The Top Ten (Post 1950) Coolest SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships

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I’m not entirely sure if you can call a Post 1950s SF magazine a ‘pulp’, except in the broader sense of continuing the tradition.  And since I’m continuing the tradition of magazine cover spaceships, I’ll let myself slide a bit on the historical inaccuracy.  You guys shouldn’t worry too much – just enjoy the pictures.

Startling Stories May 1951

If ever there was a recognizable pulp magazine cover, this one is it.  I don’t think there’s a single visual history of the SF magazine that doesn’t feature this one.  And the babe is a BABE.  The ship isn’t bad either.

Galaxy September 1952

Whenever I see an illustration for something from the well-informed mind of Willy Ley I wonder – what happened?  Willy was like Werner von Braun’s explainer, a science popularizer the equal of Carl Sagan. I love this pic: it illustrates what could be – not what ‘might’ have been.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Ficton December 1954

Ahhh, Chesley Bonestell, from his series of space exploration images.  The vision is astounding, the detail incredible.  I wish someone had produced a Bonestell-in-space playset.

If October 1955

I like it when SF artists go unconventional with their ship designs – you can only be thrilled by cylindrical submarines in space so many times before it wears thin.  These ships are very reminiscent of Kubrick’s 2001 moonbus.

Galaxy May 1957

The lost spaceship.  Hidden away in the jungle (or buried in the sand, frozen in the ice, lying on the bottom of the ocean…) for decades, if not centuries.  Can you think of anything cooler that discovering an abandoned spaceship?  I can.  Getting to go inside…

Satellite February 1957

Building your spaceship out of an asteroid is just the ultimate in SF fiscal responsibility. 

Amazing Science Fiction April 1959

The crash at the rocket field.  If you look closely underneath the ship, you can see a figure that appears to be trying to hold the ship up.  That’s not gonna work, buddy.

The Original Science Fiction Stories February 1959

I said I liked unconventional.  This is about as outlandish as you can get.  On the other hand – consider how small a profile this thing would have. The lack of metal would give sensor systems very little to pick up on.  The bizarre shape (for a spaceship) would create initial confusion for anyone seeing if for the first time.  We may be looking at the first ever successful stealth spaceship design.

Astounding Science Fact and Fiction June 1960

Speaking of cylindrical submarines in space…

Analog January 1970

I think the coolest spaceships are the ones that actually go into space.

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The Top 10 (Pre-1950) Coolest SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships

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THE TOP TEN COOLEST

 

SF PULP MAGAZINE

 

SPACESHIPS

I love spaceships.  Find me a science fiction fan who doesn’t.  Such a creature does not exist. 

Next to B.E.M.s, rayguns and scantily clad women in peril (there’s a new SF acronym for you – SCWIPs!), spaceships are about as iconic as you can get.

I went through a lot of agony whittling this list down to just ten.  I could have put a hundred up here and still had some left over, but whittle I did.  Not enough to get down to only ten though, so I had to break things up into a Pre-’50s Top Ten and a Post-50′s Top Ten (TWO top ten lists for the price of one) and here they both are, starting in chronological order: 

The Top Ten (Pre-1950) COOLEST SF Pulp Magazine Spaceships -

Amazing Stories February 1928

The FIRST death star.  Proportionally about the same size too.  Hmmmm.

 

Science Wonder Quarterly Fall 1929

Pretty – and note the ship’s name – ferryman of the styx.  (The scale is revealed by the astronaut walking ON the hull.)

 

Amazing Stories April 1943

 

I love the sense of scale in this cover.  The robot isn’t too bad either.

Astounding Stories August 1934

You simply CAN NOT talk about spaceships without at least one mention of the Skylark – the worlds first interstellar cruiser!

 

Astounding Science Fiction July 1938

I featured this cover in my Pulp Comic Fairy Tale.  Obviously it has made an impression.  I think there are two elements that do it for me – first, the sheer size of the ship itself and second, the contrast of this enormous space liner dwarfed by the starfield behind it.

 

Astounding Science Fiction February 1939

No gallery of pulp cover spaceships is complete without a CRASHED spaceship.  I like the detail of the grave and the angled escape ladder.

 

Dynamic Science Storires February 1939

I loved this image the minute I set eyes on it.  This is, in fact, the cover for the first pulp I ever purchased.  Nearly 70 years later the colors are just as vibrant as the day it first hit the stands.

 

Startling Stories November 1939

What are spaceships for but to escape the dying Earth (or colonize new worlds)? This issue of Startling is most notable for the appearance of Weinbaum’s first (and most famous) story. 

I like how over-sized the lions on the left are.  I guess the people up front don’t have tickets.

