Astounding Stories of Super-Science, May, 1930 PDF Download

Author: Various
Publisher: Litres
ISBN: 5043101954
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Author: Various Authors
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
ISBN: 146551791X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 714

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Book Description
He smiled his quiet smile and led the way to what had been the billiard room of "The Billows," but which was the laboratory of "The Monstrosity." The first thing my eyes fell upon were two gleaming metal objects suspended from chains let into the ceiling. "Diving suits," explained Mercer. "Rather different from anything you've ever seen." They were different. The body was a perfect globe, as was the head-piece. The legs were cylindrical, jointed at knee and thigh with huge discs. The feet were solid metal, curved rocker-like on the bottom, and at the ends of the arms were three hooked talons, the concave sides of two talons facing the concave side of the third. The arms were hinged at the elbow just as the legs were hinged, but there was a huge ball-and-socket joint at the shoulder. But Mercer!" I protested. "No human being could even stand up with that weight of metal on and around him!" "You're mistaken, Taylor," smiled Mercer. "That is not solid metal, you see. And it is an aluminum alloy that is not nearly as heavy as it looks. There are two walls, slightly over an inch apart, braced by innumerable trusses. The fabric is nearly as strong as that much solid metal, and infinitely lighter. They work all right, Taylor. I know, because I've tried them." "And this hump on the back?" I asked, walking around the odd, dangling figures, hanging like bloated metal skeletons from their chains. I had thought the bodies were perfect globes; I could see now that at the rear there was a humplike excrescence across the shoulders. "Air," explained Mercer. "There are two other tanks inside the globular body. That shape was adopted, by the way, because a globe can withstand more pressure than any other shape. And we may have to go where pressures are high." "And so," I said, "we don these things and stroll out into the Atlantic looking for the girl and her friends?" "Hardly. They're not quite the apparel for so long a stroll. You haven't seen all the marvels yet. Come along!" He led the way through the patio, beside the pool in which our strange visitor from the depths had lived during her brief stay with us, and out into the open again. As we neared the sea, I became aware, for the first time, of a faint, muffled hammering sound, and I glanced at Mercer inquiringly.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783965376854
Category : Science fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Author: Gary Westfahl
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 9780853235637
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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This is a sustained argument about the idea of science fiction by a renowned critic. Overturning many received opinions, it is both controversial and stimulating Much of the controversy arises from Westfahl's resurrection of Hugo Gernsback - for decades a largely derided figure - as the true creator of science fiction. Following an initial demolition of earlier critics, Westfahl argues for Gernsback's importance. His argument is fully documented, showing a much greater familiarity with early American science fiction, particularly magazine fiction, than previous academic critics or historians. After his initial chapters on Gernsback, he examines the way in which the Gernsback tradition was adopted and modified by later magazine editors and early critics. This involves a re-evaluation of the importance of John W. Campbell to the history of science fiction as well as a very interesting critique of Robert Heinlein's Beyond the Horizon, one the seminal texts of American science fiction. In conclusion, Westfahl uses the theories of Gernsback and Campbell to develop a descriptive definition of science fiction and he explores the ramifications of that definition. The Mechanics of Wonder will arouse debate and force the questioning of presuppositions. No other book so closely examines the origins and development of the idea of science fiction, and it will stand among a small number of crucial texts with which every science fiction scholar or prospective science fiction scholar will have to read.

Author: Christopher M. O’Brien
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786449845
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Although he is most remembered for his vast collection of science fiction memorabilia; his influential magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland; and his frequent sci-fi convention appearances, Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008) also left a sizeable body of work in print. An introductory biographical section traces Ackerman's early enthusiasm for pulp magazines and film productions of a fantastic nature, his rise to prominence in "fandom," his acquisition of memorabilia, his work as a literary agent, the founding of his landmark magazine in 1958, and his friendship with a number of performers and personnel from genre films. The extensive bibliography includes listings of books, published letters, articles, fiction, verse, speeches, screenplays, comics, discography, liner notes, and periodicals edited and published by Ackerman. A thorough filmography, a selected listing of nationally televised appearances, and rare photographs of Ackerman throughout his lifetime complete this definitive catalog of one of science fiction's most interesting personalities.

