1.
Science fiction
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Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a literature of ideas. Science fiction is difficult to define, as it includes a range of subgenres and themes. Author and editor Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying science fiction is what we point to when we say it, a definition echoed by author Mark C. Glassy, who argues that the definition of science fiction is like the definition of pornography, you do not know what it is, in 1970 or 1971William Atheling Jr. According to science fiction writer Robert A, rod Serlings definition is fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science fiction is the improbable made possible, Science fiction is largely based on writing rationally about alternative possible worlds or futures. Science fiction elements include, A time setting in the future, in alternative timelines, a spatial setting or scenes in outer space, on other worlds, or on subterranean earth. Characters that include aliens, mutants, androids, or humanoid robots, futuristic or plausible technology such as ray guns, teleportation machines, and humanoid computers. Scientific principles that are new or that contradict accepted physical laws, for time travel, wormholes. New and different political or social systems, e. g. utopian, dystopian, post-scarcity, paranormal abilities such as mind control, telepathy, telekinesis Other universes or dimensions and travel between them. A product of the budding Age of Reason and the development of science itself. Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Keplers work the first science fiction story and it depicts a journey to the Moon and how the Earths motion is seen from there. Later, Edgar Allan Poe wrote a story about a flight to the moon, more examples appeared throughout the 19th century. Wells The War of the Worlds describes an invasion of late Victorian England by Martians using tripod fighting machines equipped with advanced weaponry and it is a seminal depiction of an alien invasion of Earth. In the late 19th century, the scientific romance was used in Britain to describe much of this fiction. This produced additional offshoots, such as the 1884 novella Flatland, the term would continue to be used into the early 20th century for writers such as Olaf Stapledon. In the early 20th century, pulp magazines helped develop a new generation of mainly American SF writers, influenced by Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories magazine. In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs published A Princess of Mars, the first of his series of Barsoom novels, situated on Mars
2.
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
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Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science-fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. The first issue, titled Astounding Stories of Super-Science, was dated January 1930, published by William Clayton, Clayton went bankrupt in 1933 and the magazine was sold to Street & Smith. At the end of 1937, Campbell took over editorial duties under Tremaines supervision, the period beginning with Campbells editorship is often referred to as the Golden Age of Science Fiction. By 1950, new competition had appeared from Galaxy Science Fiction, in 1960, Campbell changed the title of the magazine to Analog Science Fiction & Fact, he had long wanted to get rid of the word Astounding in the title, which he felt was too sensational. At about the same time Street & Smith sold the magazine to Condé Nast, Campbell remained as editor until his death in 1971. Ben Bova took over from 1972 to 1978, and the character of the magazine changed noticeably, Bova won five consecutive Hugo Awards for his editing of Analog. The title was sold to Davis Publications in 1980, then to Dell Magazines in 1992, Crosstown Publications acquired Dell in 1996 and remains the publisher. Schmidt continued to edit the magazine until 2012, when he was replaced by Trevor Quachri, in 1926, Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, the first science-fiction magazine. Amazing was very successful, quickly reaching a circulation over 100,000, Clayton was unconvinced, but the following year decided to launch a new magazine, mainly because the sheet on which the color covers of his magazines were printed had a space for one more cover. He suggested to Harry Bates, a newly hired editor, that start a magazine of historical adventure stories. Bates proposed instead a science-fiction pulp, to be titled Astounding Stories of Super Science, Astounding was initially published by Publishers Fiscal Corporation, a subsidiary of Clayton Magazines. The first issue appeared in January 1930, with Bates as editor, Bates aimed for straightforward action-adventure stories, with scientific elements only present to provide minimal plausibility. In February 1931, the original name Astounding Stories of Super-Science was shortened to Astounding Stories, the magazine was profitable, but the Depression caused Clayton problems. Normally a publisher would pay a printer three months in arrears, but when a credit squeeze began in May 1931, it led to pressure to reduce this delay. The financial difficulties led Clayton to start alternating the publication of his magazines, some printers bought the magazines which were indebted to them, Clayton decided to buy his printer to prevent this from happening. As it turned out, enough stories were in inventory, and enough paper was available, to one further issue. In April, Clayton went bankrupt, and sold his titles to T. R. Foley for $100, Foley resold them in August to Street & Smith. Science fiction was not entirely a departure for Street & Smith, the first Street & Smith issue was dated October 1933, until the third issue, in December 1933, the editorial team was not named on the masthead
3.
