These two books look at a pair of sci-fi’s most influential projects and their flawed creators

In 2018, films and television shows about superheroes or the adventures of heroes fighting evil across space are commonplace: only a single non-genre film (Crazy Rich Asians) has cracked the top 10 list for highest box office gross this year. Historically, that’s a new development; science fiction was once a reviled genre, dismissed as juvenile trash or escapist nonsense. Two projects are largely responsible for this shift: Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and the incredibly influential magazine Astounding Science Fiction, which was run in its heyday by editor John W. Campbell. Now, two histories paint a complex portrait of the figures who are often lionized for their brilliance. Michael Benson’s Space... Continue reading…