Reel Future

by Forrest J. Ackerman (Editor), Jean Marie Stine

The stories that inspired 16 classic science fiction movies, including:

2001 - A Space Odyssey
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Fly
Total Recall
Re-Animator

Edited by Forrest J. Ackerman and Jean Stine. Featuring classic stories by: Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Roger Zelazny, H.G. Wells, John W. Campbell Jr., Robert Sheckley, George Langelaan, John Varley, Philip Francis Nowlan, Harry Bates, Raymond F. Jones, Ib Melchior, Ray Faraday Nelson, and Barry Longyear.

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Horror

538 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1994

About the author

Forrest J Ackerman (born Forrest James Ackerman; November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan. He was, for over seven decades, one of science fiction's staunchest spokesmen and promoters.

Ackerman was a Los Angeles, California-based magazine editor, science fiction writer and literary agent, a founder of science fiction fandom, a leading expert on science fiction and fantasy films, and possibly the world's most avid collector of genre books and movie memorabilia. He was the editor and principal writer of the American magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland, as well as an actor, from the 1950s into the 1980s, and appears in two documentaries related to this period in popular culture: writer and filmmaker Jason V. Brock's The Ackermonster Chronicles!, (a 2012 documentary about Ackerman) and Charles Beaumont: The Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man, about the late author Charles Beaumont, a former client of The Ackerman Agency.

Also called "Forry," "The Ackermonster," "4e" and "4SJ," Ackerman was central to the formation, organization, and spread of science fiction fandom, and a key figure in the wider cultural perception of science fiction as a literary, art and film genre. Famous for his word play and neologisms, he coined the genre nickname "sci-fi". In 1953, he was voted "#1 Fan Personality" by the members of the World Science Fiction Society, a unique Hugo Award never granted to anyone else.

He was also among the first and most outspoken advocates of Esperanto in the science fiction community.

Ackerman was born Forrest James Ackerman (though he would refer to himself from the early 1930s on as "Forrest J Ackerman" with no period after the middle initial), on November 24, 1916, in Los Angeles, to Carroll Cridland (née Wyman; 1883–1977) and William Schilling Ackerman (1892–1951). His father was from New York and his mother was from Ohio (the daughter of architect George Wyman); she was nine years older than William.[13] He attended the University of California at Berkeley for a year (1934–1935), worked as a movie projectionist, and spent three years in the U.S. Army after enlisting on August 15, 1942.

He was married to teacher and translator Wendayne (Wendy) Wahrman (1912–1990) until her death. Her original first name was Matilda; Forry created "Wendayne" for her. Wendayne suffered a serious head injury when she was violently mugged while on a trip to Europe in 1990, and the injury soon after led to her death.

Ackerman was fluent in the international language Esperanto, and claimed to have walked down Hollywood Boulevard arm-in-arm with Leo G. Carroll singing La Espero, the hymn of Esperanto.

Ackerman was an atheist.

More: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0009969/

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http://www.amazon.com/Forrest-J.-Acke...

http://content.time.com/time/magazine...

Reviews

[Jim Dooley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uncle Forry of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" fame gathered quite a collection! All of the short stories contained in this volume formed the basis of a science fiction or horror classic film. No, they aren't all fabulous, but it is fascinating to read the original stories that inspired some of my beloved motion pictures.

Some are obvious, such as Lovecraft's HERBERT WEST--REANIMATOR, Jones' THIS ISLAND EARTH or Bradbury's THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. Langelaan's THE FLY was delightfully eerie. Some lesser apparent ones are Campbell's WHO GOES THERE? which was the basis for THE THING, Clarke's THE SENTINEL that was brought to the screen as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, Dick's WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE filmed as TOTAL RECALL, and the highly under-rated AIR RAID from John Varley, brought to the screen as MILLENNIUM.

The great find for me was FAREWELL TO THE MASTER by Harry Bates. I had heard about this one for many years, but I couldn't find it anywhere. It became one of my all-time favorite films, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, although it is very, very different from the movie. I found it fascinating how the screenwriter could have taken an incident from the short story and constructed an entire film from it.

Whether you love these stories or you find them average, they still represent an excellent foundation collection for fans of classic horror and science fiction movies. I consider this one to be a prize in my personal library, and I revisit stories from it every couple of years.

[Jon]

Reading the 1941 Retro Hugo nominee for Best Novelette:

"Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates (pp. 146-179)

4 stars - the original story behind the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still and of course it's better than the movie.

