The Thrilling, Amazing, Startling, Wonder-ful Future of Science Fiction Pulps 6 6

[OtherEric]

Would normally throw this in the Pound you to a Pulp thread, but since it's something of a follow-up to the covers above, I'll stick it here.  In today:

[Sarg]

On 6/30/2021 at 11:42 PM, OtherEric said:

Would normally throw this in the Pound you to a Pulp thread, but since it's something of a follow-up to the covers above, I'll stick it here.  In today:

What is the date?

[OtherEric]

23 minutes ago, Sarg said:

What is the date?

May 1951.  It's one of the bigger than a digest, smaller than a pulp issues like the Jan and Mar 51 issues on the previous page.

[FoggyNelson]

On 7/3/2021 at 3:24 PM, OtherEric said:

May 1951.  It's one of the bigger than a digest, smaller than a pulp issues like the Jan and Mar 51 issues on the previous page.

You come up with some nice obscuremags an pulps👍😷

[Pantodude]

Being a bottle caps to pens to coins to stamps to currency to coins again (this time gold) to comics guy, I already forbade myself from venturing into yet another hobby.  So I needed a compelling reason even to dabble elsewhere.  I found one!  Already fond of chasing first appearances of characters in comics, it was a no-brainer for me to at least try to grab the first appearance of historically significant terms/catchphrases in science or (better yet) science fiction!   And there's a pulp for that!   Two actually.

First up is Amazing Stories Quarterly (Spring 1931).  Generally credited with introducing the concepts of "warp drive" and "hyperspace" to science fiction in the included novel by John W. Campbell, Jr., "Islands of Space."  Finding the references was a trip in itself.  As a Star Trek and Star Wars and just generally big sci-fi fan, all I can say is Yeah Baby!   

Concept of warp speed/drive introduced here (unless I missed an earlier reference) at the bottom post-it, but also repeated on the next page offered after the first reference to hyperspace:

Hyperspace (!) introduced here, not only near the post-it but also in the rest of the page below it:

 

Edited July 31, 2021 by Pantodude

[Pantodude]

Next up is Amazing Stories (August, 1931 v6#5). "Tractor beam" was coined by American science fiction author E. E. Smith in 1931 in his novel Spacehounds of IPC, first serialized in this pulp.  As a Trekker, I had to fight the urge to highlight (using an actual highlighter) the text when I found it. 

And here's the first ever reference to a tractor beam!  At the post-it:   

 Yeah Baby squared!   

Edited July 30, 2021 by Pantodude

[RedFury]

Very cool!  Thanks for sharing. 

[Pantodude]

I knew I had overlooked something!  John W. Campbell, Jr.'s "Islands of Space" novel in Amazing Stories Quarterly (Spring 1931) also contained these cool references to light speed travel.  

For example, at the post-it, it was cool to see the concept clearly juxtaposed with the constraint of infinite mass implied by Einstein's special theory of relativity:

And here at the lowest post-it, a very practical practical application of using god-like speed to travel the heavens: "We may go around the universe in this machine, and be back here in time to hear ourselves talking!  That beats the famous story about the man who could turn the light out and get in bed and be asleep before the room got dark!"

 

By the way, here's a nugget for you super-nerds out there.  The reference to the "famous story" about that man jumping to bed so quickly is REAL!!   In 1917 in “The Marines Magazine”, a monthly for United States Marine Corps personnel, the author wrote:  "Corporal Smith is still in training and, believe me, he is some speed merchant. Here is one record he holds: It is 20 feet from the switchboard to his pile of alfalfa and he can switch off the lights and be back in bed before the room gets dark!"  Cool yes, but sci-fi it was not.  So Island of Space in Amazing Stories Quarterly in 1931 wins out.     The real question is why somebody has yet (as far as I know) to attribute the origin of DC's Golden Age Flash to that 1917 story!   Just saying.   

P.S.: All post-its were just resting on pages just for purposes of these pix and removed safely!  In case these pix caused anyone some angst.  

Edited August 1, 2021 by Pantodude

[Spyder!]

My first couple of pulps 

[FoggyNelson]

On 12/3/2021 at 7:09 PM, Spyder! said:

My first couple of pulps 

Those are nice👍‼️😷

[htp]

Cool random find at a local book store today:

de Camp, Anderson, Brunner, and a trippy Bok cover to boot.

[Pulpvault]

Among the pulps that will be in the Friday night (May 6) auction at this year's Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (May 6-8, 2022 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL) from the estate of Bob Weinberg will be in a complete set of the classic space opera pulp, Planet Stories. This beautiful issue, dated Spring 1949, is one of 'em. Clear ether!

[Pulpvault]

The strongest early competitor to Weird Tales was the pulp, Strange Tales, which ran for seven issues between September 1931 and January 1933. A complete set of Strange Tales will be in the Friday night (May 6) auction at this year's Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention (May 6-8, 2022 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL) from the estate of Bob Weinberg. Here's the copy of the first issue which will be in the auction, with a classic cover by Hans Wesso and stories by authors such as Clark Ashton Smith and Ray Cummings. Smith's story in the issue, "The Return of the Sorcerer," would be reprinted in 1942 in the CAS Arkham House collection, "Out of Space and Time."

[MattTheDuck]

Before today, I had zero Pulps, but then a package arrived from my new best friend @kazoo.  These are really amazing publications.  So much content for 20 cents!  And the heft is so much lighter than expected.

 

[Robot Man]

A guy walked into the LA paperback show today with a large box of pulps. I bought a small stack. These are some of them.

[Surfing Alien]

On 3/20/2022 at 7:42 PM, Robot Man said:

A guy walked into the LA paperback show today with a large box of pulps. I bought a small stack. These are some of them.

Sweet! Would love to hear a recap of the show!

[Robot Man]

On 3/20/2022 at 6:39 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Sweet! Would love to hear a recap of the show!

Go check out my Son of 50 Year Junk Obsecession over in GA…

[Pulpvault]

With the 2022 Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention rapidly approaching (May 6-8, 2022 at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, IL), I thought I'd post this piece by the great Frank Kelly Freas, which was sold at our 2005 show.

 

The Saturday of that show, a guy walked in with a portfolio of SF art that he'd collected but now wanted to sell, all from Planet Stories. The good news was that he stopped at my table first. The bad news was that I wasn't at my table. So he went to the next table, where my friend Bob Weinberg was smart enough to be sitting, waiting for just such an opportunity. Bob quickly bought all of the art, which he was happy to show me when I returned to my table.

 

However, taking pity on me, Bob did sell me a few of the pieces that he'd just picked up, including this Freas, which ran in the March 1954 issue of Planet Stories for "Grandma Perkins and the Space Pirates" by James McConnell.

[Robot Man]

Another big sci fi pulp score at the flea market yesterday

[Robot Man]

Never seen any of these. First two issues. #1 has a Robert E Howard poem. #2 is a Bok cover.