Some science fiction authors
Created | Updated Aug 10, 2003
There have been many candidates for the writer of the first science fiction work.
Lucian of Samosata (120-180 AD) is said to be the first author of science fiction though his work is better described as ‘proto sf’.
Jonathan Swift is another contender, with ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ (1726).
Brian Aldiss favours Mary Shelley, with ‘Frankenstein, Or the Modern Prometheus’ in 1818. Whoever the reader considers to be the first authentic creator of science fiction work, it is true that at the time of writing, we have had access to at least 190 years of science fiction.
Science fiction can be defined as work using advances in science which are feasible in the light of what is known at the time. Peter Nicholls and Brian Stableford, writing in the ‘Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction’, edited by Peter Nicholls, 1979, quote J O Bailey as saying (1947): “A piece of science fiction is a narrative of an imaginary invention or discovery in the natural sciences and consequent adventures and experiences”.
This definition excludes stories which depend on magic, the supernatural and the paranormal. Stories set in the future are not necessarily science fiction, unless the story hinges on the consequences of scientific discovery.
On one fan fiction web site, there are at least 149 stories in the ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ category alone. Any reference work lists hundreds if not thousands of different authors of science fiction.
The first useful categorisation is that dividing science fiction and fantasy. There is some overlap, especially in the public mind, and there are some writers whose works, while not considered science fiction, sometimes qualify - Stephen King is one.
I plan to discuss three writers who are all
well-known, skilled and who represent different strains of science fiction in the 20th and early 21st centuries.
Isaac Asimov 1920-92 Born USSR, lived in USA until his death. Roger Zelazny 1937-95 Born Ohio, USA.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch born 1960.
There are of course many others, but these will be enough to be going on with.
Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov was born in 1920, and was a man of eclectic tastes, an author of over 300 books, from textbooks to Bible studies, books of limericks, popular science works and books of humour and history. He was the publisher (in name at least) of ‘Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine’, for which he also wrote occasional articles and editorials, and very popular during his life. His ‘Robot’ stories inspired, among others, the creators of Star Trek, and the android Data functions by means of ‘Positronics’, Asimov’s invented science of Artificial Intelligence. It has to be said that aside from his Robot stories, Asimov’s fiction is not that good. He can’t avoid the obvious in his social commentary, and is an unquestioning American patriot. Good ideas are not made as much of as they might be by a different writer, and his lack of imagination causes him to be very sexist - not least by his exclusion of women from his fictional world. Roboticist Dr Susan Calvin is the bitter spinster that a professional woman was required to be in Asimov’s youth. Time had marched on, however, when he was writing and the Robot stories were set later still.
Dr Asimov, for lack of imagination you must lose points. Isaac Asimov’s non-fiction is knowledgeable and of great value. I am sorry the same can’t be said of his fiction.
Roger Zelazny was born in Ohio in 1937, and is best known for his ‘Princes in Amber’ series. He died in 1995, and had never achieved the fame outside fan circles that he deserved. Zelazny was a star of the ‘New Wave’ science fiction of the 1960s, along with Samuel R Delany and Harlan Ellison. He should be remembered most, for the ‘Amber’ series, which is deep and fascinating, with magic and mystery at its heart.
Zelazny began the ‘Amber’ series in 1970 with ‘Nine Princes in Amber’. Amber is the ideal, the Ur-world of which Earth is just one of many ‘shadows’. The Olympian squabblings of Amber’s magical ruling family give rise to many convoluted plots and the series is highly recommended. Zelazny has written many other books and series, and the ‘Amber’ series is up to 10 books. He had written 33 other novels, some in collaboration with authors such as Phillip K Dick and Fred Saberhagen.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch was born in 1960, and lives in Oregon. She has written both fantasy and science fiction, and many of her books were written with her husband, Dean Wesley Smith. She has written ‘Star Wars’ novelisations, and among other novels and the ‘Fey’ series; a truly amazing horror/science fiction novel series, equal to Zelazny’s ‘Amber’ series in readability and gripping interest.
The ‘Fey’ series is also about a power struggle, in a world where the ‘Fey’ rule. They have different types of Magic and, those born without Magic, are outcast servants, and soldiers. This is not a series for the squeamish, and parts of it are truly horrific. It is as dense and convoluted as anything by Allan Drury in the American political scene. Sadly, the ‘Fey’ series is now going out of print, but Ms Rusch is, at time of writing, working in four genres at once – science fiction, mystery, romance and fantasy.
This has been a quick and dirty overview of some science fiction authors of note. There are countless others I could write about, and would like to some day – David Brin, David Zindel, Elizabeth Moon and Terry Pratchett (though he is borderline) spring to mind. So – watch this space!
