Amazing Stories (magazine)
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction - magazine , which for the first time in April 1926 as a pulp magazine appeared. The publisher and editor was initially the science fiction author Hugo Gernsback . Amazing Stories was the first science fiction magazine in the United States. It became the model for numerous other periodicals in the still young science fiction genre and established the era of the so-called pulp magazines .
1926 to 1928: The first years under Hugo Gernsback
In April 1926, the publisher Hugo Gernsback brought with the first edition of Amazing Stories an addition to the genre of fiction magazines popular in the USA . Amazing Stories - The Magazin of Scientification was the official title and was intended to make authors of "Scientification" (the term was not converted into "Science Fiction" in use today) such as Jules Verne , Edgar Allan Poe or HG Wells known to readers . The edition of the magazine produced in New York was comparatively cheap at 25 cents and the target group of American male adolescents. In the beginning, the magazine appeared once a month. A striking distinguishing feature of the early days of Amazing Stories was to be the covers created by the Austrian draftsman Frank Rudolph Paul , which depict futuristic scenes according to the ideas of the time.
In the early days of the magazine, Gernsback was still using less well-known works by famous authors. In the years to come, however, young writers in the emerging literary genre of science fiction increasingly made use of the platform offered by Amazing Stories and other pulp magazines. Was already in the fourth edition of the later as a screenwriter and film director known Curt Siodmak with his debut feature "The eggs from the Tanganyika lake" Amazing Stories represented. In the next editions, older contributions by established authors such as Garrett P. Serviss ' work “A Columbus in Space” (written in 1909), Edgar Rice Burrough's “The Land that time forgot” (1918) or Abraham Merritt's “The Moon Pool” ( 1918) and “A Face in the Abyss” (1923) with the first contributions of unknown young talented authors. In December 1926, Clare Winger Harris reached third place with her first work "The Fate of the Poseidonia" in an Amazing Stories authors' competition and later became a regular contributor and author for the magazine. Harris is now considered the first woman to successfully publish under her own name in a science fiction magazine.
1929 to 1938: Before World War II
In April 1929 Gernsback left Amazing Stories and started the next pulp magazines with Amazing Stories Annual , a sister magazine to Amazing Stories, and Science Wonder Stories . From mid-1929 he was replaced by Arthur Lynch, who only acted as editor for five issues. He was followed in November 1929 by T. O'Connor Sloane, who has been editor-in-chief since the first issue of Amazing Stories. Sloane worked as editor until April 1938. He was even more sluggish than Gernsback in dealing with his authors on a daily basis. Responses to submitted manuscripts were a long time coming. The development of Amazing Stories also stagnated in other ways. When astounding Stories of Super Science became a serious competitor in the science fiction pulp magazine market in January 1930 , many of the previous Amazing Stories authors migrated there and the number of copies sold dropped dramatically.
Nevertheless, numerous new and later well-known science fiction authors such as Jack Williamson , John W. Campbell , Clifford D. Simak , John Wyndham and EE "Doc" Smith published their first works on Amazing Stories during this time .
1939 to 1949: The Palmer Years
In June 1938, Amazing Stories was now published in the 3rd edition of the 12th year, Raymond A. Palmer took over the office of editor. In January of the same year the magazine had already changed publisher and was now published by Ziff Davis . The reason for this was the continued decline in the magazine's success. The number of copies sold has fallen steadily since the mid-1930s and from October 1935, for the first time since 1926, there was a change to a bi-monthly publication cycle. Palmer, reader and fan of Amazing Stories from the very beginning, should bring the magazine back to the success of the first years. In contrast to Gernsback, Palmer placed less emphasis on scientific accuracy (and still promised on the cover picture of the first edition he published: "EVERY STORY SCIENTIFICALLY ACCURATE" ), but promised his readers in the future "... speed, exciting adventures and Romance " .
The layout of the cover was modernized, a back cover was tried out and retained due to the positive response. For his first issue, Palmer chose a photo of a spaceman carrying an unconscious woman over his arm for the cover instead of a drawing, which, in contrast to the previous drawings by Paul and his successor, looked very modern. However, after a short time they returned to the tried and tested cover images drawn by various artists for front and back covers. The price of the magazine was lowered by 5 cents to 20 cents. Additional author biographies have now been published for the actual content, the science fiction short stories or monthly sequels. In a correspondence corner, like-minded readers were able to make contacts and exchange addresses, and an area for collectors was set up - the beginning of an organized science fiction fandom . Palmer succeeded in his work and ideas, and Amazing Stories' popularity and sales increased again. The April 1939 issue was even enclosed in a time capsule buried on the grounds of the New York World's Fair .
As early as October 1938 it was possible to revert to a monthly publication cycle, which, with an interruption from 1943 to 1946 and 1954 to 1955 (Amazing Stories was published again every two months), was retained until mid-1965. In 1943 the price of the magazine could easily be increased by 10 cents, but Amazing Stories was twice as long at the time.
