It's a good thing giant spiders are afraid of flashlights (a well-known scientific fact), or else the girl on Frank R. Paul's cover for this issue of WONDER STORIES would be in a lot of trouble. There are several writers I've heard of in this issue: Nat Schachner and Arthur Leo Zagat, Captain S.P. Meek, and R.F. Starzl, and others who are unknown to me: Frank J. Bridge, Lowell Howard Morrow, and Edsel Newton. I haven't read a lot of science fiction from this era, and the stories I have read tend to be by authors who went on to have long careers, such as Jack Williamson, Edmond Hamilton, Murray Leinster, and Ray Cummings. I'd like to read more of the pre-Golden Age stuff. As usual, too many books, not enough time . . .
5 comments:
WONDER STORIES is the pulp I'm focusing most on collecting these days. I particularly like the stories by Laurence Manning, although you're quite right that the style of fiction in these early 1930's issues is something of an acquired taste. Well worth the effort, in my opinion. --Curt Phillips
Asimov's anthology BEFORE THE GOLDEN AGE is a good overview of this era.
I have a copy of BEFORE THE GOLDEN AGE and really need to get around to reading it. Years ago I read an anthology called GOSH! WOW! SENSE OF WONDER SCIENCE FICTION, edited by Forrest J Ackerman, and recall enjoying it. There was another pre-Golden Age anthology I read and liked, too, but I can't remember the title of it.
I've got the Ackerman anthology and have dipped into it but haven't read it all the way through. The other one you're thinking about might be SCIENCE FICTION OF THE '30S edited by Damon Knight. There was also a series of anthologies looking at AMAZING STOIRES in 10 year chunks. There were at least 3 of them.
The Knight anthology is the one I was thinking of. Thanks, Keith.
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