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EspañolAMAZING STORIES
:''This article is about the magazine. For the television show, see Amazing Stories (TV series)''
'''Amazing Stories''' magazine, sometimes retitled '''Amazing Science Fiction''', was first published in April 1926, thereby becoming the first magazine devoted exclusively to publishing stories in the genre presently known as science fiction (SF). It is regarded as the world's first science fiction magazine. After the April 2005 issue, the magazine went on "hiatus" and as of March 2006, the magazine's current publisher announced that it would no longer be published.
Created by Hugo Gernsback, with many of its covers by the legendary Frank R. Paul, it featured a much-imitated logo of the magazine name in ever-shrinking letters. ''Amazing Stories'' was filled with stories of "scientific romance". Gernsback coined the portmanteau word "scientifiction" (abbreviated "STF") as a name for the genre which, over the years, became science fiction.
Gernsback attempted to create a premium product, and had visions of a world made anew by science. Pulp magazines were about 180 x 250 mm, with ragged (uncut) edges; 'Amazing Stories' was larger, 200 x 280 mm, the so-called ''bedsheet'' format, with neatly trimmed edges and a slightly higher cover price.
Gernsback frequently reprinted those writers he considered the fathers of stf: H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Allan Poe. There were frequent reprints, as it took a few years to build up a level of available new writers for more original material.
''Amazing'' was the first science fiction magazine, but it did not appear out of the blue. Gernsback had been publishing magazines like ''Modern Electrics'' since 1909, with the emphasis on science and invention, but with the occasional stf story thrown into the mix. It was the popularity of the stories in those pages which prompted Gernsback to try publishing an all-fiction magazine like ''Amazing''.
By March 1929, however, Gernsback had been forced into bankruptcy (see Experimenter Publishing bankruptcy), and lost control of Amazing, which continued publication without interruption under its new owners. In July 1929, Gernsback launched the first rival to the magazine he had founded — Science Wonder Stories.
Modern science fiction fandom dates its birth to these two magazines. ''Amazing'' printed reader comments in a letter column which included the full addresses of its correspondents, which allowed fans of the genre to begin contacting each other in person and via the mails, while ''Wonder Stories'' began chartering local fan clubs under the umbrella of the Science Fiction League.
The new publishers of ''Amazing'' installed T. O'Conor Sloane as editor; he had served as Gernsback's managing editor. He continued until 1938, when the title was sold to Ziff Davis.[1] ''Amazing'' altered its format to the more traditional pulp size with rough-cut pages and for some years it followed a less serious bent under editor Raymond A. Palmer, achieving commercial success but critical derision for its "Shaver Mystery" stories of creatures allegedly inside the Earth which were presented as fact rather than as SF.[2]
At Ziff Davis, ''Amazing'' soon gained a companion title, ''Fantastic Adventures'', also edited by Palmer, which quickly became a more fantasy-oriented magazine. ''Fantastic Adventures'' was published until 1954, when both magazines changed from pulp to digest format, and ''Fantastic Adventures'' changed its name to ''Fantastic''. Both magazines briefly attempted a more sophisticated look, but were soon back to publishing space opera, under editor Howard Browne. In 1980, the two magazines merged under the title ''Amazing Stories''.
In 1959, Cele Goldsmith became editor, and began to publish some of the better new writers, including Ward Moore and Ursula K. Le Guin.
''Amazing'' continued publication more or less continuously from 1926 until the 1990s under various editors, publishers and formats. During its final decade it was published erratically, and eventually Wizards of the Coast cancelled a version published by Pierce Watters.
In 2004 it was relaunched by Paizo Publishing, but after the April 2005 issue, the magazine went on "hiatus". In March 2006, Paizo announced that it would no longer publish ''Amazing''.
