Search Results for: book club

Arthur C. Clarke: Omnibuses, Collections, and Remixes

Omnibuses: Across the Sea of Stars (Harcourt Brace World, 1959) From the Ocean, From the Stars (Harcourt Brace World, 1961) Prelude to Mars (Harcourt Brace World, 1965; book club edition shown) The Lion of Comarre and Against the Fall of Night (Harcourt Brace World, 1968; book club edition shown) Arthur C. Clarke was one of the major science fiction writers of the 1950s through the 1970s; his biggest claim to fame was as coauthor, along with filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, of…

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My Robert A. Heinlein Problem

Do you know someone — a friend, a coworker, a family member — whom you esteem for their many good qualities… and yet whose extreme and undeniable character flaws can sometimes make you want to banish them from your life forever? Of course you do. (Humility and the law of averages should also make you acknowledge that for someone else you know, there’s a good chance that you are that person.) For me, that problematic individual is Robert A. Heinlein….

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“Is There Anybody There?”: James Gunn’s The Listeners

The Listeners by James Gunn First Edition: Scribner’s, October 1972, Jacket design Jerry Thorp (Book Club edition shown) The Listeners by James Gunn Scribner’s (275 pages, $6.95, Hardcover, October 1972) Jacket design Jerry Thorp The late James Gunn, who died just last year, became an SFWA Grand Master in 2007 and was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame in 2015, both recognizing his achievements in science fiction. His individual awards include an Eaton Award for lifetime achievement as a…

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The Art of Things to Come, Part 3: 1961-1963

Science Fiction Book Club brochure (1961) As I related in the first two installments of this series (Part One: 1953-1957, and Part Two: 1958-1960), like tens of thousands of science fiction fans before and after me, I was at one time a member of the Science Fiction Book Club (or SFBC for short). I joined just as I entered my teen years, in the fall of 1976, shortly after I’d discovered their ads in the SF digests. The bulletin of…

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Isaac Asimov’s Fantastic Voyage from Film to Novel

Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov First Edition: Houghton Mifflin, March 1966, Cover art Dale Hennesy (Book Club edition shown) Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov Houghton Mifflin (239 pages, $3.95, Hardcover, March 1966) Cover art Dale Hennesy Isaac Asimov’s early novels were published over a period of just eight years, from Pebble In the Sky in 1950 to The Naked Sun in 1957, with linked collections like I, Robot and the Foundation “novels” along the way. Some of his early short…

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Up and Down Again: Robert Silverberg’s Up the Line

Up the Line by Robert SilverbergFirst Edition: Ballantine, August 1969. Cover art Ron Walotsky.Also shown: Fourth printing, June 1981. Cover art Murray Tinkelman. Up the Lineby Robert SilverbergBallantine (250 pages, $0.75, Paperback, August 1969)Cover art Ron Walotsky Having discussed Isaac Asimov’s The End of Eternity last time, I thought to move forward a decade or so and look back at a similarly recomplicated tale of time travel and time paradoxes: Robert Silverberg’s 1969 novel Up the Line. Silverberg has written…

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The Art of Things to Come, Part 2: 1958-1960

The Fantastic Universe Omnibus, featured in the September-October 1960 issue of Things to Come. Art by Virgil Finlay As I mentioned in Part One of this series, like tens of thousands of science fiction fans before and after me, I was at one time a member of the Science Fiction Book Club (or SFBC for short). I joined just as I entered my teen years, in the fall of 1976. The bulletin of the SFBC, Things to Come, which announced…

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Goth Chick News: Hendrix Does It Again with The Final Girl Support Group

Final Girls Back in 1992, medieval history researcher Carol J. Clover wrote Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Fascinated by film as just another iteration of the ancient art of oral storytelling, she theorized that horror fans are not closet sadists who relate to the violence and terror of the films. Instead, Clover argued the reverse: that horror films are designed to align spectators not with the (most often) male tormentor, but with the tormented female’s…

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Vintage Treasures: The 1989 Annual World’s Best SF edited by Donald A. Wollheim with Arthur W. Saha

The 1989 Annual World’s Best SF (DAW, 1989). Cover by Jim Burns Most SF readers are familiar with Gardner Dozois’ legendary Year’s Best Science Fiction series, which ran for three and a half decades from 1984 to 2018, and helped shape modern perceptions of short SF. But it was by no means the first Year’s Best in science fiction, and in the early days, wasn’t even my favorite. No, back in the 80s I preferred the annual anthologies by Terry…

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Zig Zag Claybourne Author Interview: Flipping the Bird and Finding Joy while Writing Afro Puffs are the Antennae of the Universe

Zig Zag Claybourne is infectiously joyous on the page and in real life. He’s a comfort to read but not everything he writes is comforting. There’s no seeing the light without being in the dark, but you can trust Claybourne to make you laugh while you’re there. He’s a chill-seeking truth-slinger who’ll shove you into action-packed absurdity then somehow make you feel…cozy. Afro Puffs are the Antennae of the Universe is the sort of sci-fi that could get Prince’s sexyass…

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