genre the chase of the golden meteor
Islands of ___MASK96___ is a ___MASK73___ by author John W . Campbell , Jr .. It was first published in book form in 1957 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 1 , 417 copies . The novel originally appeared in the magazine " Amazing Stories Quarterly "; the text was " extensively edited " for book publication , with Campbell ' s approval , by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach . A paperback edition was published by Ace Books in 1966 . In 1973 , " Islands " was included in a Doubleday omnibus of all three " Arcot , Wade , and Morey " novels . A German translation appeared in 1967 as " Kosmische Kreuzfahrt ", and an Italian translation was published in 1976 as " Isole nello spazio ". Gary Wesley Westfahl ( born May 7 , 1951 ) is a scholarly author and reviewer of ___MASK12___ . He has written reviews for the " Los Angeles Times ", " The Internet Review of ___MASK12___ " and Locus Online . He worked at the University of California , Riverside until 2011 and is now an Adjunct Professor at the University of La Verne . Hard ___MASK12___ is a category of ___MASK12___ characterized by an emphasis on scientific accuracy . The term was first used in print in 1957 by P . Schuyler Miller in a review of John W . Campbell , Jr .' s " Islands of Space " in " Astounding ___MASK12___ ". The complementary term soft ___MASK12___ , formed by analogy to hard ___MASK12___ , first appeared in the late 1970s . The term is formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the " hard " ( natural ) and " soft " ( social ) sciences . ___MASK12___ critic Gary Westfahl argues that neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy ; instead they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful . The Chase of the Golden Meteor ( French : La Chasse au météore ) is a ___MASK87___ by Jules Verne . It was one of the last novels written by the prolific French hard ___MASK12___ pioneer and was only published in 1908 , three years after his death . It is one of seven such posthumous novels , many of which were extensively edited by his son . Verne himself first wrote `` La Chasse au météore '' in 1901 and then rewrote it before his death . Michel Verne is known to have emphasised the romantic sub plot of this ___MASK87___ and expanded it from 17 to 21 chapters , among other changes . It concerns the rivalry between two amateur astronomers in the same small American town who spot a new meteor and attempt to claim the credit for themselves . The meteor turns out to be extremely valuable , as can be guessed from the title , and another eccentric amateur scientist , this time an inventor , creates a device which will cause it to fall where he chooses . This character was an invention of Michel , rather than Jules , Verne . The book is seen as less an early example of hard ___MASK12___ than a social satire lampooning greed , monomania and vanity . The future world depicted in the book includes two political predictions which failed to materialise in the century since its publication : firstly , the United States comes to be composed of 51 states and accordingly , its flag has 51 stars , as opposed to the 45 states that existed in 1905 when Verne died ; secondly , Greenland becomes an independent , fully sovereign nation state . ___MASK12___ ( often shortened to SF , sci - fi or scifi ) is a ___MASK50___ of ___MASK65___ , typically dealing with imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology , space travel , time travel , faster than light travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . ___MASK12___ often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations , and has been called a " literature of ideas ." It usually avoids the supernatural , and unlike the related ___MASK50___ of fantasy , historically science fiction stories were intended to have a grounding in science - based fact or theory at the time the story was created , but this connection is now limited to hard science fiction . A ___MASK67___ is a person who writes poetry . Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others . A ___MASK67___ may simply be a writer of poetry , or may perform their art to an audience . Peter Schuyler Miller ( February 21 , 1912  October 13 , 1974 ) was an American ___MASK12___ writer and critic . Jules Gabriel Verne ( 8 February 1828  24 ___MASK39___ 1905 ) was a French novelist , ___MASK67___ , and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary ___MASK50___ of science fiction .