The Secret of Treasure Island This description is based on scenes available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxjHf4Af_tY (accessed December 2017).
“an executive named Black” LRH, “An Introduction to Science Fiction,” reprinted in LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 151.
“was mainly publishing stories about machines” Ibid.
“He was going to get people into his stories” Ibid.
“the effort to get the best stories” JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, August 1938, 124.
“Hubbard Snubbard” JWC to LRH, April 5, 1938.
“quite ignorant of the field” LRH, “An Introduction to Science Fiction,” reprinted in LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 151.
he repeatedly asked his friends and family JWC to Robert Swisher, June 19, 1938.
his note on the upcoming issue JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, June 1938, 135.
it placed first in fiction The Analytical Laboratory, ASF, September 1938, 87. First place overall went to L. Sprague de Camp’s nonfiction article “Language for Time Travelers.”
“a weird or occult mag” JWC to Robert Swisher, November 15, 1937.
he spread a rumor JWC to Robert Swisher, October 25, 1938.
the magazine . . . had been founded expressly for him “[Campbell] got the fantasy I wrote out of Astounding by starting a brand new magazine to accommodate it—Unknown.” LRH, interviewed in Platt, Dream Makers Volume II, 182.
After receiving a requested rewrite Moskowitz, Seekers of Tomorrow, 137–38.
the best story that he had read in a decade JWC, “Unknown,” ASF, February 1939, 72.
he began to pay visits to the editor’s home JWC to Robert Swisher, October 4, 1939.
“Ron can do almost anything” JWC to Robert Swisher, November 1939.
a university science department LRH, “An Introduction to Science Fiction,” reprinted in LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 154.
New Year’s Day, 1938 Wright, Going Clear, 35.
“I was dead, wasn’t I?” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 137.
The One Command LRH refers to the manuscript under this title in the “Affirmations.”
Penn Station Wright, Going Clear, 37.
the first six people who read it went insane Ibid.
“Foolishly perhaps” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 85.
“It was the strangest book I ever read” Burks, Monitors, 99.
“I didn’t tell John” LRH, “Science Fiction and Satire.”
“Give me the L. Ron Hubbard fairy tale” Asimov, letter to Unknown, August 1939, 140.
“With Hubbard . . . I consider anything below perfect” Asimov, letter to Unknown, September 1939, 143.
annoyed with his wisecracks Moskowitz, Seekers of Tomorrow, 253.
“When we want science fiction” Asimov, letter to ASF, September 1938, 161.
“Let me point out” Asimov, letter to ASF, February 1939, 160.
“Mr. Campbell will see you” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 194.
“It was the nicest possible rejection” Ibid., 201.
“I’ve got to skim over these” Ibid., 206.
“a sound, and pretty fair piece of work” JWC to Robert Swisher, October 25, 1938.
he considered the magazine “trash” Asimov, Before the Golden Age, 883.
the author Clifford Simak JWC to Robert Swisher, October 25, 1938.
“hackneyed” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 223.
“definitely improving” Ibid., 224.
“I am of medium height” Asimov, “Meet the Authors,” Amazing Stories, March 1939, 126.
“properly banged up” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 382.
“Isaac, a check!” Ibid., 229.
“Yes, it was impossible” Ibid., 202.
“sat in adoring admiration” Ibid., 290n.
“the fan who’s been trying to be a writer” JWC to Robert Swisher, October 25, 1938.
“I could endure him” Gunn, Isaac Asimov, 21.
“On this point” Asimov, The Early Asimov, 78.
“Next month, Astounding introduces a new author” JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, June 1939, 44.
“A university equipped” JWC, “Addenda,” ASF, July 1939, 7.
the university was Columbia A description of the important work underway at Columbia appears in Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 268–71.
Campbell would later visit the cyclotron JWC, as “Arthur McCann,” letter to ASF, March 1940, 160–62.
“Mr. Campbell, how can you bear not to write?” Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction, 194.
“When I give an idea to a writer” Ibid.
“That was the way he saw us all” Ibid.
“Astounding will find and develop” JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, September 1939, 32.
CHAPTER 5: THE ANALYTICAL LABORATORY (1938–1940)
“[Science fiction] writers” Knight, The Futurians, 240.
“fairly interesting” Ibid., 30.
“double carfare” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 208.
