Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments      vii
Foreword by Neil Gaiman      1
Introduction by Gary Westfahl      5

I. Frank McConnell B.C.E. (Before Coming to Eaton)      9
1. Born in Fire: The Ontology of the Monster      11
2. Song of Innocence: The Creature from the Black Lagoon      18
3. H.G. Wells: Utopia and Doomsday      29
4. Realist of the Fantastic: H.G. Wells about/in/on the Movies      37

II. Slouching Toward Bedlam: The Early Eaton Essays      47
5. Sturgeon’s Law: First Corollary      48
6. Boring Dates: Reflections on the Apocalypse Game      57
7. Frames in Search of a Genre      63
8. From Astarte to Barbie and Beyond: The Serious History of Dolls      74
9. The Playing Fields of Eden      82
10. It’s Only a Paper Moon: Fantasy and the Professors      91
11. "Turn That Shit Down!" Or, How to Market an Underground      102

III. Gnostic Lunch: The Later Eaton Essays      111
12. Alimentary, My Dear Watson: Food and Eating in Scientific and Mystery Fiction      112
13. You Bet Your Life: Death and the Storyteller      124
14. Seven Types of Chopped Liver: My Adventures in the Genre Wars      132
15. The Missionary Physician, from Asclepius to Kervorkian      146
16. The Science of Fiction and the Fiction of Science: A Storytelling Animal in an Inhospitable World      155

Epilogue: Memories of Frank      164
Paul Alkon      164
Gregory Benford      166
Harold Bloom      167
Sheila Finch      167
Carl Freedman      168
Howard V. Hendrix      169
Bruce Kawin      172
Joseph D. Miller      173
Eric S. Rabkin      175
Mark Rose      177
George Slusser      178

Chapter Notes      181
A Bibliography of the Works of Frank McConnell      187
A Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Works Cited in the Text      201
Index      213