The Science Fiction of Konstanin Tsiolkovsky. The first time a complete collection of his science fiction has been published outside the Soviet Union. Tsiolkovsky - Man of Vision - was one of the very first science fiction writers. He was considered by the Russians to be the father of the theory of jet-propulsion and interplanetary travel. Fascinating reading. From a review in the July, 1980 issue of Analog: "A book that deserves at least brief mention in this column is The Science Fiction of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Tsiolkovsky was a provincial Russian schoolmaster who dreamed of space travel. His primitive experiments pre-dated Goddard's in this country and the wings of his imagination were more magnificently pinioned than any since Leonardo. He was at least two generations ahead of his time, for in the writings collected here are foreshadowings of the orbital elevators of Clarke's and Sheffield's novels, of the Ringworld of Niven and the Macrolife of Zebrowski, of multistage rockets and asteroid and moon mining. There are even sections that read like primitive drafts of O'Neill's High Frontier. "Calling Tsiolkovsky's work science fiction is less than just, for though his pieces may resemble 1920s Amazing SF -- a lecture dressed in a tutu of a plot -- they are primarily essays, and in a style reminiscent of Asimov at that. Their main interest to us now must be historical, for much of the science is outdated, but that interest is considerable. I recommend the book to anyone concerned with the history of SF or of space technology." -- Tom Easton, Copyright 1980, Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact (Used by permission of the publisher.) I am an avid science fiction reader with profound admiration for good science fiction writers. Two of my favorite writers are Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein; so when I was presented with the opportunity to read works by the Russian writer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1858-1935), I frankly undertook it as a labor of love, but with some skepticism, since - quite obviously - my standards are high. But let me say that I was completely captivated by Tsiolkovsky. His writing style, his ventures into delightful fantasy, the manner in which he laid scientific foundations before he took me along on his interplanetary and galactic carousing. I found myself understanding the Soviets’ grandiosity in calling him “the father of the theory of jet propulsion and interplanetary travel,” because of his work in pure science; for I am tempted to say that he has done for the science fiction genre of writing what Poe did for the short story per se. I was in fact so impressed with Tsiolkovsky’s science fiction that I was instrumental in gathering a collection of his stories for republication - in the United States - in one volume. Some of the stories that I selected were “On The Moon,” “Outside the Earth,” “Life in Space,” “On Vesta,” “Mercury,” “Mars,” “The Asteroids” - and there are others. I selected these stories because I believe they best exemplify the archetype of the story for which aspiring science fiction writers always strive. The collection was published by University Press of the Pacific (who are the publishers of “Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: His Life and Work” and also of Isaac Asimov’s non-fiction book “Worlds Within Worlds: The Story of Nuclear Energy”) in 1979. Adam Starchild In this volume of science fiction revisited, a special significance is let to what might otherwise be considered generic science fiction, since throughout Konstantin Tsiolkovsky s long and noteworthy career he did produce some hard scientific papers, in which among other theories he elaborated on the principles of jet-propelled groundcraft, aircraft, and spacecraft. One of his earlier science fiction stories, "On the Moon" ("On the Moon," originally published in the Moscow magazine, Vokrug Sveta in 1892, is included in the anthology), is a blending of pure fantasy (lunar beasts carouse through the pages), and sound scientific conjecture (the work abounds with sound information on actual lunar conditions as they are now known to exist). This blending of a fantasy that covers the spectrum from wild to almost plausible, with scientific reasoning that covers the spectrum from almost plausible to impossible,was to become the trademark of the bulk of Tsiolkovsky s writings. So intertwined do the concepts of fantasy and sound scientific reasoning become in Tsiolkovsky s works, in fact, that there are many instances in which their separation is the subject of some controversy. Galloping lunar beasts can be accepted as entertainment, his critics are wont to exclaim; but is the man trying to palm off as "scientifically sound" the idea of suns that cool off enough to force mass galactic migrations? Going even further, his critics allege that, where scientific accuracy is expected, Tsiolkovsky s writings are replete with inaccuracies. Among these inaccuracies are some untenable conclusions on the effects of gravity and ac