“That’s all right” Asimov to Frederik Pohl, September 15, 1938. Correspondence between Pohl and Asimov can be found in the Frederik Pohl papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University, Box 1.
Science fiction fandom The most comprehensive account of this period appears in Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm, on which much of the following material is based.
“any fan from the field” Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm, 126.
“Better than I expected” Ibid., 146.
lunch with Sykora and Wollheim Ibid., 175–76.
“I intend to write for [the magazine]” Knight, The Futurians, 31.
opposed “like hell” Ibid., 33.
Welles’s intrusion on his turf “So far as sponsoring that War of Worlds thing—I’m damn glad we didn’t! The thing is gonna cost CBS money, what with suits etc., and we’re better off without.” JWC to Robert Swisher, November 8, 1938. He later wrote that he felt that the incident only showed “a need for wider appreciation of science fiction.” JWC, “A Variety of Things,” ASF, January 1939, 6.
picking out “The Internationale” Knight, The Futurians, 35.
he actually smoked two cigarettes Ibid., 36.
ejected for talking too loudly Ibid., 32.
“Have I been blackballed out?” Asimov to Frederik Pohl, December 19, 1938.
“I got very panicky” Knight, The Futurians, 32.
“Now you see the world’s worst” L. Sprague de Camp, “Isaac and I,” Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction, November 1992, 5.
“in accordance with certain suggestions” Frederik Pohl to Asimov, February 3, 1939.
“Campbell is a good friend of mine” Asimov to Frederik Pohl, February 6, 1939.
“Campbell once remarked to me” Frederik Pohl to Asimov, February 7, 1939.
“Through your acquaintance with Campbell” Frederik Pohl to Asimov, March 20, 1939.
deny knowing anything about Marx Asimov, “Asimov’s Guide to Asimov,” in Olander and Greenberg, Isaac Asimov, 203.
“You call yourself a communist” Frederik Pohl to Asimov, March 20, 1939.
he might not need the money Asimov to Frederik Pohl, March 31, 1939.
Finally, he agreed Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 237.
“much against her will” JWC to Robert Swisher, March 18, 1939.
Pohl had also written to complain Frederik Pohl to JWC, June 23, 1938. Correspondence between Pohl and JWC can be found in the Frederik Pohl papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University, Box 2.
“Maybe he didn’t like the story?” JWC to Robert Swisher, June 21, 1938.
he occasionally tossed a coin Warner, All Our Yesterdays, 20.
the first World Science Fiction Convention The following account is based primarily on Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm, 213–24, and Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 243–45.
Forrest J Ackerman Ackerman preferred to omit the period after his
middle initial.
freshly shaved and wearing a new suit Asimov, Asimov on Science Fiction, 230.
“ruthless scoundrels” Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm, 215.
“I thought you just stated” Ibid., 216–17.
“But the core of the group” Ibid., 217.
“No one tried to stop me” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 244.
Williamson, whom he had met Williamson, Wonder’s Child, 117.
Williamson came out to see them Ibid., 118.
Campbell tried to persuade Sykora Rich, C.M. Kornbluth, 387.
Campbell delivered a talk Moskowitz, The Immortal Storm, 220–21.
“How about Asimov?” Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 245.
“the worst science fiction writer unlynched” Ibid.
“I wanted to make sure he remembered me” Knight, The Futurians, 116n.
the only game fit for adults Patterson, Learning Curve, 194.
“a grisly horror” RAH to Robert Bloch, March 18, 1949, quoted in Patterson, Learning Curve, 198.
“The map is not the territory” The term first appeared in Korzybski’s paper “A Non-Aristotelian System and its Necessity for Rigor in Mathematics and Physics,” December 28, 1931. RAH and Leslyn met Korzybski in 1939. Patterson, Learning Curve, 236.
“for plot twists and climaxes” Leslyn (Heinlein) Mocabee to Frederik Pohl, May 8, 1953. Frederik Pohl papers, Syracuse University.
“I hope you won’t need it” RAH to JWC, April 10, 1939.
“How long has this racket been going on?” Patterson, Learning Curve, 231.
“I am a retired naval officer” RAH to JWC, May 1, 1939.
“I think if you would amputate” JWC to RAH, May 16, 1939.
