{"id":657,"date":"2020-07-11T15:27:48","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T15:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/?p=657"},"modified":"2020-07-11T15:27:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T15:27:48","slug":"out-now-the-science-of-sci-fi-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrew-may.com\/blog\/2020\/07\/out-now-the-science-of-sci-fi-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Out Now: The Science of Sci-Fi Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My latest book has just been published! It\u2019s my fourth contribution to the \u201cScience and Fiction\u201d series from Springer, following on from Pseudoscience and Science Fiction<\/a> (2017), Rockets and Ray Guns<\/a> (2018) and Fake Physics<\/a> (2019). This one is called The Science of Sci-Fi Music<\/em>, and here\u2019s the back-cover blurb:<\/p>\n

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The 20th century saw radical changes in the way serious music is composed and produced, including the advent of electronic instruments and novel compositional methods such as serialism and stochastic music. Unlike previous artistic revolutions, this one took its cues from the world of science.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Creating electronic sounds, in the early days, required a well-equipped laboratory and an understanding of acoustic theory. Composition became increasingly “algorithmic”, with many composers embracing the mathematics of set theory. The result was some of the most intellectually challenging music ever written – yet also some of the best known, thanks to its rapid assimilation into sci-fi movies and TV shows, from the electronic scores of Forbidden Planet<\/em> and Dr Who<\/em> to the other-worldly sounds of 2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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This book takes a close look at the science behind “science fiction” music, as well as exploring the way sci-fi imagery found its way into the work of musicians like Sun Ra and David Bowie, and how music influenced the science fiction writings of Philip K. Dick and others.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Science of Sci-Fi Music<\/em> is available from all the usual places, such as Amazon.com<\/a> or Amazon UK<\/a>, either as a paperback or an ebook.<\/p>\n

To give a flavour of the contents, here\u2019s a link to a short video preview of the book:<\/p>\n