(1986) The Stories That Morphed Into Movies An anthology of stories edited by Forrest J Ackerman
Amazon.comThough it is rich with Twilight Zone-esque images, sexual and racial stereotypes, and charmingly transparent plots, this anthology is surprisingly refreshing. After a full decade of cybermania and nanotech angst, Science Fiction Classics offers a trip through time to a more innocent, earnest age. It's amusing to see how mistrusting of science our forefathers were, even as they embraced it; but it's even more interesting to examine the roots of today's SF and wonder where the next generation will go with it. Science Fiction Classics allows us to graph science fiction's various incarnations--from dark, paranoid horror stories; drippy fairytales; and florid, pulpy SF to the more modern character-driven sagas; huge-scale space operas; and the aggro-techno seizures of the '90s. With few exceptions--one of which is "Farewell to the Master" on which The Day the Earth Stood Still is based--these stories are not works of art. In fact, some of them are downright hard to get through. What they are is a loosely focused prism through which we can examine the genesis of a genre. --Jhana Bach
