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I grew up reading a lot of Golden Age (1938 to 1946) science fiction authors (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein et al.) and this article provides a wonderful insight int
by hartror 14y ago
I grew up reading a lot of Golden Age (1938 to 1946) science fiction authors (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein et al.) and this article provides a wonderful insight into the publishing world in their formative years.
It must have mirrored something of the revolution that has gone on in modern times with the internet opening up so many new markets that individuals can exploit. Certainly before the advent of paperbacks genre fiction was mostly confined to magazines which is where most (all?) of the Golden Age authors got their start.
- verisimilidude 14y agoToo right. Oddly enough, the ebook publishing ecosystem has encouraged newer genre authors to go back to the serial-style storytelling of those old Golden Age magazines. Many of the most promising new sci-fi writers, like Hugh Howey or Matthew Mather, are publishing their stories piecemeal as short-form ebooks. Howey's "Wool" series, in particular, might be the best body of science fiction I've read in years. When you follow these new authors, you definitely notice how much they grow as writers and thinkers as they release new works every month or two. Contrast this to the old model, in which an author would agonize over a single manuscript for years and years, hoping against hope to get a bite from a publisher. I think the new incentives for serial publishing are helping these new players rapidly perfect their craft—just like the classic sci-fi authors of the Golden Age. Thanks to ebooks, we may be getting a new crop of authors to match some of those old giants.