FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #748: THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION Edited by Leo P. Kelley

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Leo P. Kelley (no relation) was a Science Fiction writer who edited three “academic” anthologies (see below) for McGraw-Hill. In the early 1970s, many colleges and universities started offering courses in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Some editor at McGraw-Hill saw the opportunity to create a series of textbooks for students taking those courses.

Kelley delivered an anthology of 32 stories with a “contemporary” feel. Most of the stories were published in the 1960s. There are a few stories from the 1950s and a couple from the 1970s.

Obviously, Kelley decided to skip the “historical” approach to SF–no Heinlein, no Van Vogt–and concentrated on stories students might enjoy. The most “classic” of these stories is Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations” from 1954.

Big Name writers like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., and Harlan Ellison are included. Newcomers like Gene Wolfe, Carol Carr, Norman Spinrad, Charles Platt, and Dean R. Koontz point toward the Future.

Kelley includes some of my favorite writers: Fritz Leiber, Keith Laumer, Chad Oliver, Fredric Brown, Poul Anderson, Richard Matheson, Fred Saberhagen, C.M.Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl.

Other publishers got into the SF textbook market with more traditional chronological anthologies. Themes in Science Fiction provides short stories that are still fun to read today! Do you recognize some of these stories? Any favorites? Did you ever take a SF course in College? GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

MCGRAW-HILL ANTHOLOGIES EDITED BY LEO P. KELLEY:

19 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #748: THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION Edited by Leo P. Kelley”

  1. Fred Blosser

    I recognise some of the stories–good ones–but not others. Peter Tate? H.C. Neal? I always get a “days of future passed” vibe when I see Norman Spinrad’s name–groovy in the ’60s (BUG JACK BARRON), somewhat forgotten now, I expect. Wasn’t “Soldier” the basis for a lawsuit by Harlan Ellison claiming that it was plagiarised for TERMINATOR? I wonder if students saw a course on SF as an easy A?

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    1. george Post author

      Fred, I think you’re right about “Soldier” being the basis of lawsuit against TERMINATOR. Ellison also sued ROBOCOP because of his short story “Brillo.”

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  2. Wolf

    Of course I rcrappy” emember all these authors and probably know the stories too!
    Did you ever take a SF course in College?
    Are you serious?
    We SF fans were considered freaks in the 60s.
    There wre just two “serious” publishers in Germany which published SF paperbacks- and a “crappy” one which published pulp, the German series “Perry Rhodan” eg.

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    1. george Post author

      Wolf, the 1970s witnessed an explosion of SF college classes. I took one in the “Free College” offerings…but I knew more about SF than the instructor!

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      1. Todd Mason

        In the US, George…I wonder, now, how widespread outside the US even in Canada, they were. You probably recall I surveyed Wolfe’s volumes and a few more beyond in this series on my blog…I ended up dropping out of both the sf courses I took on at both my unis, the first at U Hawaii in “82 since I knew more about sf than the grad student who taught it (and he had a extraordinarily nasal voice that distracted me to no end), the second at Geo. Mason U in ’86 because the prof in that one seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about the subject not being taken seriously and she, by gum, was going to make us Work to deserve to be in her class. I had simultaneously enrolled in a horror class where I knew more about the subject than the full prof there as well, but she was both gracious and interested in exploring the subject matter, and I stuck with hers. My writing courses at UH were taught by Robert Onopa and A. A. Attanasio, so that worked out, anyway.

      2. george Post author

        Todd, you had decidedly mixed results with those courses. But the writing courses were certainly worth it!

      3. Todd Mason

        Or, even, Kelley’s! Between the various academics named Wolfe and Gene Wolfe’s story I’ve reviewed on Wednesday, I have lupoids on my vulpine brain.

      5. Todd Mason

        Oh, I think those who’ve read him tend to admire his work down to their cores. But he might not be everyone’s cup of challenge and erudition.

  3. Byron

    Nothing signals the expiration date is fast approaching for a genre more than the sight of academics trying to milk it. I sat in on some classes like this back in the day and they were fun but me experience was always that anyone really invested in a genre was already getting a good history and analysis on their own. Back then it would have been in the zines while now its the internet. I was probably in junior high when this was published and I remember some of our text books containing scrience fiction stories from the fifties and “Twilight Zone” scripts while Scholastic magazine did stories about the popularity of “Star Trek” in syndication. I’m sure that at this very moment some hyperactive young adjunct professor is teaching a course in Gender Identity in Specilative Fiction somewhere…

    That looks like a very readable collection and it’s kind of cute. I can see why you picked it up. Some of the stories are, as you noted, already dated and the lack of Theodore Sturgeon and Ursula Le Guin (among others your readers will add to) are huge omissions. The Ellison story was the basis of an “Outer Limits” story and as Fred noted above led to a lawsuit after James Cameron admitted “Terminator” had been inspired by the show.

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    1. george Post author

      Byron, I have several SF college course textbooks. Some of them weigh a ton, just like those Norton Anthologies for Literature. And the selections start with the Bible, offer some Verne and Wells, and then pack the anthology with stories from the early 20th Century. THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION offers a lot more fun stories.

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      1. george Post author

        Todd, Science Fiction was increasing in academic status and popularity about the time THEMES IN SCIENCE FICTION was published.

      2. Todd Mason

        To some degree…but, as Wolf’s testimony might suggest, not everywhere. And I think most thoroughly in the US, where it was seen as Virgin Territory for publish or perish work (of wildly varying quality, too frequently Not Good) and a Way to Relate to the Kids.

  4. Cap'n Bob

    I read “The Cold Equation” last week in a thick anthology whose name I can’t remember! I do remember what the story was about, which is unusual for me, and while I liked the premise it seemed a bit long!

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    1. george Post author

      Bob, remember that authors were paid by the word back in those days. Adding more words to the story meant more money! “The Cold Equations” is a classic…if a bit long.

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    2. Todd Mason

      I’ve tended to see it as more than a bit of a relic of its era…if an attempt at a challenge to one’s preconceptions. I see it as a less effective child of Crane’s “The Open Boat”…

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