Science Fiction Today and Tomorrow: A Discursive Symposium

by REGINALD (EDITOR) BRETNOR

A critical symposium on science fiction, this book features essays (by Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, George Zebrowski, Frank Herbert, Theodore Sturgeon, Alan E. Nourse, Thomas N. Scortia, Reginald Bretnor, James Gunn, Alexei and Cory Panshin, Poul Anderson, Hal Clement, Anne McCaffrey, Gordon R. Dickson, and Jack Williamson) dealing with such subjects the role of science fiction; the publishing of science fiction; science fiction and the visual media; science fiction and a world of crisis; science fiction, morals, and religion; science fiction and man's adaptation to change; science fiction as the imaginary experiment; science fiction in the age of space; science fiction, new trends and old; the creation of imaginary worlds; and creation of imaginary beings; romance and glamour in science fiction; plausibility in science fiction; and science fiction, teaching, and criticism. A bibliography of books discussing science fiction is included.

Genres: Science Fiction, Reference

342 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 1975

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book appeared in 1974 and was a pretty good survey of the state of the field at the time. It serves as a nice companion to Bretnor's The Craft of Science Fiction which came out a couple of years later and shared the same format of essays collected from some of the top names in the field. The "...and Tomorrow" part of the title is less successful, in hindsight, most of the predictions of the future of the field missing the mark, which is rather ironic for the top prognosticators talking about their own future. The visual media essay by George Zebrowski is the most notable, as Star Wars came out just three years later. I also can't help but notice that all of the contributors were white men except for Anne McCaffrey (who was assigned the topic of "Romance and Glamour") and Cory Panshin, who is listed as collaborator with husband Alexei. It's dated in other ways too, of course, because neither technology nor society developed as planned, but some of the sections are still quite apt, and some of the others are interesting for historical context. The other contributors include Ben Bova, Frederik Pohl, Frank Herbert, Theodore Sturgeon, Alan E. Nourse, Thomas N. Scortia, Bretnor himself, James Gunn, Poul Anderson, Hal Clement, Gordon R. Dickson, and Jack Williamson. Whereas Craft was more of a how-to writing guide, this one is more of philosophical survey, and it's interesting to see now, almost a half-century later, what the leading assessments and predictions were. Some of the writing tends to the scholarly/dry side, which also helps to remind us that they were striving for academic acceptance.

[Karl Smithe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this as a hardcover at a library sale. I don't know why they were selling it.

On the one hand the problem with this book is that it is so old. On the other hand the great thing about it is that it is so old. This book is from before Star Wars. Star Wars has totally screwed up what is called science fiction.

You see in 1977 when Star Wars was released the producers admitted that Star Wars was not science fiction. So it would not be a subject of this book. But in 1977 the ten years olds did not care what was and was not science fiction, so today almost everyone thinks Star Wars IS science fiction. The producers called it Space Fantasy.

So science fiction and Fantasy, even Space Fantasy, are different things. So now lots of stuff like Hyperion is called sci-fi though it isn't. I don't know if Reality Dysfunction qualifies since I didn't finish it. Lots of reading but no interesting ideas.

Joanna Russ is mentioned in this book and commented on the field a year after this book:

http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/...

Kurt Vonnegut made an interesting contribution in 1965:

http://www.vonnegutweb.com/archives/a...

The refrigerator comment is very telling but the C.P. Snow comment is eyebrow raising. The trouble with modern sci-fi is that the field has been invaded by literary people and science does not matter to most of them. Willim Gibbson didn't know anything about computers when he wrote Neuromancer and it shows despite the fact the he invented the term "cyberspace". The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P. Hogan is far better and so is Shockwave Rider by John Brunner.

There is just so much entertaining material called science fiction these days which is simply NOT SCIENCE FICTION. That is why this book is really less dated than it appears. The term science fiction has simply been dragged in the wrong direction since the 70s.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweeping and outstanding survey of the SF genre from all angles. Each chapter covers a different topic, ranging from the sociological to the physics of creating believable stars and planetary systems and the biology of possible non-Earthly life forms, and each contains as much information as some other entire books on its given subject. This is an old book, but it has aged well and is essentially timeless for the most part. For any aspiring SF writer, this is a good investment, and for any fan of the genre, it's a great look inside the machinery.

[Tori · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mostly I found this dull and out-of-date, although a couple of the essays have some interesting parts. The field has changed too much for this book to be really relevant today. Skip/skimmed quite a bit.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

essays about scifi writing

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

copyrighted in 1974, this material is dated. I did find some of it entertainingly prescient, but I lost interest about halfway through.