Ralph 124C 41+ (one to forsee for many) by Hugo Gernsback was first published serially in "Amazing Stories" from 1911-2. It was edited in 1925 and published in novel form in a small print run, probably also by Gernsback. In 1950 it was printed again in a much larger print run. I'm not sure if he edited it at all then - I'd guess not. The edition I read is from 2000 and has a forward by Jack Williamson, a writer who wrote for Gernsback's story pulps. Published in 4 very different times; probably only edited once. It makes me wonder what people thought of it with every printing.
Probable spoilers ahead.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Financial Pulps
According to "Pulp Culture" there were two money pulps - pulps filled with stories about the adventure of making money - that debuted in 1929. Needless to say they didn't get vary far. Ouch!
Although, the adventure part was true enough, I suppose.
Although, the adventure part was true enough, I suppose.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
"Adventure," and Max Brand
"Pulp Culture" contains fascinating stories about the pulps. Here are two.
"Adventure," one of the earliest and best known pulps specializing in ... wait for it ... adventure stories, was more a phenomenon than a story magazine. First were its many interesting departments, including:
"Adventure" was also largely responsible for the creation of the American Legion. Many people were worried about America's lack of preparedness should they get involved in The Great War, so "Adventure" started the Legion. When readers joined, their membership cards listed their specialties and abilities, and those were also forwarded on to the War Department after America entered the war. Two regiments of aviation mechanics were formed based on that information. After the war it became a Legion of veterans - the American Legion.
The editor suggested that readers form Camp Fire Stations, clubs where they could meet other readers. By the middle of the 1920s hundreds of Camp Fire Stations had been formed all over the world.
"Adventure was no longer just a magazine; it had become a way of life. It was, as Richard Bleiler states in his "Index to Adventure Magazine, "the most important pulp magazine in the world." (Pulp Culture, p.33-36)
The other really interesting tidbit I've picked up so far is about Max Brand. I'm just going to quote the bit from the book.
"The most famous writer of westerns was a man who wasn't particularly proud of them, who lived lavishly in a rented Italian villa overlooking the city of Florence, and whom readers and editors alike loved: readers, for his narrative flow and ability to handle plot and action; editors, for his ability to turn out a needed short story overnight or a novel in a week.
""Max Brand" was the best known pen name out of the 22 he used, of Frederick Faust, a would-be classical poet and reluctant fiction factory. Faust was the true "King of the Pulps," a man who wrote for pulps and slicks alike but, all by himself, very nearly was "Western Story Magazine." He appeared in 622 issues from 1920 through 1935 under 11 pen names. He wrote 13 million words for this one magazine alone, at their top rate of five cents a word, for a total of nearly $15 million in 1998 dollars.
"No other writer of westerns - or any other genre, for that matter - even came close.
... "At his peak he wrote more than a million words a year and sold every one of them." (Pulp Culture, p.79,81)
Official Max Brand website:
http://www.maxbrandonline.com/
You can find public domain Max Brand - ebooks at Project Gutenberg and audiobooks at LibriVox.
"Adventure," one of the earliest and best known pulps specializing in ... wait for it ... adventure stories, was more a phenomenon than a story magazine. First were its many interesting departments, including:
- A letter column "The Camp-Fire" where readers extensively critiqued the stories for accuracy and detail. ("Adventure" was serious about accuracy - one reason Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories weren't accepted is that he erroneously put tigers in Africa in "Tarzan.")
- "Lost Trails" helped readers find lost loved ones.
- "Wanted--Men and Adventurers" positions wanted and adventurers needed for the "riskier side of life." (According to "Pulp Culture," "Adventure" had a serious soldier-of-fortune following!)
- "Ask Adventure" allowed readers to ask for and receive expert advice on practically anything.
- "Various Practical Services Free to Any Reader" told readers where they could send to for information to have their own adventures.
"Adventure" was also largely responsible for the creation of the American Legion. Many people were worried about America's lack of preparedness should they get involved in The Great War, so "Adventure" started the Legion. When readers joined, their membership cards listed their specialties and abilities, and those were also forwarded on to the War Department after America entered the war. Two regiments of aviation mechanics were formed based on that information. After the war it became a Legion of veterans - the American Legion.
The editor suggested that readers form Camp Fire Stations, clubs where they could meet other readers. By the middle of the 1920s hundreds of Camp Fire Stations had been formed all over the world.
