Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era

by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Algis Budrys (Introduction)

The informal story of the science fiction book field in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's then almost totally the providence of the amateur specialist publisher, set against the background and life of an early science fiction fan and writer. Fantasy Press, Gnome, Shasta, Prime, Grant, FPCI, Arkham House -- those were the kingpins of science fiction publishing three or four decades ago. From its details emerges a picture of a handful of men who accomplished things as fantastic in their own way as the fiction they published. With a 16-page photo supplement, index, and checklist of published books.

417 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Lloyd Arthur Eshbach was an American science fiction fan, publisher and writer, secular and religious publisher, and minister. He discovered science fiction at age 15 and began writing letters to the professional magazines, then started to write his own stories. The third story he wrote sold to Science Wonder Stories in 1929. While still writing his own stories and articles, he published two short-lived magazines during the early 1930s, Marvel Tales and The Galleon. He initiated Fantasy Press, a small press which published the work of authors such as E. E. Smith, Jack Williamson, Robert A. Heinlein and John W. Campbell, Jr.. Fantasy Press published a total of 46 titles in its lifetime, with two additional fantasy titles published under the subsidiary imprint, Polaris Press. Fantasy Press books were produced in limited print runs averaging 3,750 copies each, with between 250 and 500 copies of each title bearing a limited plate inserted after the title page that was numbered and autographed by the book's author. These constituted the first hardcover editions of many of these works, previously available only in used copies of magazines.

Eshbach was a church publisher from 1958 to 1962, then he was a salesman for the Moody Bible Institute until retirement in 1975. Upon his retirement, he became a pastor in the Evangelical Congregational Church and served churches of that denomination in Pennsylvania in Lancaster County, Reading, and Womelsdorf.

Eshbach was a lifelong science fiction fan, and besides creating Fantasy Press he was instrumental in assisting others in the creation and operation of their own fan or specialty presses, including William Crawford of Fantasy Publishing and later F.P.C.I. (Eshbach bought Crawford his first set of type for his press) and Thomas Hadley, of first The Buffalo Book Company and later Hadley Publishing Company (both of Providence, RI), whom Eshbach instructed and assisted with marketing and sales of his books and organization of his mailing list (which list eventually became the basis for the formation of a sales base for his own Fantasy Press).

His memoirs, Over My Shoulder: Reflections on a Science Fiction Era, were published in 1983; and his last novel, The Scroll of Lucifer, in 1990. Other books included The Armlet of the Gods, The Land Beyond the Gate, The Sorceress of Scath and The Tyrant of Time. He also edited Of Worlds Beyond: The Science of Science Fiction Writing (Reading, PA: Fantasy, 1947), the first book-length work on science fiction writing from a professional point of view.

An active member of science fiction's First Fandom, he was Guest of Honor at the 1949 World Science Fiction Convention and the 1995 World Fantasy Convention.

[All the above is from Wikipedia]

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book 5-stars for pure nostalgic pleasure, but I bought it hoping Eshbach would give a detailed history of the science fiction specialty book publishers of the late 1940s and 1950s. He just gives a quick overview. But then he was writing from memory decades later.

If you collect Gnome Press, Fantasy Press, Arkham House, Shasta, and other small publishers from this time period you'll probably want this volume which came out in 1983.

More details, links, and photos on my blog review:

https://classicsofsciencefiction.com/...

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful resource. First-hand accounts of the development of the science fiction private publishing industry interleaved with anecdotes from fandom and beyond.

[Simon Jones]

Limited to 1500 copies

[Fred Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a fan of science fiction you will recognize the authors name as a contributor to this field not only through his books but also the fact that he owned Fantasy Press.

Fantasy Press published Science Fiction and some Fantasy books between 1947 and 1961.

This is the story of Lloyd Arthur Eshbach from his own mouth.

As well it is the story of the founding and floundering of a large group of small publishers in the 1940’s to 1970’s. How they got started;and Eshbach’s opinion as to why they eventually closed their doors.

Eshbach got to rub shoulders with all sorts of Science Fiction masters including Heinlein, Doc Smith and many others. There are some funny stories included about some of these people.

As a biography it is great, as a source of information on this period it is spectacular.