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Discover the origin of H.G. Wells in exclusive preview of 'The History of Science Fiction'
Dig deep into the history of your favorite genre this holiday season.
If you're reading this website, there's a good chance you know at least a little about some part of science fiction history, whether your specialty is the rise of sci-fi on TV, the history of the space opera, or the rise of pulp literature in the first half of the 20th century. But what if you want something vast, comprehensive, and delivered in an illustrated format that's perfect for both longtime fans and newcomers to the massively influential genre and its key figures?
Later this month, Humanoids has you covered with The History of Science Fiction.
Part graphic novel, part illustrated text, and all informative and entertaining, the book from writer and historian Xavier Dollo and artist Djibril Morissette-Phan promises to take you all the way back to the roots of science fiction storytelling in ancient times, then transport you into the future with a look at the current visionaries who are shaping the next generation of great sci-fi storytelling. Complete with a foreword by genre luminary Ted Chiang, it's a volume that sci-fi fans everywhere will want to get their hands on.
"This book is destined to become an essential resource," Humanoids publisher and comics legend Mark Waid told SYFY WIRE. "History of Science Fiction uses a unique mix of comics and illustrated text to cover the entirety of SF history, from Homer and Mary Shelley to Rebecca Roanhorse and Ted Chiang. The index alone is five pages of type too small for your grandfather to read, that's how comprehensive it is. More importantly, it's not just a collection of facts but, rather, a study showing the evolution of what used to be considered a 'schlock' genre and giving that evolution crucial social and political context. It also imagines conversations between luminaries like H.G. Wells, Michael Moorcock, and Judith Merril. How fun is that?"
As Waid noted, History of Science Fiction goes beyond a straightforward, linear attempt to chart the history of the genre, because it's a book that understands that no advancement in sci-fi storytelling exists in a vacuum. Instead it moves further into explorations of how these stories interact with each other, in part through examining the origins of key figures in the genre, and in part by actually depicting what it might be like if each of these key figures got to talk to each other across time and space.
In the exclusive excerpt below, you can see how the book's approach takes on the early years of H.G. Wells, one of the formative figures in science fiction storytelling, as his own nightmares about the state of the world eventually gave birth to stories.
The History of Science Fiction arrives, in a hefty hardcover edition that'll look great on coffee tables and make a wonderful holiday gift, available on November 23.
