Customer Reviews

Science Fiction by Gaslight: A History and Anthology of Science Fiction in the Popular Magazines, 1891-1911

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There have been several anthologies of early science fiction published over the years - H.G. Wells and his contemporaries have been relatively well-served by the publishing industry, particularly as their works have entered the public domain - though the interest in such primitive genre work seems to have abated since the 1970s, and this book as well as Castle Books' similar "Rivals of H.G. Wells" are both long out of print (though easy enough to find here and elsewhere without spending a fortune). This Sam Moskowitz volume is probably the best single introduction to the period that I've seen, though, and I wouldn't hesititate to recommend it to anyone who has read a bit of Wells or Verne and wants to explore further.

The first 40 pages or so are taken up by a brief history of the popular magazines of the 1890s and 1900s, in both England where the rage for the "scientific romance" really seemed to take root first, and in America which was to dominate the field eventually. Illustrated, general-interest magazines like THE STRAND, THE IDLER, PEARSON'S, THE METROPOLITAN and THE ARGOSY provided cheap entertainment that could be afforded by even the lower middle classes from whence young H.G. Wells sprung, and which would given him his start as a writer of fiction, alongside such still-famous names as Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne (in translation) and of course, many others who have not survived in the public consciousness over the past century.

Unlike Moskowitz' later "sequel", Under the Moons of Mars - A History and Anthology of The Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines 1912 - 1920, "Science Fiction by Gaslight" is made up entirely of short stories that are complete in this volume. They are grouped in nine different themes: Catastrophes, Marvellous Inventions, Monsters and Horrors, Future War, Man-Eating Plants, Far-Out Humor, Scientific Crime and Detection, Medical Miracles, and Adventures in Psychology. Authors, in addition to Wells and Verne, include William Hope Hodgson, Fred M. White, Grant Allen, George Griffith and Robert Barr - 26 stories in all, each with a brief biographical sketch of the author preceding it. All in all, a well-chosen, well-researched book that really showcases the breadth of early science fiction as it appeared in the short form. Only a few of the stories may be considered "classics" - Hodgson's VOICE IN THE NIGHT is one that might qualify - but most are a lot of fun, dated or humorously inaccurate though they might be. Worth hunting down for the specialist, as are most of the author's books.

In matter of fact he did. There are many stories in this anthology that predate "popular" Science Fiction. Most of these stories were published in the "dime" men's magazines of the time. And that time was very short indeed. Just slightly more than ten years between the time people heated their homes with coal and the time people moved to electricity.

There is a story by H.G. Wells about an amoured mechanical truck that used camera obscura controlled machine guns to sweep trenches. This story predates The First World War. In this story the Germans win the war.

Submarine warfare? It's in there. Astronomical disasters? In there. Geological mishaps? There!

This is quite a collection and sure to entertain when you realize that most of these stories were far ahead of their time.

It's been a long time since I read this anthology, but it has always stuck in my mind. Not because the stories were that incredible, but because it proves that there's nothing (much) new under the sun. The stories within contain many of the now famous tropes of SF--pollution, strange beasts, mechanical men, and so. Yet every story here was written before the 20th century!

The late Sam Moskowitz was a dedicated archivist of all things SF. If you are a student of the genre, you will enjoy this collection.