Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The First Voyage to the Moon Chapter 3 From A True Story—by Lucian of Samosata Chapter 4 Strange Creatures and Far Traveling Chapter 5 From The Voyages and Travels of Sir John Mandeville—Anonymous Chapter 6 The Good Place That Is No Place Chapter 7 From Utopia—by Thomas More Chapter 8 The New Science and the Old Religion Chapter 9 From The City of the Sun—by Tommaso Campanella Chapter 10 Experience, Experiment, and the Battle for Men's Minds Chapter 11 From The New Atlantisby Francis Bacon Chapter 12 A New Look at the Heavens and Another Trip to the Moon Chapter 13 Somnium, or Lunar Astronomy—by Johannes Kepler Chapter 14 Commuting to the Moon Chapter 15 From A Voyage to the Moon—by Cyrano de Bergerac Chapter 16 The Age of Reason and the Voice of Dissent Chapter 17 From "A Voyage to Laputa"—by Jonathan Swift Chapter 18 Imaginary Voyages in the Other Direction Chapter 19 From The Journey to the World Underground—by Ludvig Holberg Chapter 20 Visitors From Space Chapter 21 Micromegas—by Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire Chapter 22 Science and Literature: When Worlds Collide Chapter 23 FromFrankenstein—by Mary Shelley Chapter 24 Science as Symbol Chapter 25 Rappaccini's Daughter—by Nathaniel Hawthorne Chapter 26 Anticipations of the Future Chapter 27 Mellonta Tauta—by Edgar Allen Poe Chapter 28 Expanding the Vision Chapter 29 The Diamond Lens—by Fitz-James O'Brien Chapter 30 The Indispensable Frenchman Chapter 31 From Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Chapter 32 From Around the Moon—by Jules Verne Chapter 33 Lost Civilizations and Ancient Knowledge Chapter 34 From She—by H. Rider Haggard Chapter 35 The New Frontier Chapter 36 From Looking Backward—by Edward Bellamy Chapter 37 New Magazines, New Readers, New Writers Chapter 38 The Damned Thing—by Ambrose Bierce Chapter 39 A Flying Start Chapter 40 With the Night Mail—by Rudyard Kipling Chapter 41 The Father of Modern Science Fiction Chapter 42 The Star—by H.G. Wells Chapter 43 About the Editor

About the Author

James Gunn is Emeritus Professor of English at University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.

Reviews

...provides one of the most comprehensive views of the field and should be required reading for all students of sf. It has withstood the test of time, with classic stories....Gunn's headnotes and introductions remain provocative, even years later. The Road to Science Fiction can be read as an historical document, one that says much about Gunn, his mind, and his take on sf as it does about the state of sf from its roots to its full maturity as a genre.
*Science Fiction Studies*

An excellent introduction to the history of the genre.
*The New York Times*

The best series, historically arranged, of SF anthologies ever assembled...All six volumes belong in the library of every university, school, and teacher and reader of science fiction. Gunn has gathered stories of importance to the development of SF and stories that represent the best writing of the genre.
*Anatomy of Wonder, 5th Edition*

...of great use to teachers and students of science fiction. However, Gunn's work is accessible to any serious reader. I recommend it for anyone with an interest in acquiring a useful vocabulary of texts and authors for use during those conversations in which the value of science fiction is questioned...Gunn's prose is serious and well informed without being prolix.
*Sfrevu*