Customer Reviews

The Futurians: The Story of the Science Fiction "Family" of the 30's That Produced Today's Top SF Writers and Editors

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If your a fan of science fiction, and especially the early masters of sci-fi, I would recommend this book to you. It's a well written account of several legends (Asimov, Anderson, Kornbluth among others) and their interactions before they were famous and afterwards. Not only does it read like a novel because of Knight's style, but the interactions between the people are cause for the suspense that made me want to finish it in two days. The anecdotes and history of early sci-fi make this a must have for any fan.

Damon Knight offers a simple and direct account of the early years in the lives of some of Science Fictions great writers. Most notable are Frederick Pohl and Issac Asimov. While joining the group late he manages to paint fair portrait of the early years through interveiws and a few remaining written records of the time, namley Asimov's journal and their communal house newsletters. The reader can draw his own conclusions about the group in-fighting and personality clashes. As a whole it is a fascinating story of the avant garde culture of the late '30s and early '40s. Its one weakness is that Knight jumps around chronologically, often jumping forward or backward several years during the recounting of a single incident. It is also difficult to determine who is recounting the story; sometimes there are first person accounts from Knight, a quote from someone during an interview years later, or a retelling of an event by an eye witness other than Knight. I would recommend this book only to the serious sci-fi fan.

I'm a science fiction collector and I find this book a good reference to the early years of SF fandom.