Hard science fiction
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Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific accuracy. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, the complementary term soft science fiction, formed by analogy to hard science fiction, first appeared in the late 1970s. The term is formed by analogy to the distinction between the hard and soft sciences. The heart of the hard SF designation is the relationship of the content and attitude to the rest of the narrative. Later discoveries do not necessarily invalidate the label of hard SF, as evidenced by P. Schuyler Miller, there is a degree of flexibility in how far from real science a story can stray before it leaves the realm of hard SF. Readers of hard SF often try to find inaccuracies in stories, the same book famously featured a devastating inaccuracy, the eponymous Ringworld is not a stable orbit and would crash into the sun without active stabilization. Niven fixed these errors in his sequel The Ringworld Engineers, films set in outer space which aspire to the hard SF label try to minimize the artistic liberties taken for the sake of practicality of effect. Factors include, How the film accounts for weightlessness in space, how the film depicts sound despite the vacuum of space. Whether telecommunications are instant or are limited by the speed of light, cosmic Engineers, A Study of Hard Science Fiction. Hard Science Fiction Exclusive Interviews Kheper Realism scale Science Fiction Stories with Good Astronomy & Physics, the Ten Best Hard Science Fiction Books of all Time, selected by the editors of MITs Technology Review,2011 Low-Level Science fiction, Sci-fi with hard science and a literary slant
4.
Rod Serling
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Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the young man of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism. Serling was born on December 25,1924, in Syracuse, New York and he was the second of two sons born to Esther and Samuel Lawrence Serling. Serlings father had worked as a secretary and amateur inventor before having children, sam Serling later became a butcher after the Great Depression forced the store to close. Rod had a brother, Robert J. Serling. Serling spent most of his youth 70 miles south of Syracuse in the city of Binghamton after his family moved there in 1926 and his parents encouraged his talents as a performer. Sam Serling built a stage in the basement, where Rod often put on plays. His older brother, writer Robert, recalled that, at the age of six or seven, Rod often talked to people around him without waiting for their answers. On a two-hour-long trip from Binghamton to Syracuse, the rest of the family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation and he did not, talking nonstop through the entire car ride. In elementary school, Serling was seen as the class clown, however, his seventh-grade English teacher, Helen Foley, encouraged him to enter the schools public speaking extracurriculars. He joined the team and was a speaker at his high school graduation. He began writing for the newspaper, in which, according to the journalist Gordon Sander. He was also interested in sports and excelled at tennis and table tennis, when he attempted to join the varsity football team, he was told he was too small at 5 feet 4 inches tall. Serling was interested in radio and writing at an early age and he listened to various radio programs, especially thrillers with a fantasy or horror feel. Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin were two of his favorite writers and he also did some staff work at a Binghamton radio station. He was accepted into college during his year of high school. As editor of his school newspaper, Serling encouraged his fellow students to support the war effort. He wanted to leave school before graduation to join the fight, War is a temporary thing, Gus Youngstrom told him
5.
