The Forgotten Sci-Fi Masters Of The Golden Age

Today, we're exploring the works of five Golden Age sci-fi legends who don’t get nearly as much love as they should.

Thanks for watching and don't forget to check out my sci-fi books below.

#scifi #goldenage #classicscifi

0:00 - intro
1:07 - Frederik Pohl
3:10 - James Blish
4:55 - E.E. 'Doc' Smith
6:34 - Murray Leinster
7:50 - A.E. van Vogt

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MY STUFF
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vvv MORE vvv

MY SCI-FI NOVELS

DELPHINE DESCENDS
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf – to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.

When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.

She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.

But to beat them, she must play their game. And she must play it better than them all.

BLACK MILK
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.

Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.

Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:

Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...

The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…

Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…
Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...

Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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GOODREADS
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IMAGE USE
The images in my videos are mostly licensed stock photos. However, occasionally I will use images found online. I always seek to properly credit artists and offer a link back to their amazing work but sometimes it's hard to find the original source of the work. If I've used an image you own and I haven't credited you, please feel free to get in touch as I am always more than happy to do so.

[andreaslermen]

As a 50+ person, it's hard to imagine SF without those authors. Readers just have to keep in mind, that they were written with standards from another time.

[kidMedia]

Very sad that Van Vogt has been forgotten. A superb short story writer as well.

[huaweimediapadt]

Funny, when I was a lad back in the 80's these authors were all over the bookshelves in the shops. Strange to think they have fallen by the wayside now. Thank you Darrel for another superb episode of Sci-Fi Odyssey.

[WaskiSquirrel]

A.E. van Vogt is one of my all time favorites. He keeps me going back to used book stores. Of these, the only one I've never read is Murray Leinster. I don't know why, just haven't.

Another good one is Clifford D. Simak.

[mikemason]

I started reading science fiction in the 70's so all these writers are well known to me. James Blish was my favourite author. I recommend "... And All the Stars a Stage", "Jack of Eagles", and "The Seedling Stars" as well as "Cities in Flight", which is a series of 4 novels. AE van Vogt was truly prolific. I think"The Voyage of the Space Beagle" is his most memorable work, but there's a lot to choose from, including "The War against the Rull", "The Weapon Shops of Isher", "The Silkie" and many more. I loved EE "Doc" Smith's Lensmen series, but Skylark was a bit weak. I've not read much by the other two, but "Man Plus" is brilliant, and undoubtedly the inspiration of the film "The Titan"

[plambdin]

I very much appreciate discussing some authors who get lost because of social media habits and poorly stocked book stores!

[barryvercueil]

YOU YOU HAVE DOUBLED MY READ LIST!!!! Loved the video! Cheers

[SolomonAD]

Thanks for this list! Several of them stood out by especially Null-A definitely gonna check that out.

[beauthestdane]

Long been a fan of all of them. I started reading them in the early 70s from my dad's collection.

[yzsrodx]

Superb! Based on many BookTube videos I've seen, the younger generations of sci-fi lovers seem to be focused almost entirely on newer books and authors. There's nothing wrong with the new, but some are missing out on the old but great. When reading these books, it's important to remember the eras in which they were written. Having said that, it's a wonder how prescient many of them were.

[joebrooks]

I have been reading SF since 1963, these authors are who I grew up reading! Great video, great authors! While Pohl and Lester Del Rey edited Worlds of If Magazine, great SF was being published. Pohl and Kornbluth produced really good SF, individually, too. The Futurians were wildly optimistic about Communism. WW II and the resulting revelations about The Soviet Union's mass crimes caused a lot of them to move on, and a big debate in the SF world at the time.

James Blish has a large catalog of excellent short stories, too. "Tomb Tapper", "Beep" (a first), "Common Time", "A Work of Art", and "The Box", are just a few.

Smith is really influential. I read the first one or two from each series.

Murray Leinster! A very reliable and dependable pro, with a huge catalog of great SF.

A. E. van Vogt. From 1939's kickoff off of The Golden Age with "Black Destroyer", then "Far Centaurus", "Not The First", and many more short stories, he did a lot for SF. With the novels, "The Voyage of The Space Beagle", and "Mission To The Stars", he laid the foundations for "Forbidden Planet", "Star Trek", and "Alien" - which is basically "Black Destroyer" and "Discord In Scarlet" mixed, and more.

van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher" likely influenced "Animal Farm". His "The World of Null - A" influence on "Nineteen Eighty - Four" is quite noticeable, as well. He includes very strong female characters in "Mission To The Stars" (also known as "The Mixed Men") - many, many SF concepts, "Slan" - mutants, "The World of Null - A" - sane philosophy/importance of history/preservation of word meanings, and "The Weapon Shops of Isher" - multiple concepts.

van Vogt preferred to demonstrate his ideas, thru the actions of his characters while also discussing the concepts, briefly. Gosseyn, pronounced Go Sane, dies repeatedly in "Null - A". Awakening in a new body, he recalls everything, each time. Demonstrating the reason for studying and learning from history, for each new generation.

van Vogt's style influenced a bunch of authors, you may like Keith Laumer's short stories, novels and Retief series, if you like van Vogt.

The "Prospero's Isle" website contains most of van Vogt's catalog, with reviews, analysis and a lot of the original publications, with the original illustrations. A great resource.

[mateosimon]

One of the greats thats usually forgotten is John Wyndham

[waverlyking]

CM Kornbluth, whom you mentioned as The Space Merchants’ co-author, is also someone whose solo material is worth reading if you can find and afford it. I lucked into a reasonably priced copy of His Share of Glory.

[jasperdoornbos]

I read ‘First contact’ when I was a child and was hooked immediately. By the way, Peter Cawdron wrote many ‘first contact’ stories. I can recommend them.

[KakashiHatake-oump]

I always end up finding new books when I come to this channel. Wonderful place to spend time!

[palantir]

Know them all and read many books by them. Great writers.
I miss Jack Vance, Harry Harisson, Larry Niven (and Pournelle), Robert Heinlein, Fritz Leiber, Keith Laumer, Arthur C Clarke.

I don’t know if his books are ever translated into English but dutch writer Wim Gijsen is very worthwhile.
And dutch writer Peter Schaap; Wolver series.

[telltalebooks]

Excellent video! Good to see others talking about the classic authors.

[ronfisher]

I fell in love with each of these writers from late grade school thru four years in the Navy and still read SiFi at 75. And your reviews are terrific, bringing back memories that had faded but still lived.

[DevonExplorer]

Ah, my favourite era, along with the New Wave and the 80s, including the fabulous Phil Dick, of course. Gateway is one of my favourite books. It's such a good premise and story, and Murray Leinster wrote excellent short stories. Great selection, Daryll, and difficult to make as there were loads of brilliant writers then. :)

[Kim_Miller]

Authors on here that I read as a teen back in the 1960s. It's good to see their names pop up. One thing to add about older books is that many of them are out of copyright and available for download from places like The Gutenberg Project and Baen Free Library etc.