Astounding Stories; Volume XIV, Number 1 September 1934

The format is approximately 6.875 inches by 9.75 inches. 162 pages counting covers. Front and back covers worn, torn, soiled, and chipped. Part of edges gone. Signature of previous owner on front cover. Bookstore stamp on first page and some subsequent pages. Astounding Stories is the common name of the first few decades of a major American science fiction magazine. Astounding Stories began publishing in 1930 as Astounding Stories of Super Science. Names in subsequent years included Astounding Stories and Astounding Science Fiction. The first actively copyright-renewed issue is October 1933 (v. 12 no. 2). The first actively copyright-renewed contribution is from March 1934 (v. 13 no. 1). The magazine was renamed Analog in 1960, and is still published under that name by Dell Magazines. The contents include Thought-variant Feature: The Living Equation by Nat Schachner, Famine on Mars [Novel] by Frank K. Kelley. Short Stories: Time Haven by Howard W. Graham; A Scientist Divides by Donald Wandrei; Dragon's Teeth by Wallace West; The Wand of Creation by Raymond Z. Gallun; and The Stolen Element by Paul Ernst. Under Serial Novels: The Skylark of Valeron (Part Two) by Edward E. Smith; and The Legion of Space (Conclusion) by Jack Williamson. The Fact Feature was by Charles Fort. Inspired by the success of Hugo Gernsback's Amazing Stories, Clayton Publishing Co. released, in January of 1930, the first issue of Astounding Stories. Early issues lacked much of Gernsback's attention to the scientific and extrapolative possibilities of the SF genre, and instead featured many instances of stock, pulp adventure yarns simply transplanted into exotic or alien environments. While possibly a travesty in the eyes of SF purists, it attracted many SF fans and general pulp readers, and aided Astounding's first three years of survival, until its cancellation during the height of the Great Depression in March of 1933. Thankfully, the departure was short-lived; the pulp industry giant Street & Smith Corp. purchased the title, and in October 1933 Astounding Stories returned. The stock adventure stories that had appeared previously were replaced, with what editor F. Orlin Tremaine dubbed "thought-variants:" stories that were just as interesting and exciting, but also held some scientific or technological truth at their core. This approach—combining the adventure of the pulps with the ideas of Gernsbackian extrapolation—in addition to the social, political and introspective elements increasingly incorporated by its authors' stories, would help define Astounding in the coming years. In other words, it was no longer an Amazing Stories clone, or an adventure magazine masquerading as SF, but a unique addition to the growing stable of SF literature. In May of 1938, John Wood Campbell, a writer and assistant editor under Tremaine, took over the editorship of Astounding Stories; Cambell would hold this post for thirty-three years—a remarkable tenure in itself—during which time he helped shape science fiction literature for many more decades to come. Honoring Tremaine’s "thought-variants," Campbell wanted stories that were "from the view of a man involved in the events . . . rather than . . . a story of a gadget," as Lester del Rey described Campbell's approach. One was more likely to find a rookie starship crewman or hitherto unrecognized scientific prodigy as the protagonist of a Campbell story, as opposed to the ace space captain or world-renowned physicist that had made up the bulk of SF heroes dating back to the days of Gernsback. As Campbell wrote in an editorial, "It is the man, not the idea or machine that is the essence [of SF]." Continuing an Astounding tradition that had dated back to its inception, Campbell paid top dollar, on time, to his authors. This practice guaranteed that not only seasoned SF veterans but also budding hopefuls often submitted their manuscripts to Campbell's editorial offices first. Along with Amazing Stories's "Discussions," Asto.…