"Adventure was no longer just a magazine; it had become a way of life. It was, as Richard Bleiler states in his "Index to Adventure Magazine, "the most important pulp magazine in the world." (Pulp Culture, p.33-36)
The other really interesting tidbit I've picked up so far is about Max Brand. I'm just going to quote the bit from the book.
"The most famous writer of westerns was a man who wasn't particularly proud of them, who lived lavishly in a rented Italian villa overlooking the city of Florence, and whom readers and editors alike loved: readers, for his narrative flow and ability to handle plot and action; editors, for his ability to turn out a needed short story overnight or a novel in a week.
""Max Brand" was the best known pen name out of the 22 he used, of Frederick Faust, a would-be classical poet and reluctant fiction factory. Faust was the true "King of the Pulps," a man who wrote for pulps and slicks alike but, all by himself, very nearly was "Western Story Magazine." He appeared in 622 issues from 1920 through 1935 under 11 pen names. He wrote 13 million words for this one magazine alone, at their top rate of five cents a word, for a total of nearly $15 million in 1998 dollars.
"No other writer of westerns - or any other genre, for that matter - even came close.
... "At his peak he wrote more than a million words a year and sold every one of them." (Pulp Culture, p.79,81)
Official Max Brand website:
http://www.maxbrandonline.com/
You can find public domain Max Brand - ebooks at Project Gutenberg and audiobooks at LibriVox.
Pulps
I'm reading "Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines." Really interesting. It's primarily concerned with the covers and their art - there are a great number of cover reproductions with the artist listed, and a value scale. Some of the art is very good, and a lot of it is violent and disconcerting. There are, of course, a plethora of underclothed damsels-in-distress, and, as the author points out, a great many large green hands reaching and grabbing.
The pulps (named for their cheap woodpulp paper) came after story papers and dime novels, and were printed along side mainstream books, comic books, and the "slicks," magazines printed on glossy paper. The first pulp was "Argosy" in 1896. "They [pulps] reached their peak in the '20s and '30s, declined in popularity after World War II, and finally died in the early'50s, their readership split among those preferring the even more sensational comic books, the convenience of paperbacks, or the soap operas, dramas, and comedies television provided for free." (Pulp Culture, p.17)
According to "Pulp Culture," the pulps overall were popular and wildly varied. "At it's heydey in the teens, "Argosy" had a circulation of 700,000, the high-water mark for any pulp." (p.21) "...[B]y the time the pulps finally died, more than 1200 different titles had appeared...." (p.30) They covered a huge range of topics from love to the railroad, and there was a pulp for every member of the family. Sort of like manga in Japan.
Big name authors (or authors who would become big names) wrote for the pulps - Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ron E Howard, Earle Stanley Gardner, Zane Grey, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard (westerns first, then mystery), Louis L'Amour, Ray Bradbury, L. Ron Hubbard. The pulps were the trying ground for many authors who learned their craft there and then moved on to the slicks or books.
And, of course, science fiction as we know it was born in the pulps.
The pulps (named for their cheap woodpulp paper) came after story papers and dime novels, and were printed along side mainstream books, comic books, and the "slicks," magazines printed on glossy paper. The first pulp was "Argosy" in 1896. "They [pulps] reached their peak in the '20s and '30s, declined in popularity after World War II, and finally died in the early'50s, their readership split among those preferring the even more sensational comic books, the convenience of paperbacks, or the soap operas, dramas, and comedies television provided for free." (Pulp Culture, p.17)
According to "Pulp Culture," the pulps overall were popular and wildly varied. "At it's heydey in the teens, "Argosy" had a circulation of 700,000, the high-water mark for any pulp." (p.21) "...[B]y the time the pulps finally died, more than 1200 different titles had appeared...." (p.30) They covered a huge range of topics from love to the railroad, and there was a pulp for every member of the family. Sort of like manga in Japan.
Big name authors (or authors who would become big names) wrote for the pulps - Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ron E Howard, Earle Stanley Gardner, Zane Grey, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Elmore Leonard (westerns first, then mystery), Louis L'Amour, Ray Bradbury, L. Ron Hubbard. The pulps were the trying ground for many authors who learned their craft there and then moved on to the slicks or books.
And, of course, science fiction as we know it was born in the pulps.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
A Science Fiction Contribution to English
OED Online Word of the Day
tinfoil hat, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌtɪnfɔɪl ˈhat/, U.S. /ˈˌtɪnˌfɔɪl ˈhæt/
Etymology: < tinfoil n. + hat n.
