This is the book that effectively defined my early career as a science fiction critic. Its basic argument, and much of its information, first appeared as my dissertation, The Mote in Gernsback's Eye: A History of the Idea of Science Fiction (Claremont Graduate University, 1986). Much of that material was then reworked into a series of six journal articles, four of them published in Foundation: The Review of Science Fiction. These articles, further revised and accompanied by six additional chapters, became The Mechanics of Wonder. Due to its length, it took a while to find a publisher, but Liverpool University Press finally agreed to publish the book in 1998.

Unfortunately, it appears that Liverpool University Press is no longer actively selling the book, but the last time I checked, copies were available from Amazon and eBay. Here is the book's Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements

The True History of Science Fiction Introduction

"An Idea of Tremendous Import": Hugo Gernsback's Theory of Science Fiction

"The Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Edgar Allan Poe Type of Story": Hugo Gernsback's History of Science Fiction

"This Unique Document": Hugo Gernsback's Ralph 124C 41+

"A Lot of Rays and Bloodshed": Hugo Gernsback's Career as a Science Fiction Editor

"Carefully Projected Scientific Thought": Critical Voices between Hugo Gernsback and John W. Campbell, Jr.

"A Convenient Analog System": John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Theory of Science Fiction

"A Characteristic Symptom of This Stage of Evolution": John W. Campbell, Jr.'s History of Science Fiction

"A Full-View Picture of the World That Would Result": Robert A. Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon

"Can Openers, Clichés and Case Studies": John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Career as a Science Fiction Editor

"Slow Sculpture": Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

An early version of one chapter is available online at the Science Fiction Studies website: "'The Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, and Edgar Allan Poe Type of Story': Hugo Gernsback's History of Science Fiction." Science-Fiction Studies, 19 (November 1992), 340–353.

Finally, after I completed this manuscript, I continued to research the career of Hugo Gernsback, resulting in some additional articles which, accompanied by other new material, were eventually published as Hugo Gernsback and the Century of Science Fiction (2007), effectively a continuation of The Mechanics of Wonder.