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Astounding/Analog #2
Pulp Classics: Astounding Stories #2
This volume reprints all of the fiction (complete with original artwork) from the February, 1930 issue of "Astouding Stories of Super-Science." Contributors include Hugh B. Cave, Harl Vincent, Victor Rousseau, Captain S.P. Meek, and more.
292 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1930
About the author
Hugh B. Cave
245 books36 followersHugh Barnett Cave was a prolific writer of pulp fiction who also excelled in other genres.
Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was while he still attended Brookline High School, others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 in 1929 while still working for the vanity press.
In his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines as Astounding, Black Mask, and Weird Tales. By his own estimate, in the 1930s alone, he published roughly 800 short stories in nearly 100 periodicals under a number of pseudonyms. Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals called simply The Eel. These adventures appeared in the late 1930s and early 40s under the pen name Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to the weird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.
In 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his most highly regarded novels, Long Were the Nights, telling of the first PT boats at Guadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books on the war in the Pacific during this period.
During his post-war sojourn in Haiti, he became so familiar with the religion of Voodoo that he published Haiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work critically acclaimed as the "best report on voodoo in English." His Caribbean experiences led to his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel, The Cross On The Drum (1959), an interracial story in which a white Christian missionary falls in love with a black Voodoo priest's sister.
During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, including Collier's, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, in 1959, that "The Mission," his most popular short story, appeared—subsequently issued in hardcover by Doubleday, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.
But his career took a dip in the early 1970s. According to The Guardian, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, by Karl Edward Wagner, who published Murgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978 World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.
His later career included the publication in the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels: Legion of the Dead (1979), The Nebulon Horror (1980), The Evil (1981), and Shades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works are Lucifer's Eye (1991) and The Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave took naturally to the Internet, championing the e-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can readily be purchased online.
Over his entire career he wrote more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is best remembered for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received the Phoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from the International Horror Guild, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention. (From Wikipedia.)
Used the pseudonyms John Starr and Justin Case
Sources differ as to when Cave sold his first story: some say it was while he still attended Brookline High School, others cite "Island Ordeal", written at age 19 in 1929 while still working for the vanity press.
In his early career he contributed to such pulp magazines as Astounding, Black Mask, and Weird Tales. By his own estimate, in the 1930s alone, he published roughly 800 short stories in nearly 100 periodicals under a number of pseudonyms. Of particular interest during this time was his series featuring an independent gentleman of courageous action and questionable morals called simply The Eel. These adventures appeared in the late 1930s and early 40s under the pen name Justin Case. Cave was also one of the most successful contributors to the weird menace or "shudder pulps" of the 1930s.
In 1943, drawing on his experience as a war reporter, he authored one of his most highly regarded novels, Long Were the Nights, telling of the first PT boats at Guadalcanal. He also wrote a number of other books on the war in the Pacific during this period.
During his post-war sojourn in Haiti, he became so familiar with the religion of Voodoo that he published Haiti: High Road to Adventure, a nonfiction work critically acclaimed as the "best report on voodoo in English." His Caribbean experiences led to his best-selling Voodoo-themed novel, The Cross On The Drum (1959), an interracial story in which a white Christian missionary falls in love with a black Voodoo priest's sister.
During this midpoint in his career Cave advanced his writing to the "slick" magazines, including Collier's, Family Circle, Ladies' Home Journal, Redbook, and the Saturday Evening Post. It was in this latter publication, in 1959, that "The Mission," his most popular short story, appeared—subsequently issued in hardcover by Doubleday, reprinted in textbooks, and translated into a number of languages.
But his career took a dip in the early 1970s. According to The Guardian, with the golden era of pulp fiction now in the past, Cave's "only regular market was writing romance for women's magazines." He was rediscovered, however, by Karl Edward Wagner, who published Murgunstrumm and Others, a horror story collection that won Cave the 1978 World Fantasy Award. Other collections followed and Cave also published new horror fiction.