With sense b and uses in Compounds compare earlier tinfoil cap n. (b) at tinfoil n. Additions, and the following quotation taken from an early 20th-cent. science fiction story:
1926 J. Huxley Tissue-culture King in Yale Rev. Apr. 500 We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect, and had prepared for ourselves a sort of tin pulpit, behind which we could stand while conducting experiments. This, combined with caps of metal foil, enormously reduced the effects on ourselves.
orig. and chiefly U.S.
A hat made from tinfoil.
a. As worn at a party, celebration, etc.
1884 Life 2 Oct. 1/1 A tinfoil hat, a spangled shirt.
1947 Kokomo(Indiana)Tribune 23 July 6/3 A color note of pink and green prevailed in the appointments and favors were novelty tin foil hats and suckers.
1984 D. Unger Leaving Land 126 A television crew drove all the way from Rapid City to cover the party. Everyone wore a tinfoil hat. Everyone yelled and blew a paper horn.
1997 Times (Nexis) 10 Jan., I recall‥being on a train with A Famous Band, drinking champagne and celebrating their new Top Ten hit by wearing a very silly tinfoil hat.
b. With allusion to the belief that such a hat protects the wearer from mind control, surveillance, or similar types of threat. Frequently either extraterrestrials or the government are imagined to be the source of such threats.
1982 Plain Dealer(Cleveland, Ohio) 16 May 25/5 A Cleveland woman telephoned last year to complain that her neighbor was shooting an invisible death ray at her. She wanted the police to stop it. The dispatcher suggested she wear a tin foil hat and put tin on her windows to deflect the rays.
1986 San Diego Union 19 July d1/1 She told one reporter‥that the midgets and androids were spying on her‥. He advised her to line her attic with tinfoil and to wear a tinfoil hat. They can't penetrate tinfoil, he explained.
1994 Denver(Colorado)Post (Nexis) 23 Sept. b1 These folks stop just short of wearing tinfoil hats to shield them from evil government rays.
2007 Maximum PC Feb. 50/2 Have reason to believe ‘the man’ is watching your PC activity with a keylogger? KeyScrambler Personal will encrypt your keystrokes‥. Tinfoil hat not included.
Compounds
a. attrib. In sense b, with the sense, ‘deluded, paranoid; advocating or believing in conspiracy theories’.
b. tinfoil-hat-wearing adj. 1994 Denver(Colorado)Post 19 Aug. b1/5 A person can be right-wing without joining the goofball, tinfoil-hat brigade.
2005 H. Duncan Vellum 353 He's not crazy enough to think they're beaming thoughts into his head; he's not reached the tinfoil hat stage yet. But they're definitely watching him, following him.
2009 E. Emerson Cape Disappointment 158 ‘Is anybody looking into the possibility that the plane might have been brought down on purpose?’ ‘You mean a tinfoil-hat conspiracy?’
2000 Rush is Wrong in alt.fan.rush-limbaugh (Usenet newsgroup) 4 Feb., There are certain Posters on this site who will soon show up to call anyone who believes this article, kooks, loons and tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy nuts!
2010 G. Beck Overton Window 81 According to network news, you're all borderline-insane, ignorant, paranoid, uneducated, hate-mongering, tinfoil-hat-wearing, racist conspiracy theorists.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Place of Pulps in Popular Entertainment
"...[B]ut it brings us to the world of pulp magazines (which, at this time, were more easily accessible to the general reader and certainly cheaper than hardcover books). The pulp magazine was the equivalent of television in the early years of this century. It provided cheap and varied entertainment though with a remarkably high level of quality (although this would deteriorate in later years into formula stories with stereotyped plots)." (Gernsback Days, p.39)
1915. No paperbacks. Public libraries in their infancy with the pendulum swinging towards edification as opposed to entertainment. Rising levels of literacy with the growth of public schools. Pre-radio, let alone television (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_radio#Dates_of_first_radio_stations). Huh.
Pulps on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine
The Pulp Net
http://www.thepulp.net/index.html
History of Pulps on All Pulp: Two Fisted News from the World of Pulp!
http://allpulp.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-pulp-history-blog-debuts-on-all.html
Hil-Gle.com: Electromagnetic Home of (among other "mind rot," games, and creative newsstand fiction) Modern Thrills: Pulp Magazine History in All its Lurid Spleandor
http://www.hil-gle.com/index.html
1915. No paperbacks. Public libraries in their infancy with the pendulum swinging towards edification as opposed to entertainment. Rising levels of literacy with the growth of public schools. Pre-radio, let alone television (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_radio#Dates_of_first_radio_stations). Huh.
