"Asimov on Science Fiction" by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992)

Publisher: Avon Books
Copyright: 1981
ISBN: 0380585111

This book is a collection of 55 essays that were taken from the editorials published in "Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine", and many other publications, such as Parade magazine. The range of topics is very large even though they are all concerned with some aspect of science fiction.

The majority of these essays deal with the writing of science fiction, the history of s-f, and to an extent the history of pulp fiction in general. When Science Fiction first became a literary genre (even though it was nowhere near official) virtually the only place that authors could have their stores published was in what was then known as the pulps (so named because they were printed on cheap pulp paper). VP the author is virtually nothing, one of the highest was 1 cent a word, but most much less than that. Nevertheless, this is were the majority of classic science fiction writers cut their teeth. Authors such as Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, E. E. "Doc" Smith, and many more.

While I had not been born when the pulps were in their heyday, I'm not sure what the current state of science fiction would be today if they hadn't existed, in fact it's possible that the genre might not even exist as we know it.

Any person who is interested in the history of science fiction, the history of the authors of the genre, or just reading some very good essays on the topic of science fiction would find this book very interesting I think.