Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction

by Leigh Grossman

  1) Attacking the lurid cover art that was then normal in the pulps, Campbell changed the magazine’s image by changing the look of its covers. He employed new artists and insisted on covers with more scientifically and astronomically accurate details. He sought covers that would both attract more mature readers (Ashley 2000: 107) and enhance sales.

  2) By raising the payment for writers of his magazine, Campbell attracted better writers while simultaneously increasing the magazine’s prestige. Astounding kept paying the highest rates in the field for many years, even through the war years when many magazines folded.

  3) To inspire people with new ideas for stories and strengthen their critical analysis, he set aside a section of the magazine for regular nonfiction scientific articles (Ibid. 108). Campbell’s own editorials were indispensable to this section. He usually posited “strong and lateral” arguments to stimulate and challenge readers and writers alike but not always “positively” (Ibid. 2007: 7).

  4) He also changed the magazine title from Astounding Stories to Astounding Science Fiction in March 1938. Campbell preferred the new title because in his mind the former was associated with pulp excesses of the past (Ibid. 2000: 107). Moreover, since the magazine published exclusively science fiction, the new title was more relevant.

  5) He developed and secured a specific audience for the magazine. He intended the magazine to address mature and sophisticated readers not just reading for excitement and wonder. This audience would also be willing to experience the future and new worlds offered by science. To attract this audience, Campbell sought out stories in which science was humanized so that readers could relate as easily to new scientific inventions as to well-known everyday objects. In general, the scrutiny of the “social and psychological effects of advancing technology” (Fanzo 30) was more significant than technology per se, which required a strong imagination on the part of Astounding’s readership.

  6) He started to develop a new stable of writers, while retaining sufficiently skilful and adaptable authors from Tremaine’s stable who could produce stories he assigned. Campbell’s authors were required to avoid hackneyed plots and to nourish innovative ideas in their work. Furthermore, Campbell was “looking for…stories that get in and really twist things in the reader…you can shock him out of a life-time pattern, and change him for the rest of his natural existence, if you can find and break one of his false cultural orientations.…Things can get in, because the barrier isn’t real” (qtd. in Adkisson 24). Thus, as “a proactive editor, with very definitive ideas of what constituted a good story,” Campbell was “unafraid to press authors into revisions, to revise their work himself without their say-so, or often simply to reject, in the service of a Platonic ideal SF story” (Roberts 195). Campbell’s authoritarian treatment of SF writers in his pulp magazine might have been reminiscent of his disciplinarian father’s influence on his son’s conduct, but in the son’s hands science fiction was salvaged from the melting pot of pulp culture and became a respectable genre. The difference between Campbellian stories and other pulp stories was in the fact that he wanted his authors to produce “hard(core)” SF; these stories dealt with hard sciences such as physics, chemistry, and biology, and showed little inclination toward “softer” sciences such as psychology and sociology (Mann 15). Campbell’s early authors included Robert Moor Williams, Lester del Rey, L. Sprague de Camp, Jack Williamson, Clifford D. Simak, L. Ron Hubbard, Malcolm Jameson, and Henry Kuttner (Ashley 2000: 109–111).

  7) A devoted editor, Campbell also revolutionized the notion of SF editorship. All editors read stories and made corrections or suggestions, and discovered new talents in the pile of stories sent to them. But Campbell’s zeal to educate new writers, and his discussion of their stories with them over luncheons in a friendly but strident way is well-remembered. Many of the writers nurtured under Campbell won awards: Mark Clifton and Frank Riley’s “They’d Rather Be Right” (1954), Eric Frank Russell with “Allamagoosa” (1955), Clifford Simak with “The Big Front Yard” (1959), and Frank Herbert with “The Prophet of the Dune” (1965). But at times his over-editing of stories led those same talented writers he was so good at discovering to move away from his magazine.