 

Astounding Science Fiction May 1945

I think this cover appeals because the story it depicts is one of my all time favorites – THE seminal tale of our first contact with an alien species.  Which of the two ship’s do you think is the Terran one?

 

New Worlds January 1949

This is such a pulpy spaceship. The sense of power, and the sense of wonder come right through.

Later today – Post 1950s Spaceship covers.

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376 Pulp Magazines

I’ve been working on my pulp magazine collection pages recently as an outgrowth of the updates to the Classic Science Fiction Channel’s shop pages (more on that in a moment).

One of my sources for pulp information has been Phil Stephensen-Payne’s excellent index.

Very quiety, Phil has been updating his image files and now has even more tasty pulp pics to offer. His pages are among the best visual indexes out there; the publication data can’t be beat either. If you haven’t visited yet, take a look and if it has been a while since your last visit, you owe yourself an update.

If you want to take a look at my compilation of the Vol 1, Num 1 issues of those pulps, visit my checklist page.  Be warned though.  There are some 340 magazine cover graphics (out of 376 total) on that page and it takes a bit to load.  That page is also graphically linked to individual image pics (in a larger format) and to what I term ‘title groups’.  For example – did you know that Air Wonder Stories got it on with Science Wonder Stories and begat Wonder Stories?  Which begat Thrilling Wonder? And that somewhere along the way a tomcat snuck into the mix, resulting in Startling Stories and Fantastic Story Quarterly? Or that a bizarre incestuous relationship occured that resulted in the mutant Startling Stories combined with Thrilling Wonder and Fantastic Story?  These and other bizarre tales of horrifying pulp relations can be found on my magazine pages.

If you’d just rather look at some nifty covers, check out my dream ‘magazine rack’. Just roll over a title for some info or click on it for a larger image.

(Please note that a few – very few – links on these pages are inactive.  I’m working on it, I’m working on it…) 

Meanwhile.  In my never-ending quest to put dollars in the wallet (while goofing off at the same time) I’ve been monetizing The Classic Science Fiction Channel.  As related earlier, I’ve chosen adsense and Ebay affiliates programs.  So far adsense is pretty close to the mark with relevant links.  I’ve got three weeks yet before I get to see if anyone is actually clicking on them.

I’ve got more hope for the targeted Ebay searches, even though they aren’t done yet.

Why you ask?  Because there are some 376 individual magazine titles to create searches for, that’s why.

Yes folks.  Rather than offer a generic search for ‘science fiction pulps’, I’m creating what will eventually result in 200+ individual keyword searches on Ebay, one for every science fiction and fantasy english-language magazine produced from 1926 to the present.

In some cases, titles are so similar that they have to be grouped together (sorry ’bout that) and no matter what I do, some inappropriate items are still showing up in the search results, but I’m pretty pleased with the results so far. 

I’ve gotten up to the Fs at this point and I’m trucking along.  I ought to be done by the end of the week unless some major interference arises.

Here’s why I think you might find these pages useful. Rather than plugging in your own searches, I’ve already done the work for you. Just his the shop page, find your desired title and click on it. Looking to fill in your collection of Amazing Stories?  One click.  Hoping someone is actually selling a copy of Brief Fantastic Tales? – in less than ten seconds I can tell you.

The best part is, you don’t pay anything extra if you win and bid. Ebay pays me for sending you there.  I did all the homework, all you have to do is find something you already want to buy.

I will be adding a few general searches, so if you just want to browse the pulps and maybe hunt for a bargain, you can do that to.

So now its back to the Fs.

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The Top 35 SF & F Magazine Covers of All Time

It has been a while since I delved into the magazine collection.  AND. Everyone on the internet seems to like lists.  So here are my personal favorites – a Top 35 List – drawn from among the Volume 1, Number 1 magazines, starting with Amazing Stories in 1926 through the present.

My choices are highly subjective and have little to do with the contents of the various magazines and almost everything to do with the artwork.   

 

 

 Honestly, this is a pretty bad cover – but I like it.  Woefully inaccurate also, but the sense of adventure and strangeness manages to come through.

 

I think the Science Wonder cover appeals because there are two different styles of spaceship (or maybe its just Freudian). Scoops, well, giant robots running amok is just classic. (Note that the victim is in his PJs.)

Those poor tiny people.  I don’t think a pistol is going to do much good against those robotic deathrays.  Or maybe that robot thing is actually trying to rescue the minis?  (Great Weinbaum novel in that issue btw.) The Dynamic cover is just so… dynamic; my copy still looks newly printed and it was the first collectible I ever purchased.

