Solar flares : science fiction in the 1970s

313 Pages·2014·0.975 MB·English

by  Butler, Andrew M.

Solar Flares
Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies, 43
Liverpool Science Fiction Texts and Studies
Editor David Seed, University of Liverpool
Editorial Board
Mark Bould, University of the West of England
Veronica Hollinger, Trent University
Rob Latham, University of California
Roger Luckhurst, Birkbeck College, University of London
Patrick Parrinder, University of Reading
Andy Sawyer, University of Liverpool
Recent titles in the series
21. Andy Sawyer and David Seed (eds) Speaking Science Fiction: Dialogues
and Interpretations
22. Inez van der Spek Alien Plots: Female Subjectivity and the Divine
23. S. T. Joshi Ramsey Campbell and Modern Horror Fiction
24. Mike Ashley The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp
Magazines from the Beginning to 1950
25. Warren G. Rochelle Communities of the Heart: The Rhetoric of Myth
in the Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin
26. S. T. Joshi A Dreamer and a Visionary: H. P. Lovecraft in his Time
27. Christopher Palmer Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern
28. Charles E. Gannon Rumors of War and Infernal Machines:
Technomilitary Agenda-Setting in American and British Speculative Fiction
29. Peter Wright Attending Daedalus: Gene Wolfe, Artifice and the Reader
30. Mike Ashley Transformations: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazine
from 1950–1970
31. Joanna Russ The Country You Have Never Seen: Essays and Reviews
32. Robert Philmus Visions and Revisions: (Re)constructing Science Fiction
33. Gene Wolfe (edited and introduced by Peter Wright) Shadows of the New
Sun: Wolfe on Writing/Writers on Wolfe
34. Mike Ashley Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazine
from 1970–1980
35. Patricia Kerslake Science Fiction and Empire
36. Keith Williams H. G. Wells, Modernity and the Movies
37. Wendy Gay Pearson, Veronica Hollinger and Joan Gordon (eds.) Queer
Universes: Sexualities and Science Fiction
38. John Wyndham (eds. David Ketterer and Andy Sawyer) Plan for Chaos
39. Sherryl Vint Animal Alterity: Science Fiction and the Question of the Animal
40. Paul Williams Race, Ethnicity and Nuclear War: Representations of Nuclear
Weapons and Post-Apocalyptic Worlds
41. Sara Wasson and Emily Alder, Gothic Science Fiction 1980–2010
42. David Seed (ed.), Future Wars: The Anticipations and the Fears
Solar Flares
Science Fiction in the 1970s
ANDREW M. BUTLER
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
First published 2012 by
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Copyright © 2012 Andrew M. Butler
Copyright © 2012 Andrew M. Butler
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To Peter and Jennifer

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Prologue 1
1 The Ends of First Sf: Pioneers as Veterans 11
2 After the New Wave: After Science Fiction? 24
3 Beyond Apollo: Space Fictions after the Moon Landing 38
4 Big Dumb Objects: Science Fiction as Self-Parody 51
5 The Rise of Fantasy: Swords and Planets 65
6 Home of the Extraterrestrial Brothers:
Race and African American Science Fiction 78
7 Alien Invaders: Vietnam and the Counterculture 92
8 This Septic Isle: Post-Imperial Melancholy 106
9 Foul Contagion Spread: Ecology and Environmentalism 120
10 Female Counter-Literature: Feminism 136
11 Strange Bedfellows: Gay Liberation 152
12 Saving the Family? Children’s Fiction 168
13 Eating the Audience: Blockbusters 181
14 Chariots of the Gods: Pseudoscience and Parental Fears 192
15 Towers of Babel: The Architecture of Sf 206
16 Ruptures: Metafiction and Postmodernism 221
Epilogue 236
Bibliography 239
Index 270

Acknowledgements
I have been lucky, as always, with the people surrounding me, who have
offered books, cakes, coffees, DVDs, downloads, food, photocopies, spare
rooms and tea and sympathy. A partial list would include Adam Roberts,
Andy Sawyer, Arthur Evans, Carol Ann Kerry-Green, Carol McGuirk,
Catherine Butler, Colin Odell, Dave Roberts, Edward James, Elizabeth
Billinger, Estelle Roberts, Farah Mendlesohn, I.Q. Hunter, Istvan Csicsery-
Ronay Jr, James Kneale, Javier Martinez, Jennifer Woodward, Joan Gordon,
Joshua ‘Sha’ LaBare, Mark Bould, Matt Hills, Matt Moore, Maureen
Kincaid Speller, Mike Levy, Mitch Le Blanc, Neil Easterbrook, Pat Wheeler,
Paul Billinger, Paul Kincaid, Peter Wright, Robert Edgar, Rob Latham,
Roger Luckhurst, Sherryl Vint, Tim Long and Veronica Hollinger. My
apologies to anyone I have omitted. Farah Mendlesohn and James Kneale
both read chapters, but, as ever, any errors remain my own.
Thanks to the staff and librarians of the Special Collections, Sydney Jones
Library, University of Liverpool, and extra thanks to those who helped me
watch things I would not have otherwise seen. I am grateful to Canter-
bury Christ Church University for granting me teaching remission, without
which this book would have taken even longer. And especial thanks to my
editor at Liverpool University Press, Anthony Cond, who knows the
meaning of patience.
To mine hosts and fellow patrons of the Two Doves – above all, Ben
Parkinson, the executive editor, but also Craig Scannell, Dave Mahy, Dave
Taylor, Ewan Martin, Gemma Rowe, Ian McNamara, Leo Grant, Lisa Claire
and the Guinness crew – much thanks.
A Note on Dates and References
For print fiction I have tried where possible to give the dates of first maga-
zine appearances as well as book form. Films are referenced by director
and first year of release; in some cases international releases were delayed
or have not occurred at all. For television programmes I have attempted
to supply dates of original broadcasts; because of the regional nature of
broadcasting, in some cases I have only given the year. I have abbreviated