The cosmic dancers

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Tom Weaver

These men and women saved the planet from aliens, behemoths, monsters, zombies, and other bloated, stumbling threats--in the movies, at least--and now they tell their stories. Julie Adams, John Agar, Richard Anderson, John Archer, Jeanne Bates, Billy Benedict, Turhan Bey, Lloyd Bridges, Ricou Browning, Robert Cornthwaite, Louise Currie, Richard Denning, Anne Francis, Mark Goddard, June Lockhart, Eugene Lourie, Jeff Morrow, Lori Nelson, Rex Reason, William Schallert, Don Taylor, George Wallace and Jane Wyatt give behind-the-scenes insights into such classic movies as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Forbidden Planet, Destination Moon and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. They also discuss the impact "monster-fighting" had on their careers and what they are now doing. Some interviews were previously published in different form in fan magazines.

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Patrick DiJusto, Kevin R. Grazier

"Battlestar Galactica (BSG) has been called the best show on television, and as real as science fiction gets. It has dealt with issues of religious freedom, patriotism, terrorism, genetic engineering, and the ultimate science fiction question: what does it mean to be human? While the re-imagined BSG may not be packed with cool techie tools (the bad guys don't even have laser guns for frak's sake!), this book shows that the science in the series has a lot to say about the use of science and technology in our lives today"--

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Lester de Rey

Despite its limiting title, Lester Del Rey's 'The World of Science Fiction: 1926-1976, The History of a Subculture' gives a pretty detailed history of at least the magazine driven side of the genre from the late nineteenth century to 1976. Although it was intended to be a general history, Del Rey spends the bulk of the book detailing the impact of the magazines and their publishers on the markets, and mentioning the major stories from each era. Del Rey's thesis is that during the first fifty years of its history the genre moved in twelve-year cycles--after every twelve years someone filled with new ideas about how to manage a publication would come along and bring their ideas into the world, and thereby transform the genre. Del Rey supports his thesis adequately with anecdotal evidence, puts forth opinions on the impact of fannish activities on the development of the genre, and gives an excellent recitation of the development of the hardcover fiction markets, which really did not start in the United States until the 1950's.

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Christopher Palmer

"Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern examines a wide range of Dick's work, including his short stories and posthumously published realist novels. Christopher Palmer analyses the puzzling and dazzling effects of Dick's fiction, and argues that at its heart is a clash between exhilarating possibilities of transformation, and a frightening lack of ethical certainties. Dick's work is seen as the inscription of his own historical predicament, the clash between humanism and postmodernism being played out in the complex forms of the fiction. The problem is never resolved, but Dick's ways of imagining it become steadily more ingenious and challenging."--BOOK JACKET.