Science Fiction

Science Fiction, stories of fantasy dealing with the unknown in scientifically conceivable terms of reference. They use imaginary inventions and discoveries; settings that include the earth's interior, other planets, and the atom; and time in the remote future, the prehistoric past, and a new dimension. They sometimes resemble Utopian fiction, but their direct ancestors include Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and works by Poe, Verne, Fitz‐James O'Brien, and H.G. Wells. Although Utopias and satires occasionally use some of the materials or techniques of science fiction and although Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court used a favorite theme of traveling through time, the emphasis is not on pseudo‐science and the creation of a sense of wonder. The vogue for science fiction became particularly evident around the turn into the 20th century, perhaps because people felt they were moving into a new era and because they were much impressed by the many recent inventions. The genre was given further impetus by the founding of Amazing Stories (1926) by Hugo Gernsback (1884–1967), an émigré from Luxembourg, who is commemorated by annual (since 1953) Hugo awards, and by the founding (1937) of another magazine, Astounding, by John W. Campbell, the “discoverer” of Asimov and Heinlein. The awe‐inspiring scientific inventions of World War II and the subsequent era of manned travel into outer space made science fiction both more interesting and more acceptable to many readers. Postwar science fiction placed more emphasis on accuracy and less on weird adventures and also became more concerned with sociopolitical ideas; it also moved out of magazine publication to the greater solidity of books, both paperback and hardbound. Prominent science fiction writers of this century include Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs, August Derleth, R.A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Ursula Le Guin, H.P. Lovecraft, Theodore Sturgeon, and A.E. van Vogt.