Author: Various
Publisher: Litres
ISBN: 5043101946
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Author: Billee J. Stallings
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786487151
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Will F. Jenkins, known to science fiction fans by his penname Murray Leinster, was among the most prolific American writers of the 20th century. "The Dean of Science Fiction," as he was sometimes known, published more than 1,500 short stories and 100 books in a career spanning more than fifty years. This biography, written by his two youngest daughters, chronicles Murray Leinster's private and literary life from his first writings for The Smart Set and early pulp magazines such as Argosy, Amazing Stories and Astounding Stories, through the golden age of science fiction in the 1930s through the 1950s, to his death in 1975. Included as appendices are his famous 1946 story "A Logic Named Joe" and 1954 essay "To Build a Robot Brain."

Author: Jess Nevins
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 144085484X
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Using a broad array of historical and literary sources, this book presents an unprecedented detailed history of the superhero and its development across the course of human history. How has the concept of the superhero developed over time? How has humanity's idealization of heroes with superhuman powers changed across millennia—and what superhero themes remain constant? Why does the idea of a superhero remain so powerful and relevant in the modern context, when our real-life technological capabilities arguably surpass the imagined superpowers of superheroes of the past? The Evolution of the Costumed Avenger: The 4,000-Year History of the Superhero is the first complete history of superheroes that thoroughly traces the development of superheroes, from their beginning in 2100 B.C.E. with the Epic of Gilgamesh to their fully entrenched status in modern pop culture and the comic book and graphic novel worlds. The book documents how the two modern superhero archetypes—the Costumed Avengers and the superhuman Supermen—can be traced back more than two centuries; turns a critical, evaluative eye upon the post-Superman history of the superhero; and shows how modern superheroes were created and influenced by sources as various as Egyptian poems, biblical heroes, medieval epics, Elizabethan urban legends, Jacobean masques, Gothic novels, dime novels, the Molly Maguires, the Ku Klux Klan, and pulp magazines. This work serves undergraduate or graduate students writing papers, professors or independent scholars, and anyone interested in learning about superheroes.

Author: Robert Sampson
Publisher: Popular Press
ISBN: 9780879722623
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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The second volume within this series presents more than fifty series characters within pulp fiction, selected to represent four popular story types from the 1907-1939 pulps--scientific detectives, occult and psychic investigators, jungle men, and adventurers in interplanetary romance. Some characters--Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Craig Kennedy, Anthony (Buck) Rogers--became internationally known. Others are now almost forgotten, except by collectors and specialists.

Author: Everett Franklin Bleiler
Publisher: Kent State University Press
ISBN: 9780873386043
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 780

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Book Description
Complementing Science-Fiction: The Early Years, which surveys science-fiction published in book form from its beginnings through 1930, the present volume covers all the science-fiction printed in the genre magazines--Amazing, Astounding, and Wonder, along with offshoots and minor magazines--from 1926 through 1936. This is the first time this historically important literary phenomenon, which stands behind the enormous modern development of science-fiction, has been studied thoroughly and accurately. The heart of the book is a series of descriptions of all 1,835 stories published during this period, plus bibliographic information. Supplementing this are many useful features: detailed histories of each of the magazines, an issue by issue roster of contents, a technical analysis of the art work, brief authors' biographies, poetry and letter indexes, a theme and motif index of approximately 30,0000 entries, and general indexes. Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years is not only indispensable for reference librarians, collectors, readers, and scholars interested in science-fiction, it is also of importance to the study of popular culture during the Great Depression in the United States. Most of its data, which are largely based on rare and almost unobtainable sources, are not available elsewhere.