My thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon Publications for an advance copy of this book of interviews featuring many of the architects and grand masters of science fiction, discussing their beginnings, their feuds, their works and what the medium meant to them, and their views of the future.

As I have become older I have become more and more fascinated with how the sausage is made especially when it comes to creativity in media that I enjoy. Oral histories, how-tos, biographies literary studies, making-ofs and behind-the-scenes. How an album was crafted, a film was born, the plot to my favorite books. I am fascinated by the spark of creativity, the influence of the world around the creators, the interference of others and the reception to the product. Plus the gossip. I hate admitting it, but I love the gossip. Science fiction has probably been my longest interest, starting early, though with a few years of separation, and one I always find the most interesting to learn about. What makes a person look at the stars and go what is out there, or look in their wallet and go, how can I get more in here? How does a new genre form, how does it break one's heart. How could it be different, and who was left behind. And a little bit of spicy stories and gossip. Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends edited by Richard Woilinsky is an oral history of science fiction told by the creators who were there, sharing their experiences, or what they think is their experiences, about he early days in a burgeoning genre.

The book features transcriptions taken from a radio show started in 1977 that ran for almost 20 years, before changing and continuing in other ways, called Probabilities. The show was produced by Richard Woilinsky, who did the transcriptions the book is based on, with co-hosts Richard A. Lupoff and Lawrence Davidson. Starting with science fiction the show soon covered all of the pulps including mystery, thrillers, and spicy stories, as many of the authors contributed to anything to be both published and make a penny a word. Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Frederick Pohl, Harlan Ellison, Damon Knight and others both bright stars in the field, and those who have been unfairly forgotten appear in the book, which is arranged by themes and chronological order. There are stories of discovering science fiction, how they found they could write, and lots of stories about being cheated by publishers. Most of these men, and there are a lot of me, knew each other and love to share stories, both good and bad about each other and the travails and foibles. There is much about the early pulp days, the money being paid, and how the rise of pocket books ruined the pulps.

A really great history that never has a slow spot. I could not get over how in the pre-Internet days these people all seemed to fall into each other circles. Nor how these circles would feud over the weirdest stuff. One can see fandom being born here, the petty spats, the not-being-comfortable-with woman, the treatment of women, the casual racism, even when trying to be nice. There are a lot of sad stories, people dying forgotten, great authors who never got that break, great authors being jerks. As editor Woilinsky does a great job of keeping stories straight, as time, and possible still lingering anger might make for stories to lack that ring of truth. As Harlan Ellison says these are all storytellers, so they are liars, believe it or not.

This is a great history of the early days, and I hope to see more from these shows. I can't imagine trying to transcribe that many shows, I used to transcribe my editors interviews at a magazine, and well wow I am super impressed. The stories are fun, some are mean, some are surprisingly spicy. A book that delivered far more than I expected and one I would love to read more from. Classic science fiction fans will really enjoy this book.

An informative, but more than that wildly entertaining, group account of science fiction's early years – Hell, Jack Williamson talks about selling a story the year before the term was coined. The participants are transcribed from the archives of a radio show* which ran from 1977-95, meaning that not only are many of those interviewed no longer with us, but nor are two of the interviewers; this does make it all the more valuable as a record of an age now slipping from living memory, but does mean that compiler Richard Wolinsky, as last man standing, feels obliged to add a lot of footnotes about changing mores, some of which are a lot less necessary than others. And in terms of diversity of contributors...we get it, the field was what it was, they wanted to talk to CL Moore and never got her, there are some good bits of le Guin... But it's unfortunate, given what we now know, that one of the female writers most extensively quoted is Marion Zimmer Bradley. And trying to leaven the earlier chapters with odd retrospective comments from people who weren't there just feels out of place, especially when one of them is Margaret Atwood, who so famously doesn't write science fiction – though at least that title means I can now say I do like one book with input from her, and it's about talking, squids, and space.

It should also be noted that the subtitle is a little misleading when it characterises the book as 'Interviews with Science Fiction Legends'. Yes, those are the building blocks – assuming we don't cavil over how legendary some of the more niche folk here are. But to me that suggests a book in which you have an interview with Asimov, then one with Bradbury, and so on through to Zelazny (other organisational principles are of course available). Whereas what we have here is what I'd call an oral history, stitching together a patchwork that jumps from contributor A to B to C and back to give an account in the round, topic by topic and era by era rather than person by person. Still, I like an oral history, and bar very occasional repetition, this one is nicely put together, often with enviable comic timing.

