I don't know how long these pages will remain on the Wizards site since they have stopped production of Amazing Stories. Amazing Stories was the very first magazine devoted completely to science fiction. It was first published back in 1926 by Hugo Gernsback, the guy they named the Hugo award after. This is an interesting read. I wish SciFan had reprint rights to this history. A warning though. The first page says the history is in seven parts, but I found eight. And the webmaster did not put continuing links between the sections. You will have to alter the URL or come back here to view all the sections.

• Part I: The Twenties By Radio to the Stars
• Part 2: The Thirties Escape from Oblivion
• Part 3: The Forties Gimme Bang-Bang
• Part 4: The Fifties Dream Worlds
• Part 5: The Sixties The Goose-Flesh Factor
• Part 6: The Seventies Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
• Part 7: The Eighties Son of Fantastic
• Part 8: The Nineties Little Big

P.S. If anyone knows of any other web sites that feature the history of a science fiction magazine, let me know by clicking on the E-Mail button at the top of the page. I truly wished that Alva Roger's A Requiem for Astounding, a history of Astounding Science Fiction and David L. Rosheim's Galaxy Magazine: The Dark and The Light Years about Galaxy magazine were online. It's doubtful these books will ever be reprinted. And I think if the memory and history of the science fiction magazine could be kept alive, then more people would want to read and enjoy today's science fiction mag0s. See my essay Is This The End of Short Fiction? about the dwindling readership of SF&F magazines. It's a real shame because the science fiction in magazines like Asimov's Science Fiction and Analog Science Fiction is far more creative and imaginative than anything on TV or at the movies.

HyperRust: Road Rock - 12/16/00

The great grunge god Neil Young created my lifetime favorite song "Cowgirl in the Sand" in the chaotic times of the late sixties. I consumed mass quantities of science fiction and rock music in that era. The two are etched in my mind so when I hear the music I remember stories of far off worlds. The new live version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" is just as edgy and raw and powerful as it was three decades ago. How does Neil Young retain his teen spirit and ward off the corrosion of time? Maybe there is something magical about being Mr. Young?

I've been troubled lately. Most of my life I've kept up with what's new in science fiction and rock music, but in the last few years my addiction to music has started to fade away. Finding this new CD was an accident. Sam Moskowitz in his introduction to The Moon Era talks about aging of men and their hobbies. He said when he was growing up after WWI, middle aged and older men began collecting dime novels, the stories they had read in their childhood. He became a historian of the pulp magazines he loved in his youth as he progressed into middle age. Old guys look backwards and start to rust.

SciFan is my attempt at maintain the memories of how I loved science fiction during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo years. For thirty years I bought two to four albums a week, but today I can go into a record store and have no sense of recognition or identity with any of the new performers. And although I still buy and read new books, I'm starting to loose touch with what kids call science fiction. To me science fiction is books and magazines, not TV shows, movies and computer games. The magazines are dying. Multimedia science fiction just doesn't do it for me. That's not very science fictional of me, well is it? I should combat that feeling and try to flow with the times and fight to stay young, like Mr. Young. Being young is kinetic, getting old means slowing down to a stand still.

I should buy a Playstation II and learn to play exciting science fictional games while listening to the music from that M&M guy and forget about the past. I can't though.

Rust never sleeps.

Robert A. Heinlein Home Page - 12/16/00

There's quite a bit of free information on this web site about Robert A. Heinlein, including some audio clips of Heinlein, a FAQ and a very extensive bibliography. But there's more! If you are big fan of Robert A. Heinlein, you will want to order Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion by James Gifford. Here's a quote from their page:

Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion is the long-awaited comprehensive guide to Heinlein's life work. For the first time, fans, collectors and scholars can see the complete span of the Grand Master's work--all the details, all the facts, and with all the myths and exaggerations laid to rest.

Nitrosyncretic Press is promising three more books about Heinlein, including one scheduled for this spring, Robert A. Heinlein: The Man Who Sold Us the Moon - How Science Fiction's Grand Master Educated the U.S. Into the Space Age, by Phillip Owenby.

Remembering First Fandom by David A. Kyle - 12/14/00

A long, long time ago, before the Internet, before television was common, people read pulp magazines for entertainment and diversion. This was back in the twenties and thirties before our mass media culture had evolved into what it has become today. Imagine not having TV. It's hard to do. It gives us a strong sense of community. Well, back in the pre-TV dark ages, science fiction fans would communicate with each other by letters, fanzines, apazines or letters to the pulp magazines. Eventually, they started getting together in clubs and conventions. Some of this history is in a Salon article called Who Owns Fandom?. What the article really talks about is what fandom has become including a big powerful web site fandom.com attacking a smaller fan site called fandom.tv.

It's a long strange trip from First Fandom to Fandom.com. The web is starting to try and chronicle that history with such sites as Fanac.org and Timebinders Preserving Fannish History. Fanzines like Mimosa have lots of essays about fan history. There's even a scholarly book about fan history. If you can find a copy of The Immortal Storm by Sam Moskowitz as discussed in Mimosa 21 by Mike Resnick, you will learn about the exciting tempest in a teapot history of early fandom. Another essay by Ed Wood, tries to explain the impact of The Immortal Storm had on fandom.

