The family that plays together....

Obviously I was born 20 or 30 yrs 2 late. Bcos Damon Knight's science-fiction history THE FUTURIANS (1977) is the most immediate, vivid, involving, funny book I've read inna LONG time.
I read it over the past 2 nites, setting it down only 4 sleep, coffee & work, & finished it in less than 24 hrs, less than 7 hrs of reading time (w/ interruptions) -- the 1st time I've Dvoured a book that quickly in ages....
THE FUTURIANS is about the New York City "Xtended family" of the 1930s that gave birth 2 some of the most famous science fiction writers, editors, publishers, agents & critics of the '50s, '60s & '70s. Members of the group included Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Donald A. Wollheim, James Blish, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Richard Wilson, Larry Shaw, Robert A.W. Lowndes, Judith Merril, Virginia Kidd, & Knight himself. Other prominent SF names who briefly orbited around the fringe of the group included Algis Budrys, Jane Roberts, Katherine MacLean, Hannes Bok....
Living inna sorta commune in NYC, moving every time the $$$ ran out or landlords got fed-up-w/ them, almost-cheerfully starving while trying 2 figure out what kinda writers they wanted 2 B, trying 2 set the SF-fan-world on its ear, having huge arguments over meaningless SF-fandom issues, Ngaging in silly turf wars, communicating w/ other members of the group thru scandalous rumor-mongering "wall newspapers" that the members would take turns writing....
These people sound like they were a hoot -- all Xcept 4 Wollheim, who comes across as very much a stick-in-the-mud thruout the narrative. (He went on 2 Bcome 1 of SF's biggest editors & publishers in the '60s & '70s, creating & running the SF line at Ace Books, & later running his own show at DAW Books.)
When this "family" 4med in the '30s & '40s, they were all young, impulsive, crazy, quick 2 get in2 fights, quick 2 4m emotional bonds. There is A GREAT DEAL of drunken silliness in this book ("Let's all go kill Lowndes!") -- almost as many drunken incidents & trips 2 bars as there R suggestions of bed-hopping, affairs & broken marriages. (Merril, later 1 of the top book critics & anthologists in SF, has affairs w/ 2 men while her husband is off fighting in WWII. Pohl goes thru 3 marriages in the course of the book -- & still has time 2 write novels & short stories, B a literary agent, edit GALAXY magazine, & later work 4 Bantam Books.)
But Knight does not pass judgement on his old friends. He merely reports the facts -- about the incidents he was involved in, as well as every1 else's Ntanglements. Knight loved these people. That comes across clearly. & they obviously felt warmly about him, Dspite their hesitancy about admitting this "country yokel" from Hood River, Ore., as a full member of the club.
Knight's Dscriptions R vivid & bright. When he Dscribes a house or a "railroad apartment" the group shared, U C those places, from the "dingy white horror" of a kitchen that hasn't bn repainted since 1945, 2 the multi-story "Ivory Tower" members of the group lived in briefly, where they could actually find some privacy & lose each other 4 awhile.
The only place the book gets Dpressing is toward the Nd, when some core members of the family start dying 2 early -- Dirk Wylie dies of tuberculosis of the spine. Almost-tragic John Michel goes quietly crazy B4 drowning in a foot & 1/2 of water. The cynical, sarcastic Kornbluth -- possibly the best writer of them all until Pohl hit his stride in the '70s -- is offered the editorship of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, shovels snow outta his driveway, drives 2 the train station so he can go in2 NYC 4 an interview, collapses in his car & dies from a heart attack w/o regaining consciousness.
Of course, almost all of the group R dead now. Pohl is still writing & blogging at age 90, probly suprised 2 have outlived every1 else.
What suprises me most is that Knight was able 2 cover all this history, the arguments, the intermarriages, Wollheim's lawsuit that broke the family up, their subsequent achievements separately, Asimov's massive later popularity, the fates of the wives & husbands & children -- & kept the book under 200 pgs. He wraps it all up rather 2 quickly. I wanted 2 know more. But then he always was an economical writer. He coulda gone on another 200 pgs & I wouldn't have minded....
NE fan of '50s-'70s SF should love this. I think it's Knight's best book, even better than his collection of SF criticism IN SEARCH OF WONDER that I reviewed awhile back....
Guess I'm a sucker 4 this kinda stuff. There'll likely B more of this kinda thing coming soon....