Seekers of Tomorrow

Seekers of Tomorrow

Cover of Seekers of Tomorrow
Author Sam Moskowitz
Country United States
Language English
Subject biography
Publisher World Publishing Company
Publication date
 1965
Media type Print (Hardback)
Pages 441 pp.
OCLC 00333038
809.3876
LC Class PN3448.S45 M66 1966
Preceded by Explorers of the Infinite

Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction is a work of collective biography on the formative authors of the science fiction genre by Sam Moskowitz, first published in hardcover by the World Publishing Company in 1965. The first paperback edition was issued by Ballantine Books in October, 1967. A photographic reprint of the original edition was issued in both hardcover and trade paperback by Hyperion Press in 1974. Most of its chapters are revised versions of articles that initially appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories from 1961-1964.[1]

The work presents the history of the genre from the 1920s through the 1960s via a discussion of the lives and works of twenty-two of its most important early writers. After a general introduction, individual chapters deal with particular authors, followed by a general survey of later or lesser writers (including C. S. Lewis, James Blish, Walter M. Miller, Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, Hal Clement, Ross Rocklynne, Poul Anderson, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, Alfred Bester, Edgar Pangborn, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Philip K. Dick, Ward Moore, John Hersey, John Christopher and Frank Herbert), an epilogue and an index.

Contents

  1. "E. E. Smith, Ph. D."
  2. "John W. Campbell"
  3. "Murray Leinster"
  4. "Edmond Hamilton"
  5. "Jack Williamson"
  6. "Superman" (Mort Weisinger)
  7. "John Wyndham"
  8. "Eric Frank Russell"
  9. "L. Sprague de Camp"
  10. "Lester del Rey"
  11. "Robert A. Heinlein"
  12. "A. E. van Vogt"
  13. "Theodore Sturgeon"
  14. "Isaac Asimov"
  15. "Clifford D. Simak"
  16. "Fritz Leiber"
  17. "C. L. Moore"
  18. "Henry Kuttner"
  19. "Robert Bloch"
  20. "Ray Bradbury"
  21. "Arthur C. Clarke"
  22. "Philip José Farmer"
  23. "Starburst"

Reception

Reviewing Seekers of Tomorrow, Algis Budrys wryly noted that "Moskowitz is a master of denotation. He wouldn't know a connotation if it snapped at his ankle, which is something that happens quite often." He added, however, that "Moskowitz knows and transmits, at least as much about the history of science fiction and its evolution, as anyone possibly could."[2]

Kirkus Reviews called the work "a truly gratifying book ... [w]hat is satisfying is to see these authors deeply engaged in works of pure tripe and imagination (Barnum called it hokum) and watch them emerge with a fish so big (macrocosmic) that they become world-renowned. This book should be called Super Time, because each of its subjects is a bit like the success stories in Time--each author has written his Moby Dick of interstellar fantasy. These guys think BIG! These are wild talents pouring out words to oblivion."[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Seekers of Tomorrow title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  2. ↑ "Galaxy Bookshelf", Galaxy Science Fiction, October 1966, pp.159-60
  3. ↑ Kirkus Reviews - Seekers of Tomorrow

References

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