I can only imagine how eye-popping they will be on paper.

While I can’t speak specifically to the production quality (I received a PDF), on my iPad the full-color reproductions and scans of hundreds of book covers from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s looked magnificent. What immediately strikes you about Dangerous Visions and New Worlds is that it is simply gorgeous. Edited by Andrew Nette & Iain McIntyre, the book features more than twenty essays from a diverse range of writers (including a number of shorter, interstitial pieces penned by the editors) with the aim of charting the radical underpinnings and lasting impact of the New Wave, while shining a light on the luminaries and lesser known authors of the period. That’s why I was so excited to read the essay collection Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985. Two decades later, and while I’ve read my fair share of Thomas Disch and Harlan Ellison and dipped into the works of Moorcock, Aldiss, and Ballard, I’m no expert on the period. It wasn’t until my late twenties, when I started attending the monthly meetings of the Nova Mob (a Melbourne science fiction club that continues to this day), that I began to appreciate the rich history of science fiction and became aware of the movement that preceded cyberpunk, known as the New Wave. One of the first genre novels that left an impression on me was William Gibson’s Neuromancer (even if I didn’t entirely understand it). Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction 1950 to 1985, Andrew Nette & Iain McIntyre, eds.

Dangerous visions ellison