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Inspiration, v. 4, issue 1, April 1946

Page 10

10     INSPIRATION

During the time that it was published, the Clayton ASTOUNDING was my favorite reading possibly because I was at the age where I appreciated that type of story more than the stuffy seeming stories in its rivals. Unfortunately, I wasn't collecting at the time, and a number of those stories are but memories. In the issues I have managed to collect, there are a number of stories which I remember reading at the time. Three such stories are in the February 1930 number -- Vincent's "Old Compton's Secret", Pelcher's "Mad Music", and "The Thief of Time" by Meek. Why those particular stories stand out I don't know. Guess that I just enjoyed them.
In March started on of Cummings' best novels (he occasionally wrote good ones), a straight interplanetary adventure called "Brigands of the Moon". The April number brought more good adventure with Burks' "Monsters of Moyen". The pace for the new mag was being set. More adventure in May, with Rousseau's "The Atom'Smasher" best liked.
In July there started one of the best of all the Clayton ASTOUNDING serials, Burks' "Earth the Marauder" which reversed usual procedure and made the Earth the invader rather than the invaded. In the same issue was Wright's "The Forgotten Planet", first of the excellent John Hanson stories. September brought Breuer's unusual "A Problem in Communication", a story well ahead of its time.
And that completes my stock of 1930 ASTOUNDINGS, so we skip to March 1931. That particular issue is one to remember, if only for the enjoyment I get from it at the time. Two stories are worthy of note, Cummings' "Beyond the Vanishing Point" (Cummings could do things with his life-in-an-atom plots until he wore the idea out) and Williamson's "The Meteor Girl." On re-reading, these stories don't seem quite so good, but the memories of them are nice.
The July 1931 ASTOUNDING is something of a banner issue, and I remember every story quite vividly, altho it's been years since I read them. It's hard to pick my favorite from them, so I'll go in contents page order. First was "The Doom from Planet 4" by Williamson, which captured my youthful fancy almost as much as did Winter's "The Hands of Aten". But I'll pick Holmes' "The Slave Ship from Space" as best of the issue, despite the title. Even by modern standards, the Schachner-Zagat "Revolt of the Machines" is good. Last comes another Cummings story, "The Exile of Time." I only have the last installment of this, but from memory I'd say the whole thing was good.
October had Starzl's "In the Orbit of Saturn" -- space pirates, but good. Another jump, this time to January 1932 and Burks' "The Mind Master". I don't have its predecessor "Manape the Mighty", but remember both as being good. In June of 1932 I liked Vincent's "Vulcan's Workshop", Simak's "Hellhounds of the Cosmos" and Ernst's "The Raid on the Termites."
At this stage, evil days descended on science-fiction. The depression was at its depth, and strangely there seemed little time for such escapism as science-fiction. ASTOUNDING was forced to skip two months and reappear in September as bi-monthly. It was almost the end. In September, Schachner's "Slaves of Mercury" stands out, with Endersby's"Disowned" following closely.
Last issue of the Clayton ASTOUNDING was March 1933, and it left the field in a mild blaze glory with such stories as Vincent's "Wanderer of Infinity", West's "The End of Time", Williamson's "Savage in Space" and Leinster's "Invasion". In the latter story, Leinster again proves himself quite a prophet, altho not of dates.  He uses the term "United Nations" but is 42 years off on the date which it started.
Thus the Clayton ASTOUNDING left the field, after compiling an enviable record. It especially pioneered in the development of the well written science-fiction-adventure type story. In this brief resume, I realize of course that I haven't mentioned any of the outstanding stories, such as the Hawk Carse series. I just don't have them for reference now, although memory of them is still vivid.

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10 INSPIRATION During the time that it was published, the Clayton ASTOUNDING was my favorite reading possibly because I was at the age where I appreciated that type of story more than the stuffy seeming stories in its rivals. Unfortunately, I wasn't collecting at the time, and a number of those stories are but memories. In the issues I have managed to collect, there are a number of stories which I remember reading at the time. Three such stories are in the February 1930 number -- Vincent's "Old Compton's Secret", Pelcher's "Mad Music", and "The Thief of Time" by Meek. Why those particular stories stand out I don't know. Guess that I just enjoyed them. In March started on of Cummings' best novels (he occasionally wrote good ones), a straight interplanetary adventure called "Brigands of the Moon". The April number brought more good adventure with Burks' "Monsters of Moyen". The pace for the new mag was being set. More adventure in May, with Rousseau's "The Atom'Smasher" best liked. In July there started one of the best of all the Clayton ASTOUNDING serials, Burks' "Earth the Marauder" which reversed usual procedure and made the Earth the invader rather than the invaded. In the same issue was Wright's "The Forgotten Planet", first of the excellent John Hanson stories. September brought Breuer's unusual "A Problem in Communication", a story well ahead of its time. And that completes my stock of 1930 ASTOUNDINGS, so we skip to March 1931. That particular issue is one to remember, if only for the enjoyment I get from it at the time. Two stories are worthy of note, Cummings' "Beyond the Vanishing Point" (Cummings could do things with his life-in-an-atom plots until he wore the idea out) and Williamson's "The Meteor Girl." On re-reading, these stories don't seem quite so good, but the memories of them are nice. The July 1931 ASTOUNDING is something of a banner issue, and I remember every story quite vividly, altho it's been years since I read them. It's hard to pick my favorite from them, so I'll go in contents page order. First was "The Doom from Planet 4" by Williamson, which captured my youthful fancy almost as much as did Winter's "The Hands of Aten". But I'll pick Holmes' "The Slave Ship from Space" as best of the issue, despite the title. Even by modern standards, the Schachner-Zagat "Revolt of the Machines" is good. Last comes another Cummings story, "The Exile of Time." I only have the last installment of this, but from memory I'd say the whole thing was good. October had Starzl's "In the Orbit of Saturn" -- space pirates, but good. Another jump, this time to January 1932 and Burks' "The Mind Master". I don't have its predecessor "Manape the Mighty", but remember both as being good. In June of 1932 I liked Vincent's "Vulcan's Workshop", Simak's "Hellhounds of the Cosmos" and Ernst's "The Raid on the Termites." At this stage, evil days descended on science-fiction. The depression was at its depth, and strangely there seemed little time for such escapism as science-fiction. ASTOUNDING was forced to skip two months and reappear in September as bi-monthly. It was almost the end. In September, Schachner's "Slaves of Mercury" stands out, with Endersby's"Disowned" following closely. Last issue of the Clayton ASTOUNDING was March 1933, and it left the field in a mild blaze glory with such stories as Vincent's "Wanderer of Infinity", West's "The End of Time", Williamson's "Savage in Space" and Leinster's "Invasion". In the latter story, Leinster again proves himself quite a prophet, altho not of dates. He uses the term "United Nations" but is 42 years off on the date which it started. Thus the Clayton ASTOUNDING left the field, after compiling an enviable record. It especially pioneered in the development of the well written science-fiction-adventure type story. In this brief resume, I realize of course that I haven't mentioned any of the outstanding stories, such as the Hawk Carse series. I just don't have them for reference now, although memory of them is still vivid.