Genre Fiction: The Roaring Years by Peter Nicholls

(Ansible Editions, 2022)

Reviewed by Steven Doran

The package I received had 7 stamps stuck onto it: two Queen’s Heads, two miniature landscapes, a strawberry, an orange and a lemon. It was as if sending a package was as important as what it contained. That’s fitting, given Peter Nicholls’ care in bringing Sci-Fi to readers over his 57-year career, at the heart of which is The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction—a book first published in 1979 which is still updated today. This collection of reviews, essays, interviews, listicles and diaries covers publications from the 1970s up to the millennium. He chose them because they were his favourite pieces and because this period was a noisy and exciting time for Genre fiction.

The Roaring Years is a history told by an insider, observed both from the ‘salaried haven’ of academia and the ‘grubby frontline’ of publishing. He’s informed, incisive and honest, making a charming guide through the years when Wolfe, Dick, Aldiss and Herbert were bright young things, with many of their best-loved works yet to be written. There’s plenty more: essays on the state of the industry and the meaning of genre, lists of his 100 favourite writers (and 88 second favourites), and his own telling of The Great Tradition of Proto Science Fiction, covering Gilgamesh, Gawain, Rasselas and ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’.

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Review from BSFA Review 19 - Download your copy here.