Announcing Vintage Science Fiction Month!

Posted by: Redhead on: November 15, 2013

• In: Vintage SciFi
• 45 Comments

It’s almost December. you know what that means? that means it’s almost January.  And we all know what that means!

January means the return of Vintage Science Fiction month!

Shiny new stuff is well, shiny and new, and we all love it.   But what came before it?  Your favorite author happened to mention they were inspired by the writing of Jack Vance or H.P. Lovecraft or Andre Norton or James Blish? Aren’t you curious about how your favorite authors put their own spin on the dying earth and chthonic horrors?  To get a little philosophical, by knowing where I came from, I can better see where I stand, and better see where we’ve yet to go.  This January, let’s find out.

As in past years, I’ve arbitrarily decided 1979 is the magic year for determining if something is vintage or not, and as in past years I’ll ask that anyone participating link up their review in the Vintage Science Fiction tab at the top of the page.  This January, blog about a book or a comic book or a movie or a radio show or an author from before 1979 and let me know about it so I can come visit your blog. It’s that easy. Feel free to grab the red spaceship image above, and use it as a badge-y thing.

That’s just the cake.  Here’s the icing:

– I’m looking for guest posters. Lots of them.  If you are interested in writing a guest post I want to hear from you! Topics are pretty open – you can discuss a particular book or series, an anthology you liked, award winning books, do a bio on an author or an editor, talk about short story magazines of the time, talk about scifi cover art, talk about a movie or a TV show, talk about a particular time period in science fiction history, even real science of the time (hello, early space program!) as long as whatever you are talking about is Science Fiction/Fantasy or real Science related and is from 1979 or earlier.  I want to promote you, your website, and your favorite vintage science fiction.

– Even if you are not involved with Hugo nominating or voting, head over to the LonCon/WorldCon page to learn about the Retro Hugos, and their lengthy lists of works from that time period. The magic year is 1938, and I am still on the prowl to find a lot of these titles.

– Vintage science Fiction month coincides really nicely with the SciFi Experience at Stainless Steel Droppings. Here’s a link to last year’s SciFi Experience post, and keep your eye out for Carl’s upcoming announcement about this year’s SciFi Experience!

Where can you get all this cake and icing?

I’m a huge fan of dead trees in used bookstores.  If the binding is in decent shape and the book isn’t too stinky (or sometimes even if it is), $20 can go pretty far in the right used bookstore. Prefer not to buy used? Plenty of classics are still in print, you can easily find Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein at your local bookstore, with that fresh printing press smell. Try your local library as well and interlibrary loan services as well.

Never read anything old, and don’t even know where to start?   Scroll through the reviews and links in the Vintage SciFi tab, see what catches your eye.

If you prefer to go high tech, try Project Gutenberg for titles that are in the public domain.  They even have a Science Fiction bookshelf (with wow, copies of Astounding magazine!) and a Fantasy bookshelf!  Not too shabby, eh?

Interstellar Patrol leaves for stars uncharted in T minus approximately six weeks.  there’s a Back to the Future joke in there somewhere, but in the meantime, don’t be left behind (or would that be ahead?)!

got questions? got comments? wanna let me know how excited you are for this?

Tags: science fiction, vintage