Seekers of Tomorrow
Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction is a work of collective biography on the formative authors of the science fiction genre by Sam Moskowitz, first published in hardcover by the World Publishing Company in 1965. The first paperback edition was issued by Ballantine Books in October, 1967. A photographic reprint of the original edition was issued in both hardcover and trade paperback by Hyperion Press in 1974. Most of its chapters are revised versions of articles that initially appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories from 1961 to 1964.[1]
Author
The work presents the history of the genre from the 1920s through the 1960s via a discussion of the lives and works of twenty-two of its most important early writers. After a general introduction, individual chapters deal with particular authors, followed by a general survey of later or lesser writers (including C. S. Lewis, James Blish, Walter M. Miller, Jr., L. Ron Hubbard, Hal Clement, Ross Rocklynne, Poul Anderson, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Frederik Pohl, Alfred Bester, Edgar Pangborn, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Philip K. Dick, Ward Moore, John Hersey, John Christopher and Frank Herbert), an epilogue and an index.
Reception[edit]
Reviewing Seekers of Tomorrow, Algis Budrys noted that "Moskowitz is a master of denotation. He wouldn't know a connotation if it snapped at his ankle, which is something that happens quite often". He added, however, that "Moskowitz knows and transmits, at least as much about the history of science fiction and its evolution, as anyone possibly could ... there is no other book like it".[2] Kirkus Reviews called the work "a truly gratifying book ... [w]hat is satisfying is to see these authors deeply engaged in works of pure tripe and imagination (Barnum called it hokum) and watch them emerge with a fish so big (macrocosmic) that they become world-renowned. This book should be called Super Time, because each of its subjects is a bit like the success stories in Time--each author has written his Moby Dick of interstellar fantasy. These guys think BIG! These are wild talents pouring out words to oblivion."[3]