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Average Customer Rating:

Excellent Advice

Customer Rating:

This book is worth owning because Gunn gives some excellent advice in certain sections. However, it depends on what type of "writing" book you need. The one book you can really jump into and read in one sitting is Orson Scott Card's "How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy." I recommend Orson's book if you are thinking of writing SF&F, but you aren't sure if it's the right genre for you. Orson breaks everything down to basics so you will immediately know if SF&F is what you're after, but the problem is that he makes writing SF&F sound so easy. In contrast, Gunn's book is more philosophical and even literary. Philosophical problems aren't easy to solve in one sitting because you have to sit down and think them through. In other words Gunn's book can be intimidating if you are new to writing. I recommend reading it in short sections. In part 1 I completely agreed with the advice on writing critique groups. In fact this is the best advice I have encountered in any of the books I've read on writing. Gunn even mentions Plato and Goethe so you immediately know where he stands on certain issues. I've noticed that in other SF writing books, the authors waver back and forth and even give conflicting opinions on this topic! The last section, part 3, offers an analysis on the writers who laid the foundation of SF&F. It is definitely worth reading.

Disappointed

Customer Rating:

After the glowing reviews I read online, I was disappointed in this book. It was quite obviously patched together from previously published materials that did not meld gracefully: just looking at the chapter headings, it is obvious that no one would have organized a book that way if starting from scratch. At the very least, the book should have been edited to remove the obvious repetitions. Appendices in the back are basically class notes in the form of bulleted lists and sentence fragments. The title is misleading, though probably not intentionally so. I was hoping for something more targeted toward, well, science. For example, I would have liked something about FTL travel (pro or con, possible workarounds, etc.), climatology, or any of a dozen other scientific topics of relevance to science fiction. With one whole chapter about fiction in general, and several other chapters about prominent science fiction authors, there really wasn't very much of the book that could justifiably be said to relate to the science of science fiction writing, even when you put the emphasis on the word WRITING. A better title might have been "Miscellaneous Essays on Fiction, Science Fiction, and Famous SciFi Authors." That is not to say it was worthless. Some of the information was useful and relevant, and the book overall was very well written. There were probably a total of 20 pages that, for me, made the book almost worth the price of admission. I just felt a little cheated by the feeling that this was recycled content without much effort expended to make it a cohesive or focused.

Outstanding and highly reccomended

Customer Rating:

The first chapter (Why People Read Fiction) is worth the price of the book alone. Some reviewers have nitpicked a few typos and repetition. Having taught eye surgery for 45 years and having written a textbook on eye surgery - I can say with confidence that repetition lies at the heart of teaching typos not withstanding. Be that as it may - the aspiring writer will find much of value within these pages.

thoughts on science fiction

Customer Rating:

This book a compilation of James Gunn's writings about writing science fiction. There are articles about the craft, the history of science fiction, and about the work of some famous science fiction writers. If you are looking for a basic book on how to write fiction, this is not the one to start with. I like this book because it talks about what goes into writing science fiction, both techniques and how other authors have approached it. Think of it as a more advanced writing book, though non-writers who are interested in sci fi might also find it of interest.

Not so good

Customer Rating:

I bought this book due to the glowing reviews of the other reviewers, and was very disappointed. The book was sloppily edited. I wasn't looking for errors, but kept finding them - picky stuff like typos, contradictions, and word for word repetition. A writing book shouldn't contain these types of errors. Nearly half of the book was long-winded bios of SF authors which were sometimes interesting, but mostly not - and suggested nothing to improve writing. There were a few good tidbits, but they were few and far between. Do not buy. Get Damon Kight's book instead - Creating Short Fiction. Much more practical and interesting.