His later career included the publication in the late 1970s and early 1980s of four successful fantasy novels: Legion of the Dead (1979), The Nebulon Horror (1980), The Evil (1981), and Shades of Evil (1982). Two other notable late works are Lucifer's Eye (1991) and The Mountains of Madness (2004). Moreover, Cave took naturally to the Internet, championing the e-book to such an extent that electronic versions of his stories can readily be purchased online.
Over his entire career he wrote more than 1,000 short stories in nearly all genres (though he is best remembered for his horror and crime pieces), approximately forty novels, and a notable body of nonfiction. He received the Phoenix Award as well as lifetime achievement awards from the International Horror Guild, the Horror Writers Association, and the World Fantasy Convention. (From Wikipedia.)
Used the pseudonyms John Starr and Justin Case
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 9, 2011
Old Crompton's Secret by Harl Vincent 4/5
Spawn of the Stars by Charles W. Diffin 4/5
The Corpse on the Grating by Hugh B. Cave 3/5
Creatures of the Light by Sophie Wenzel Ellis 3.5/5
Into Space by S.P. Meek 3/5
The Beetle Horde (novella) by Victor Rousseau 5/5
Mad Music by Anthony Pelcher 3/5
The Thief of Time by S.P. Meek 4.5/5
audio narration 5/5
Spawn of the Stars by Charles W. Diffin 4/5
The Corpse on the Grating by Hugh B. Cave 3/5
Creatures of the Light by Sophie Wenzel Ellis 3.5/5
Into Space by S.P. Meek 3/5
The Beetle Horde (novella) by Victor Rousseau 5/5
Mad Music by Anthony Pelcher 3/5
The Thief of Time by S.P. Meek 4.5/5
audio narration 5/5
December 24, 2021
The second issue of this great SF magazine. It contains some well-known names of very early science fiction. Overall I would advise people that this is not great literature, nor is it modern or written for an adult audience. The stories here are fairly simple in plot and character, focusing instead on the imaginative scientific marvels that the authors dreamed up. Some are better than others, but all have a simplicity about them that marks most of the science fiction written before Campbell took over Astounding in 1938. They are light reading which the modern reader has to allow for the changes we have seen since then in the genre. I would only recommend this to the SF fan who has an interest in the early days and a curiosity to read these old stories. Or at least the SF reader who is okay with stories that are not sophisticated in any way.
“Old Crompton’s Secret” by Harl Vincent:
The first Harl Vincent story I have ever read, though I am familiar with his name. This story is typical of early pulp magazine SF. The story and writing is very simple. The ideas have a lot of potential, but that potential is far from realized. The character motivations are either simple and expected or unbelievable. The story quickly wraps up with a sappy happy ending. Definitely not a great story.
“Spawn of the Stars” by Charles Willard Diffin:
Another author I have never read before. This story was a bit better, though still pretty simple in characterization. The plot was much better than the Hard Vincent story. n all this was an enjoyable adventure. The story is a lot like Independence Day, though this was written and published a long time ago. Anyway, this alien invasion story pales next to works like The War of the Worlds. Still a fun read.
“The Corpse on the Grating” by Hugh B. Cave:
This one was much better, but isn’t a traditional Astounding story. Yes it has a science fiction premise, but this is more like a Weird Tales story than Astounding. Not that Astounding hasn’t published great horror stories, such as “Who Goes There?,” “Nightflyers,” and even two of Lovecraft’s greatest stories, but the magazine is better known for the Asimov and Heinlein hard science stories. Anyway, as out-of-place as this story seems, it is fairly well written and enjoyable to read. I’ll be looking for more Hugh Cave stories in the future.