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  With the influx of talent working under Campbell’s direction, Astounding Science Fiction reached its Golden Age, the period between 1938 and 1943 (Mann 36). 1938 was famously a boom year for science fiction in the US pulp history. By then, science fiction had entered its teens and was now undergoing its turbulent phase of maturation. World War II (1939–1945) and the release of atomic energy pushed science fiction further into adulthood. Astounding introduced A. E. van Vogt with “Black Destroyer” and Isaac Asimov with “Trends” in July 1939. However, SF in 1940 was far from Campbell’s vision of where it should be; new titles appeared frequently, but they mostly focused on interplanetary expeditions, alien invasion, space opera, and sensational plots. These traits, still common in every other SFmagazine, belonged, in Campbell’s view, to the thirties.

  Campbell was determined to look forward rather than backward, to bring new and challenging ideas to SF. That made Astounding stand out, but also caused its isolation among SF magazines. Campbell’s plan caused friction, but many writers, particularly those fed up with the old SF (not to mention with low rates of pay), decided to join him (Ashley 2000: 154). Among them was Asimov, who developed his robot stories in 1941, and posited his influential three laws of robotics. Asimov’s robot series were followed by his Foundation stories, among the best known series in SF, in 1942.

  By then, Astounding was producing first rate science fiction, but World War II increased its distinctiveness from other magazines somewhat. The war increased the public appetite for excitement and adventure, and particularly stories addressing American victory in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial warfare. Many readers avoided the “more sinister aspects of science or the realism of nuclear war” (Ibid. 157), which were often the stories Campbell preferred to publish. Moreover, wartime censorship in the US sometimes made new scientific exploration in SF problematic for security reasons. A good example is Cleve Cartmill’s venturous “Deadline” (March 1944) which recounts an agent’s efforts to stop the detonation of an atomic bomb and contains details about the construction of atomic bombs. Military Intelligence immediately charged both Campbell and Cartmill with violation of security. Ultimately they were acquitted, and despite the wartime restrictions and changes in audience, Astounding proved there was still a significant audience for thought-provoking SF.

  By the mid-forties, many magazines were still preoccupied with super-science and the fantastic; Astounding, though, was exploring new territories as Campbell’s interests evolved. Authors such as van Vogt, Simak, Leiber, Kuttner, and his wife C. L. Moore set out to look at the world and man’s identity not precisely in technological terms or by means of scientific explication. Instead, they started to look at the product of man’s mind and its potentialities in terms of transcendental science fiction and psi powers. Astounding was transformed from techno-centric to psycho-centric concerns. By 1946, Astounding’s Golden Age had passed and the sense of cutting-edge scientific discovery it once possessed had faded, though it continued to be a forum for the emergence of good talents.

  In 1950 and 1951, the magazine underwent more turbulence. Campbell had become increasingly fascinated with the mind and psi powers. He particularly encouraged controversial SF writer L. Ron Hubbard to publish his article, “Dianetics” (May 1950), in Astounding. The article introduced dianetics as the science of the mind and claimed to help people overcome bad memories and fears through hypnosis. Many Astounding subscibers who read the article disapproved of it; some felt that Astounding, with its long reputation for hard science fiction, had fallen into the unsafe hands of “crackpots”

  (Ibid. 228).

  Campbell introduced restrictions on the type of stories Astounding would publish which made the magazine still less popular. The main themes he persuaded his au
thors, through long letters and proposals, to adopt were confined to “[l]ogic, the power of the individual, the power of the mind and the power of humankind throughout the universe.” This gave the impression that Astounding was rife with Campbell’s own ideas and theories, developed through his authors (Ibid. 2005: 19). Throughout the fifties, writers and readers were frustrated with Campbell’s alternative sciences, the Hieronymous machine, psionic machines, and “parapsychological superhumanity” (Stableford 67). Remarkably innovative for years, Astounding now seemed to have lost its distinctive strength. It could no longer claim to be a model for other magazines, because in many ways it was now the most conservative and hidebound SF magazine. Though still maintaining a core “hard SF” audience, it failed to widen that audience: science fiction readers and Campbell were both changing, but not in the same direction. Where he had once given writers freedom to create hard SF in a field filled with lurid stories fraught with pseudo-science, in the wake of the Dianetics fiasco, Campbell seemed to be the one pushing pseudo-science. And his insistence on tight editorial control and heavy editing caused writers of the New Wave to chafe.

