Non-Fiction Reviews
New Worlds Profiles
(2024) edited by John Carnell and this collection edited by David Langford,
Ansible Editions, £10 (check for postage), trdpbk, ISBN 978-1-916-50822-4
This is a delightful nostalgic gem that will appeal to fans seeking an insight into a couple of score of key, mainly British, science fiction writers of the mid-20th century. It will also be of great interest for those into the history of science fiction. One of the values of this collection is that it contains some information not available elsewhere (such as respective authors' Wikipedia pages). Furthermore, as these authors have (nearly) all now passed (Bob Silverberg is an exception), this really is one of the few ways to get a bit of a personal insight from the last century into these authors and the esteem with which they were held.
New Worlds Science Fiction was Britain's answer to the USA's Analog magazine featuring short stories and sometimes novelettes spread over a few issues. It also included a review column. But each issue also had a one-page profile of a short story author and this volume brings these together. These profile articles were originally (1952-'63) edited by John Carnell but this collection was compiled by David Langford, who also provides an introduction.
The book is illustrated with each profile having a picture of the author that was used with the original articles. Flipping through the book it is immediately obvious from the writers' attire that this dates from another era: suits, shirts and ties dominate. Another thing that dates it is the absence of women; SF writers of the mid-20th century were almost (though not entirely) invariably male. Indeed, in a shocking example of discrimination, there is a picture (the original restored) of an edited one of New Worlds receiving its Hugo that had had the Worldcon convention secretary, Roberta 'Bobbie' Wild, 'removed' (edited out)! The 1960s were different times and discrimination racial, gender, etc was far more rampant then than now. (Though we should not get complacent as it still exists )
For current SF readers convention go-ers, especially Brits of a certain age there is a certain fondness to be had reading some of the entries as they may have known the authors in question, albeit later in their writing careers. I joined fandom in the late 1970s and so got to meet some of these authors at numerous conventions. Among them Alfred (working class) Bester (whom I only met once at the 1987 Worldcon), numerous times Brian Aldiss, again frequently Harry Harrison, Ted Tubb and James White were fairly regular attenders of Novacons and Eastercons: Aldiss was a GoH at my first Worldcon (Brighton 1979) and we had dinner next to each other at the 1999 Eurocon, Dortmund, Germany (incidentally at that con I breakfasted with Terry Pratchett, but that's another story). However, in New Worlds Profiles we get to see how they looked in the 1950s to early '60s: all very youthful.
And then there are the older authors which every SF aficionado worth their salt will have read, but few even of my now greying generation of readers will have ever met. Notable among these is John Wyndham.
The other thing is that for the most part, these authors, at the time these profiles were written, had yet to reach the height of their writing careers. For example, the profile of Philip K. Dick (one of the few N. Americans profiled) while very positive does not begin for it simply could not to convey what a massive contribution he went on to make to the genre let alone his impression on the public at large with the several cinematic adaptation of his stories that would subsequently be made. All credit then to New Worlds Science Fiction's editor, John Carnell, for identifying future SF giants. And all credit to Dave Langford for compiling this small volume and to former New Worlds editor, Mike Moorcock, for giving his blessing to this venture.
This then is a very worthy and interesting book. With profits from sales going to the Trans-Atlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) that sends either a European to the US for a major convention or a N. American to Europe alternating each year what's not to like. Do seek it out.
Jonathan Cowie
[Up: Non-Fiction Index | Top: Concatenation]