[3]
★ A Frank R. Paul illustration gracing the back cover of the July 1940 issue of ''Amazing'' featured a model of an Earthling, as imagined by Martians, that included a small image of Earth as a cloudless blue planet. Forrest J Ackerman cites this as one of the earliest corrections to the popular pre-spaceflight image of Earth as a ''green'' world.[4]
★ The August 1928 issue of ''Amazing Stories'' has become a sought-after collectors item. It is important in the history of the space opera subgenre because it includes ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' - the first appearance of Buck Rogers - and E.E. Smith's ''The Skylark of Space'', considered one of the first space opera novels. Though ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' was not a space opera, the comic strip based on it certainly was.
★ A short story by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, "Birth of a Notion", tells how a time-travelling physicist briefly visits Hugo Gernsback and plants the idea for the title ''Amazing Stories''.
In its early actual pulp years, there were companion titles including ''Amazing Stories Quarterly'' and ''Fantastic Adventures Quarterly''. At the time, "returns" were complete copies of the magazines, so they were stripped of their original covers and three consecutive issues would be bound together under one new cover and offered for sale again.
The title ''Amazing'' has also been used for unconnected publications including the British science fiction magazine ''Amazing Science Stories'' (1951).
★ Hugo Gernsback (April 1926-April 1929)
★ Arthur Lynch (May 1929-October 1929)
★ T. O'Conor Sloane (November 1929-May 1939)
★ Raymond A. Palmer (June 1939-December 1939)
★ Bernard G. Davis (January 1940-May 1946)
★ Raymond A. Palmer (June 1946-December 1949)
★ Howard Browne (January 1950-August 1956)
★ Paul W. Fairman (September 1956-December 1958)
★ Cele Goldsmith Lalli (January 1959-June 1965)
★ Joseph Wrzos (August 1965-October 1967)
★ Harry Harrison (December 1967-September 1968)
★ Barry N. Malzberg (November 1968-January 1969)
★ Ted White (March 1969-February 1979)
★ Elinor Mavor (May 1979-August 1981 under the pseudonym Omar Gohagen, November 1981-September 1982 under her own name)
★ George H. Scithers (November 1982-July 1986)
★ Patrick Lucien Price (September 1986-March1991)
★ Kim Mohan (May 1991-1995 and 1998-2000)
★ David Gross (May 2004-October 2004)
★ Jeff Berkwits (October 2004-March 2005)
B.G. Davis held the title of Editor at all Ziff-Davis magazines but had little daily involvement at ''Amazing''. After Browne's departure, Norman Lobsenz was Editorial Director (writing editorials but not buying stories) until the magazine was sold to Cohen. During Cohen's first years, the magazine was edited entirely by Joseph Wrzos, who signed himself "Joseph Ross." Cohen concentrated on acquiring artwork (both old and new) and on
layouts and production. Elinor Mavor used the title Editorial & Art Director for a while before dropping "Omar Gohagen" completely. Pierce Watters was "Executive Editor" and superior to Mohan during Mohan's second term.
Director Steven Spielberg licensed the title for use on an American television show called ''Amazing Stories'' that ran from 1985 to 1987. Spielberg named it after the magazine, which his father had read since he was a child.
Between 1998 and 2000, ''Amazing Stories'' published the first (and, to date, only) officially licensed magazine short stories based upon the ''Star Trek'' franchise. In 2002, these stories were reissued by Pocket Books in the collection ''.
Amazing Stories also published several Babylon 5 stories written by J. Michael Straczynski.
''Amazing Stories'', Volume 1, Number 4, gives a feeling of the original magazine.
[5]
The cover features a Frank R. Paul illustration of giant house fly, many times the size of a man. It is attacking a naval vessel, which is firing artillery at it. The lower-right corner boldly proclaims "Stories by H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Garrett P. Serviss". At the bottom of the cover is the legend "Experimenter Publishing Company, New York, publishers of Radio News — Science & Invention — Radio Review — Amazing Stories — Radio Internacional" ''[sic]''.