Fandom is an odd little subhistory of a minor genre of literature. Being a science fiction fan used to mean something, well at least, to the members of this tiny cult. Today science fiction is big business and being a science fiction fan doesn't really mean anything in particular.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America - 12/13/00

If you've ever wanted to be a science fiction or fantasy writer, this is a site you should visit. Be sure and subscribe to the print edition of SFWA Bulletin. It's a good way to learn about the business side of being a writer.

Frank R. Paul Gallery - 12/13/00

When Hugo Gernsback created the Science Fiction magazine back in 1926 he used the artist Frank R. Paul to do many of the covers and inside illustrations. Paul's artwork gave a definitive vision to the science fiction subculture in the early years. Many people collect pulps now-a-days not for the classic stories, but for the art. And Frank R. Paul's art is one of the reason why.

One thing I like to do is visit Ebay's Pulp Magazine section and look at the cover art. Most sellers try to include a scan of the cover to help sales. I know, it's an odd amusement. I even save some of the better images. If I was patient, I think I could get a copy of every cover from all my favorite pulp magazines.

Violet Books: Antiquarian Supernatural, Fantasy & Mysterious Literatures - 12/12/00

Before there was science fiction there was scientific romances, heroic fantasy, lost world and lost race stories, novels of mysterious Africa, tales of the unknown, stories of adventure in far off places. The Stephen King of the late 1800's was H. Rider Haggard who later influenced Edgar Rice Burroughs. These guys wrote about action and adventure in exotic far off places. I sometimes think that science fiction evolved because all the mysterious places on earth became explored and civilized and so action writers needed new locations to set their stories. Take a look at Roy Rockwood's Great Marvel Series and how the settings kept moving further away. This was science fiction for boys long before the word science fiction was coined.

This site is devoted to collecting these adventure books that came out in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Jessica Amanda Salmonson is the historian behind Violet Books and is an author of many books that reflect her love is this particularly piece of literary history.

Robot Books.com - 12/12/00

Everything you need to build your own R2D2 or Robbie the Robot. This is a very fun site and it really makes me wish I was a kid again. And this is the site to read if you are ready to move on beyond your Lego Mindstorms robots.

BTW, be sure and visit SciFan's Robots and Science Fiction page.

Basic Science Fiction Library by James Gunn - 12/11/00

When I created the Classics of SF I searched everywhere I could for fan polls and recommended reading lists by knowledgable writers and critics. The above site is an annotated version of what I got out of The Road to Science Fiction edited by James Gunn. This is a six volume anthology of science fiction and highly recommended. Gunn also wrote Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction and The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, as well as a number of outstanding novels like The Listeners, The Joy Makers and The Immortals. Obviously James Gunn has the authoritative voiced to make up a solid recommended list of science fiction books.

Space.Com - 12/11/00

Science fiction used to be synonymous with space travel, but somewhere along the way the two got disconnected. Our cultural imaginations are growing far faster than NASA can evolve the reality of space exploration. In other words, since real space travel is not like flying around the galaxy with Hans Solo, I think most kids have given up on following the conquest of space. Big mistake. The real excitement is in the details, so read Space.Com. Space exploration is hard, it's a challenge and it takes really smart and dedicated people to push forward. Science fiction needs to get real. Demand more science in your fiction.

"Stellar Harvest" by Eleanor Arnason - 12/10/00

"Stellar Harvest" was nominated for the Hugo Award as best novelette, but did not win. But don't let that stop you from reading this great story. I had previously read "Dapple" another story by Arnason published in Asimov's SF Magazine, but unfortunately it is not online. Then I created the Eleanor Arnason page on SciFan. Researching her links convinced me that I was on the trail of a new author to fixate my reading attention.

That hunch proved exactly right when I found a copy of A Woman of the Iron People at the library. I haven't finished reading the book but I love it so much I ordered an out of print 1st edition from ABEBooks.com today. Watch out if you buy the paperback. It was reprinted as two separate books, A Woman Of The Iron People Part 1: In The Light Of Sigma Draconis and A Woman Of The Iron People Book 2: Changing Woman.

There is a reason why most people are not writers. There is more to writing than developing a plot, creating characterizations and thinking up dialog, it requires a special quality that's hard to define. When I started reading A Woman of the Iron People this special quality just jumped out. I couldn't stop reading. I had to turn the pages. The writing was mesmerizing. It's a shame this book is not in print!. When I finish this book I'm going to hunt down other Arnason's books to read. I've read that she's due to publish two new collections. One set in the world of "Stellar Harvest" and the other set in the world of "Dapple." Also the January 2001 issue of Asimov's SF promises a new Arnason story in the February issue.

