1rgurskey
I know it's this is a bit early, but April 2026 will be the 100th anniversary of the publication of Amazing Stories, the first American science fiction specific magazine. Maybe we can have a sf treasure hunt to celebrate.
2waltzmn
>1 rgurskey:
Or a List of the Month for classic magazine SF. That might be easier to manage. In any case, I too like the notion of something that celebrates Amazing Stories.
Or a List of the Month for classic magazine SF. That might be easier to manage. In any case, I too like the notion of something that celebrates Amazing Stories.
3.mau.
>1 rgurskey: is it so old? I thought it started in the 1930s...
4waltzmn
>3 .mau.:
The 1926 date is correct. The next major magazine in the field was also a Gernsback publication, Wonder Stories/Science Wonder Stories. Then came Astounding Stories, the later Analog. There were some other short-lived ones, but those were the big three of the early years of SF.
What you may be thinking of is when John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding in the late 1930s (a process which took place over time). Campbell forced much greater respect for science, and also demanded better writing. So the first consistently good SF magazine was post-1938 Astounding. But the oldest magazines were older.
The 1926 date is correct. The next major magazine in the field was also a Gernsback publication, Wonder Stories/Science Wonder Stories. Then came Astounding Stories, the later Analog. There were some other short-lived ones, but those were the big three of the early years of SF.
What you may be thinking of is when John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding in the late 1930s (a process which took place over time). Campbell forced much greater respect for science, and also demanded better writing. So the first consistently good SF magazine was post-1938 Astounding. But the oldest magazines were older.
5.mau.
>4 waltzmn: No, I believed that 1926 was corrected. It was just me that thought that Amazing Stories predates 1939, but just by four or five years.
6waltzmn
FWIW, there are several histories of Science Fiction, and of the magazines, in this period. The most comprehensive is the first volume of Mike Ashley's multi-volume opus The History of the Science Fiction Magazine, Part 1: 1926-1935, which also contains stories from the period (though I didn't care for them all that much). Lester del Rey's The World of Science Fiction, 1926-1976 also starts there, though it has a rather odd perspective.
Personally, I think the most interesting is Isaac Asimov's Before the Golden Age. There are some minor errors in the history, but it's the best-written of the bunch, and although some of the stories are pretty weak, the best are better than the ones in Ashley.
I am not a major collector of old magazines -- I haven't the money! -- but I do have a few individual issues. One of the two oldest is Volume 4, No. 12 of Amazing Stories. The cover date is March 1930, so Volume 1, Number 1 would indeed be April 1926.
By March 1930, Hugo Gernsback had already been forced out; T. O'Conor Sloane was in charge. There is no cover story as such, but the lead is part one of a two-part serial, "The Green Girl" by Jack Williamson. Other contributors are G. Peyton Wertenbaker, Miles J. Breuer, Harl Vincent, Robert A. Wait, and Merab Eberle. Most of them have been forgotten, obviously, but Williamson did fairly well for himself.
Personally, I think the most interesting is Isaac Asimov's Before the Golden Age. There are some minor errors in the history, but it's the best-written of the bunch, and although some of the stories are pretty weak, the best are better than the ones in Ashley.
I am not a major collector of old magazines -- I haven't the money! -- but I do have a few individual issues. One of the two oldest is Volume 4, No. 12 of Amazing Stories. The cover date is March 1930, so Volume 1, Number 1 would indeed be April 1926.
By March 1930, Hugo Gernsback had already been forced out; T. O'Conor Sloane was in charge. There is no cover story as such, but the lead is part one of a two-part serial, "The Green Girl" by Jack Williamson. Other contributors are G. Peyton Wertenbaker, Miles J. Breuer, Harl Vincent, Robert A. Wait, and Merab Eberle. Most of them have been forgotten, obviously, but Williamson did fairly well for himself.
7paradoxosalpha
I'd love it if we had the monthly crowdsourced list in April dedicated to pre-1940 sf, in honor of Amazing.
8waltzmn
>7 paradoxosalpha: I'd love it if we had the monthly crowdsourced list in April dedicated to pre-1940 sf, in honor of Amazing.
April 2026, note, not 2025. At least if we want to celebrate the centenary. But obviously I like the idea.
This raises a question, though: Should it be genre SF, or magazine SF, or... something else that I at least probably wouldn't call SF? :-) E.g. would one count A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? (I'd say no.) But what about H. G. Welles? Jules Verne? Their works did not originally appear in the SF magazines -- although the early issues of Amazing and Wonder Stories often reprinted their books, so you could argue it was magazine SF.
Maybe the best answer would be works by people who appeared in pre-Campbell SF magazines, whether the actual date of the work was pre-Campbell or not. So that would allow Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Stanley G. Weinbaum, John W. Campbell -- not too bad a list. E.g. it would allow both the stories considered by the Science Fiction Writers of America to be the greatest of the pre-Nebula Award era: Wenbaum's A Martian Odyssey and Campbell's Who Goes There.
April 2026, note, not 2025. At least if we want to celebrate the centenary. But obviously I like the idea.
This raises a question, though: Should it be genre SF, or magazine SF, or... something else that I at least probably wouldn't call SF? :-) E.g. would one count A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court? (I'd say no.) But what about H. G. Welles? Jules Verne? Their works did not originally appear in the SF magazines -- although the early issues of Amazing and Wonder Stories often reprinted their books, so you could argue it was magazine SF.
Maybe the best answer would be works by people who appeared in pre-Campbell SF magazines, whether the actual date of the work was pre-Campbell or not. So that would allow Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Stanley G. Weinbaum, John W. Campbell -- not too bad a list. E.g. it would allow both the stories considered by the Science Fiction Writers of America to be the greatest of the pre-Nebula Award era: Wenbaum's A Martian Odyssey and Campbell's Who Goes There.
