Fiction Versus Facts
by Hugo Gernsback, F.R.S.
July 1926 (1.4) p. 291.
A few letters have come to the Editor’s desk from some readers who wish to know what prompts us to so frequently preface our stories in our introductory remarks with the statement that this or that scientific plot is not impossible, but quite probable.
These readers seem to have the idea that we try to impress our friends with the fact that whatever is printed in Amazing Stories is not necessarily pure fiction, but could or can be fact.
That impression is quite correct. We do wish to do so, and have tried to do so ever since we started Amazing Stories. As a matter of fact, our editorial policy is built upon this structure and will be so continued indefinitely.
The reason is quite simple. The human mind, not only of today, but of 10,000 years ago also is and was so constituted that being merged into the present it can see neither the past nor the future clearly. If only 500 years ago (or little more than 10 generations), which is not a long time as human progress goes, anyone had come along with a story wherein radio telephone, steamships, airplanes, electricity, painless surgery, the phonograph, and a few other modern marvels were described, he would probably have been promptly flung into a dungeon.
All these things sounded preposterous and the height of nonsense even as little as 100 years ago, and, lo and behold! within two generations we take these marvels and miracles as everyday occurrences, and do not get in the least excited when we read of recent reports that it will be possible, within a year or less, to see as well as hear your sweetheart 1,000 miles away, without intervening wires or connections of any sort.
So when we do read one of these to us “impossible” tales, in Amazing Stories, we may be almost certain that the “impossibility” will have become a fact perhaps before another generation—if not much sooner. It is most unwise in this age to declare anything impossible, because you may never be sure but that even while you are talking it has already become a reality. Many things in the past which were declared impossible, are of everyday occurrence now.
There are few stories published in this magazine that can be called outright impossible. As a matter of fact, in selecting our stories we always consider their possibility. We reject stories often on the ground that, in our opinion, the plot or action is not in keeping with science as we know it today. For instance, when we see a plot wherein the hero is turned into a tree, later on into a stone, and then again back to himself, we do not consider this science, but, rather, a fairy tale, and such stories have no place in Amazing Stories.
Of course once in a great while an author may take some liberties, as happened, for instance, in the conclusion of A Trip to the Center of the Earth, printed in this Issue.
Jules Verne brought back his heroes in a most improbable manner. But this one defect does not detract from the story as a whole, throughout which good science is maintained. It is only when the entire plot becomes frankly impossible, or far too improbable, that we draw the line.
And it should never be forgotten that the educational value of the scientifiction type of story is tremendous.
Mr. G. Peyton Wertenbaker, author of “The Man from the Atom,” says this on the same subject:
“Amazing Stories should appeal, however, to quite a different public [referring to the sex type of literature]. Scientifiction is a branch of literature which requires more intelligence and even more aesthetic sense than is possessed by the sex-type reading public. It is designed to reach those qualities of the mind which are aroused only by things vast, things cataclysmic, and things unfathomably strange. It is designed to reach that portion of the imagination which grasps with its eager, feeble talons after the unknown. It should be an influence greater than the influence of any literature I know upon the restless ambition of man for further conquests, further understandings. Literature of the past and the present has made the mystery of man and his world more clear to us, and for that reason it has been less beautiful, for beauty lies only in the things that are mysterious. Beauty is a groping of the emotions towards realization of things which may be unknown only to the intellect.
“Scientifiction goes out into the remote vistas of the universe, where there is still mystery and so still beauty. For that reason scientifiction seems to me to be the true literature of the future.
“The danger that may lie before Amazing Stories is that of becoming too scientific and not sufficiently literary. It is yet too early to be sure, but not too early for a warning to be issued amicably and frankly.
“It is hard to make an actual measure, of course, for the determination of the correct amount of science, but the æsthetic instinct can judge. I can only point out as a model the works of Mr. H.G. Wells, who has instinctively recognized, in his stories, the correct proportions of fiction, fact, and science. This has been possible only because Mr. Wells is a literary artist above everything, rather than predominantly a scientist. If he were a scientist, his taste and sense would permit him only to write books of scientific research. Since he is an artist, he has given us the first truly beautiful work in this new field of literature."
These opinions, we believe, state the case clearly. If we may voice our own opinion we should say that the ideal proportion of a scientifiction story should be 75 percent literature interwoven with 25 percent science.
Improvements
p. 359
You will note two big improvements in this issue of Amazing Stories. We have had some suggestions as to the quality of the paper used and heeding the requests, we are beginning with. this issue to use a much better grade of paper. As time goes on, still better paper will be used.
Then the other day someone on the Pacific coast wrote in and complained that, much as he liked Amazing Stories, it was rather difficult to read it because you had to hold the magazine in your hand with a vice-like grip. The usual magazines, practically without exception, are staple-bound, which binding clamps the edge of the magazine so tightly that when you lay it on the table in from tof you it will not stay open.
We investigated the complaint, and found it to be most reasonable. We therefore took immediate ways and means to do away with the old-fashioned binding, and you now hold in your hand a magazine bound with the so-called “Perfect” binding. You will note that you can lay this magazine down flat and it will stay open. Nevertheless, the pages will not come off easily unless you tear them out forcibly.
The “Perfect” binding process is a very much more expensive method of binding, and only a few concerns in the country have the machinery necessary to do the “Perfect” binding. The machine itself is most interesting. It costs, by the way, over $30,000.
