Science-Fiction Classics: The Stories That Morphed into Movies

by Forrest J. Ackerman (Editor)

A collection of fifteen classic science-fiction stories that grew up to be movies.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

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...

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Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently watched the cult classic "They Live" again, introducing my girlfriend to it. In the credits was the note that this was based on the short story, "Eight O'Clock In The Morning" by Ray Nelson.
Now for years, I'd been meaning to read the story but that was one of those little errands that got pushed to the background. Well I finally managed to get around to it. My local library did not have anything in particular by Ray Nelson but I did find the story in this anthology. The book was a treat to read! In my humble opinion, the 1950's were the heyday of science fiction and this book is chock full of awesome!

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for the story "The Veldt" because it was recommended as a great short sci-fi story. Didn't do much for me. It was a story of a house in the future that would do everything for you: cook your meals, entertain you, and raise your children. Of course with a house like that you would have evil, selfish children who are homicidal, right? This story was trite and superficial. Perhaps at the time it was written it was mind shattering, but not anymore. Not worth the time.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quality level of the stories varies: 'FP1 Does Not Respond' in interminable; 'The Alien Machine' was so good it made me crave another viewing of 'This Island Earth.' On the whole, it's a great concept for an anthology and there's enough gold here to make it well worth the read. I'll have to track down some of the more obscure films and see how the stories look when they make it to the big screen.

[Nick Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having an interest in science fiction I bought this primarily to explore the basis for a number of favourite sci-fi movies (in particular "The Racer" by Ib Melchior, inspiration for Death Race 2000, and "Who Goes There?" from which the various 'Thing' movies were developed).
There is, therefore, a fair bit of 'interesting' and indeed entertaining content, but there are also some fairly dull inventory and one particularly long entry that really dragged. A pity, as I really like sci-fi but I can't lie, I'm glad it's done!

[Kaija · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun but also incredibly boring read. I really enjoyed a few stories but several dragged on terribly. Additionally boy do old science fiction stories have issues with woman but I guess that's nothing new. It was cool and I have watched a few movies from it which is fun, however if you are not a person who really lives old science fiction just for the hell of it or is very into movies most of the stories in here will probably be a bust.

[Gary Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read the story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning" by Ray Nelson (and not actually from this book but from another source). This short story about a man who 'wakes up' and sees that his city is controlled by alien creatures is the basis for the comic book "Nada" and the movie "They Live."

[Norm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an fun collection of 13 stories and 2 novels that were made into movies, edited and with an Introduction by "Mr. Science Fiction" himself, Forrest J. Ackerman.
These stories display that Sense of Wonder, which was, in my opinion, the most essential ingredient in the Science Fiction from the 1930's to around the end of the 1950's. Most of these stories were written during that period, but the ones published later are also entertaining.

These stories vary widely in subject matter, but the one word I would use to describe them all is...Entertaining. They are a pleasure to read and I think it's probably the main reason they were chosen by Hollywood. They lent themselves perfectly to the big screen, often with some "embellishment", of course.

Although there is some overlap with a similar book, "They Came From Outer Space", edited by Jim Wynorski, it's worth owning both books.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read. All the stories in this book were later made into sci-fi movies. They range in quality from the merely serviceable to the classic.