The Sound of Wonder

"The Sound of Wonder: Interviews from the Science Fiction Radio Show" by Daryl Lane, William Vernon, and David Carson is a two-volume collection of in-depth interviews conducted on the long-running Science Fiction Radio Show out of Texas A&M-Commerce in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The interviewers sat down with the genre's working giants — Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe, Frank Herbert, Jack Williamson, and dozens of others — and the results are some of the most candid extended conversations any of these writers ever gave.

Because the interviews ran on radio, the writers were talking rather than performing for print — the result is closer to a workshop session than a press junket. Discussions of craft, the editorial habits of John W. Campbell, the politics of the Worldcon scene, the economics of mid-century pulp markets, and the writers' own assessments of their best and worst books fill out the volumes.

The book is a primary-source reference for science fiction scholars, biographers, and serious genre readers. It pairs with Brian Aldiss's "Trillion Year Spree," Frederik Pohl's "The Way the Future Was," and Damon Knight's "The Futurians." Note that the catalog cover image may show volume one rather than the volume offered.

Search-friendly notes: "the sound of wonder daryl lane review," "science fiction radio show interviews," "best books about science fiction writers," "isaac asimov interview collection," "frank herbert interview book." A treasure for SF historians.