There were 96 pages, but the page numbering continued from the previous issue. The only non-fiction is a 1-page editorial in which Gernsback expands on the magazine's motto: ''Extravagant Fiction Today . . . Cold Fact Tomorrow''.
The contents page lists:
★ G. McLeod Windsor, ''Station X'' (part 1 of 3 parts)
★ H. G. Wells, ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles''
★ Jacque Morgan, ''The Scientific Adventures of Mr. Fosdick: The Feline Light and Power Company Is Organised'' (a humorous piece about trying to generate usable static electricity from cats)
★ Garrett P. Serviss, ''The Moon Metal''
★ Curt Siodmak, ''The Eggs From Lake Tanganyika''
★ Hugo Gernsback, ''The Magnetic Storm''
★ Edgar Allan Poe, ''The Sphinx''
★ Jules Verne, ''A Trip To The Centre of The Earth'' (last part of serial)
★ Clement Fezandié, ''Doctor Hackensaw's Secrets: The Secret of the Invisible Girl''
Each story has a full page illustration. There are a very few small advertisements (magic tricks, trusses, etc.) and classified advertisements (''For sale: Rharostine "B" Eliminator, $15'').
★ Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction, , Forrest J, Ackerman, RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 1997, ISBN 1-57544-069-5
1. Advertising News and Notes Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, has purchased Radio News Magazine and Amazing Stories.
2. World of Science Fiction, , , Ackerman, , ,
3.
''Amazing Stories'' And ''Undefeated'' Magazines Cancelled
4.
World of Science Fiction, , , Ackerman, , ,
5.
''Amazing Stories'' July 1926 cover
★ Checklist of issues (1926-2000).
★ Frank R Paul Gallery - Amazing covers, especially 1926-1929
★ Archive of Amazing Stories cover
★ Index of Amazing Magazine issues and contents
'''Amazing Stories''' magazine, sometimes retitled '''Amazing Science Fiction''', was first published in April 1926, thereby becoming the first magazine devoted exclusively to publishing stories in the genre presently known as science fiction (SF). It is regarded as the world's first science fiction magazine. After the April 2005 issue, the magazine went on "hiatus" and as of March 2006, the magazine's current publisher announced that it would no longer be published.
Created by Hugo Gernsback, with many of its covers by the legendary Frank R. Paul, it featured a much-imitated logo of the magazine name in ever-shrinking letters. ''Amazing Stories'' was filled with stories of "scientific romance". Gernsback coined the portmanteau word "scientifiction" (abbreviated "STF") as a name for the genre which, over the years, became science fiction.
| Contents |
| The Gernsback ''Amazing'' |
| After Gernsback |
| Trivia |
| Publication details |
| Similarly named publications |
| Editors |
| Media crossovers |
| July, 1926 issue |
| References |
| External links |
The Gernsback ''Amazing''
Gernsback attempted to create a premium product, and had visions of a world made anew by science. Pulp magazines were about 180 x 250 mm, with ragged (uncut) edges; 'Amazing Stories' was larger, 200 x 280 mm, the so-called ''bedsheet'' format, with neatly trimmed edges and a slightly higher cover price.
Gernsback frequently reprinted those writers he considered the fathers of stf: H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edgar Allan Poe. There were frequent reprints, as it took a few years to build up a level of available new writers for more original material.
''Amazing'' was the first science fiction magazine, but it did not appear out of the blue. Gernsback had been publishing magazines like ''Modern Electrics'' since 1909, with the emphasis on science and invention, but with the occasional stf story thrown into the mix. It was the popularity of the stories in those pages which prompted Gernsback to try publishing an all-fiction magazine like ''Amazing''.
By March 1929, however, Gernsback had been forced into bankruptcy (see Experimenter Publishing bankruptcy), and lost control of Amazing, which continued publication without interruption under its new owners. In July 1929, Gernsback launched the first rival to the magazine he had founded — Science Wonder Stories.
