Intended for a broad audience, Anticipation was originally conceived to publish books addressing the rumored increase of technocracy in the French Fourth Republic;[1] but later emphasized space opera and topics of popular interest.
The books exerted great influence on French science fiction and started the career of several noted French writers including Stefan Wul, Kurt Steiner, Louis Thirion [fr], Doris and Jean-Louis Le May [fr], Richard Bessière, Jimmy Guieu and B. R. Bruss.
[2] It consisted of paperback books sold at a modest price but distinguished by sophisticated cover art by René Brantonne [fr].
[6] But it also recruited young French-language authors, and motivated thriller writers to try writing science fiction, such as Georges-Jean Arnaud, who published his first genre texts in the series.
According to George Edgar Slusser, Fleuve Noir Anticipation was where the major French science fiction authors of the 1970s published their first novels.