James Gunn – författare

Science Fiction is illuminated by world class scholars and fiction writers, who introduce the history, concepts and contexts necessary to understanding the genre. Their groundbreaking approach provides insights into today's SF world and makes learning how to read Science Fiction an exciting collaborative process for teachers and students.

Now in Paperback!Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's prophesies of the impact of scientific inventions on future civilization; from Edward Bellamy's utopian escape from the industrial Revolution to H.G. Wells's magnificent story of Earth threatened by an inescapable menace-here are the chief ancestors of the modern science fiction story. For the first time, these and other key works are gathered together in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction. The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology of science fiction that covers the development of science fiction from its earliest prototypes in the Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Greek epics to approximately 1990. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classes, these volumes have become mass-market sellers as well, since they are not only a source of outstanding stories but also explain what constitutes science fiction, how it developed and the contribution the authors and the stories have made to the evolution of science fiction.Volume 3, From Heinlein to Here, covers the period from 1940 to 1975, beginning in the Golden Age of Science Fiction and ending at a time when SF book publication was just beginning to explode and SF films (2001: A Space Odyssey; Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, E.T.) would soon dominate box offices. Cloth edition previously published in 1979.

Now in Paperback!Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's prophesies of the impact of scientific inventions on future civilization; from Edward Bellamy's utopian escape from the industrial Revolution to H.G. Wells's magnificent story of Earth threatened by an inescapable menace-here are the chief ancestors of the modern science fiction story. For the first time, these and other key works are gathered together in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction. The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology of science fiction that covers the development of science fiction from its earliest prototypes in the Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Greek epics to approximately 1990. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classes, these volumes have become mass-market sellers as well, since they are not only a source of outstanding stories but also explain what constitutes science fiction, how it developed and the contribution the authors and the stories have made to the evolution of science fiction.Cloth edition previously published in 1979.

Now in Paperback!Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Lucian's odyssey on the moon; from Jonathan Swift's hilarious satire on scientists in Gulliver's Travels to Mary Shelley's horrifying description of a scientist who has gone too far in Frankenstein from Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 to Jules Verne's prophesies of the impact of scientific inventions on future civilization; from Edward Bellamy's utopian escape from the industrial Revolution to H.G. Wells's magnificent story of Earth threatened by an inescapable menace-here are the chief ancestors of the modern science fiction story. For the first time in paperback, these and other key works are gathered together in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction. The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology of science fiction that covers the development of science fiction from its earliest prototypes in the Sumerian Gilgamesh and the Greek epics to approximately 1990. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classes, these volumes have become mass-market sellers as well, since they are not only a source of outstanding stories but also explain what constitutes science fiction, how it developed and the contribution the authors and the stories have made to the evolution of science fiction.Volume 2: From Wells to Heinlein, samples the science fiction of the first 40 years of the 20th century from a wide variety of authors that paved the way for the Golden Age.Cloth edition originally published in 1979

Now in Paperback!The Road to Science Fiction is a six-volume anthology that covers the development of this genre from its earliest prototypes to the current day. Created originally to provide anthologies for use in classrooms in the late 1970s, these volumes became mass-market sellers.Between an ancient Roman's trip to the moon and the fantastic tales of H.G. Wells lies a journey through time and space and an awesome evolution in scientific thinking. From Gilgamesh's search for immortality to Edgar Allan Poe's balloon trip in the year 2848 these and other key works are gathered together for the first time in one anthology, complete with revealing commentary on the authors, their eras, and the role each played in establishing what we today recognize as science fiction.Volume 4 From Here to Forever covers the period from 1950-1992, illustrating how science fiction can be as concerned with language and character as much as traditional fiction and anything in the mainstream. Includes stories by Jorge Luis Borges, Richard Matheson, C. M. Kornbluth, Jack Vance, and Pamela Zoline.

Science fiction is a field of literature that has great interest and great controversy among its writers and critics. This book examines the roots, history, development, current status, and future directions of the field through articles contributed by well-respected science fiction writers, teachers, and critics. The articles 'speculate' on what is science fiction, is science fiction serious literature, which writers are considered good science fiction writers, and where the genre of science fiction is headed with 21st-century writers. Contributors include Brian W. Aldiss, Kathryn Cramer, Samuel R. Delany , David G. Hartwell, Ursula K. Le Guin, Barry N. Malzberg, Darko Suvin, Michael Swanwick, and many other outstanding authors. Examining all genres and subgenres of science fiction writing, this book provides differing viewpoints on science fiction, making it a great basis for dynamic classroom discussions.

