Science Fiction and Dystopia-Part Two
Science fiction, being a fantasy, is by definition escapist. Fans would probably prefer that real life not intrude upon their fantasies. They would rather escape. Nonetheless, reality intrudes,...
View ArticleRobert Beckhusen on Ghost Fleet
Here's a mild example of the encroachment of progressivism on the territory of science fiction.A couple of weeks ago, Robert Beckhusen of the website The Week reviewed Ghost Fleet, a new science...
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Politics in Science Fiction-Part One
Science fiction seems to have a fatal flaw: its vulnerability to becoming politicized. (1) We have probably all seen examples of politics intruding upon the domain of science fiction. Here are examples...
View ArticlePolitics in Science Fiction-Part Two
So yesterday I wrote about four examples of the intrusion of politics into movies, examples that are, I admit, based on my own foggy memory and maybe strained interpretation of four movies. Each of the...
View ArticlePipe Dreams and Premonitions-Part One
Politics intrudes upon science fiction. That's the issue I'm exploring in this series. But is that really the case? Does politics intrude? Or is science fiction in its essence political? Do political...
View ArticlePipe Dreams and Premonitions-Part Two
I have two books, two sides of a coin. Both were published in the 1950s by Van Nostrand under its Anvil imprint. First is Liberalism: Its Meaning and History by J. Salwin Schapiro (1958). I'll let...
View ArticleUtopia and Oppression 101
Political correctness is a rapidly spreading and virulent disease that infects every human institution, including science fiction and, as it turns out, comedy on the university campus. It is of course...
View ArticlePipe Dreams and Premonitions-Part Three
Conservatism by Peter Viereck (Van Nostrand, 1956) is a companion volume to Liberalism: Its Meaning and History by J. Salwyn Schapiro (1958). Both are designed for college reading.From...
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Frankenstein: A Monster of Gothicism and Science
I have been thinking about the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818). It has been called the first science fiction novel, but Frankenstein is also, obviously, a Gothic romance that originated in a...
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This Week in Columbus-PulpFest
I'm taking time out from my series on politics in science fiction to draw your attention to the fact that the 44th PulpFest is taking place this week in Columbus, Ohio. The convention begins on...
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Where Is Weird Tales?
Weird Tales has been called "The Magazine That Never Dies," and in the ninety-two years since it was first published, Weird Tales has lived up to that sobriquet. This week, Weird Tales is being...
View ArticleNotes from PulpFest-The Mystery of the Missing Magazine
I came away from PulpFest with a copy of The Pulpster, the official publication of the convention. A colorized photograph of H.P. Lovecraft is on the cover, and inside is an article called "Lovecraft's...
View ArticleNotes from PulpFest-Who Owns Weird Tales?
Pulp magazines began in 1896, making next year the 120th anniversary of their birth. The anniversary of their death is harder to pin down. Like old soldiers, they just faded away, probably in the...
View ArticleThe Weird Tales Controversy-Part One
Last week, before PulpFest, I was writing about politics and science fiction. My thesis is that politics often intrudes upon science fiction because: a) people who are extremely political make all...
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Notes from PulpFest-H.P.L. at 125
Today, August 20, 2015, is the 125th anniversary of the birth of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, author, poet, essayist, editor, publisher, and perhaps the most prolific writer of letters in human history....
View ArticleThe Weird Tales Controversy-Part Two
In order to understand the recent Weird Tales controversy, we should know something about the events that preceded and followed it. So here is a chronology. If I have made any mistakes or left anything...
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The Weird Tales Controversy-Part Three
If I have my chronology worked out right, Ann VanderMeer resigned her position with Weird Tales on August 20, 2012--three years ago this week (and the 122nd anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft's birthday)....
View ArticleThe Weird Tales Controversy-Part Four
Jeff VanderMeer dated his essay, "Moving Past Lovecraft," September 1, 2012. His wife, Ann VanderMeer, had resigned her position with Weird Tales less than two weeks before. Both Mr. and Mrs....
View ArticleThe Weird Tales Controversy-Part Five
Andrew Klavan (b. 1954) has written mysteries, thrillers, and stories of the supernatural. A couple of his books have been turned into movies. Last week Mr. Klavan posted on line a smart-alecky essay...
View ArticleEndnote to the Weird Tales Controversy
The Utopia of the Progressive is a Dystopia for the rest of us. Armed with his theories about how we all ought to live, the Progressive is the man behind the terror, murder, privation, and misery of...
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