  By the advent of the space age, Campbell decided on a new title for the magazine: Astounding Science Fiction was replaced by Analog Science Fiction in 1960. Campbell claimed that the new name was more relevant to the space age and that Analog would contain SF for the “seriously scientifically minded, of all ages, but it was not going to pander to the monster-movie or UFO fanatic” (Ashley 2005: 202). Contentwise, however, the new magazine did not practically differ from the old one. Writers for the new magazine included Ben Bova, Randall Garrett, Sean O. Lochlainn, Poul Anderson, Winston P. Sanders, Arthur C. Clarke, Norman Spinard, and Frank Herbert. The latter’s “Dune World” series won Analog the 1966 Hugo award and somewhat restored its reputation as the place to go for hard science fiction.

  Analog kept its place in the field through the upheavals of the sixties. Despite its now old-fashioned contents, Analog remained the highest-paying magazine and possessed the highest circulation. More concerned with good science than with good writing, Campbell did not let the New Wave Movement affect his magazine, and kept his focus on the traditional form of hard SF. Comparatively few Analog stories could be considered greatly literary, but they consistently appealed to human creativity with a focus on the power of the brain over adversity and the nonstop progress of man. While late in his career the stories Campbell bought took on some of the predictable nature he so abhorred in his early editorial days, Campbellian SF tended to have a sense of hopefulness and faith in human ingenuity.

  Analog passed on to Ben Bova with the conclusion of Campbell’s editorial career. On July 11, 1971, Campbell died of heart failure while watching television at home. His death shocked the world of SF, but his memory lives on as the John W. Campbell Award that commemorates his service to science fiction: “I wanted it to be a good science fiction magazine. And, oh yes, I wanted to learn how to be an editor. I didn’t know a thing about the business when I moved in there” (Solstein & Moosnick 7).

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  Appendix

  A list of selected major writers and their contributions to Astounding from the onset of Campbell’s editorship to the end of the forties. Pseudonyms are in brackets:

  Asimov, Isaac (1920–1992): “Trends” (July 1939); “Reason” (April 1941); “Liar!” (May 1941); “Nightfall” (September 1941); “Runaround” (March 1942); “Foundation” (May 1942); “Bridle and Saddle” (June 1942).

  Blish, James (1912–1975): “Okie” (April 1950); “Bindlestiff” (December 1950).

  Clement, Hal (1922–2003): “Proof” (June 1942); “Needle” (May–June 1949); “Iceworld” (October–December 1951).

  De Camp, L. Sprague (1907-2000): “Hyperpilosity” (April 1938); “The Command” (October 1938).

  Del Rey, Lester (1915-1993): “Helen O’Loy” (December 1938); “Nerves” (September 1942); “Whom the Gods Love” (June 1943).

  Heinlein, Robert A. [Anson MacDonal] (1907-1988): “Life-line” (August 1939); “The Roads Must Roll” (June 1940); “Blowups Happen” (September 1940); “Universe” (May 1941); “Methuselah’s Children” (July–September 1941); “By His Bootstraps” (October 1941); “Solution Unsatisfactory” (May 1941).

  Hubbard, L. Ron (1911–1986): “The Dangerous Dimension” (July 1938); “The Tramp” (September–November 1938); “Final Blackout” (April-June 1940).

  Jenkins, Will F. [Leinster, Murray] (1896-1975): “First Contact” & “The Power” & “A Logic Named Joe” (October 1942); “The Wabbler” (October 1942).

  Jones, Raymond F. (1915–1994): “Test of the Gods” (September 1941); “Fifty Million Monkeys” (October 1943).

  Kornbluth, Cyril (1923–1958): “The Little Black Bag” (July 1950).

  Kuttner, Henry (1914–1958): “The Disinherited” (August 1938); “Nothing But Gingerbread Left” (January 1943); “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” (February 1943); “Time Locker” (January 1943); “The World is Mine” (June 1943); “The Proud Robot” (October 1943); “Gallagher Plus” (November 1943).

  Leiber, Fritz (1910–1992): “Gather, Darkness!” (May–July 1943); “The Mutant’s Brother” (August 1943); “Sanity” (April 1944).

  Moore, C. L. [Lawrence O’Donnell] (1911–1987): “Vintage Season” (September 1946).

