Pioneers of Wonder: Conversations With the Founders of Science Fiction

by Eric Leif Davin

Long before Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Roddenberry, and Chris Carter, the names of David Lasser, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Hugo Gernsback, and Sam Moskowitz were well known by the first fans of a new kind of fiction. These pioneers were among the visionary individuals who launched the science fiction genre, which today enjoys such wide appeal.


Through exclusive interviews, Eric Leif Davin takes readers back to the late 1920s, when Gernsback, "the father of science fiction," founded the world's first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories. Lasser, one of Gernsback's editors, recalls his own amazing book The Conquest of Space-the first work in English to seriously probe the possibility of space flight. Other highlights include a discussion with the widow of Stanley G. Weinbaum ("A Martian Odyssey"), the first author to write about an alien in sympathetic terms; talks with the giants of early sci-fi Frank K. Kelly and Raymond Z. Gallun; Wolf Man creator and science fiction script writer Curt Siodmak; pioneer book publisher and writer Lloyd Arthur Eshbach; plus commentary on popular sci-fi magazines.


The lives, experiences, memories, and insights provided in Pioneers of Wonder are a treasure for all fans of this dynamic literary phenomenon.

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published July 1, 1999

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is unique about this book is that Davin gives his attention mostly to those who are forgotten in the creation of the SF cannon. His story about Sam Moskowitz and Laurence Manning is illuminating in terms of understanding the pitfalls of creating a cannon that ultimately excludes more than includes in a subconscious effort of forming an exclusive club.

I didn't like his interviews, though. Sometimes they can be too gossipy. Questions could be more substantial.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty familiar with the history of science fiction, but this book did an excellent job in filling in some gaps in my knowledge. The interviews with editors, writers, and associated persons like Stanley G. Weinbaum's widow are fascinating. If you have any interest at all in American science fiction in the 1926-1939 time frame, this is essential reading. I only wish it could have included more interviews, but alas, by the 1980s and 1990s when the ones here were conducted, all too few of those pioneers were left.