Modern science fiction fandom dates its birth to these two magazines. ''Amazing'' printed reader comments in a letter column which included the full addresses of its correspondents, which allowed fans of the genre to begin contacting each other in person and via the mails, while ''Wonder Stories'' began chartering local fan clubs under the umbrella of the Science Fiction League.
After Gernsback
The new publishers of ''Amazing'' installed T. O'Conor Sloane as editor; he had served as Gernsback's managing editor. He continued until 1938, when the title was sold to Ziff Davis.[1] ''Amazing'' altered its format to the more traditional pulp size with rough-cut pages and for some years it followed a less serious bent under editor Raymond A. Palmer, achieving commercial success but critical derision for its "Shaver Mystery" stories of creatures allegedly inside the Earth which were presented as fact rather than as SF.[2]
At Ziff Davis, ''Amazing'' soon gained a companion title, ''Fantastic Adventures'', also edited by Palmer, which quickly became a more fantasy-oriented magazine. ''Fantastic Adventures'' was published until 1954, when both magazines changed from pulp to digest format, and ''Fantastic Adventures'' changed its name to ''Fantastic''. Both magazines briefly attempted a more sophisticated look, but were soon back to publishing space opera, under editor Howard Browne. In 1980, the two magazines merged under the title ''Amazing Stories''.
In 1959, Cele Goldsmith became editor, and began to publish some of the better new writers, including Ward Moore and Ursula K. Le Guin.
''Amazing'' continued publication more or less continuously from 1926 until the 1990s under various editors, publishers and formats. During its final decade it was published erratically, and eventually Wizards of the Coast cancelled a version published by Pierce Watters.
In 2004 it was relaunched by Paizo Publishing, but after the April 2005 issue, the magazine went on "hiatus". In March 2006, Paizo announced that it would no longer publish ''Amazing''.
[3]
Trivia
★ A Frank R. Paul illustration gracing the back cover of the July 1940 issue of ''Amazing'' featured a model of an Earthling, as imagined by Martians, that included a small image of Earth as a cloudless blue planet. Forrest J Ackerman cites this as one of the earliest corrections to the popular pre-spaceflight image of Earth as a ''green'' world.[4]
★ The August 1928 issue of ''Amazing Stories'' has become a sought-after collectors item. It is important in the history of the space opera subgenre because it includes ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' - the first appearance of Buck Rogers - and E.E. Smith's ''The Skylark of Space'', considered one of the first space opera novels. Though ''Armageddon 2419 A.D.'' was not a space opera, the comic strip based on it certainly was.
★ A short story by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, "Birth of a Notion", tells how a time-travelling physicist briefly visits Hugo Gernsback and plants the idea for the title ''Amazing Stories''.
Publication details
Similarly named publications
In its early actual pulp years, there were companion titles including ''Amazing Stories Quarterly'' and ''Fantastic Adventures Quarterly''. At the time, "returns" were complete copies of the magazines, so they were stripped of their original covers and three consecutive issues would be bound together under one new cover and offered for sale again.
The title ''Amazing'' has also been used for unconnected publications including the British science fiction magazine ''Amazing Science Stories'' (1951).