  Piper, H. Beam (1904–1964): “Time and Time Again” (April 1947); “Day of the Moron” (September 1951); “Omnilingual” (February 1957).

  Russell, Eric Frank (1905–1978): “Jay Score” (May 1941); “Mechanistria” (January 1942); “Symbiotica” (October 1943); “Dreadful Sanctuary” (during 1948); “Metamorphosite” (December 1946); “… And Then There Were None” (June 1951).

  Simak, Clifford D. (1904–1988): “The Rule” (July 1938); “Hunch” (July 1943); “City” (May 1944); “Desertion” (November 1944).

  Smith, Edward E. (1890–1965): “Grey Lensman” (October 1939-January 1940); “Second Stage Lensman” (November 1941-February 1942); “Children of the Lens” (November 1947-February 1948).

  Sturgeon, Theodore (1918–1985): “Ether Breather” (September 1939); “Artnan Process” (June 1941); “Mewhu’s Jet” (November 1946).

  Van Vogt, A. E. (1912–2000): “Black Destroyer” (July 1939); “Slan” (September-December 1940); “Recruiting Station” (March 1942); “Secret Unattainable” (July 1942); “The Great Engine” (July 1943); “The Weapon Shop” (December 1942); “The Weapon Makers” (February–April 1943); “The Storm” (October 1943); “Concealment” (September 1943); “The Mixed Men” (January 1945); “The World of Null-A” (August-October 1945); “The Players of Null-A” (October 1948–January 1949).

  Williamson, Jack [Will Stewart] (1908–2007): “The Legion of Time” (May–July 1938); “Collision Orbit” (July 1942); “The Equalizer” (March 1947); “With Folded Hands…” (July 1947); “…And Searching Mind” (March–May 1948).

  Wyndham, John [John Beynon] (1903–1969): “Adaptation” (July 1949).

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  Bibliography

  Adkisson, Michael G. (1991). “The Visionary.” In Chapdelaine, Perry A. (Ed.). The John W. Campbell Letters with Isaac Asimov & A. E. van Vogt. vol. 2. Tennessee: AC Projects, Inc. 23–31.

  Ashley, Mike (2000). The Time Machines: the Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the Beginning to 1950. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

  ——. (2005). Transformations: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

  ——. (2007). Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1970 to 1980. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

  Fanzo, Don A. (1965). “An Inquiry into the Literature of Science Fiction: Its Development, Maturation, & Significance as a Literary Genre.” A dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Technological College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master Of Arts.

  Mann, George (2001). The Mammoth
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Robinson.

  Moskowitz, Sam (1967). “John W. Campbell.” Seekers of Tomorrow: Masters of Modern Science Fiction. New York: Ballantine Books. 35–53.

  Roberts, Adam (2006). The History of Science Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  Solstein, Eric & Moosnick, Gregory (2002). John W. Campbell’s Golden Age of Science Fiction: Text Supplement to the DVD. Digital Media Zone, May 23, 2002.

  Stableford, Brian (2006). “Campbell, John W[ood] Jr. (1910-1971).” Science Fact and Science Fiction: A New Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge Francis and Taylor Group. 75–76.

  Westfahl, Gary (Ed.) (2005). Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits. New Haven: Yale University Press.

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  Zahra Jannessari Ladani has taught simple and literary prose texts and literary criticism classes in Tehran University, Iran. Her essays have appeared in Pazhuhesh-e Zabanha-ye Khareji, Journal of Language and Translation, and The Fourth Biennial Conference of Comparative Literature: The Self and Others, and her Persian translation of Kristina Nelson’s The Art of Reciting the Quran was published in 2011. Currently she is working on the first Persian translation of Stanley G. Weinbaum’s works.

  CLARE WINGER HARRIS

  (1891–1968)

  Generally credited as the first woman to publish stories under her own name in science fiction magazines, Harris sold her first story, “The Runaway World,” to Weird Tales in 1926 before entering a contest run by Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback. Gernsback published the story, with a paternalistic introduction: “That the third prize winner should prove to be a woman was one of the surprises of the contest, for, as a rule, women do not make good scientifiction writers, because their education and general tendencies on scientific matters are usually limited. But the exception, as usual, proves the rule, the exception in this case being extraordinarily impressive.”