Acknowledgments, p. v
Contents, p. vii
Introduction: "Tell Me a Story" pp. ix-xiii
OK. I got confused but then got straightened out by googling.
According to the Acknowledgments:
"Terminal Quest" (1951)
"Earthman, Beware!" (1951)
"The Star Beast" (1950)
"Flight to Forever" (1950)
- were published in Super Science Stories and:
"Son of the Sword" (1951)
- was published in Adventure Magazine.
The Introduction names several pulp magazines:
Thrilling Western Stories
Black Mask Detective Stories
Astounding Stories of Super-Science
- and informs us that this volume collects some of Poul Anderson's contributions to pulp magazines.
My confusion became: what is the relationship between -
Super Science Stories
Astounding Stories of Super-Science
John W. Campbell's Astounding/Analog?
The answers are that:
in January, 1930, Astounding Stories of Super-Science began publication;
in February, 1931, the name was shortened to Astounding Stories;
in March, 1938, John W. Campbell, Jr., became editor and changed the name to Astounding Stories of Science-Fiction;
between January and October, 1960, Campbell changed the name to Analog Science Fact/Science Fiction;
Super Science Stories was a different and unrelated magazine.
See also the relevant Wikipedia articles:
I did not know that this was going to become that complicated.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
What worries me is my fear that some of the magazines Anderson sold stories and essays to might be so rare/obscure that some of his works are permanently lost.
Ad astra! Sean
Yeah, once stuff was in print, it was in danger.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly! Will future Benedictine monks be painstakingly copying by hand some of the surviving stories of Anderson (and yours!) after our civilization falls?
Ad astra! Sean
No, you can't uninvent printing. It's too easy.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
We both hope so! But I don't always feel that confident, because I can imagine civilization falling so far that knowledge of how to make printing presses can be lost. But not the knowledge that printing is possible.
Ad astra! Sean
I can imagine civilization destroying itself and most or all of us with it quite soon.
Kaor, Paul!
Not if human beings manage to found off Earth colonies first, enabling civilization another chance of surviving.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
One bit of purple/pulpish prose I like came from one of Anderson's earlier stories is this sentence from the original version of "Honorable Enemies" (AGENT OF THE TERRAN EMPIRE, Chilton Books (1965), page 68): "Wine flowed freely at a Betelgeusean banquet, together with music, food, and dancing girls of every race present." I had to laugh at the idea of MERSEIAN dancing girls pirouteting alongside Alfzarian and human dancing girls!
While I agree Anderson's later revision of "Honorable Enemies" greatly improved the story, I regretted how he removed the sentence quoted above, replacing it with "...and found it not in the orgiastic amusements offered..." I rather miss those multi-species dancing girls!
Ad astra! Sean
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