“Creatures of the Light” by Sophie Wenzel Ellis:
Women writers are rare in early SF, so it is interesting to see a story by a woman in this second issue of Astounding. Ellis wrote only a handful of stories for the pulp magazines. Creatures of the Light is the second best story so far. The premise is very imaginative and holds a lot of possibilities. In true pulp fiction form, the possibilities are only started and not fully explored. The characters are not well developed either. Especially disappointing is for a female author to write female characters that are just fainting sexpots, but you have to overlook that sort of thing in popular fiction of the past. What we have little tolerance for today was commonplace in 1930. Still, this was an enjoyable adventure story.
“Into Space” by Sterner St. Paul (S.P. Meek):
This is one of two S.P. Meek stories in this issue, which is why it was published under the Sterner St. Paul pseudonym. A quaint story with almost no characterization and very little plot. The point was to present the science. The main point is science fiction, but some of the argument to present that point is real science, making this the first story so far that can be credited with following the magazines initial goal of presenting stories with real scientific situations. The other stories are far from real science so far. This story goes beyond real science to create situation that is entirely driven by the scientific “discovery.” That became the primary goal of science fiction and of Astounding under John W. Campbell’s editorship - to write stories that were about science. Unfortunately for this story there really isn’t anything else, and the speculative situation we know today to be completely wrong. There lies the danger of any science fiction - becoming irrelevant when science proves the story to be way off base. I still feel this story is paving the way for much of the work that was done in the 40s and 50s under the Campbell editorship.
“The Beetle Horde” part two, by Victor Rousseau:
Astounding/Analog has always serialized novels, the most famous probably is Dune by Frank Herbert. The first two issues of Astounding serialized “The Beetle Horde” - really just a novelette. The Beetle Horde is better than you would expect given the title, but does not rise above the level of 1950s “giant insects on the rampage” movies. Having a horde of giant beetles is ridiculous. But if you can get past that and the simple characters this is a good sci-fi adventure. I think it would offer an illustrator some awesome opportunities, like the air battle between biplanes and beetles. The beetles themselves I can see re-imagined into something more terrifying than the illustration on the cover of the January Astounding. This could make a cool graphic novel in the right hands today. A side note of interest is the 1930s fascination with the Antarctic as a place of unspeakable horror and lost worlds. Was Burroughs the first with The Land That Time Forgot? Or I guess it goes back to Poe with The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. In the 30s we have this short novel, Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” - all published in Astounding. Probably due to the rest of the earth mostly having been explored by this time.
“Mad Music” by Anthony Pelcher:
In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed. It swayed so badly in a 40 mph wind that it shook and swayed to pieces. So the science in this story about vibrations causing buildings to collapse is pretty sound. Unfortunately the story just isn't anything more than a simple adventure story. Too bad since this story was written ten years before that famous bridge collapse. Kudos though for being one of the earliest SF stories that doesn’t take it’s science too far.
“The Thief of Time” by S.P. Meek:
This is the other S.P. Meek story in this issue. Longer than the first one. This story is of the science fiction whodunit genre. The most interesting thing about it is that it could easily be mistaken for an early Asimov story, since Asimov’s science fiction was often of the science fiction mystery style. The characters are okay, but the story isn’t about characterization. It is all about using a science fiction situation to create a mystery and slowly solving the mystery by using science and reason. This isn’t a great story, but it is enjoyable.
-Gregory Kerkman
“Old Crompton’s Secret” by Harl Vincent:
The first Harl Vincent story I have ever read, though I am familiar with his name. This story is typical of early pulp magazine SF. The story and writing is very simple. The ideas have a lot of potential, but that potential is far from realized. The character motivations are either simple and expected or unbelievable. The story quickly wraps up with a sappy happy ending. Definitely not a great story.
“Spawn of the Stars” by Charles Willard Diffin:
Another author I have never read before. This story was a bit better, though still pretty simple in characterization. The plot was much better than the Hard Vincent story. n all this was an enjoyable adventure. The story is a lot like Independence Day, though this was written and published a long time ago. Anyway, this alien invasion story pales next to works like The War of the Worlds. Still a fun read.
