One of the consistent themes of e-books has been the popularity of two specific genres... romance and sci-fi/fantasy. True, there has been consistent interest in older classic works such as collections of the Harvard Classics and Charles Dickens. But the gadget freak favorite always seems to be sci-fi/fantasy.
Whether you fit that pattern or not, you might just find these 20 facts (and speculations) about science fiction to be fascinating.
1. Arguably the inspiration for much science fiction traces back to classical mythology. Think of it—Earthlings abducted by beings from the sky, humans morphing into strange creatures, and events that defy the laws of nature.
2. Birth of the (un)cool: In 1926 writer Hugo Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first true science-fiction magazine.
3. Gernsback loved greenbacks. He tried to trademark the term science fiction, and he paid writers so little that H. P. Lovecraft later nicknamed him “Hugo the Rat.”
4. Rat’s revenge: The most famous sci-fi writing award is called the Hugo.
5. Writers for the early pulp magazines would often write under multiple pseudonyms so they could have more than one article per issue. Ray Bradbury—taking this practice to another level—used six different pen names.
See the entire list at Discover Magazine's
Top 20 article. You'll find out which technology was avoided by Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, the book that apparently inspired Second Life and Google Maps and much more.