George Orwell's 1984
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It is my opinion that more people bought it and talked about it than read it, for it is a dreadfully dull book-didactic, repetitious and all but motionless.
Many people think 1984 is a science fiction novel, but almost the only item about 1984 that would lead one to suppose this is the fact that it is purportedly laid in the future.
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"1984," Field Newspaper Syndicate
Asimov on Science Fiction, pg. 247, 248
on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
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Mary Shelley was the first to make use of a new finding of science which she advanced further to a logical extreme, and it is that which makes Frankenstein the first true science fiction story. |
"The First Science Fiction Novel," Material for Frankenstein, recording, Caedmon, 1977
Asimov on Science Fiction, pg. 97
on H. G. Wells Invisible Man
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...But somehow the tale of a dangerous invention does not teach the same lesson in Well's hand that it does in others. All the early stories of this sort seemed to say, "It is better not to know." They seem to be hymns to ignorance.
Wells, to me, seems to offer the cooler advice of caution. Know, but be careful how you apply. And,that, after all, is an important word of advice to us today.
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"The Science Fiction Breakthrough," introduction, Three Novels of the Future, by H.G. Wells. 1979
Asimov on Science Fiction, pg. 97
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