History of Science Fiction Magazine, 1926-1935

by Mike Ashley

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809280035
• ISBN13: 9780809280032
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Chicago: Henry Regnery Company
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Fun and informative anthology and history of American pulp science fiction's early years

I've only managed to track down this first volume of Michael Ashley's HISTORY OF THE SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE; there were at least two further volumes of this history/anthology series, each offering another 10 years of stories and commentary. The book starts out with a 40-page introduction, "An Amazing Experiment", which details the history of the early American pulp magazines from the early twentieth century through the founding of the first all-science fiction magazine, Hugo Gernsback's AMAZING STORIES, in 1926, and the early years of that magazine's history and those of it's principal competitors. It's perhaps less flavorful and entertaining than Isaac Asimov's coverage of the period in his anthology BEFORE THE GOLDEN AGE, but what it lacks in personal character it makes up for in serious information. Following this, the anthology proper, which consists of the following stories (with original publication dates): "The Coming of the Ice" by G. Peyton Wertenbaker (AMAZING STORIES June 1926) "The Machine Man of Ardathia" by Francis Flagg (AMAZING STORIES November 1927) "Out of the Sub-Universe" by R.F. Starzl (AMAZING STORIES QUARTERLY Summer 1928) "The Eternal Man" by D.D. Sharp (SCIENCE WONDER STORIES August 1929) "The Power and the Glory" by Charles Willard Diffin (ASTOUNDING STORIES July 1930) "The Voice from the Ether" by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach (AMAZING STORIES July 1931) "The Asteroid of Gold" by Clifford D. Simak (WONDER STORIES November 1932) "The Island of Unreason" by Edmond Hamilton (WONDER STORIES May 1933) "One Prehistoric Night" by Philip Barshofsky (WONDER STORIES November 1934) "Davy Jones' Ambassador" by Raymond Z. Gallun (ASTOUNDING STORIES December 1935) There's a brief biographical note provided for each author; following the stories are four useful appendices - A - Checklists of all of the authors' works with dates of publication from this era, and additional checklists for 10 other important writers in the genre during that period: Miles J. Breuer, John W. Campbell Jr., Stanton A. Coblentz, David H. Keller, S.P. Meek, P. Schuyler Miller, Nat Schachner, Edward Elmer ("E.E. `Doc'") Smith, A. Hyatt Verrill, and Donald Wandrei. B - Summary of magazine issues during the period - number of issues published per year, including "weird" titles that have only borderline SF interest. C - Glossary of magazine editors. D - Note on key illustrators/cover artists. None of these stories are duplicated in any anthology I have from the period, and some of the writers, like Sharp and Barshofsky, have faded into almost complete neglect. So this is a very worthwhile collection for the hard-core fans of the pulp era, and the stories for the most part are pretty solid examples of that era; my favorite is probably Wertenbaker's, a surprisingly chilling (no pun intended) and dour apocalyptic tale; Hamilton's and Starzl's pieces are above-average as well. Readily and cheaply available used here and elsewhere - go for it!