This book (by the science fiction author and historian James E. Gunn, not the current famous James Gunn) spurred me to purchase his 6 volume "Road to Science Fiction." He died at age 97 a few years ago, leaving a magnificent body of work and contribution to the field.

Reading James Gunn's life story is like reading a history of science fiction. A award winning author he has been published since the early days of pulp fiction. The added glances into his life from childhood to today mirror the changes in how we look at and react to the world we live in. A must read for science fiction fans and a great way to follow the changes in our world today.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

At the risk of repeating myself (see my review of James Gunn's TRANSGALACTIC back in October of 2016), at the WorldCon in Kansas City in 2016 I attended a panel made up entirely of SFWA Grandmasters: Connie Willis, Robert Silverberg, Larry Niven, Joe Haldeman, and James Gunn. Those five science fiction luminaries represent more combined years of writing and awards than I think any of us can comprehend. Of the five, James Gunn has not only been writing the longest, he's also been with us the longest, having been born in 1923 (which by my math makes him 94 years old). To quote a statement that I've read many times in conjunction with the publication of his autobiography, STAR-BEGOTTEN: A LIFE LIVED IN SCIENCE FICTION, Gunn "has been called -the last Golden Age author of science fiction." That's probably true, as I can't think of any other writer still with us that had work published back in the 1940s (although I'm sure someone who reads this review will remind me of someone I've forgotten). The final book in The Transcendental Machine trilogy, TRANSFORMATION, was just published by Tor. While the rest of that illustrious panel are still active in the field one way or another - either still writing or attending conventions - it seems that Gunn has decided it's time to take stock in his life and his contributions to the field of science fiction, and so he was written STAR-BEGOTTEN to share his memories with fans and friends.

I've not read many autobiographies that I can remember, if any at all. The last biography I read was of the great New York Yankee Joe DiMaggio (a book which I reviewed in September of 2005). As a result, I didn't know what to expect. I suspect that there are as many ways to write autobiographies as there are people who write them. The way Gunn went about it was to start at the beginning and go through his life until he got to the present day. I suppose that's a pretty good way to do it. If I lived a life interesting enough to other people to write an autobiography, I would probably do it the same way.

What amazes me about Gunn is that he remembers in such detail his home, neighborhood, and friends growing up. 1923 is a long time ago, and while he obviously doesn't remember events starting at birth, it seems as if he remembers everything in vivid detail from those long ago days. Later on in the book he does admit that he doesn't remember everything any more, and honestly who would when you're 94 years old?

The subtitle of this book is "A Life Lived in Science Fiction". It's a bit misleading, perhaps, in that a good portion of Gunn's life was spent outside of science fiction, including spending time in the military and in administrative academia. However, he does recall an incident early in his life in which he went to hear H.G. Wells speak. It was that event which probably sent him on the path toward his prolific writing career and his eventually being named an SWFA Grandmaster. Along the way, we learn about Gunn's fits and starts with writing, college education, and romance. We learn about his life with his family and how they shaped and supported his
career. And of course, we do learn about the fiction and non-fiction he wrote and was involved with all along the way.

And certainly that's a long career, a career that saw him crossing paths with some of the biggest names of the field from the past: Fred Pohl, Ted Sturgeon, Damon Knight, Cliff Simak, Horace Gold, John W. Campbell, John
Brunner, Samuel R. Delany, and others. We learn about his involvement with teaching students about science fiction, both by creating college level classes in the field and traveling the world to spread the word about the genre. Gunn indeed is a force for spreading the word about how the field works and about how it influences our lives. He was always willing to lend his name and time to endeavors that would enlighten people about science fiction. I suspect that while there is a significant number of writers that are more prolific with regard to their fiction than Gunn, I believe that his contributions to globally spreading the word about the field may be unmatched.

What's also fascinating is that Gunn has been around long enough to see the transformation of the field from the Golden Age of the 40s through today, from a time when there were few enough personalities in the field that he could know most of them, to today where if you know who a handful of them are you're doing a good job. In that way, STAR-BEGOTTEN provides an interesting insight into the massive change in the field in the last 70 years. Indeed, if you look at the list of names I provided in the last paragraph, other than Delany, you won't find any diversity at all. Today's field would be unrecognizable to that H.G. Wells of long ago, but Gunn has seen that change and continues to be part of it.

If I have one issue with the book, it is that there is a lot of repetition - Gunn repeats events and stories multiple times during the book. This jarred me out of the book on occasion, but in the long run it didn't significantly
detract from the memoir.

As I've said a couple of times, James Gunn is 94. If this is the last thing he writes before he calls it a career, STAR-BEGOTTEN is a fitting end to his life in science fiction.

Star-Begotten, A Life Lived in Science Fiction by James Gunn- An autobiography of one of the last surviving authors of the early stages of science fiction development and a major contributor even today. Gunn begins with, at fourteen, seeing noted science fiction author H.G. Wells give a talk and how it affected the course of his own life. He then goes on to deliver a very introspective account of his youth, his world so to speak, and all the things that followed to make him the man he is today. He began writing with all its failures and successes, then went on to teaching and University academia. Even at 94 he's had three new novels published in the last four years. I'll never forget the thrill I felt reading Star Bridge for the first time back in the early sixties, and how I searched through so many other titles hoping to find that feeling again. This probably only resonates with real fans, but I found it an interesting account from an author who made a difference in my life.