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Anybody reading this might appreciate ‘Astounding’[0]: “Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—
by droideqa 2y ago
Anybody reading this might appreciate ‘Astounding’[0]:
“Astounding is the landmark account of the extraordinary partnership between four controversial writers—John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard—who set off a revolution in science fiction and forever changed our world. ”
[0]: https://www.amazon.com/Astounding-Campbell-Heinlein-Hubbard-Science-ebook/dp/B074M6QRMP/ https://www.amazon.com/Astounding-Campbell-Heinlein-Hubbard-...
- righthand 2y agoBook: https://bookshop.org/p/books/astounding-john-w-campbell-isaac-asimov-robert-a-heinlein-l-ron-hubbard-and-the-golden-age-of-science-fiction-alec-nevala-lee/6438862?ean=9780062571953&next=t https://bookshop.org/p/books/astounding-john-w-campbell-isaa... Audio book: https://bookshop.org/p/books/astounding-john-w-campbell-isaac-asimov-robert-a-heinlen-l-ron-hubbard-and-the-golden-age-of-science-fiction-alec-nevala-lee/7392639?ean=9781538552063&next=t https://bookshop.org/p/books/astounding-john-w-campbell-isaa...
- Henchman21 2y agoI appreciate the non-Amazon links, thank you!
- dcminter 2y agoBe warned, I found it a bit depressing though. Never meet your heroes they say...
- ethbr1 2y agoI'm hazarding that a lot of the early scifi luminaries weren't the most well-adjusted humans?
- pfdietz 2y agoSome were even worse. I threw out (not sold) all my Marion Zimmer Bradley books when I found out. https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/aklqck/breendoggle_and_marion_zimmer_bradley_a_moral/ https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/aklqck/breendoggle_a...
- mcswell 2y agoCampbell was a racist, and I believe bought into the theory that smokers smoked because their bodies were trying to prevent or fight off lung cancer. He also appeared to be a believer in psi. He attracted (and doubtless encouraged) authors who shared those beliefs. If you go back and read the stories from the 50s and 60s, the heroes were invariably heavy smokers, and many of the stories involved telepathy, telekinesis, etc. The role of women in the stories was usually secondary (and the boy got the girl in the end), although that was probably true of most scifi back then. I don't recall any stories in Analog where the hero was other than a white man.
- r0uv3n 2y agoArguably Bayta is the lead in The Mule maybe? But of course the basic plot was very much influenced by Campbell still
- pdimitar 2y agoOne of the most refreshing things about this part of the Foundation books was that I couldn't quite figure out who was in fact the main character. I too eventually concluded it was Bayta since she was the one who figured out who The Mule was but the other characters contributed quite a lot. Plus it's my belief that it was the intent of Asimov that nobody is actually a main character -- not for long anyway; I mean, people just die at the very least -- because Seldon's plan is just that big. But yeah, Bayta was a very likeable character. One of the very few female characters that I liked from Asimov.
- sbierwagen 2y ago>although that was probably true of most scifi back then In 1950? That was true of all media, including novels written by women. Is Dagny Taggart the protagonist of Atlas Shrugged?
- fractallyte 2y agoMack Reynolds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Man%27s_Burden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Man%27s_Burden
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- KerrAvon 2y agoI found the the Hubbard sections most unpleasant, but I also knew the least about him.
- dcminter 2y agoI knew he was behind scientology, so I wasn't too surprised there. Heinlein wasn't completely unexpected (although his gullibility with Hubbard was). I was more thinking of Asimov turning out to be a serial groper. I read a bio of John Wyndham shortly afterwards and I was so relieved that he seems to have been one of the good ones.
- pdimitar 2y agoLet me be crystal clear that I am NOT defending Asimov here; he used his fame and was aware that many of the women will not be believed if they spoke out -- and shamelessly took advantage of that. Combine that with my strictly personal opinion that he could have taken much better care of his looks at least; a good barber and a dentist alone would have gone a long way so he looked a bit less unpleasant, not to mention he could have jogged once a month and still could have been in a better shape... ...but after reading stories about many other authors, well, Asimov looks like a saint in comparison. Again, not defending the guy. And Heinlein's gullibility also starkly contrasts with his intelligent aura and writing style. Goes to show we all have blind spots, I suppose. A bro club and all that in their case, probably. [sighs deeply]
- rendaw 2y agoAsimov was controversial?
- mperham 2y agoHe was a known harasser at cons.
- jimbob45 2y agoNobody was saying this prior to the Foundation TV series coming out. It seems like marketing wanted to drum up some controversy for their series because the allegations would have required evidence from 40 years prior. Maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t, but definitively saying so either way makes it seem like you have an agenda.
- Finnucane 2y agoLol, Asimov's reputation for being, shall we say, physically inappropriate with women at SF conventions goes back, well, for literally as long as there have been conventions.
- zimpenfish 2y ago> Nobody was saying this prior to the Foundation TV series coming out. I knew about this back in the 90s. It's always been out there whenever Asimov is mentioned.
- xhkkffbf 2y agoIt's written into the story line of some stories like the mystery solving ones. But in the story lines, the affections seem very mutual. So I'm not sure it's fair to call him a "harasser". Dirty? Perhaps. Old man? Yes, that's chronological and it can't be denied.
- KerrAvon 2y agoHis writings weren’t controversial, though, except to anti-science nuts.