history, from Homer down to Heinlein. Filled with excerpts from the seminal works and full-color reproductions of the well-remembered art, this is a mental feast and a visual orgy for all science fiction fans, or for anyone who remembers those wonderful stories of Verne ans Wells and Asimov and Clarke and Sturgeon and Bradbury and . . .

Make your own list: they're all here, along with the incredible worlds they created, and the history they made.

Genres: Science Fiction, Books About Books, Reference, China, Literary Criticism

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

American science fiction author, editor, scholar, and anthologist. His work from the 1960s and 70s is considered his most significant fiction, and his Road to Science Fiction collections are considered his most important scholarly books. He won a Hugo Award for a non-fiction book in 1983 for Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. He was named the 2007 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Gunn served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, after which he attended the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Science in Journalism in 1947 and a Masters of Arts in English in 1951. Gunn went on to become a faculty member of the University of Kansas, where he served as the university's director of public relations and as a professor of English, specializing in science fiction and fiction writing. He is now a professor emeritus and director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction, which awards the annual John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award at the Campbell Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, every July.

He served as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America from 1971–72, was President of the Science Fiction Research Association from 1980-82, and currently is Director of The Center for the Study of
Science Fiction. SFWA honored him as a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2007.

Gunn began his career as a science fiction author in 1948. He has had almost 100 stories published in magazines and anthologies and has authored 26 books and edited 10. Many of his stories and books have been reprinted around the world.

In 1996, Gunn wrote a novelization of the unproduced Star Trek episode "The Joy Machine" by Theodore Sturgeon.

His stories also have been adapted into radioplays and teleplays:
* NBC radio's X Minus One
* Desilu Playhouse's 1959 "Man in Orbit", based on Gunn's "The Cave of Night"
* ABC-TV's Movie of the Week "The Immortal" (1969) and an hour-long television series in 1970, based on Gunn's The Immortals
* An episode of the USSR science fiction TV series This Fantastic World, filmed in 1989 and entitled "Psychodynamics of the Witchcraft" was based on James Gunn's 1953 story "Wherever You May Be".

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in the pre-internet days, Gunn's over-sized and liberally illustrated history of the science fiction genre was arguably the best (and frequently the only) source for information about the field, both the authors and artists and their works, as well as films and books and magazines. Gunn was a brilliant writer, as well as an educator, and was remarkably knowledgeable about the field. He did his best to present all sides of issues fairly, and presented all authors without personal prejudice. He embraced the fun inherent in embracing fandom, and his accounts on the development and history of publishing and themes is never dry; it's inclusive and intelligent with no hint of boring academic dryness. It's a fun book to flip through, as well as reading straight through as a history text. One of my favorites!

[Sougeitu · Rating 3 out of 5]

主打“科幻歷史”科普，講得非常詳細，同時也突出了人文關懷。推薦中文版特有的序和中國科幻附錄，值得一看。

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ficção científica parece estar sempre à beira do reconhecimento académico, do firmar como género literário respeitável. Este livro foi publicado em 1976 e o seu prefácio estaria bem à vontade em painéis de convenções, com autores esperançosos a afirmar que é desta que a ficção científica irá receber o seu devido reconhecimento cultural. São os paradoxos do género. Apesar da constante morte anunciada, persiste e revitaliza-se. Apesar de todos os esforços por se tornar um género exigente, não consegue sair do ghetto cultural.

Alternate Worlds é uma interessante cronologia do desenvolvimento da ficção científica. Não vai tão longe quanto o Trillion Year Spree de Aldiss, é bastante mais superficial, ficando-se mais pela evolução cronológica do que um mergulho nas suas temáticas. Profusamente ilustrado, recorda a evolução da ilustração através das capas das revistas e livros clássicos. Mais de quarenta anos após a s sua edição, há uma certa nostalgia em ver fotos dos grandes nomes da FC, muitos dos quais ainda novos.

[Renzh_gr · Rating 4 out of 5]

为科幻爱好者梳理了科幻的历史，你可以看到随着人类历史的发展，科幻也在飞速前行。
从爱伦坡到凡尔纳，从黄金时代到新浪潮，假如你对这个timeline感兴趣的话，还是很值得一读的。
另外，各种插画也很有意思。

[ggarlic · Rating 4 out of 5]

内容还可以。七十年代的书，成书之后到现在半个世纪的历史其实我更感兴趣，讲完儒勒凡尔奈都 25%进度，讲完 HG 威尔斯都 30%了。名为图史，其实我对这些科幻作家的大头像跟各种书籍杂志封面其实并不感兴趣。