“Your work is good” JWC to RAH, May 31, 1939.
the novel Babbitt Hutchisson, The Rise of Sinclair Lewis, 53.
“I work very slowly” RAH to JWC, March 2, 1940.
“the mass of small details” JWC to RAH, August 25, 1939.
“Cultural patterns change” JWC, introduction to The Man Who Sold the Moon, ix–x.
“one of the strongest novels” JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, January 1940, 29.
“a definitely warmish subject” JWC to RAH, August 25, 1939.
“my pet” RAH to JWC, August 29, 1939.
he bought it as an experiment JWC to RAH, September 11, 1939.
he also wrote Heinlein directly In one of Asimov’s early letters, now lost, he joked that God had all the good press agents, while Satan “wasn’t getting a fair shake,” which RAH credited decades later as the inspiration for his novel Job: A Comedy of Justice. RAH to Asimov, August 8, 1984.
the apparently unused structures of the brain RAH to JWC, December 1, 1939. The item appeared in Unknown, April 1939, 124.
“It’s good. It should be great” JWC to RAH, December 6, 1939.
irritated by the final version of “Requiem” Leslyn Heinlein to JWC, January 27, 1941.
“They’ll nearly all go mad” JWC to RAH, January 15, 1940.
“I hope that both Don A. Stuart” RAH to JWC, January 20, 1940.
“Heinlein taught me human beings” Weller, The Bradbury Chronicles, 99.
“The trouble with Bob Heinlein” Pohl, The Way the Future Was, 87.
he would reschedule his vacation JWC to RAH, March 5, 1940.
Doña’s mother had been sick JWC to Robert Swisher, June 12, 1940.
“Heinlein puts on a bit of Annapolis manners” Ibid.
“The gag was that our mad scientist” RAH to JWC, November 2, 1940.
Irving Langmuir Strand, The Brothers Vonnegut, 160.
“you and John are of the small group” RAH to Doña Campbell, “Sunday morning,” 1940.
“If you write to L. Ron Hubbard” RAH to JWC, May 4, 1940.
“a red-headed boy . . . He is our kind of people” RAH to John Arwine, January 1, 1945.
“No, I know you” Widder, Master Storyteller, 33.
the departure of a college crush Asimov, In Memory Yet Green, 267.
“Our personal contact” Doña Campbell to RAH, December 13, 1941.
Doña’s water broke Doña Campbell to RAH, September 11, 1940.
Maple Hill Farms . . . in Scotch Plains, New Jersey Their mailing address was 2065 Hill Top Road, Westfield, New Jersey. As JWC explained to RAH in a letter dated July 25, 1940: “Legally, we live in the township of Scotch Plains, and must legally so state our address. However . . . all mail has to be addressed to Westfield.”
“My personality is too cold” JWC to RAH and Leslyn Heinlein, January 8, 1942.
“scaring the living daylights out of her” Doña Campbell to RAH, September 11, 1940.
an operation for a uterine cyst JWC to Robert and Frances Swisher, September 9, 1939.
“That ought to make her a patroness” RAH to JWC, September 14, 1940.
Leslyn could be a fairy godmother JWC to RAH, September 16, 1940.
“D’ja mean it?” JWC to RAH, October 29, 1940.
“Among friends of our own generation” JWC to RAH, November 6, 1940.
“You and Leslyn were the type of people” JWC to RAH, November 23, 1940.
a list of potential plots RAH to JWC, August 11, 1940.
a generation starship JWC to RAH, September 20, 1940.
“bad clear through” Patterson, Learning Curve, 581n.
“The Elder Gods” Arthur J. Burks based the novel on a detailed synopsis from JWC, but the submission was unusable. After Burks threatened to sue for payment, JWC rewrote it, allowing the author to keep most of the money. JWC to Robert Swisher, March 18, 1939 and April 18, 1939. JWC’s outline can be found in the John W. Campbell compositions, Houghton Library, Harvard University, folder “The Elder Gods.”
all sides of his personality “For Astounding, I want stories which are good and logical and possible. For Unknown, I want stories which are good and logical.” JWC, quoted in Panshin, The World Beyond the Hill, 294.
“It represented, in a way” JWC to Robert Swisher, February 28, 1938.
if they found themselves in ancient Rome JWC to Robert Swisher, July 28, 1938.
as an editorial John W. Campbell compositions, Houghton Library, Harvard University, folder “Untitled.”
