We Are Not Alone Part 2
As John W. Campbell took over Astounding Stories, he began to develop what would be called the Golden Age of Science Fiction
Others began joining in and there was a boom in SF magazines possibly linked to the great World’s Fair in New York or the impending doom and paranoia of World War II. Magazines such as the purchased and repackaged Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories, Planet Stories and Future Science Fiction all were popular.
Out of this boom came the youngest SF magazine editor, Frederik Pohl. He was given Astonishing Stories and Super Science Stories to edit. Throughout his long career, Pohl served as a writer, collaborator, agent and influence for many SF writers, magazines and books. He came in to rescue Galaxy when H.L. Gold could barely function because of an accident, then went on to edit the magazine by himself while also editing If — Worlds of Wonder and Worlds of Tomorrow. His most popular collaboration was with his friend C.M. Kornbluth. He worked with him on stories and novels. When Kornbluth died, Pohl finished a story called “The Meeting” which won a 1973 Hugo Award 15 years after Kornbluth’s death. Pohl, who was born in 1919, recently finished Arthur C. Clarke’s last novel, “The Last Theorem” in 2008.
The War Years
Then the war happened and with it, paper shortages. Paper and many other materials were needed for the war effort, so cheap pulp magazines died. The strongest, Astounding, survived but went from pulp size (6-by-9-inches) to a bedsheet (8.5-by-11-inches) size, back to a pulp and finally to a digest (5-by-8 [or so] inches) size magazine before the war ended. Amazing and others survived but went from monthly to bimonthly or quarterly.
Some magazines the war killed came back later, including Science Fiction as The Original Science Fiction Magazine and Future Science Fiction Magazine.
Astounding Science Fiction (as it was called after several name changes) was the beacon, one of the few lighthouses of SF during the the way. So close to reality was Astounding that its offices were raided by the U.S. government after the story “Deadline” by Cleve Cartmill was published in the March 1944 issue. The story describes the building of an atom bomb at the same time the U.S. was making one. The U.S. government, of course, suspected spying. Editor Campbell convinced the Feds the information was available in libraries and not from spying.
Rebirth of the Magazines
At the end of WWII, magazines began to flourish again, but movies, TV and cheap paperbacks began to cut into them. As Campbell’s sway over the field began to wane, J. Francis McComas and Anthony Boucher took over for nearly year with The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1949. They, too, got competition when H.L. Gold introduced Galaxy magazine in October 1950.
There was another boom for SF magazines in the late 1950s as the space race began, but Astounding, now Analog, Galaxy and F&SF had the advantage.
As space travel became reality, SF moved to TV and film. The magazines began to shrink and die. The last great new SF magazine debuted in spring 1977: Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. It still is published today.
New magazines appear occasionally, but the Internet, TV and films have marginalized them.
 |
 |
 |
