Books like Origins of futuristic fiction by Paul K. Alkon

1818 novel by Mary Shelley about young scientist Victor Frankenstein who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox experiment.

David Seed explores science fiction's emergence as a 20th-century genre and examines its themes, such as science, technology, space aliens, utopias, and gender. He also considers social and political issues.

A work of science‑fiction literature that examines the concept of time travel, the fourth dimension, and related theoretical issues.

A comprehensive exploration of time travel in fiction and its scientific foundations, suitable for readers with no background in physics but still rich in mathematical elements.

A reader's journey through the postmodern era of literature, from classics to cyberpunk sci-fi and beyond.

Because science has played the leading role in defining our world today, science fiction has become the twentieth century's most characteristic form of literature. It excels at articulating the new possibilities for good and evil that shape our destinies in an age when science has created technologies once beyond even the reach of fantasy. Reflecting too the global nature of science, science fiction is the most international of all genres. Moreover, no other form better illustrates the fact that genres serve ethical as well as aesthetic purposes. With impressive scope and vitality, science fiction engages us in a moral dialogue centering on whether science will ultimately advance humanity or destroy it. Given the sweeping range of these urgent concerns, it is no surprise then that science fiction counts among its ranks an amazingly diverse lot of writers, including H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Ursula K. Le Guin, Kingsley Amis, Anthony Burgess, Pierre Boulle, Stanislaw Lem, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Kobo Abe, and Isaac Asimov; that its authors hail from countries as divergent from one another as the United States, Russia, Poland, Japan, France, Australia, and England; and that its themes include time travel, atomic warfare, invasions from Mars, genetic experiments, and visits to and from outer space. In Science Fiction Before 1900, Paul K. Alkon provides a detailed survey of the hallmarks of the evolution of science fiction: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Albert Robida's The Twentieth Century, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's Tomorrow's Eve, Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and H. G. Wells's The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. Stressing that full appreciation of these key texts depends on understanding the nature and advent of the genre, Alkon first provides a brimming introductory chapter, "A Short History of the Future." After thus defining science fiction and examining the genre's origins, aesthetics, and social context, he proceeds to chapters on England, France, and America, an unusual arrangement vastly different from the patented chronological order. This choice, though, pays huge dividends: while chronology is a simple matter to maintain across the whole of the book, the national division helps establish an interesting viewpoint on the subject. Alkon, while stressing the worldwide nature of the genre, nevertheless discovers the distinctive features that reflect particular national moods and cultures. He further explores societal accents by tracing many of the genre's finest elements to themes popular in certain countries: France's fascination with technology and tales of the future; America's profound doubts about technology's impact on humanity, so well evidenced in Twain's time-travel tales; the English search for new viewpoints on the imagination. The final three chapters of Science Fiction Before 1900 constitute a well-rounded guide to research and further reading. Including a bibliographic essay, recommended titles, and a chronology of works, this section nicely complements Alkon's carefully selected list of readings and provides readers with a firm foundation to explore both the genre and the milestone texts discussed here.

Dictionaries - essay by Isaac Asimov Too Soon to Die - novelette by Tom Godwin A Museum Piece - short story by Roger Zelazny Why Johnny Can't Speed - short story by Alan Dean Foster Man in a Quandary - short story by Joseph Wesley [as by L. J. Stecher, Jr.] The Cabbage Patch - short story by Theodore R. Cogswell A Touch of Grapefruit - short story by Richard Matheson Answer - short story by Fredric Brown A Gun for Dinosaur - novelette by L. Sprague de Camp A Pail of Air - short story by Fritz Leiber The Odor of Thought - short story by Robert Sheckley The Last Monster - short story by Poul Anderson (variant of Terminal Quest) History Lesson - short story by Arthur C. Clarke The Troublemaker - short story by Christopher Anvil The Game of Rat and Dragon - short story by Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger [as by Cordwainer Smith] Let's Be Frank - short story by Brian W. Aldiss The Easy Way Out - short story by G. Harry Stine [as by Lee Correy] All Cats Are Gray - short story by Andre Norton The Man from Earth - short story by Gordon R. Dickson Dream Damsel - short story by Evan Hunter The Underdweller - short story by William F. Nolan (variant of Small World) Top Secret - short story by Eric Frank Russell One Love Have I - short story by Robert F. Young The Snowball Effect - short story by Katherine MacLean The Santa Claus Problem - short story by J. W. Schutz The Ship Who Sang - novelette by Anne McCaffrey No Harm Done - short story by Jack Sharkey There Will Come Soft Rains - short story by Ray Bradbury In the Jaws of Danger - short story by Piers Anthony In the Abyss - (1896) - short story by H. G. Wells Custer's Last Jump - novelette by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop Game Preserve - short story by Rog Phillips Life Hutch - short story by Harlan Ellison The Silk and the Song - novelette by Charles L. Fontenay Down to the Worlds of Men - novelette by Alexei Panshin Robbie - short story by Isaac Asimov (variant of Strange Playfellow 1940) The Man with English - short story by H. L. Gold [as by Horace L. Gold] Transstar - novelette by Raymond E. Banks Open Warfare - novelette by James E. Gunn The Long Way Home - short story by Fred Saberhagen Skirmish on a Summer Morning - novella by Bob Shaw Gantlet - short story by Richard E. Peck Saucer of Loneliness - short story by Theodore Sturgeon (variant of A Saucer of Loneliness) The Mother of Necessity - short story by Chad Oliver The Great Secret - short story by George H. Smith The Draw - short story by Jerome Bixby For the Sake of Grace - novelette by Suzette Haden Elgin A Death in the House - novelette by Clifford D. Simak Creature of the Snows - short story by William Sambrot A Criminal Act - short story by Harry Harrison The Cage - short story by A. Bertram Chandler