The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the Beginning to 1950

The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines #1

by Mike Ashley

Originally conceived as a trilogy, this is the first of five volumes that chart the history of the science fiction magazine from the earliest days to the present. This first volume looks at the exuberant years of the pulp magazines. It traces the growth and development of the science fiction magazines from when Hugo Gernsback launched the very first, Amazing Stories, in 1926 through to the birth of the atomic age and the death of the pulps in the early 1950s. These were the days of the youth of science fiction, when it was brash, raw and exciting: the days of the first great space operas by Edward Elmer Smith and Edmond Hamilton, through the cosmic thought variants by Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson and others to the early 1940s when John W. Campbell at Astounding did his best to nurture the infant genre into adulthood. Under him such major names as Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, A. E. van Vogt and Theodore Sturgeon emerged who, along with other such new talents as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, helped create modern science fiction. For over forty years magazines were at the heart of science fiction and this book considers how the magazines, and their publishers, editors and authors influenced the growth and perception of this fascinating genre.

Genres: Science Fiction

300 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is the author and editor of over sixty books that in total have sold over a million copies worldwide. He lives in Chatham, Kent.

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

obviously most of the text deals with post-1926 but still contains a lengthy history of the magazine as a format from the 17c onwards, tracing developments in the us, the british empire, france, as well as some notes on german, russian, swedish etc magazines. appendices contain lots of useful reference information which is just as valuable as the historical narrative

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This first volume in Mike Ashley's Magnum Opus, 'The History of the Science Fiction Magazine' (the final volume is still to be published) is a completely rewritten and expanded version of his earlier history published in the mid 70s.

The earlier work could be classed as part anthology as it contained actual stories of historical significance, along with in-depth introductions. This first volume in the new series does away with the stories themselves and concentrates on the history of the magazines, along with the writers, editors and publishers who were responsible for SF's Golden Age up to 1950.

Written in an easy to read style, the book is packed with information, including appendices covering non-English language magazines, publishers and editors, cover artists and, of course, a summary of the magazines themselves, showing publication dates and editors/publishers.

Highly recommended to pulp magazine collectors or anyone interested in science fiction history (if you can get hold of a copy - the book is currently out of print and is next to impossible to find in the usual second hand outlets).

[Danielle]

This is one of the books I’m using for my research project this semester. The appendices have been extremely helpful.

[David H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ashley uses a stricter definition of "SF magazine" then I think I would use, but you can't knock the effort he's put into just this first volume. The first chapter runs through the development of magazines and literary magazines in France and the UK, but once Gernsback enters the scene and publishes Amazing Stories, the author is off to the races in running down developments not only of various magazines (so many lasted for an issue or three before disappearing), but story patterns (lost races stories, future war stories, time travel, into gadgets and space opera and realism and cosmic and so on) over the decades. Some well-known authors and editors of course show up at the beginning of their careers, though Ashley keeps the focus on the magazine as a medium, through the golden age of SF to the WWII restrictions to the post-war recovery. I learned so much I didn't know about (the Shaver Mystery?!), and saw many stories I want to read. Ashley is very opinionated about story quality, but given my lack of access to some of those old magazines, it's hard to dispute him, ha! I'm looking forward to the next in this series, though I'm going to need to keep a notepad to keep track of all the stories I want to read that he'll mention.

Side note: This is definitely more academic than popular nonfiction, and I'd actually recommend anyone interested in this book at least the '30s onwards to pick up Alec Nevala-Lee's Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction or Frederik Pohl's The Way the Future Was: A Memoir--those two books in particular helped situate my mind to the period and personalities in question. I'd also read The Big Book of Science Fiction semi-recently, so I even knew some of the stories and authors in question because of it.

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Workmanlike, more encyclopedic than analytic, although scattered literary assessments and historical interpretations provide a bit of meat to the info overload. That overload, however, was what I was looking for — and if your interest is similar, you’ll be in good hands.