Editors
''Star Trek: The Amazing Stories'' cover
★ Hugo Gernsback (April 1926-April 1929)
★ Arthur Lynch (May 1929-October 1929)
★ T. O'Conor Sloane (November 1929-May 1939)
★ Raymond A. Palmer (June 1939-December 1939)
★ Bernard G. Davis (January 1940-May 1946)
★ Raymond A. Palmer (June 1946-December 1949)
★ Howard Browne (January 1950-August 1956)
★ Paul W. Fairman (September 1956-December 1958)
★ Cele Goldsmith Lalli (January 1959-June 1965)
★ Joseph Wrzos (August 1965-October 1967)
★ Harry Harrison (December 1967-September 1968)
★ Barry N. Malzberg (November 1968-January 1969)
★ Ted White (March 1969-February 1979)
★ Elinor Mavor (May 1979-August 1981 under the pseudonym Omar Gohagen, November 1981-September 1982 under her own name)
★ George H. Scithers (November 1982-July 1986)
★ Patrick Lucien Price (September 1986-March1991)
★ Kim Mohan (May 1991-1995 and 1998-2000)
★ David Gross (May 2004-October 2004)
★ Jeff Berkwits (October 2004-March 2005)
B.G. Davis held the title of Editor at all Ziff-Davis magazines but had little daily involvement at ''Amazing''. After Browne's departure, Norman Lobsenz was Editorial Director (writing editorials but not buying stories) until the magazine was sold to Cohen. During Cohen's first years, the magazine was edited entirely by Joseph Wrzos, who signed himself "Joseph Ross." Cohen concentrated on acquiring artwork (both old and new) and on
layouts and production. Elinor Mavor used the title Editorial & Art Director for a while before dropping "Omar Gohagen" completely. Pierce Watters was "Executive Editor" and superior to Mohan during Mohan's second term.
Media crossovers
Director Steven Spielberg licensed the title for use on an American television show called ''Amazing Stories'' that ran from 1985 to 1987. Spielberg named it after the magazine, which his father had read since he was a child.
Between 1998 and 2000, ''Amazing Stories'' published the first (and, to date, only) officially licensed magazine short stories based upon the ''Star Trek'' franchise. In 2002, these stories were reissued by Pocket Books in the collection ''.
Amazing Stories also published several Babylon 5 stories written by J. Michael Straczynski.
July, 1926 issue
''Amazing Stories'', Volume 1, Number 4, gives a feeling of the original magazine.
[5]
The cover features a Frank R. Paul illustration of giant house fly, many times the size of a man. It is attacking a naval vessel, which is firing artillery at it. The lower-right corner boldly proclaims "Stories by H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Garrett P. Serviss". At the bottom of the cover is the legend "Experimenter Publishing Company, New York, publishers of Radio News — Science & Invention — Radio Review — Amazing Stories — Radio Internacional" ''[sic]''.
There were 96 pages, but the page numbering continued from the previous issue. The only non-fiction is a 1-page editorial in which Gernsback expands on the magazine's motto: ''Extravagant Fiction Today . . . Cold Fact Tomorrow''.
The contents page lists:
★ G. McLeod Windsor, ''Station X'' (part 1 of 3 parts)
★ H. G. Wells, ''The Man Who Could Work Miracles''
★ Jacque Morgan, ''The Scientific Adventures of Mr. Fosdick: The Feline Light and Power Company Is Organised'' (a humorous piece about trying to generate usable static electricity from cats)
★ Garrett P. Serviss, ''The Moon Metal''
★ Curt Siodmak, ''The Eggs From Lake Tanganyika''
★ Hugo Gernsback, ''The Magnetic Storm''
★ Edgar Allan Poe, ''The Sphinx''
★ Jules Verne, ''A Trip To The Centre of The Earth'' (last part of serial)
★ Clement Fezandié, ''Doctor Hackensaw's Secrets: The Secret of the Invisible Girl''
Each story has a full page illustration. There are a very few small advertisements (magic tricks, trusses, etc.) and classified advertisements (''For sale: Rharostine "B" Eliminator, $15'').
References
★ Forrest J Ackerman's World of Science Fiction, , Forrest J, Ackerman, RR Donnelley & Sons Company, 1997, ISBN 1-57544-069-5
1. Advertising News and Notes Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, has purchased Radio News Magazine and Amazing Stories.
2. World of Science Fiction, , , Ackerman, , ,
3.
''Amazing Stories'' And ''Undefeated'' Magazines Cancelled
4.
World of Science Fiction, , , Ackerman, , ,
5.
''Amazing Stories'' July 1926 cover
External links
★ Checklist of issues (1926-2000).
★ Frank R Paul Gallery - Amazing covers, especially 1926-1929
★ Archive of Amazing Stories cover
★ Index of Amazing Magazine issues and contents
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