Harvard's George C. Simpson called the late Isaac Asimov "one of our natural wonders and national resources," for his hundreds of nonfiction works on science, mathematics, history, and literature. Asimov, however, is best known as a science fiction writer. This second edition, Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction, updates and expands science fiction scholar James Gunn's definitive, Hugo Award-winning critical volume about Asimov and his contributions to the science fiction genre. A concluding chapter analyzes Asimov's best-sellers. Those interested in Asimov and science fiction will want Gunn's study, with its insider's look at the most prolific author of the twentieth century, its chronology, selected list of critical works, and bibliography. Paperback version available 2005.

James Gunn has had a long and distinguished career in science fiction. In addition to his stories and novels, he has written extensively about the reading, writing, and criticism of science fiction. Many of these essays were published in The Science of Science-Fiction Writing (Scarecrow, 2002). A second collection of essays, Inside Science Fiction, was originally published in 1992, and is now available in this revised, updated, and expanded edition. With the addition of five new articles written since 1992, Inside Science Fiction represents Gunn's latest thoughts about the genre.The book is divided into four major sections that tackle various aspects of the genre:· "Getting Inside Science Fiction," in which Gunn discusses his relationship with the genre· "Science Fiction and the Teacher" illustrates various approaches to teaching science fiction· "Science Fiction on Film and Television" deals with the film industry's approaches to science fiction, in particular, Gunn's experiences of seeing his novel The Immortals turned into a made-for-television movie and subsequent series· "Science Fiction and the Real World" examines the impact of science fiction on the world and what the future holds for the genreInside Science Fiction offers a complete overview of science fiction for readers and viewers from an author, reader, and teacher who has seen it from all sides for more than seventy years.

In the mid-1980s, Easton Press began publishing a series of leather-bound collector editions called “Masterpieces of Science Fiction” and “Masterpieces of Fantasy,” which featured some of the most important works in these genres. James Gunn was commissioned to write introductions to these works, which allowed him to pay tribute to many authors who inspired and influenced his own work.In Paratexts: Introductions to Science Fiction and Fantasy, Gunn has collected the most significant essays produced for the Easton series, along with prefaces he wrote for reprints of his own novels. Cited here are some of the most significant works of 19th and 20th century science fiction and fantasy, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, 1984, Stranger in a Strange Land, A Clockwork Orange, Speaker for the Dead, The Postman, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe, The Dead Zone, The Mists of Avalon, Dragon’s Eye, Nine Princes in Amber, Blue Mars, The Last Unicorn, and The Lord of the Rings.Drawing upon Gunn’s lifetime of work in the field, these introductions include analyses of the individual works and the fields in which they were written. Gunn also briefly discusses each novel’s significance in the science fiction canon. Collected here for the first time, these prefaces and introductions provide readers with insight into more than seventy novels, making Paratexts a must-read for science fiction and fantasy aficionados.

Hugo Award winning writer James Gunn (1923-2020) has been called "the last Golden Age author" of science fiction. In a career of almost 70 years, he wrote or edited 45 books and more than 100 short stories and participated in the production of films, radio and television programs and comic books.

James Gunn--one of the founding figures of science fiction scholarship and teaching--wrote in 1951 what is likely the first master's thesis on modern science fiction. Portions were in the short-lived pulp magazine Dynamic but it has otherwise remained unavailable.Here in its first full publication, the thesis explores many of the classic Golden Age stories of the 1940s and the critical perspective that informed Gunn's essential genre history Alternate Worlds and his anthology series The Road to Science Fiction.The editor's introduction and commentary show the historical significance of Gunn's work and its relevance to today's science fiction studies.

Alternate Worlds was first published in 1975 and became an instant classic, winning a Hugo award. This third edition brings the history of science fiction up to date, covering developments over the past forty years--a period that has seen the advent of technologies only imagined in the genre's Golden Age.As a literature of change, science fiction has become ever more meaningful, presaging dangers to humanity and, as Alvin Toffler wrote, guarding against "the premature arrival of the future." The world has begun to recognize science fiction in many different ways, incorporating its elements in products, visual media and huge conventions.

Written by one of the leading authorities on writing, publishing and teaching science fiction, The Science of Science Fiction Writing offers the opportunity to share in the knowledge James Gunn has acquired over the past forty years. He reflects on the fiction-writing process and how to teach it, and the ideas he has shared with his students about how to do it effectively and how to get it published afterwards.The first section discusses why people read fiction, the parts of the short story, the strategy of the science fiction author, scene as the smallest dramatic unit, how to speak well in print, suspense in fiction, how to say the right thing, and how to give constructive criticism. The second section takes a more philosophical approach. Here, Gunn elaborates on the origins of science fiction, its definition, the worldview of science fiction, and the characters that appear in science fiction novels. The third section highlights well-known sci-fi authors: H.G. Wells, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Henry Kuttner, C.L. Moore, and others, and the impact they have had on the development and progression of science fiction.