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Inspiration, v. 4, issue 1, April 1946
Page 11
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INSPIRATION 11 WONDER Stories EXPERIMENTATION WONDER STORIES was actually not a new magazine but a continuation of the original SCIENCE WONDER, and the dropping of the word science in the title took place in June 1930. It was supposedly a combination of SCIENCE and AIR WONDER, but practically AIR WONDER was dead and after completing a serial which had been left dangling with the demise of that mag, WONDER no longer claimed any association. Gernsback, of course, was editor, with David Lasser listed as managing editor and Frank R. Paul as art director. Paul's art direction seemed to consist of doing all cover and interior illustrations himself. The first issue had two pretty good stories, Kately's "Incredible Monstrosity" and Raymond A. Palmer' "The Time Ray of Jandra." Nothing particularly exceptional in that first issue, and nothing to indicate that this was the mag which was to be unquestioned leader for the next few years. The whole theme of WONDERS TORIES seemed to be experimentation -- experimentation in story themes and writing styles, in format, in price, in policies. And that willingness to try something new brought forth several classics and a number of interesting stories. Once again, I'm compelled to skip issues quite often in this resume, due to lack of completeness in my collection. First skip is October 1930 where we find Hansen's "The City on the Cloud" the most interesting of the group. C. A. Smith's "marooned in Andromeda" is also worth while reading. With the November 1930 issue, WONDER changed to small size for a brief period. In that issue, my best liked story was John S. Campbell's (not John W.) "The Invulnerable Scourge". Next, a long jump to the May 1931 WONDER and several good stories. There is the beginning of a very good translation from t he German of von Hanstein's "Utopia Island", Williamson's "Through the Purple Cloud", Pratt's "War of the Giants", and John B. Harris' "Worlds to Barter". The latter is my pick of the issue. The August number offered the Schachner-Zagat "Venus Mines, Inc.", Herbert's "The World Within", and Stangland's "The 35th Millennium.' By April, 1932, WONDER was again in large size and published on slick paper, one of the most pleasing formats in the history of science-fiction. The stories, generally, were pleasing too. Best among them, probably, was Thomas D. Gardner's "The Last Woman". This story bears a resemblance in plot and title to West's "The Last Man", printed earlier in AMAZING. The resemblance was intentional, but what was intended partially in burlesque turned out to be an excellent story in its own right. One of the greatest of all pessimistic future-war stories was in this issue too, Carl W. Spohr's "The
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INSPIRATION 11 WONDER Stories EXPERIMENTATION WONDER STORIES was actually not a new magazine but a continuation of the original SCIENCE WONDER, and the dropping of the word science in the title took place in June 1930. It was supposedly a combination of SCIENCE and AIR WONDER, but practically AIR WONDER was dead and after completing a serial which had been left dangling with the demise of that mag, WONDER no longer claimed any association. Gernsback, of course, was editor, with David Lasser listed as managing editor and Frank R. Paul as art director. Paul's art direction seemed to consist of doing all cover and interior illustrations himself. The first issue had two pretty good stories, Kately's "Incredible Monstrosity" and Raymond A. Palmer' "The Time Ray of Jandra." Nothing particularly exceptional in that first issue, and nothing to indicate that this was the mag which was to be unquestioned leader for the next few years. The whole theme of WONDERS TORIES seemed to be experimentation -- experimentation in story themes and writing styles, in format, in price, in policies. And that willingness to try something new brought forth several classics and a number of interesting stories. Once again, I'm compelled to skip issues quite often in this resume, due to lack of completeness in my collection. First skip is October 1930 where we find Hansen's "The City on the Cloud" the most interesting of the group. C. A. Smith's "marooned in Andromeda" is also worth while reading. With the November 1930 issue, WONDER changed to small size for a brief period. In that issue, my best liked story was John S. Campbell's (not John W.) "The Invulnerable Scourge". Next, a long jump to the May 1931 WONDER and several good stories. There is the beginning of a very good translation from t he German of von Hanstein's "Utopia Island", Williamson's "Through the Purple Cloud", Pratt's "War of the Giants", and John B. Harris' "Worlds to Barter". The latter is my pick of the issue. The August number offered the Schachner-Zagat "Venus Mines, Inc.", Herbert's "The World Within", and Stangland's "The 35th Millennium.' By April, 1932, WONDER was again in large size and published on slick paper, one of the most pleasing formats in the history of science-fiction. The stories, generally, were pleasing too. Best among them, probably, was Thomas D. Gardner's "The Last Woman". This story bears a resemblance in plot and title to West's "The Last Man", printed earlier in AMAZING. The resemblance was intentional, but what was intended partially in burlesque turned out to be an excellent story in its own right. One of the greatest of all pessimistic future-war stories was in this issue too, Carl W. Spohr's "The
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