Pulps on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulp_magazine
The Pulp Net
http://www.thepulp.net/index.html
History of Pulps on All Pulp: Two Fisted News from the World of Pulp!
http://allpulp.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-pulp-history-blog-debuts-on-all.html
Hil-Gle.com: Electromagnetic Home of (among other "mind rot," games, and creative newsstand fiction) Modern Thrills: Pulp Magazine History in All its Lurid Spleandor
http://www.hil-gle.com/index.html
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Hugo Gernsback
Right now I'm reading "The Gernsback Days: A Study of the Evolution of Modern Science Fiction from 1911-1936" by Mike Ashley and Robert A. W. Lowndes.
There seems to be mixed opinions of Hugo Gernsback that I'm interested in researching. On the one hand he's touted as the originator of Science Fiction - the term, the genre, and the industry. On the other hand he's condemned for being the ghettoizer of SF and of not treating his authors well. There's not much more distance to be inserted between these opinions, except to perhaps say that he had nothing to do with SF at all on one of these sides, which is clearly false.
So far I've learned that he was a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and publisher, his first magazine being Modern Electrics. He was devoted to the cause of the wireless amateur, to the point of creating the Wireless Association of America (W.A.O.A.), with free membership, using Modern Electrics as its recruiting and communication organ. When amateur wireless use started interfering with government and commercial wireless use, he used the W.A.O.A. as clout to persuade Congress to regulate wireless on his terms, by assigning frequencies and limitating transmitter power, the system still in use today, instead of by requiring licensing, which would have required many of the amateurs to find a new hobby. The new law was called the Wireless Act of 1912.
He also used Modern Electrics to speculate about future invention and uses of technology, no matter how far out it would seem. He created the alter ego Mohammed Ulysses Fips, the Office Boy, to present really "outrageous" ideas as humor, such as "Wireless on Saturn."
He wrote "Ralph 124C 41+" as a 12 part serial in Modern Electrics mainly to showcase his speculations about future technologies and how they would be used. While not much on the storytelling side, the inventions and their use are very interesting. (I have yet to read this book, but have read excerpts and bits about it.)
As an aside, "Ralph 124C 41+" was written in 1911 and I'm having problems finding a free ecopy on line? What's that about. Granted, Jack Williamson republished it in 2000, but I'm happy to read it without any of his enhancements, whatever they may be, and the copyright on the original has long expired. I guess I'll interlibrary loan (ILL) it, although I hate to spend the library's money on it, either.
There seems to be mixed opinions of Hugo Gernsback that I'm interested in researching. On the one hand he's touted as the originator of Science Fiction - the term, the genre, and the industry. On the other hand he's condemned for being the ghettoizer of SF and of not treating his authors well. There's not much more distance to be inserted between these opinions, except to perhaps say that he had nothing to do with SF at all on one of these sides, which is clearly false.
So far I've learned that he was a successful inventor, entrepreneur, and publisher, his first magazine being Modern Electrics. He was devoted to the cause of the wireless amateur, to the point of creating the Wireless Association of America (W.A.O.A.), with free membership, using Modern Electrics as its recruiting and communication organ. When amateur wireless use started interfering with government and commercial wireless use, he used the W.A.O.A. as clout to persuade Congress to regulate wireless on his terms, by assigning frequencies and limitating transmitter power, the system still in use today, instead of by requiring licensing, which would have required many of the amateurs to find a new hobby. The new law was called the Wireless Act of 1912.
He also used Modern Electrics to speculate about future invention and uses of technology, no matter how far out it would seem. He created the alter ego Mohammed Ulysses Fips, the Office Boy, to present really "outrageous" ideas as humor, such as "Wireless on Saturn."
He wrote "Ralph 124C 41+" as a 12 part serial in Modern Electrics mainly to showcase his speculations about future technologies and how they would be used. While not much on the storytelling side, the inventions and their use are very interesting. (I have yet to read this book, but have read excerpts and bits about it.)
As an aside, "Ralph 124C 41+" was written in 1911 and I'm having problems finding a free ecopy on line? What's that about. Granted, Jack Williamson republished it in 2000, but I'm happy to read it without any of his enhancements, whatever they may be, and the copyright on the original has long expired. I guess I'll interlibrary loan (ILL) it, although I hate to spend the library's money on it, either.
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