Arnason stories are wonderful because she approaches alien cultures from the inside like an anthropologist. Her aliens make sense. I find her books exciting. Exciting like when I first discovered science fiction as a kid. Give her a try by clicking on the heading of this section. If you find the font too small to read online, use your browser's menu to increase the font size for comfortable reading.

Snow Crash: An Overview - 12/9/00

Working on SciFan is a lot of work. Mainly it's data entry, and it is boring. But there are benefits. I have a do a lot of web searches and every once in a while I come up with something surprising and different. This site at Brown University for the English 111 class taught by George P. Landow is incredibly cool. Damn, why wasn't my intro English class like this? Evidently, as a class project, Professor Landow got his students to read and write about Snow Crash and then make a web site about the project. And it is rather well done too! The Snow Crash pages are just a small part of an overall site called The Cyberspace and Critical Theory Overview. Unfortunately, this seems to be a dead project because the latest date I can find is 1998.

New Theme on SciFan: Nanotechnology - 12/9/00

Checking in on SlashDot this morning I found a link the a NEC Press release about a nanosized wineglass. I thought about making it a recommended reading site, but there wasn't nearly enough material, so I started cruising the web looking for a more solid overview. One thing led to another, and so I just created a new theme section on SciFan about nanotechnology. One interesting tidbit leads to two hours of work.

I found an amazing number of links about nanotechnology. It's a very serious science research area. But, be sure and check out Nanotechnology in Science Fiction. Anthony S. Napier has an excellent bibliography of SF books dealing with nanotechnology. His bibliography includes a rating system so it's easy to pick out the books where nanotechnology is the main focus of the story.

Science Fiction Studies - 12/8/00

I've always been intrigued by the history of science fiction, so Science Fiction Studies, a scholarly journal devoted to the study of SF is great reading to me. For a taste of what the journal is like try, "Metempsychosis of the Machine: Science Fiction in the Halls of Karma" by Gwyneth Jones. The journal isn't really online, but many of the articles from back issues are. Just use the search engine to see what you can dredge up. I just found "Chronological Bibliography of Science Fiction Criticism". And today in the mail I received On Philip K. Dick: 40 Articles from Science Fiction Studies which I hope to explore soon because it's a major treasure trove of thoughts about PKD. My wife just got me a two year subscription to SFS for my birthday. Something infinitely better than a shirt and tie.

Classical Literature Library - 12/7/00

There's over a thousand free books at this site, most of which are far better reads than the ones you find randomly at the bookstore. Not only are these books the classics of the type they make you read in school, there are also the classics of genre fiction which we remember so fondly. This is a solid library.

I find reading books on a computer screen easier than reading from printed books, but then my eyes are getting old and I enjoy the large screen fonts. But if you don't like reading off your monitor, you can still benefit from this site. Just read the first chapter or two from a title and then decide if you want to buy the book. Or convert the title to your favorite eBook reader.

Great Science Fiction & Fantasy Works - 12/6/00

Eric Walker has been reading books for a long time and now he has put all of that experience to good use. Essentially, Walker's web site is an overview of books and authors he has read and loved. What makes this site outstanding is his careful analytical approach to reading. Eric rates Lord Dunsany as his top writer, and lists James Branch Cabell, E. R. Eddison, Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll, Mervyn Peake and J. R. R. Tolkien right below Dunsany. Eric leans mostly towards the classics of fantasy, but he does cover many other writers and forms of literature.

For each writer and book Eric hopes to write an extensive essay. Thus this site is also a great reference site. Recommended to people who really love literature and literary history.

Alexei Panshin's The Abyss of Wonder - 12/5/00

In the 1960's Alexei Panshin wrote a rather controversial overview of the writings of Robert A. Heinlein called Heinlein in Dimension. In 1968 Panshin won a Nebula for his book Rite of Passage, a book many considered equal to one of Heinlein's best juvenile novels. Panshin loved Heinlein, but Heinlein did not love him. Panshin has a web site where you can read more about their strange relationship.

Alexei Panshin has done two things I've always dreamed of doing. One is to create a new Heinlein novel and two is to write a brilliant book about science fiction. If you love science fiction, you owe it to yourself to find and read The World Beyond The Hill which explains in amazing detail the emergence of Golden Age of Science Fiction from John W. Campbell's Astounding Stories magazine.

Bison Frontiers of Imagination - 12/4/00

The University of Nebraska Press is reprinting some books you may never knew existed. Science fiction is much older than you think. Take for instance Mizora: A World of Women a novel that appeared in the Cincinnati Commercial in 1880. It's the first known feminist novel written by a woman.

Remember the movie Armageddon with Bruce Willis--you know the one where the asteroid is heading towards Deep Impact with the Earth, the other movie about interstellar billiard balls from 1998? Those were not new ideas. End of the world stories have been around for a very long time. Omega: The Last Days of the World by the French astronomer Camille Flammarion beat those stories by a century. Or take When Worlds Collide a novel that predates the movies by almost 70 years.

And who knows, maybe those books aren't even original. The past is so easily forgotten. Be sure an visit Kevin Frushour's End of the World Fiction to find out about other Apocalyptic tales.