Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
214,620
edits
(→Campbell's other works provide examples of:: clean up) |
No edit summary |
||
(7 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
[[File:John W Campbell 193102.jpg|thumb|300px|John W. Campbell, as shown in ''Wonder Stories'' in 1932]]
'''John W. Campbell, Jr.''' (1910 – 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. As editor of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]'' magazine for over thirty years, he was one of the most influential figures in the Golden Age of Science Fiction.
As a writer, the bulk of his work was done in the 1930s. He first made his name as an author of [[Science Hero]] [[Space Opera]], including the 'Arcot, Morey and Wade' stories, which were collected in book form in the 1950s. He also wrote more thoughtful science fiction under the name Don A. Stuart, including the linked stories "Twilight" and "Night", and "[[Who Goes There
He became the editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' magazine in 1938, and remained in that post until his death. During his tenure, he fostered the careers of many now-famous writers, including [[Isaac Asimov]], who credited him with formulating the Three Laws of Robotics.
Line 10 ⟶ 11:
There have been two significant awards established in his honour, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (which is not technically a [[Hugo Award]], but is presented at the same annual award ceremony).
{{bibliography}}
{{creatortropes}}
▲* "[[Who Goes There (Literature)|Who Goes There]]"
* [[Can't Argue
** Isaac Asimov responded by writing stories that don't have aliens at all, such as the ''[[Foundation]]'' series, so that questions of whether the aliens are superior did not arise.
▲* [[Can't Argue With Elves]]: Campbell hated this trope and gave an [[Executive Veto]] to any story in which aliens were shown to be superior to humans.
* [[Deus Est Machina]]: "The Machine"
* [[Framing Device]]:
Line 22:
** "Night" has a frame story about a man who disappears during an experiment and later claims to have been projected into the (even more) distant future.
** "Elimination" is the story of a potentially world-changing invention that destroyed its inventors; in the frame story, a patent attorney tells the story to make the point that some inventions are best left undeveloped.
* [[Hard Light]]: In the ''Arcot, Morey and Wade'' series.
* [[Humanity's Wake]]: "Night".
* [[Man-Eating Plant]]: A man-eating Venusian plant is mentioned as having almost killed one of the heroes in "The Brain-Stealers of Mars".
* [[No Waterproofing in
* [[Organic Technology]]: ''The Double Minds'' is set on Ganymede, where electricity was never discovered. Light bulbs are powered by fluorescent bacteria and cars have muscles instead of motors. Unlike most examples of Organic Technology, the story clearly states that Ganymedian gadgets are a poor substitute for electric-powered technology. A bit of an [[Unbuilt Trope]], considered that it was written in 1937.
* [[Psychic Powers]]: Campbell believed that psychic powers were real and encouraged authors in his magazine to use them in stories; he may be singlehandedly responsible for the prevalence of psychic powers in science fiction today.
* [[Science Hero]]: Arcot, Morey and Wade.
* [[Suicide Attack]]: The backstory to "Frictional Losses" mentioned the Japanese super-charging airplane engines, packing the planes full of explosives, and crashing them into enemy ships. The enemy in Campbell's story were ''extraterrestrials'', and once the Japanese gave us the idea, the rest of Earth's nations started using kamikazes against the aliens, too, which is why they didn't wipe out humanity entirely. He wrote this story in ''1936''.
Line 36 ⟶ 37:
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:John W. Campbell]]
|