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JOURNAL OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE INTRODUCTION PAGE 81
Frank Robinson, in the introduction to his Science Fiction of the 20th Century. An Illustrated History: "When we discovered science fiction, we were consumed by it. We haunted the library for books by Verne and Wells and read and re-read the cheap Grosset & Dunlap editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs that we were given for our birthdays or at Christmas. But the real epiphany came when we discovered the magazines with their fascinating covers of aliens, rocket ships, and distant planets." Whether on TV, in the movies, books, magazines, toys, games, or the Aurora plastic models, the monster/science fiction craze continuing to sweep American culture in the 1960s rivaled rock and roll in popularity. The two sometimes merged, with weird results. In 1962, Bobby 'Boris' Pickett's song The Monster Mash became a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Pickett came up with the idea for the song when, performing with his band one night, he did a Boris Karloff imitation in the middle of covering Little Darlin'. The audience loved it.
Left: Rock and Roll meets the Monsters, 1963. Right: 1964 issue of another Warren Publishing Company magazine edited by Forrest J Ackerman.
As Jeff Rovin, in his Aliens, Robots, And Spaceships (1995), points out, modern science fiction is rooted in mythology; "The early 'spaceships' of these beings were flaming chariots, great birds, and the like; at times, the gods were served by robots, metal beings like Talos." Rovin continues, on early authors writing science fiction before the 'genre' existed: Somnium (1634) by astronomer Johannes Kepler; The Man in the Moone (1638) by Bishop Francis Godwin; Voyage to the Moon (1650) by Cyrano de Bergerac; Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley; The Unparalled Adventure of One Hans Pfall (1835) by Edgar Allan Poe; and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. In 1963, Dr. Donald A. Reed created The Count Dracula Society for fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. With its regular meetings, film screenings, and Dr. Reed's knowledge, dedication, and determination, the society transformed into a prestigious organization. The likes of Robert Bloch, Rod Serling, Ray Bradbury, Lon Chaney Jr., Christopher Lee, A. E. van Vogt, Wolfman Jack and many others, attended the Ann Radcliffe Awards banquets.
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