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jwharris28
Posted 2015-01-12 8:16 AM (#9260 - in reply to #9259)
Subject: Re: The Definitive 1950s Reading Challenge		Quote Reply



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I just can't handle Doc Smith anymore. Many of the "novels" of the early 1950s came from specialty publishers like Gnome and Fantasy presses. Foundation was jarring to me when I reread it several years ago because the short stories were so different. At least with The Martian Chronicles, the stories are worked into a consistent theme. Of the novels from 1950, I think The Day of the Triffids has had the most lasting power. It's still a gripping story. I love Farmer in the Sky by Heinlein, but I'm not sure how many people read it today. The Heinlein story was original in 1950, so it seems more modern than the others, plus Heinlein was always more modern in his writing than the general run of science fiction writers back then.

Cosmic Engineers, which if I remember right, if from the late 1930s, and is primitive like Galactic Patrol. Seetee Ship is going the same way. The Voyage of the Space Beagle holds up a little better because it's built around the classic short story, "The Black Destroyer" which anticipates the horror film Alien.

I've read all the 1950 books a long time ago, and I'm only familiar with the 7-8 I've reread in the last couple decades. I loved I, Robot in my teens, but it just didn't hold up in my 50s. I haven't reread Fury or The Dreaming Jewels, so I can't say how they have fared.

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