Bridges to Science Fiction and Fantasy

Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, was Visiting Fellow at Cambridge University, and in 1995 received the Lord Prize for contributions to science. He has published 32 novels, four volumes of nonfiction, and over 200 short stories and several hundred scientific papers in several fields. Gary Westfahl, a professor emeritus at the University of La Verne, California, has authored, edited, or co-edited 31 books about science fiction and fantasy, and hundreds of articles and reviews. In 2003, he received the Science Fiction Research Association’s Pilgrim Award for his lifetime contributions to science fiction and fantasy scholarship. Retired professor Howard V. Hendrix, taught at the college level for 40 years. He has published six novels and four collections of stories; has authored, coauthored, or coedited seven works of nonfiction; and has written numerous articles, reviews, and editorials. He lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Joseph D. Miller, active for many years as a presenter at Eaton Conferences and contributor to Eaton volumes, is currently a professor and chair of Pharmacology at the American University of the Caribbean in Cupecoy, St. Maarten.

• Table of ContentsIntroduction (Gregory Benford, Gary Westfahl, Howard V. Hendrix and Joseph D. Miller)Science Fiction as Truncated Epic (Patrick Parrinder) Dialogues Concerning Human Understanding: Empirical Views of God from Locke to Lem (Stephen W. Potts)The Descent of Fantasy (Eric S. Rabkin) The Virginity of Astronauts: Sex and the Science Fiction Film (Vivian Sobchack)Running Out of Speculative Niches: A Crisis for Hard Science Fiction? (David Brin) Effing the Ineffable (Gregory Benford) Discriminating Among Friends: The Social Dynamics of the Friendly Alien(John Huntington) Nature: Laws and Surprises (Poul Anderson) In the Palace of Green Porcelain: Artifacts from the Museums of Science Fiction (Robert Crossley) Just How Frumious Is a Bandersnatch?: The Exotic and the Ambiguous in Imaginative Literature (Joseph D. Miller) Making the Pulpmonster Safe for Demography: Omni Magazine and the Gentrification of Science Fiction (Howard V. Hendrix)For Tomorrow We Dine: The Sad Gourmet in the Scienticafé (Gary Westfahl) Cannibalism in Science Fiction (Paul Alkon) Longevity as Class Struggle (Fredric R. Jameson) How Cyberspace Signifies: Taking Immortality Literally (N. Katherine Hayles) You Bet Your Life: Death and the Storyteller (Frank McConnell) Revamping the Rut Regarding Reading and Writing About Feminist Science Fiction: Or, I Want to Engage in “Procrustean Bedmaking” (Marleen S. Barr) Literary Gatekeepers and the Fabril Tradition (Tom Shippey) Flying to the Moon in the French Bande Dessinée (Danièle Chatelain and George Slusser) Shapes from the Edge of Time: The Science Fiction Artwork of Richard M. Powers (Kirk Hampton and Carol MacKay) The Science Fiction of Medicine (H. Bruce Franklin) Science Fiction and the Two Cultures: Reflections After the ­Snow-Leavis Controversy (Carl Freedman) The Eaton Roll of HonorBibliographyAbout the ContributorsIndex