A world in flames (I love apocalyptic things) and those taloned hands. This premiere cover for JW Campbell’s mag was a perfect visual representation of the title.  Super Science appeals because I’m intrigued by the people seen through the viewport.  Are they the cause of the destruction or trying to prevent it?

The Earth split asunder. Well, it couldhappen.  Stirring’s cover was cheap, but I like the work-a-day feel to it. Besides, leather space helmets are cool.

The Weird Tales Canada issue just has some way cool alien/monster creature things on it. I really like the way one of them is looking right at you. Oops. It saw me. Better run. Futuristic Tales? Apparently I have a thing for giant robots. Apparently so do British cover illustrators.  At least these guys got dressed for the occasion.

New Worlds is actually the second cover used for the first issue, and is far superior to the first one in my opinion.  Spaceships meeting in the deeps of space says SF to me, I guess.  The Fantasy cover, while cheap nevertheless intrigues. There’s a scene from Galaxy Quest that reminds me of this cover (spaceships and fireworks).

The Science Fantasy cover is obviously Kobold pre-Niven.  I wonder if Larry unconsciously had this mag in mind when he created it?  Ten Story Fantasy?  Well, I’ve got a bigger thing for half-naked women and whips than I do for giant robots.

Half naked women and whips again.  (Even though there aren’t any whips in the picture, you just know there has to be one close by.)  Finlay’s cover for this re-titling of Marvel is classic Finlay – a typically classic SF scene rendered surrealistic.

Great ship. Great planetary background. Great bra.  Science Stories’ cover is the perfect evocation of a “scramble” using spaceships instead of B-52s.

SF Adventures was a pretty crude rag, so far as contents went, but this cover is one of the best, with the entire story reflected in the bell of that raygun. Science Fiction (another retitling of Future) is another great apocalyptic image. The creature is exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to see crawling out of a bomb crater.

Crashed spaceships – especially ones that have been buried for a long time – are a standard feature of SF iconography. The FU cover is just a great Bonestell-like planetscape.

IF’s UK debut is another planetary scene. Maybe if you enlarged the Fantastic Universe cover, you’d see these guys somewhere in there… F&SF from Australia – great scene of a crash at the rocket field.

Star, Fred Pohl’s major editorial contribution to the field, features a great Powers cover. The Vanguard image is probably one of the most brutal ever depicted. Whoever is in the control room is about to start having a very bad day.

This retitling of Amazing (Science Fiction to Stories) riffs on the Bonestell moon lander. Worlds of Fantasy, a sister mag to Worlds of Tomorrow shows us what happens to the children of people captured by the creatures featured on the Weird Tales cover.

TMTSFET depicts quicksand in space.  You’d think they’d have known something was up before getting out of the ship… SF Monthly from the UK was a noble attempt at an art mag and was filled with posters.

UWOSF was a great comics mag. This cover is a great nightmarish image of alien invasion.  Heavy Metal? Well, its got almost giant robots and a kinda half naked woman and sorta whips.

Future has another Bonestell rendition and the (brief) re-issue of Galaxy has a great steampunk/giant robots pastiche.

There you have it. 

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Science Fiction Magazines – pt 2

A few days ago I posted some images and a little history on the SF/F magazine.  Its now time to move on to the golden age, which started with John W. Campbell’s assumption of the editor’s chair at Astounding Stories.

But before that happened, John W. wrote for the magazines, and one of the magazines he wrote for was called Astounding Stories of Super Science.

 January of 1930. 

 Hugo’s magazines underwent another name change

 and expansion into a quarterly edition of the same name.

 A little later on in the decade, Wonder again changed its title:

 

Several other good looking magazines were also produced, but never amounted to much:

 

 And then, in 1934, the UK produced its first SF mag – Scoops, a weekly newspaper for teens:

 Which was followed shortly thereafter by a number of ‘adult’ British titles:

 

 The end of the decade saw a boom in SF & Fantasy pulps, many going on to long and venerable careers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Culminating with another John W. Campbell inspired pulp -

 

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What’s in a Name?

Why is it that the science fiction and fantasy e-zines that seem to sprout like mushrooms pick whacked out names for themelves?

Card’s ‘Traveling Medicine Show’ is about the least egregious.  I just ran across one called ‘Moon Snails’.

Sorry, but the last thing I’d ever plug into a search engine if I were looking for a science fiction magazine would be anything with the word ‘snails’ in it.

Are the publishers trying to be deliberately obscure?  Or do they thing their name is going to be the next new word added to the dictionary?

Whatever happened to simple, straightforward names that immediately conjure up the subject matter, something simple like -

Startling Stories Combined with Thrilling Wonder and Fantastic Story

Just saying.

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