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Inspiration, v. 4, issue 1, April 1946

Page 4

4 INSPIRATION
into a hit or miss proposition. However, under the bland assumption that nothing of importance happened during the intervening time, I'll take up the history again.
In July 1928, Gernsback still hadn't run out of reprints by the masters, and Wells' "The Invisible Man" occupied a large section of the issue. There was also a story by Gernsback himself. My own favorite from the issue is a short story by Bob Olson, "The Educated Pill."
It was with the August issue that things really got moving. Cover and lead position were given to a novel by an unknown writer, :The Skylark of Space" by Edward Elmer Smith. To say that this story made s-f history is a somewhat mild statement. Compared with present stories and later stories by the same writer, it seems slow-moving and loaded with unnecessary scientific detail -- but compared with stories from its own era, "Skylark" was really something new and great. It was an imaginative story for this type of fiction.
Almost obscured by "Skylark" was a story which definitely didn't deserve obscuring. It was Philip Nowlan's "Armageddon - 2419 A. D." and had as its hero one Anthony Rogers, who later evolved into the comic-strip character of Buck Rogers. The writing in this was far ahead of its time, and it seems a pity that Nowlan didn't stick to writing science-fiction stories instead of comic-strip continuities.
One of the few Quarterlies I have is from the 1928 era, and contains the excellent "The Sunken World", by Coblentz. Originally in the Summer 1928 issue, this story was later reprinted in the Fall 1934 AMAZING  Quarterly, and is an excellent satire in the best Coblentz tradition.
Quick thumbing thru the next few issues shows noting of particular note until the February 1929 issue and a couple of better-than-average shorts, West's "The Last Man", and Breuer's "The Captured Cross-Section." In March came the sequel to Armageddon, Nowlan's "The Airlords of Han", which illustrated all the more that Nowlan could really write. With the May 1929 issue, Gernsback was no longer with AMAZING, and with the June issue, AMAZING for the first time had competition. But more of that later.
For the remainder of 1929 there was nothing that I consider particularly outstanding, altho AMAZING did finally acquire a new artist by the name of Wesso to replace Paul, after a couple of very poor covers.
1930 began well, with several better-than-average stories in the January issue, and one of exceptional merit. This latter was titled "When the Atoms Failed", and was the first story by John W. Campbell, Jr. The story, incidentally concerned an invasion from Mars and atomic power.
And new, once again, I'm compelled to skip a period of months and just see what is available in the few issues I do have. The June 1930 number has a space pirate story called "Piracy Preferred: which is much better than the average space pirate story, possibly because it was written by J. W. Campbell. In this story are a couple of characters named Arcot and Morey, whose names are familiar to many s-f readers. Coincidentally, an artist named Morey is also now installed on AMAZING covers, Wesso also having deserted to a rival as had Paul.
November 1930 finds another Campbill story, "Solarite", again with Arcot and Morey, and a new member, Wade, making up the now-famous triumvirate. Wade (you'd never guess) was the pirate of "Piracy Preferred". The Campbell stories of this era stand out from their contemporaries, which accounts for their frequent mention. In the same issue are a couple of very good shorts, Coblentz' "Missionaries from the Sky" and Williamson's "The Cosmic Express." A glance at the December issue discloses nothing except a very poor Morey cover -- and thus ends 1930.
1931 is the really lean year, so far as my collection is concerned. The only copy I have is that of January, but it is a very worth-while issue since it contains "The Prince of Space" by Jack Williamson. A good story, even tho it does concern space-pirates.

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4 INSPIRATION into a hit or miss proposition. However, under the bland assumption that nothing of importance happened during the intervening time, I'll take up the history again. In July 1928, Gernsback still hadn't run out of reprints by the masters, and Wells' "The Invisible Man" occupied a large section of the issue. There was also a story by Gernsback himself. My own favorite from the issue is a short story by Bob Olson, "The Educated Pill." It was with the August issue that things really got moving. Cover and lead position were given to a novel by an unknown writer, :The Skylark of Space" by Edward Elmer Smith. To say that this story made s-f history is a somewhat mild statement. Compared with present stories and later stories by the same writer, it seems slow-moving and loaded with unnecessary scientific detail -- but compared with stories from its own era, "Skylark" was really something new and great. It was an imaginative story for this type of fiction. Almost obscured by "Skylark" was a story which definitely didn't deserve obscuring. It was Philip Nowlan's "Armageddon - 2419 A. D." and had as its hero one Anthony Rogers, who later evolved into the comic-strip character of Buck Rogers. The writing in this was far ahead of its time, and it seems a pity that Nowlan didn't stick to writing science-fiction stories instead of comic-strip continuities. One of the few Quarterlies I have is from the 1928 era, and contains the excellent "The Sunken World", by Coblentz. Originally in the Summer 1928 issue, this story was later reprinted in the Fall 1934 AMAZING Quarterly, and is an excellent satire in the best Coblentz tradition. Quick thumbing thru the next few issues shows noting of particular note until the February 1929 issue and a couple of better-than-average shorts, West's "The Last Man", and Breuer's "The Captured Cross-Section." In March came the sequel to Armageddon, Nowlan's "The Airlords of Han", which illustrated all the more that Nowlan could really write. With the May 1929 issue, Gernsback was no longer with AMAZING, and with the June issue, AMAZING for the first time had competition. But more of that later. For the remainder of 1929 there was nothing that I consider particularly outstanding, altho AMAZING did finally acquire a new artist by the name of Wesso to replace Paul, after a couple of very poor covers. 1930 began well, with several better-than-average stories in the January issue, and one of exceptional merit. This latter was titled "When the Atoms Failed", and was the first story by John W. Campbell, Jr. The story, incidentally concerned an invasion from Mars and atomic power. And new, once again, I'm compelled to skip a period of months and just see what is available in the few issues I do have. The June 1930 number has a space pirate story called "Piracy Preferred: which is much better than the average space pirate story, possibly because it was written by J. W. Campbell. In this story are a couple of characters named Arcot and Morey, whose names are familiar to many s-f readers. Coincidentally, an artist named Morey is also now installed on AMAZING covers, Wesso also having deserted to a rival as had Paul. November 1930 finds another Campbill story, "Solarite", again with Arcot and Morey, and a new member, Wade, making up the now-famous triumvirate. Wade (you'd never guess) was the pirate of "Piracy Preferred". The Campbell stories of this era stand out from their contemporaries, which accounts for their frequent mention. In the same issue are a couple of very good shorts, Coblentz' "Missionaries from the Sky" and Williamson's "The Cosmic Express." A glance at the December issue discloses nothing except a very poor Morey cover -- and thus ends 1930. 1931 is the really lean year, so far as my collection is concerned. The only copy I have is that of January, but it is a very worth-while issue since it contains "The Prince of Space" by Jack Williamson. A good story, even tho it does concern space-pirates.