Because, make no mistake, this is a very funny book, sometimes at the most basic level (Randall Garrett fleeing a hotel room naked, pursued by a furious husband), but sometimes because we've just had a couple of pages on the vital importance of Hugo Gernsback to the field's early days, and then cut to E Hoffman Price: "Every time I see someone being awarded a Hugo, I see the biggest fraud, swindler, chickenshit fucking scoundrel ever in the business. He's the only editor I've ever known, or known of, who so fully deserved these understatements of mine." And it's not like many of the other editors who pass through these pages come across as paragons, though sometimes the complaints are clearly partial (Asimov saying Pohl had no ear for titles when, not that it's mentioned here, Pohl came up with many of Cordwainer Smith's, and those were the best in the business). But where people from both sides of a row survive, we'll get both sides, even if sometimes they can barely remember what the original problem was, only that the other sonuvabitch was definitely in the wrong. And some of those sonuvabitches... I hope you like stories which end in variants of 'And the name of that boy was...', because there are plenty here, right back to people who knew Lovecraft (apparently he was astounded to learn that two men could between them polish off a six-pack of beer and still be recognisably human afterwards), but also reminiscences of the aforementioned Asimov, Bradbury and Zelazny when they were just keen kids. The early chapters cover a period when, as Charles Hornig recalls, it was possible to have a collection of the whole SF field – and once the boom hits a point where that becomes unaffordable, one of the many busts hits. Speaking of busts, Philip Klass AKA William Tenn is endearingly frank about his interest in the genre going back to an illustration of naked humans enslaved by Jovians ("I was beginning to have trouble with my gonads in those days, something I've never really recovered from... Of course, there were equally sexually exciting illustrations elsewhere about giant insects, which affected me roughly the same way. I'm a complicated fetishist, always have been."). Hell, the whole book is full of stuff worth quoting, as my very patient spouse can attest: Arthur C Clarke inventing not only the geostationary satellite, but the laser pointer for cats, except he used a drunk not a cat; Philip K Dick complaining about all the weirdos in the field; Harlan Ellison for once not being the biggest menace in any context, though he still gives it a damn good try. But really, if you've got any interest in the first decades of the modern science fiction field, or the absurdities of human group dynamics, or just names you first encountered in the Call Of Cthulhu bestiary being massive bitches, you should read this.

*Note for younger readers: these are like podcasts, except that some of them weren't annoying. I know – wild, right?

(Netgalley ARC)

I’m not exaggerating when I say: this is exactly the book I’ve been searching for. As someone deeply fascinated by the pulp era of speculative fiction and a long-time enthusiast of nonfiction about science fiction, Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods!: Interviews with Science Fiction Legends feels like a personal treasure. I’ve spent years making videos on these topics and will continue to explore and review books that dive into this rich genre history. The deeper I go into Weird fiction, the more questions I’ve had about the authors, editors, and the readership that shaped the pulp fiction landscape—pulp here, of course, referring to the cheap wood-pulp paper on which many early stories were printed.
This remarkable collection offers a window into the evolution of science fiction, the voices who helped mold it, and the vibrant fan communities that emerged around it. Thoughtfully assembled, the book gathers over fifty interviews with major figures in the field—conversations originally aired on the long-running KPFA radio program Probabilities, which ran from 1977 to 1995. These aren’t just enjoyable conversations; they’re a vital archive of genre history—a living document of cultural and creative shifts in speculative storytelling.
Editor Richard Wolinsky, one of the show’s original co-hosts, undertook the massive task of preserving, transcribing, and shaping these conversations into this beautifully readable volume, published by Tachyon. His care and dedication shine throughout. The foreword, written by fellow co-host Richard A. Lupoff before his passing in 2020, adds a deeply personal and affectionate tone, especially in its praise of Wolinsky’s efforts to preserve the original tapes across decades.
I appreciated the note before the interviews begin, suggesting that the book should be read as if the reader is drifting from group to group at a cocktail party, overhearing snippets of different conversations. Just like at a party your ‘ears’ will figuratively perk up when a topic of interest is discussed as some will fade into the background. As stated, my main interest was around the Weird Tales magazine. I found it particularly intriguing to read from people like Frank Belknap Long and Robert Bloch, who had actually met and corresponded with Lovecraft in real time, as well as those who had lived through the World Wars and observed how the post-Influenza social despair shaped readerships. There’s also plenty of “tea,” as the kids would say, being spilled—gossip and drama from the publishing world served piping hot.
This presentation worked well for me rather than getting a transcription of one full interview at a time. Reading multiple perspectives on the same topics offers a more complete picture—whether it’s about a person like Clark Ashton Smith or a magazine like Unknown. I can understand if this fragmented interview structure isn’t for everybody, but it allows for some space if a particular literary voice isn’t of interest to you.
What makes these interviews especially fascinating is the unique vantage point from which they were recorded. These weren’t conducted in the early golden age of pulp, but rather after 1977—after humanity had walked on the moon, and in a world already shaped by the likes of Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Twilight Zone. The conversations capture a reflective tone: creators looking back at their earlier work, witnessing their imaginative ideas—once speculative or fanciful—coming to life through real-world science and technology. It’s a profound experience to read their thoughts in hindsight, bridging the dreams of mid-century pulp with the realities and cultural shifts of the late 20th century.
For anyone passionate about science fiction—whether as a writer, a fan, a scholar, or someone simply curious about how the genre and its communities evolved—this book is essential. It is not only informative and engaging but historically significant, preserving conversations that have helped define and re-define what science fiction means across generations.

This book is a treasure trove for those interested in the history of science fiction, the authors who helped shape it, and the fandom community that grew up around the genre. This well-organized work presents interviews with over fifty science fiction luminaries from the radio program Probabilities, which aired on KPFA in Berkeley between 1977 and 1995. This is a highly informative and entertaining read, but more importantly, it is crucial genre history preserved, an important and meaningful primary source. These interviews shed light on formative years and conversations in the genre and in popular culture. I highly recommend this for creators, fans, and students of science fiction and fandom.