Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[OtherEric]

February 1940 sees Heinlein getting his first cover and first serial.  "If This Goes On..." is one of the few stories where Heinlein made such extensive revisions that they're obvious even if you're not comparing the stories side by side.  I don't know if this original version has ever been reprinted.

Other writers of note in the issue include L. Ron Hubbard, who is not a favorite of mine but does drive up the price of books he has stories in; and Leigh Brackett, who I enjoy immensely but only rarely shows up in Astounding.

[OtherEric]

This one has the conclusion of "If This Goes On..."; not much to add other than I find the cover simple yet striking.

[OtherEric]

May 1940 brings us the first Heinlein story not in Astounding and the first published under a pseudonym.  "Let There Be Light" was published under the name Lyle Monroe.  Unlike the other Lyle Monroe stories, this one is still part of the Future History sequence. 

[OtherEric]

The very next month, Heinlein gets another cover on Astounding with "The Roads Must Roll".  Rather surprisingly, the story refers to the Douglas-Martin Solar Reception Screens; spilling the beans that Lyle Monroe was an alias for Heinlein to anybody who had read the story the previous month.

And that's 7 of the 28 pre-war Heinlein issues, so I'll pick this back up tomorrow with another batch.

[OtherEric]

This one has Heinlein's "Coventry"; and a story by "Kurt Van Rachen"... a pseudonym for Hubbard.

[OtherEric]

Here we have "The Devil Makes the Law!", the first Heinlein story that's NOT part of his future history.  It's better known under it's later title of "Magic, Inc."; but I honestly prefer the original title.

[OtherEric]

With this issue we start getting into the heart of the Golden Age of SF; in addition to Heinlein's "Blowups Happen", we get the 1st part of A. E. Van Vogt's classic "Slan", Asimov's " Sol", and another story by "Kurt Van Rachen"; all under a very striking cover by Hubert Rogers.  For a while, reprints of "Blowups Happen" were rewritten to reflect new discoveries in the underlying science.  Then further discoveries made the revised version even less accurate than the original, so Heinlein restored it to the first version and let it stay there... the story is good even if the understanding of the science behind it has changed.

Edited March 9, 2018 by OtherEric

[OtherEric]

1941 was an insanely prolific year for Heinlein.  We start off with the first story he did as "Anson MacDonald", a name he used for his non- future history stories in Astounding.  "Sixth Column" is actually his first novel, even if a couple earlier stories were called novels by the magazines themselves.  ("If This Goes On..." might qualify as a short novel in its revised form, but the original serial version wasn't nearly as long.)  The issue also has a story by Manly Wade Wellman; a writer who did a fair number of comic books in the Golden Age as well.

[OtherEric]

And here we get one of a half dozen issues in 1941 where Heinlein actually has two stories.  In addition to part two of "Sixth Column", he has "-And he Built a Crooked House" under his own name.  Since it was under his own name, it was shoehorned into the list of Future History stories in the pre-war era, but none of the later lists include it. This issue also has a story by Theodore Sturgeon, another of the giants of SF.

[OtherEric]

Once again, two stories by Heinlein:  the cover story "Logic of Empire" and the third and final part of "Sixth Column".  Other writers include Clifford D. Simak, Malcolm Jameson (a underrated favorite of mine), and Theodore Sturgeon again.

[OtherEric]

Heinlein's story in this issue is "They", which is a personal favorite of mine.  You can see the other notable contributors on the cover; "The Castle of Iron" is one of the Harold Shea/ Compleat Enchanter stories. 

[mstrange]

Picked up a small collection of Pulps.  Don't know much about them.  There all in about the same condition as the one posted below with the following stamp HAMILTON-BRACKETT  located on the first page any significance????   Anyone can shed some more light on this let me know.

[jpepx78]

42 minutes ago, mstrange said:

Picked up a small collection of Pulps.  Don't know much about them.  There all in about the same condition as the one posted below with the following stamp HAMILTON-BRACKETT  located on the first page any significance????   Anyone can shed some more light on this let me know.

 

 

 

There is a possibility that this pulp was once owned by Edmond Hamilton & Leigh Brackett who were married to each other and were notable science fiction authors. Brackett also worked as a screenwriter for films such as The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, Hatari, El Dorado and the Empire Strikes Back and several others. They lived in California and Ohio. Very cool pulp in nice shape!

 

 

[mstrange]

6 minutes ago, jpepx78 said:

 

There is a possibility that this pulp was once owned by Edmond Hamilton & Leigh Brackett who were married to each other and were notable science fiction authors. Brackett also worked as a screenwriter for films such as The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, Hatari, El Dorado and the Empire Strikes Back and several others. They lived in California and Ohio. Very cool pulp in nice shape!

 

 

Have several other books with same stamp.  picked up the collection here in California so does make sense. 

[Surfing Alien]

On 3/7/2018 at 10:31 PM, OtherEric said:

February 1940 sees Heinlein getting his first cover and first serial.  "If This Goes On..." is one of the few stories where Heinlein made such extensive revisions that they're obvious even if you're not comparing the stories side by side.  I don't know if this original version has ever been reprinted.

Other writers of note in the issue include L. Ron Hubbard, who is not a favorite of mine but does drive up the price of books he has stories in; and Leigh Brackett, who I enjoy immensely but only rarely shows up in Astounding.

Thanks for posting these! Such a great set. Aside from the Heinlein aswesomeness, this cover has everything you need to be "Golden Age" ... giant, amorphous spaceships, tank treads, broken battlements and gas mask wearing Humanoids running across the battlefield...

 

[OtherEric]

16 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

Thanks for posting these! Such a great set. Aside from the Heinlein aswesomeness, this cover has everything you need to be "Golden Age" ... giant, amorphous spaceships, tank treads, broken battlements and gas mask wearing Humanoids running across the battlefield...

 

Glad people are enjoying it.  Let's continue.

And here we have Astonishing Stories for April 1941.  This features "Beyond Doubt", by "Lyle Monroe" and Elma Wentz.  Heinlein's only formal collaboration during his lifetime, the story was never included in a Heinlein collection during his lifetime, although unlike the other two stories that didn't appear in his own collections this one did pop up in several other anthologies.  Obviously, this one also has an Asimov story on the cover, as well:

[OtherEric]

Here we have, in addition to the cover featured "Universe", we have "Anson MacDonald" contributing "Solution Unsatisfactory".  This issue also features the first appearance of the timeline of Heinlein's Future History.  It also features Asimov's "Liar!",  one of his most famous robot stories, which introduces Susan Calvin.

[OtherEric]

In addition to the first part of "Methuselah's Children", this issue has "Anson MacDonald" with "We also Walk Dogs", which was later included in the Future History collections, unlike the rest of the MacDonald pieces.  Alfred Bester and A. E. Von Vogt also have stories in this one.

[OtherEric]

Heinlein has part two of "Methuselah's Children", and Theodore Sturgeon and Jack Williamson also have stories, while Willy Ley has a science article.

[OtherEric]

And here's a candidate for the single issue of a SF pulp with the largest number of flat-out classic stories.  Heinlein pulls out a single use pseudonym, so "Caleb Saunders" has "Elsewhere"; more commonly reprinted as "Elsewhen".  Asimov has the famous cover story; which the Science Fiction Writers of America voted the best SF story prior to the founding of the Nebula Awards in 1965.  Alfred Bester has "Adam and No Eve", another classic.  And Heinlein finishes off "Methuselah's Children".  This is another story that was significantly expanded for the book version; to the point where it's quite noticeable even without the versions side by side.