According to Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Gernberk’s stories were described as ‘hackneyed adventure tales in which heroes outfitted in dubious space metal wrecked alien words and rescued space maidens’ (New Grolier Multimedia encyclopedia 112). The popularity of the Amazing stories led to new entrants in the 1920s and 1930s to include, Science wonder stories, Wonder stories and Astounding stories. It was Campbell’s work which gave a credible representation of science fiction on how technology has an impact on individuals as well as their cultures through complex narrative techniques as well as exhaustive approaches to subject matters. His works have been regarded as the golden age of science fiction under which science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein, Theordore Sturgeon and Isaac Asimov flourished. Major themes of science fiction are listed by Grolier as robots, alternate worlds, faster- than- light travel, the seeding of the galaxies by the humans and aliens and its many astonishing consequences and the full range of possibilities presented by the nuclear power.
The impact of technology on everyday lives and on the planet’s fate became more dominant in science fiction from the 1950s onwards. Most notable development was the New Wave associated with authors such as Brian Aldiss and J.G Ballard whose focus was on topical issues such as environmental depletion, urban overcrowding, and how technology relates to drug abuse, crime and sexuality. The new wave in some aspects introduces cyberpunk’s attention to the impact of technology on the present no less than on the future an important component which features in William Gibson’s works and his contemporaries – that of computer technology. This continuous intermingling of reality and fiction has depicted science fiction as a means of sharpening the awareness of a people to their reality by de-familiarizing it through imaginations and fantasies