Under Palmer's editorship, "I Remember Lemuria" was published in March 1945, the first story by Richard Sharpe Shaver . Shaver wrote about an ancient underground civilization called "Deros" (Detrimental Robots). This highly technical race, which also used UFOs , was responsible for accidents and disasters as well as for cruel experiments on humans in his stories. Shaver claimed from the start that his stories, which were becoming increasingly popular with readers, were based on fact and that he would be in contact with the Deros. Palmer confirmed that Shaver's stories were true. This led in a very short time to the phenomenon of so-called Shaverism : the sales figures of the Amazing Stories issues, in which more and more space was given to Shaver's stories, rose significantly, letters from readers relating to Shaver's stories reached the publisher in the four-digit range Numerous shaver circles and circles were formed in which Shaver's claims were believed and discussed. There were fierce disputes within the young American science fiction scene. When Palmer left Amazing Stories in 1949 - also because of the controversy surrounding the Shaver Mystery - Shaver’s contributions to Amazing Stories were also reduced , after the June 1947 issue, for example, had almost exclusively contained Shaver Mystery stories at its peak . The preponderance of Shaver material, which was vehemently criticized by some of the readership , had prompted editor William Bernard Ziff to intervene here.
Howard Browne took over from Palmer as editor of Amazing Stories. In general, the circulation of Pulp Magazines decreased in the post-war years. The new format of pocket books increasingly turned out to be serious competition. Browne planned, in consultation with the publisher, to convert Amazing Stories into a high-quality glossy magazine while also discontinuing other, unprofitable pulp magazines. The budget and thus the fees were increased significantly and well-known SF authors such as Isaac Asimov or Theodore Sturgeon were to serve as the draft horses for this new era with their new stories. In the spring of 1950 an internal test edition was created and the start of the new Amazing Stories was planned for April 1951, punctually for the 25th anniversary of the first edition of the magazine. However, the Korean War that broke out in June 1950 led to drastic budget cuts and the plans for a reorientation were abandoned. As a consequence, Browne withdrew from the day-to-day business of the editorial team and left this to William Hamling and Lila Shaffer.
bibliography
- editor
The table below follows the information in the imprint. The actual responsibility for the content of the edition can differ from this information.
| Period | editor |
|---|---|
| April 1926 - April 1929 | Hugo Gernsback |
| November 1929 - May 1938 | T. O'Conor Sloane |
| June 1938 - December 1949 | Raymond A. Palmer |
| January 1950 - August 1956 | Howard Browne |
| September 1956 - November 1958 | Paul W. Fairman |
| December 1958 - June 1965 | Cele Goldsmith Lalli |
| August 1965 - October 1967 | Joseph Ross |
| December 1967 - September 1968 | Harry Harrison |
| November 1968 - January 1969 | Barry N. Malzberg |
| March 1969 - February 1979 | Ted White |
| May 1979 - September 1982 | Elinor Mavor |
| November 1982 - July 1986 | George H. Scithers |
| September 1986 - March 1991 | Patrick Lucien Price |
| May 1991 - winter 1995 and summer 1998 - summer 2000 | Kim Mohan |
| September 2004 - December 2004 | Dave Gross |
| January 2005 - March 2005 | Jeff Berkwits |
| since July 2012 | Steve Davidson |
- publishing company
| Period | publishing company | place |
|---|---|---|
| April 1926 - June 1929 | Experimenter Publishing | new York |
| July 1929 - October 1930 | Experimenter Publications | new York |
| November 1930 - September 1931 | Radio Science Publications | new York |
| October 1931 - February 1938 | Teck Publishing Corporation | new York |
| April 1938 - February 1951 | Point Davis | Chicago |
| March 1951 - June 1965 | Point Davis | new York |
| August 1965 - February 1979 | Ultimate Publishing | new York |
| May 1979 - June 1982 | Ultimate Publishing | Scottsdale , Arizona |
| September 1982 - May 1985 | Dragon Publishing | Lake Geneva , Wisconsin |
| July 1985 - winter 1995 | TSR | Lake Geneva, Wisconsin |
| September 2004 - March 2005 | Paizo Publishing | Bellevue , Washington |
| since July 2012 | Experimenter Publishing Company | Hillsboro , New Hampshire |
- title
The title of the magazine changed several times:
| Period | title |
|---|---|
| April 1926 - February 1958 | Amazing stories |
| March 1958 - April 1958 | Amazing science fiction |
| May 1958 - September 1960 | Amazing Science Fiction Stories |
| October 1960 - July 1970 | Amazing stories |
| September 1970 - February 1979 | Amazing Science Fiction Stories |
| May 1979 - August 1980 | Amazing stories |
| November 1980 - November 1984 | Amazing Science Fiction Stories Combined with Fantastic |
| January 1985 - March 1985 | Amazing Science Fiction Stories Combined with Fantastic Stories |
| May 1985 - January 1986 | Amazing Science Fiction Stories |
| since March 1986 | Amazing stories |
literature
- Forrest J. Ackerman : Science Fiction. Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8228-7295-4
- John Clute : Science Fiction - The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-453-11512-0
- Mike Ashley: The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2000, ISBN 0-85323-865-0
- Mike Ashley: Transformations: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 2005, ISBN 0-85323-779-4 .
Web links
- Amazing Stories - Official Website
- Amazing Stories in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Amazing Stories , overview in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database , accessed November 15, 2017.
- ↑ From May 1979 to August 1981 under the pseudonym Omar Gohagen, then under her real name.
- ↑ a b Stephen G. Miller, William T. Contento. Amazing Stories Checklist . Locus Publications, accessed November 15, 2017.