Robert A. Heinlein
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Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science-fiction writer. Often called the dean of science writers, his controversial works continue to have an influential effect on the genre. Heinlein became one of the first science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov and he also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices. Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974 and he also anticipated mechanical Computer Aided Design with Drafting Dan and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel The Door into Summer, though he never patented or built one. In the first chapter of the novel Space Cadet he anticipated the cell-phone,35 years before Motorola invented the technology, several of Heinleins works have been adapted for film and television. Heinlein was born on July 7,1907 to Rex Ivar Heinlein and Bam Lyle Heinlein, in Butler and he was a 6th-generation German-American, a family tradition had it that Heinleins fought in every American war starting with the War of Independence. His childhood was spent in Kansas City, Missouri, Heinleins experience in the U. S. Navy exerted a strong influence on his character and writing. He graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland with the class of 1929 and he was assigned to the new aircraft carrier USS Lexington in 1931, where he worked in radio communications, then in its earlier phases, with the carriers aircraft. The captain of this carrier was Ernest J. King, who served as the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander-in-Chief. Heinlein was frequently interviewed during his later years by historians who asked him about Captain King. Heinlein also served aboard the destroyer USS Roper in 1933 and 1934, reaching the rank of lieutenant. His brother, Lawrence Heinlein, served in the U. S. Army, the U. S. Air Force, and the Missouri National Guard, in 1929, Heinlein married Elinor Curry of Kansas City in Los Angeles, and their marriage lasted about a year. His second marriage in 1932 to Leslyn MacDonald lasted for 15 years, in 1934, Heinlein was discharged from the Navy due to pulmonary tuberculosis. During a lengthy hospitalization, he developed a design for a waterbed, Heinlein supported himself at several occupations, including real estate sales and silver mining, but for some years found money in short supply. Heinlein was active in Upton Sinclairs socialist End Poverty in California movement in the early 1930s, when Sinclair gained the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in 1934, Heinlein worked actively in the campaign. Heinlein himself ran for the California State Assembly in 1938, but was unsuccessful, while not destitute after the campaign—he had a small disability pension from the Navy—Heinlein turned to writing in order to pay off his mortgage. His first published story, Life-Line, was printed in the August 1939 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction, originally written for a contest, it was instead sold to Astounding for significantly more than the contests first-prize payoff
6.
L. Ron Hubbard
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Lafayette Ronald Hubbard, better known as L. Ron Hubbard and often referred to by his initials, LRH, was an American author and the founder of the Church of Scientology. In 2014, Hubbard was cited by the Smithsonian magazine as one of the 100 most significant Americans of all time, as one of the eleven religious figures on that list. After establishing a career as a writer, becoming best known for his fiction and fantasy stories. He subsequently developed his ideas into a set of doctrines and practices as part of a new religious movement that he called Scientology. The Churchs dissemination of materials led to Hubbard being listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most translated and published author in the world. The Guinness World Record for the most audio books published for one author is also held by Hubbard, although many aspects of Hubbards life story are disputed, there is general agreement about its basic outline. Born in Tilden, Nebraska, he spent much of his childhood in Helena, Montana. He traveled in Asia and the South Pacific in the late 1920s after his father and he attended George Washington University in Washington, D. C. at the start of the 1930s, before dropping out and beginning his career as a prolific writer of pulp fiction stories. He served briefly in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and was an officer in the United States Navy during World War II and he was removed both times when his superiors found him incapable of command. The last few months of his service were spent in a hospital. After the war, Hubbard developed Dianetics, which he called the science of mental health. He founded Scientology in 1952 and oversaw the growth of the Church of Scientology into a worldwide organization. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, he spent much of his time at sea on his fleet of ships as Commodore of the Sea Organization. His expedition came to an end when Britain, Greece, Spain, Portugal, at one point, a court in Australia revoked the Churchs status as a religion, though it was later reinstated. Hubbard returned to the United States in 1975 and went into seclusion in the California desert, in 1978, a trial court in France convicted Hubbard of fraud in absentia. Others convictions from the trial were reversed on appeal. In 1983 L. Ron Hubbard was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an international information infiltration and he spent the remaining years of his life on his ranch, the Whispering Wind, near Creston, California, where he died in 1986. A small group of Scientology officials and physician Dr. Eugene Denk attended to him before his death, in 1986, he died in a 1982 Blue Bird motor home, which was situated on his property, at age 74
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