A list of 1930s Science Fiction Anthologies is a pretty short. Zero. Nada. Zip. The first real SF anthology was Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas’s Adventures in Time and Space in 1946. Certainly there were anths that had SF stories in them (like Phil Stong’s The Other Worlds (1940) but none that was exclusively a Science Fiction collection. So, of course, the anthology we are going to look at here is from the 1970s.
I think I should just state why this topic is important to me. Jack Mackenzie and I agree a lot on matters of Pulp. But one thing we don’t see eye-to-eye about is 1930s Science Fiction. Jack likes the newer stuff. After John W. Campbell took over SF and steered it into a mature genre, Science Fiction became different. Better written in many ways, though I personally find much of what Campbell published dull stylistically. He certainly demanded much better science. My preference is for Astounding but not the one from 1939. I like the Clayton Astounding. Harry Bates took Hugo Gernsback’s precious SF and turned it into a real Pulp genre, with heroes and monsters and action. And in my opinion, better storytelling.
Which is all a matter of opinion. When Jack Mackenzie writes a space novel (and he has a new one coming out any day now!) he is working from a place that includes writers like Robert A. Heinlein, David Gerrold and James H. Schmitz. Me, I am an Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, early Jack Williamson and Clifford D. Simak guy. I still like that “wonder” stuff that I think Campbell replaced with information and mathematics. To be perfectly honest, many of my favorite SF pieces didn’t appear in Astounding at all. Weird Tales, Planet Tales and Thrilling Wonder. In a word, the 1930s stuff. (Sticklers are going to point out that Planet Stories started in 1939 and is really a 1940s and 1950s mag. Yes, but in spirit, 1930s.)
So there are my prejudices. I like the old, old stuff. And the people to blame for that are actually two men who weren’t fans of 1930s Pulp. They grew up on it, which is why they did their anthologies, but one is a Golden Ager, and the other, a Futurian. Isaac Asimov and Damon Knight were the men who introduced me to the Science Fiction I adore.
Feeling nostalgic, they gave us anthologies about the Pulps they grew up on. I wrote about Ike’s book already, but here is Damon’s, Science Fiction of the Thirties (1975).
“Out Around Rigel” (Astounding Stories, December 1931) by Robert H. Wilson. This love triangle story has a great action scene at the end with the two rivals fighting the aliens.
“Into the Meteorite Orbit” (Amazing Stories, December 1933) by Frank K. Kelly
“The Battery of Hate” (Amazing Stories, November 1933) by John W. Campbell, Jr. before he was editor, of course. I never really saw the attraction to his early work. His Don A. Stuart stories are better.
“The Lost Language” (Amazing Stories, January 1934) by David H. Keller, M.D. Keller always fascinates me because he wrote his own thing, some of it based on his work as a shrink.
“Pithecanthropus Rejectus” (Astounding Stories, January 1938) by Manly Wade Wellman. This story is an interesting footnote in SF history. Lester Del Rey hated it so much he wrote his first story in reply. More here.
“The Day Is Done” (Astounding Science-Fiction, May 1939) by Lester del Rey. This is a wonderful story about how the Neanderthals were replaced by modern humans. Clan of the Cave does the same thing but is much longer.
“Alas, All Thinking! ” (Astounding Stories, June 1935) by Harry Bates. This is one of two classics Bates wrote after he left editing. The other is, of course, “Farewell to the Master”.
“Davey Jones’ Ambassador” (Astounding Stories, December 1935) by Raymond Z. Gallun. I love that illo. I always thought it was H. W. Wesso, but I could be wrong. It’s a good story, too, with an idea that would be used several times after, including The Abyss (1989). Gallun’s ocean dwellers are not so nice.
“The Mad Moon” (Astounding Stories, December 1935) by Stanley G. Weinbaum. Weinbaum will be famous forever for “A Martian Odyssey” but I like “The Mad Moon” better. He had had more practice with the alien travelogue by this time.
“The Time Decelerator” (Astounding Stories, July 1936 ) by A. Macfadyen, Jr.
“Seeker of To-morrow” (Astounding Stories, July 1937) by Leslie J. Johnson and Eric Frank Russell
“Hyperpelosity” (Astounding Science-Fiction, April 1938) by L. Sprague de Camp
“The Merman” (Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1938) by L. Sprague de Camp
“The Fifth-Dimension Catapult” (Astounding Stories of Super-Science, January 1931) by Murray Leinster. Leinster predates the 1930s with SF in Argosy. This one reminds me of Ray Cummings’ The Girl in the Golden Atom (1920).
“The Council of Drones” (Amazing Stories, October 1936) by William K. Sonnemann
“The Wall” (Astounding Stories, May 1934) by Howard Wandrei. Howard was Donald Wandrei’s brother. He wrote most of his stuff under pseudonyms. He was another artist turned writer.
“The Last Men” (Astounding Stories, August 1934) by Frank Belknap Long Jr. This story was the first in a trilogy of tales about humanity in the far future. Most people associate Long with H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos but FBL wrote plenty of SF too.
“The Other” (Astounding Stories, December 1934) by Howard Wandrei
Knight’s picks tell us a lot. Asimov’s Before the Golden Age is dominated by Hugo Gernsback and Wonder Tales. Knight splits his focus between T. O’Conor Sloane’s Amazing Stories and the three versions of Astounding. Despite being a 1930s collection there is still plenty of John W. Campbell and his Golden Age writers here. Knight isn’t attempting to show all the magazines of the time (No Weird Tales, which is a little disloyal since Knight drew illustrations for that magazine.) His position is to state there were good stories before 1940, and here they are.
While selecting familiar writers like L. Sprague de Camp, Murray Leinster, Eric Frank Russell, Stanley G. Weinbaum, he also includes some very obscure Pulpsters like Robert H. Wilson, Frank K. Kelly, William K. Sonnemann, A. Macfadyen, Jr, and Howard Wandrei under a pseudonym. Two of the editors, John W. Campbell and Harry Bates, also show up. An early one for Campbell and a late one for Bates. In between the famous Golden Agers and the obscure, are work horses like David H. Keller, Manly Wade Wellman and Frank Belknap Long (all Weird Tales authors and my favorites in this book.)
Conclusion
When I read this book (and re-read it over and over), it was a time when these stories were locked away from most of us. Collectors had the old Pulps but no one else. I had no chance of seeing the originals in any form. Fortunately, we live in a much different time now. All these issues are available for free in digital scans. It is now quite possible, and still desirable, to read these stories in their Pulp format. My sincerest thanks to all the great scanners at PulpScan and other groups who have taken the time to free these old tales from their dusty mylar bags.
