A LIMERICK HISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION
Mike Wadsworth Resnick

[23 may 2002—proofed for #bookz]

1926 	At the start, Hugo brought out Amazing,
	In spite of some serious hazing
		From lawyers and writers.
		(It seems that the blighters
	Sought cash for their written star-gazing).

1939 	John Campbell then surveyed the field,
	And said, "Now this drivel must yield.
		I shall draw a fine line
		With writers like Heinlein,
	And think of the power I'll wield!"

1949 	Tony Boucher at once saw the light,
	And he said (sounding quite erudite):
		"I don't give a fig
		If the concept is big—
	My authors must know how to write!"

1950 	Then Horace Gold quickly appeared,
	And he wasn't the failure we'd feared,
		Galaxy was afire
		With wit and satire—
	And the poorer stuff all disappeared.

1964	Then along came Mike Moorcock, who said:
	"SF is most certainly dead.
		Who wants to re-hash
		Even more of this trash?
	I'll give them the New Wave instead."

1978 	Judy-Lynn del Rey said, "Lester,
	Our readers will never dig Bester,
		But with cute fuzzy robots
		There's no ifs and no buts,
	You'll be a most happy investor."

1984 	A mirrorshade crowd made the scene,
	And said, looking hungry and lean,
		"With punks made of cyber,
		And no moral fiber,
	We'll sweep the bestseller list clean."

1996 	When Lucas from college departed,
	His vision to film was imparted;
		The books have been pleasant,
		But quite adolescent—
	And now we're right back where we started.