[gmw]

Certainly there can be elements of science-fiction even in ancient literature, but I think it safe to say it matured into something more easily identifiable as science fiction in the nineteenth century.

However, I was appalled to see the suggestion that "old masters" might not include authors like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells ... and lots of others, but those two in particular are indisputably old masters of science fiction.

The 1930s pulp post-pulp explosion is generally referred to as the "golden age", but it was a very definite, and limited, style of science fiction - fiction suitable to the publishing medium and audience of the time. Some authors worked well in this era and failed to evolve with the 1950s and 1960s, but some made that change with great success. The ones that made that change successfully, or that became a success into the 1950s and beyond are the ones I tend think of with greatest affection because I prefer the more substantial works that became the norm once again - reverting back to what worked before the supposed golden age.