“You’re not at all what I pictured” Del Rey, Early Del Rey, 147.
on a dare from his girlfriend Ibid., 6.
the Neanderthals had died of heartbreak Ibid., 27.
paid him to print enlargements JWC to Robert Swisher, March 3, 1941.
“not merely as an idea” Lester del Rey, in Locus, July 12, 1971, 2.
“A human being should be able to change a diaper” RAH, “Intermission: Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long,” in Time Enough for Love.
“to get some superman stories” JWC to Clifford Simak, June 18, 1953.
standing up at a newsstand Panshin, The World Beyond the Hill, 455.
a superman was only believable JWC to Clifford Simak, June 18, 1953.
“Fans are slans” Warner, All Our Yesterdays, 42.
“No matter what may come after” Leigh Brackett, in Locus, July 22, 1971.
“They weren’t very good stories” Leigh Brackett, interview with Dave Truesdale and Paul McGuire III, April 1976, https://www.tangentonline.com/interviews-columnsmenu-166/1270-classic-leigh-brackett-a-edmond-hamilton-interview (accessed December 2017).
“The ‘Leigh’ in ‘Leigh Brackett’ ” JWC, Brass Tacks, ASF, July 1940, 155.
“rather viciously” Leigh Brackett, interview with Dave Truesdale and Paul McGuire III, April 1976, https://www.tangentonline.com/interviews-columnsmenu-166/1270-classic-leigh-brackett-a-edmond-hamilton-interview (accessed December 2017).
“Write me a story about a creature” Sturgeon, introduction to Roadside Picnic. In some versions, the statement includes “or better than a man,” which the editor—who disliked superior aliens—was unlikely to have said.
“my best friend and my worst enemy” Theodore Sturgeon, interviewe
d in Platt, Dream Makers Volume II, 175.
“I owe him more” Theodore Sturgeon, at the panel “The Man John W. Campbell,” Conclave III, Romulus, MI, November 4, 1978. Recording courtesy of the SFOHA Archives.
in Paris when it fell JWC to Robert Swisher, September 30, 1940.
remainders in England Moskowitz, Seekers of Tomorrow, 125.
the circulation of Astounding declined JWC to Robert Swisher, March 6, 1940.
“science fiction addicts” JWC, “Wanted: A Chronoscope,” ASF, August 1940, 6.
“The battle of robots is on” Ibid.
“May we hope that attempts” JWC, In Times to Come, ASF, November 1939, 78.
CHAPTER 6: IN TIMES TO COME (1939–1941)
“In 1939 and 1940” RAH to JWC, December 21, 1941.
the largest check JWC to LRH, March 21, 1939.
“If you have the interest” JWC to LRH, June 26, 1939.
poker . . . voodoo drumming LRH, in a letter dated March 10, 1940, reprinted in LRH, Literary Correspondence, 136–37.
Sir Richard Francis Burton In Slaves of Sleep (Unknown, July 1939) LRH advises the reader to seek out Burton’s translation of The Arabian Nights in the New York Public Library, while The Ghoul (Unknown, August 1939) takes place at the fictional Hotel Burton.
“I’m convinced that you do like fantasy” JWC to LRH, January 23, 1939.
“When he starts to outline a story” LRH, “How to Drive a Writer Crazy,” reprinted in LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 101–3.
invited Hubbard to Thanksgiving JWC to Robert Swisher, November 11, 1939.
“kept things smooth” LRH, “An Introduction to Science Fiction,” reprinted in LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 151.
make him bray with laughter Doña Campbell to Frances Swisher, December 14, 1939.
“a man who officiates” LRH, in a letter dated September 14, 1939, reprinted in LRH, Literary Correspondence, 123.
Final Blackout The story inspired a debate in Brass Tacks over its allegedly militaristic or fascistic themes, particularly from readers who were sympathetic toward communism. Carter, The Creation of Tomorrow, 237–40.
conceived over grilled steaks LRH, Writer: The Shaping of Popular Fiction, 114.
“landmark novel in my life” Widder, Master Storyteller, 84.
privately recorded it as a play Forrest J Ackerman, review of Fear and Typewriter in the Sky, ASF, August 1951, 143.
“I wish to offer my services” Miller, Bare-Faced Messiah, 87.
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