Also available in this anthology, Campbell's excellent "Who Goes There?" which was made into a movie twice (or more - I can't keep track). I highly recommend it!

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of sixteen stories upon which famous science fiction movies were based. The stories are usually (but not always) better than the films they spawned. This book includes Zelazny's classic "Damnation Alley," Clarke's "Sentinel" (which became 2001), Longyear's "Enemy Mine," R.F. Nelson's "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" (filmed by Carpenter as "They Live"), as well as my favorite two sf classic stories ever filmed, The Day the Earth Stood Still (from "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates) and This Island Earth (from the story by Raymond F. Jones). Grab the popcorn!

[Denise Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the mid-1980's, I saw the film Enemy Mine starring Dennis Quaid and Lou Gossett, Jr. When I discovered the move was based on a story originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , I decided to track it down. The problem was it's a short story--unless the story was printed in an anthology, they are difficult to find.

Archive.org has the anthology, Reel Futures , which contains not just "Enemy Mine" but 14 other short stories/novellas and one novel ( This Island Earth ) that have been made into movies, usually more than once. And what a trove!

The stories are listed in chronological order, from H.G. Wells and "The Empire of the Ants," to "Air Raid" by John Varley. Most of the stories are quite different from the movie version: the ending of "Farewell to the Master" is much different from either movie version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. "The Sentinel" was greatly expanded to become 2001: A Space Odyssey ; "Air Raid" serves as the opening scene of Millenium .

There is a short biography of the writers and where the story first appeared in the Introduction. Stills from the movie and information about the director, principle actors, and the name of the movie appear before each story.

For those who enjoy older, non-Star Wars, non-Star Trek science fiction movies (the newest is 1989) and like to compare them with their source story, this is a great resource.

NB: Reading the biography for "Eight O'Clock in the Morning," I realized I have met the author, Ray Faraday Nelson--his wife and I are in the same poetry group!

[Seth Heasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with most anthologies, this one is a mixed bag, with some of the stories being better than others, and certainly some of the films adapted from the stories being better than others. But it's a great tour of the history of science fiction adaptations, and worth a look for any SF fan. Especially if you can pick it up used for $5 or so (which I did).

We finally managed to cover all the titles on Take Me To Your Reader, so maybe we'll have to look for another source to pull from.

[Jim Mcclanahan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting array of stories which presaged various SF films. Ranging from the familiar, e.g., John Campbell's "Who Goes There" to the obscure, e.g., Ray Faraday Nelson's "Eight O'clock In The Morning" to the bad, e.g., Raymond F. Jones "This Island Earth" to the brilliant, e.g., John Varley's "Air Raid". Well worth the time to peruse and, sometimes, immerse oneself.

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked these stories. I've seen most of the movies made from them, and as is usually the case, the stories are better than the movies. Since they were written mid-twentieth century, of course you have the annoying curse of the authors calling women "girls." And women are of course mostly window-dressing. Here's an especially sickening scene in "Damnation Alley" by Roger Zelazny, the only movie preferred to its story:

"He bent toward her, and she began to rub his shoulders. Her hands were quick and strong. "You do that good, girl." "Thanks." He straightened up, leaned back. Then he reached out, took the flask and had another drink. She took a small sip when he passed it to her. The furies rode about them, but the bridge above stood The siege. Tanner turned off the lights. "Let's make it," he said, and he seized her and Drew her to him. She did not resist him, and he found her belt buckle and unfastened it. Then he started on the buttons. After a while, he reclined her seat. "Will you keep me?" She asked him. "Sure." "I'll help you. I'll do anything you say to get you through." "Great." "After all, if Boston goes, then we go, too." "You bet." Then they didn't say much more.

[K De · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forrest J. Ackerman's anthology "Reel Future" has many gems and germs-in-the-rough, including "Who Goes There?", "Farewell to the Master", "Reanimator", "Damnation Alley", and many other literary works that films were based upon. It is well worth reading because there are some rare finds like "The Fly". If you are a SF/Horror or film fan then this anthology is for you.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

For science fiction film buffs who would like to read how the film was adapted from the original short story that inspired it (of the sixteen films, I've seen eight of them - Enemy Mine was my favorite film & short story).

[Paul Moscarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ackerman assembles many of the short stories that inspired 50's-90's science fiction films, such as 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Fly, Total Recall and more. A must for fans of the genre.