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Inspiration, v. 4, issue 1, April 1946

Page 30

ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION

I'm not certain as to just when John W. Campbell, Jr., became editor of ASTOUNDING, but am using the issue of December 1937 in lieu of a better one, as it was at least around that time. The results of that change of editorship are well known, and resulted in the best science-fiction ever published in a magazine -- or anywhere else for that matter.

The Clayton ASTOUNDING had been good, the Tremaine ASTOUNDING even better. In fact, under Tremaine, the magazine had been the best ever published up until the Campbell era -- so Campbell really had a job to do if the magazine was to improve still farther.

The December 1937 issue having thus been arbitrarily set as the beginning of the new era, I'll proceed with a discussion of its contents. The improvement in stories was not definitely noticeable at first, and in this issue I liked best Schachner's "City of the Rocket Horde", Binder's "The Time Contractor" and Russell's "Mana".

1938 opened with a story by the editor under the Stuart name, "Dead Knowledge", which was up to the high Stuart standard, and also of note were Wellman's "Pithecanthropus Rejectus" and Ayre's Weinbaumesque e-t story "Whispering Satellite". February was not so good, altho one story worthy of mention was Giles' "Wayward World".

March was wonderful. First and perhaps foremost was the change in names to the present ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, and the stories were so uniformly excellent that it's hard to single any one of them out as best. If I had to make a choice, I'd probably pick R. D. Miller's "The Master Shall Not Die!", which almost gets classic recognition. Also not-to-be-forgotten are Elster's "Something from Jupiter", Wellman's lovely "Wings of the Storm", Casey's "Flareback", Williams' "Flight of the Dawn Star", Peterson's "Martyrs Don't Mind Dying", and the start of Burks' serial "Jason Sows Again". All this in one issue! The improvement was now noticeable.

April was almost the equal of March, with one of those quietly outstanding classics that crop up every now and then heading the list. This one was Del Rey's "The Faithful". There was also McClary's very good "Three Thousand Years", de Camp's "Hyperpelosity", Gallun's "Iszt - Earthman", and Palmer's "Matter is Conserved". After two such supportive issues a let-down was to be expected, but the letdown wasn't so bad. First, there was one of Williamson's greatest novels, the classic "The Legion of Time" which started in May 1938. There was also Casey's "Static" and Lane's "Niedbalski's Mutant".

Best for June was Wellman's "Men Against the Stars".

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ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION I'm not certain as to just when John W. Campbell, Jr., became editor of ASTOUNDING, but am using the issue of December 1937 in lieu of a better one, as it was at least around that time. The results of that change of editorship are well known, and resulted in the best science-fiction ever published in a magazine -- or anywhere else for that matter. The Clayton ASTOUNDING had been good, the Tremaine ASTOUNDING even better. In fact, under Tremaine, the magazine had been the best ever published up until the Campbell era -- so Campbell really had a job to do if the magazine was to improve still farther. The December 1937 issue having thus been arbitrarily set as the beginning of the new era, I'll proceed with a discussion of its contents. The improvement in stories was not definitely noticeable at first, and in this issue I liked best Schachner's "City of the Rocket Horde", Binder's "The Time Contractor" and Russell's "Mana". 1938 opened with a story by the editor under the Stuart name, "Dead Knowledge", which was up to the high Stuart standard, and also of note were Wellman's "Pithecanthropus Rejectus" and Ayre's Weinbaumesque e-t story "Whispering Satellite". February was not so good, altho one story worthy of mention was Giles' "Wayward World". March was wonderful. First and perhaps foremost was the change in names to the present ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION, and the stories were so uniformly excellent that it's hard to single any one of them out as best. If I had to make a choice, I'd probably pick R. D. Miller's "The Master Shall Not Die!", which almost gets classic recognition. Also not-to-be-forgotten are Elster's "Something from Jupiter", Wellman's lovely "Wings of the Storm", Casey's "Flareback", Williams' "Flight of the Dawn Star", Peterson's "Martyrs Don't Mind Dying", and the start of Burks' serial "Jason Sows Again". All this in one issue! The improvement was now noticeable. April was almost the equal of March, with one of those quietly outstanding classics that crop up every now and then heading the list. This one was Del Rey's "The Faithful". There was also McClary's very good "Three Thousand Years", de Camp's "Hyperpelosity", Gallun's "Iszt - Earthman", and Palmer's "Matter is Conserved". After two such supportive issues a let-down was to be expected, but the letdown wasn't so bad. First, there was one of Williamson's greatest novels, the classic "The Legion of Time" which started in May 1938. There was also Casey's "Static" and Lane's "Niedbalski's Mutant". Best for June was Wellman's "Men Against the Stars".