Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science

Frank McConnell (1942–1999) was a professor of English at Northwestern University and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He wrote a regular column on the media for Commonweal magazine, and his voluminous body of work included four detective novels and a number of academic books. Gary Westfahl retired from the University of California, Riverside, is an adjunct professor at the University of La Verne. He earned the Science Fiction Research Association’s Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship and is the author, editor, or coeditor of more than 20 books about science fiction and fantasy.

“excellent”—Science Fiction Studies.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Foreword by Neil Gaiman      Introduction by Gary Westfahl      I. Frank McConnell B.C.E. (Before Coming to Eaton)      1. Born in Fire: The Ontology of the Monster      2. Song of Innocence: The Creature from the Black Lagoon      3. H.G. Wells: Utopia and Doomsday      4. Realist of the Fantastic: H.G. Wells about/in/on the Movies      II. Slouching Toward Bedlam: The Early Eaton Essays      5. Sturgeon’s Law: First Corollary      6. Boring Dates: Reflections on the Apocalypse Game      7. Frames in Search of a Genre      8. From Astarte to Barbie and Beyond: The Serious History of Dolls      9. The Playing Fields of Eden      10. It’s Only a Paper Moon: Fantasy and the Professors      11. “Turn That Shit Down!” Or, How to Market an Underground      III. Gnostic Lunch: The Later Eaton Essays      12. Alimentary, My Dear Watson: Food and Eating in Scientific and Mystery Fiction      13. You Bet Your Life: Death and the Storyteller      14. Seven Types of Chopped Liver: My Adventures in the Genre Wars      15. The Missionary Physician, from Asclepius to Kervorkian      16. The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: A Storytelling Animal in an Inhospitable World      Epilogue: Memories of Frank      Paul Alkon      Gregory Benford      Harold Bloom      Sheila Finch      Carl Freedman      Howard V. Hendrix      Bruce Kawin      Joseph D. Miller      Eric S. Rabkin      Mark Rose      George Slusser      Chapter Notes      A Bibliography of the Works of Frank McConnell      A Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Works Cited in the Text      Index