The process is as follows: When all the pages and all the signatures are gathered, the machine grasps them and cuts off the entire back of the magazine. This means that all the pages are loose. The pages that have been thus treated advance in the machine until they meet a glueing apparatus, whereby hot glue under pressure is forced against the cut pages. The glue, as will be noticed, if a copy is carefully inspected, impregnates the pages for a small distance. Traveling on, the magazine is then encased in a piece of stiff gauze, after which the cover is glued on. The magazine is then automatically compressed, and is soon ready for the freight car.
All of this goes on with lightning-like rapidity, so quickly, in fact, that the eye can hardly follow magazine through the various processes, until a completely bound issue emerges from this latest of wonders. The “Perfect” binder that binds Amazing Stories, is capable of turning out 2,500 copies per hour.
This process is, of course, more expensive than the old type of stapling, but we believe that the readers of Amazing Stories are entitled to the latest technical advances in magazine publishing and the conveniences thereby brought about.
Experts Join Staff of Amazing Stories
p. 380
It will come as good news that two scientifiction experts have joined the staff as Literary Editors of Amazing Stories.
The name of Wilbur C. Whitehead, the greatest Auction Bridge expert in the United States, will come as a surprise to many. Nevertheless, this famous man is a scientification fan of the first rank. There are few works of scientifiction with which he is not familiar, and he is just as much an expert in this type of literature as in his native Bridge. Mr. Whitehead is the author of the following books on Bridge, and also editor of the Work-Whitehead Auction Bridge Bulletin, Auction Bridge Standards, Auction Bridge Summary, Complete Auction Bridge, and Authoritative Leads and Conventions of Playing.
Every great man has a hobby, and Mr. Whitehead is no exception. His hobby happens to be scientifiction and all that goes with it. We congratulate our readers upon the acquisition of Mr. Whitehead. It means a great deal to the future editorial policy of Amazing Stories. It means, in short, the best.
Mr. C.A. Brandt, who has also joined the editorial staff is, in our opinion, the greatest living expert on scientifiction. At least we do not know of anyone else who has practically every piece of scientifiction that was ever published, in his library. Mr. Brandt has on his bookshelves complete volumes, and short stories taken from many publications—all scientifiction. We believe that this collection of this type of literature can not be equalled by anyone, because he made a study, not only of works in the English language, but also in the German, French, and Scandinavian languages.
There is not a work of this kind that has appeared during the last 50 years, with which Mr. Brandt is not fully conversant. This is, of course, a tremendous asset to a publication of the type of Amazing Stories, and one which assures you of getting the best that can be had at all times.
By having the advantage of such an expert editorial board, Amazing Stories is convinced that whenever new stories from new writers are received they will have expert treatment, and that, of course, is very necessary when dealing with a new literature of this kind.
New Scientifiction Stories
p. 381
If you are interested in scientifiction stories, you will find several excellent ones in Amazing Stories’ sister magazines, Radio News and Science and Invention.
Radio News for July contains “Sam Jones, Radio Tube Bootlegger,” by Volney G. Mathison. A story of the bad old days when there were sharp practices in radio—and how some of the practitioners came to grief in carrying out their designs upon the unwary public. If it is not true, it is well enough invented to convey a moral to radio set owners in their purchasing of supplies.
In Science and Invention, “Tarrano the Conqueror,” by Ray Cummings, has been running for several months. The author of this story also wrote “The Girl in the Golden Atom,” “Around the Universe,” and “The Man on the Meteor.” “Tarrano the Conqueror” is one of the weirdest and most amazing stories it has ever been our good fortune to read.
Copies of Radio News and Science and Invention may be secured at all newsstands, and back numbers can be obtained from the publishers. Address Experimenter Publishing Co., 53 Park Place, New York City.
From George Allan England,
author of “The Thing from Outside”
p. 382
June 4, 1926
Mr. H. Gernsback, Editor, Amazing Stories,
New York City.
Dear Mr. Gernsback:
I cannot thank you too cordially for the opportunity you give me to say something in approval of your plan to print scientific fiction. This is supposed to be the Age of Science, and the more widely scientific ideas are spread, the better. Fiction is certainly one of the most effective methods of disseminating scientific ideas.
The world is too much given over to silly, meaningless and licentious fiction. The type of stories you propose to print can do much to combat this evil tendency. Moreover, such stories will wage war on the reactionary campaign now going on. The saying that “Science has conquered the world” is unfortunately far from true. Only a very small percentage of people have as yet accepted scientific thought with all its implication. The masses still cling to worn-out old religious dogmas that even an elementary knowledge of science would destroy. Schools and churches still keep the hoary old superstitions alive, and actively fight to do so. The clergy realize that the real triumph of science would oust them from soft sinecures; bluntly put, from their graft. Today, they are seeking, with some success, to have time taken from school-hours, for religious intruction. They are backing the fight, in many states, to have science prohibited in the schools and colleges. An era of reaction is upon us. “Science Service,” and your magazines, are doing noble work, which should by all means be extended. If the “black beetles of superstition” had their way evolution would be banished from modern thought. This must not be. The war is on, and you stand on the firing-line.
For years I have advocated the teaching of evolution in grammar schools, high schools, and academies, as well as in universities. This one study would drive the inanities of superstition out of court, with ridicule. By all means, Mr. Gernsback, publish all the scientific fiction you can, especially with bearing on evolution. The clergy can dominate educational systems, but they cannot control magazines. If the people cannot be reached through the schools, they can through the magazines. Your work is of immense importance.
With all good wishes for your unqualified success, and with the faith that ultimately “truth is mighty and will prevail,” I am as ever,
Most cordially yours,
G
Bradford, N.H.