One of the darlings of the Gernsback magazines was author, Clare Winger Harris (1891-1968). She may be the first official “fan-girl” of that era. (C. L. Moore was the darling of Weird Tales but SF fans often ignored that magazine to their own peril.) Harris wrote eleven stories beginning with Read More
“The Hidden World” (Science Wonder Quarterly, Fall 1929) by Edmond Hamilton was one of seven stories he wrote for Hugo Gernsback before 1930. I sought it out specifically to see how it compared to his earliest works at Weird Tales, which predate this Science Fiction epic. I was curious if Read More
The term “Space Opera”, used to define a certain branch of Science Fiction, was coined by Wilson Tucker in 1941. It was not meant to be a compliment. The term “Soap Opera” has found its way into the larger public domain of common phrases, but it too came from this Read More
In recent years, Josh Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity have brought the Space Western back to the public eye. Though not a commercial success, Whedon’s tales of the crew of the Serenity have sparked a new interest in the cowboys from space. The first Science Fiction pulp stories were not adventure-oriented. Read More