Last night I finished reading The Futurians by Damon Knight (pub. John Day/1977). It chronicles the ups and downs of the members of the Futurian Society, founded in 1938 by thirteen science fiction fans. Among them, people who would later become some of the most famous names in science fiction - Isaac Asimov, James Blish, Damon Knight, Cyril Kornbluth, Judith Merril, Frederik Pohl and Donald A. Wollheim. I'd heard of the Futurians before, but after hearing praise for the book in the Asimov's forum, I decided to check it out.

Knight follows the Futurians from their humble beginnings, through their rise in the SF field and beyond. I found it to be a compulsive read, although at times a little confusing since Knight tends to jump around a lot between the large cast of characters. Included in the book are excerpts from Futurian newspapers, along with plenty of photos of the Futurians themselves.

I highly recommend The Futurians to anyone interested in the history of science fiction, although others may find it heavy-going. The book is currently out of print, but there are usually copies available online at second-hand book services like Abebooks.

On another note, I'm making good progress on the editing of The Bunyip (that title's got to change!) and should have it done by the Tuesday deadline. I've mainly been focusing on tightening the prose and working on the atmosphere, especially in the second half. Hopefully my first readers will find the result acceptable :)

What I'm Reading
The 3rd Alternative, Issue#35 (Summer 2003)