The Future Makers [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION The eight contributors to this volume are probably today's most distinguished Science Fiction authors—their names are familiar to every fan and their reputations as storytellers have spread far beyond the bounds of the genre. They are all professionals, in fact; imaginative, painstaking, and dedicated writers who have mastered their craft and the ability to commimicate a new idea, theme, or concept. Today we take the brilliance of these eight men—for such it undoubtedly is—almost for granted. We wait eagerly for each new story or novel, confident in the knowledge that it will be at least as good, if not even better, than previous works. They can never over-produce where the vociferous fan is concerned—but wisely do not even try. Yet, like all true craftsmen, they did go through a period of apprenticeship when their names meant very little to readers and they worked industriously through the pages of small magazines and in the face of discouragingly small payments to develop and perfect styles which were eventually to earn them their world-wide acclaim. This anthology is an excursion back in time to those early years of the eight men; a selection from the archives of Science Fiction of a group of stories which illustrate the formation of the tech-'nique each man was making particularly his own. The tales I have chosen are all typical of the kind which they produced during their apprenticeship; one or two are even their author's very first efforts. AU have been out of print and are probably, in the main, vinknown to today's new generation of readers. They show styles emerging and imaginations beginning to range over new ground—but do not judge them against their author's most modern and highly-tempered work, rather for their own sake and their value as "period" Science Fiction. Nonetheless, I believe you will find the standard of them all is quite astonishing. Meet, now, The Future Makers—for together these stories present a totally fresh angle on the men vi'ho have shaped modem S.F. PETER HAINING 1968