Common themes in classic science fiction

Bob Jennings's 'zine Fadeaway #50, due out in a few months, will feature an article by me on what I contend was the golden age of fantastic fiction (back when what we call fantasy, weird fiction, and science fiction could all be called "fantasy") -- namely the 25 years 1887-1912. In that piece, I write:

A great clutch of seminal classics comes to us from those years. They introduced, or memorably embodied, perennial themes of the genre: alien invasion, hidden realm of dinosaurs alive in our town time, multidimensional journeys, invented mythology, lost race or lost civilization, insect intelligence, imaginary world quest, dystopia, dreadful atavism, killer robot, post-apocalyptic romance, lunar voyage, invisible monster, the wonder-child mutant, travel in time, and more. The two greatest vampire stories –Lilith and Dracula -- appeared in this period.

Bob has been posting Fadeaway at the efanzines.com site. If he continues to do so, you'll be able to read the article free there in a few months. You might take a look at some issues available now and send him an email of comment -- he loves to hear from readers.

http://efanzines.com/Fadeaway/Fadeway-48.pdf
 
Collapse of civilization and following dark ages or preventing that collapse, seems to b a historical influence of Rome.

Lest Darkness Fall
The Foundation Trilogy
Terran Empire by Poul Anderson
Cosmic Computer by H. Beam Piper

The atomic bomb added a variation on that theme.

Now climate change may be the cause of collapse.

psik
 
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A classic example of the collapse of civilization is Jefferies' After England (1885), which appeared just two years before the 1887-1912 golden age.
 
The Outer Limits version of "Arena" to which Jeffbert refers was "Fun and Games" --

images


--a favorite of many of us, I'm sure, who like that old series. Interestingly, the Outer Limits version of the "Arena" plot features couples, not a single human and a single nonhuman, in combat.

images

The earth woman is, at first, unwilling or unable to engage in violence against the fearsome nonhumans:

screen-capture-17.png

I watched this one not too long ago, it still holds up. :cool:
 

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