“The Corpse on the Grating” by Hugh B. Cave:
This one was much better, but isn’t a traditional Astounding story. Yes it has a science fiction premise, but this is more like a Weird Tales story than Astounding. Not that Astounding hasn’t published great horror stories, such as “Who Goes There?,” “Nightflyers,” and even two of Lovecraft’s greatest stories, but the magazine is better known for the Asimov and Heinlein hard science stories. Anyway, as out-of-place as this story seems, it is fairly well written and enjoyable to read. I’ll be looking for more Hugh Cave stories in the future.
“Creatures of the Light” by Sophie Wenzel Ellis:
Women writers are rare in early SF, so it is interesting to see a story by a woman in this second issue of Astounding. Ellis wrote only a handful of stories for the pulp magazines. Creatures of the Light is the second best story so far. The premise is very imaginative and holds a lot of possibilities. In true pulp fiction form, the possibilities are only started and not fully explored. The characters are not well developed either. Especially disappointing is for a female author to write female characters that are just fainting sexpots, but you have to overlook that sort of thing in popular fiction of the past. What we have little tolerance for today was commonplace in 1930. Still, this was an enjoyable adventure story.
“Into Space” by Sterner St. Paul (S.P. Meek):
This is one of two S.P. Meek stories in this issue, which is why it was published under the Sterner St. Paul pseudonym. A quaint story with almost no characterization and very little plot. The point was to present the science. The main point is science fiction, but some of the argument to present that point is real science, making this the first story so far that can be credited with following the magazines initial goal of presenting stories with real scientific situations. The other stories are far from real science so far. This story goes beyond real science to create situation that is entirely driven by the scientific “discovery.” That became the primary goal of science fiction and of Astounding under John W. Campbell’s editorship - to write stories that were about science. Unfortunately for this story there really isn’t anything else, and the speculative situation we know today to be completely wrong. There lies the danger of any science fiction - becoming irrelevant when science proves the story to be way off base. I still feel this story is paving the way for much of the work that was done in the 40s and 50s under the Campbell editorship.
“The Beetle Horde” part two, by Victor Rousseau:
Astounding/Analog has always serialized novels, the most famous probably is Dune by Frank Herbert. The first two issues of Astounding serialized “The Beetle Horde” - really just a novelette. The Beetle Horde is better than you would expect given the title, but does not rise above the level of 1950s “giant insects on the rampage” movies. Having a horde of giant beetles is ridiculous. But if you can get past that and the simple characters this is a good sci-fi adventure. I think it would offer an illustrator some awesome opportunities, like the air battle between biplanes and beetles. The beetles themselves I can see re-imagined into something more terrifying than the illustration on the cover of the January Astounding. This could make a cool graphic novel in the right hands today. A side note of interest is the 1930s fascination with the Antarctic as a place of unspeakable horror and lost worlds. Was Burroughs the first with The Land That Time Forgot? Or I guess it goes back to Poe with The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym. In the 30s we have this short novel, Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness and Campbell’s “Who Goes There?” - all published in Astounding. Probably due to the rest of the earth mostly having been explored by this time.
“Mad Music” by Anthony Pelcher:
In 1940, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapsed. It swayed so badly in a 40 mph wind that it shook and swayed to pieces. So the science in this story about vibrations causing buildings to collapse is pretty sound. Unfortunately the story just isn't anything more than a simple adventure story. Too bad since this story was written ten years before that famous bridge collapse. Kudos though for being one of the earliest SF stories that doesn’t take it’s science too far.
“The Thief of Time” by S.P. Meek:
This is the other S.P. Meek story in this issue. Longer than the first one. This story is of the science fiction whodunit genre. The most interesting thing about it is that it could easily be mistaken for an early Asimov story, since Asimov’s science fiction was often of the science fiction mystery style. The characters are okay, but the story isn’t about characterization. It is all about using a science fiction situation to create a mystery and slowly solving the mystery by using science and reason. This isn’t a great story, but it is enjoyable.
-Gregory Kerkman
June 22, 2020
Excelente recopilación, supongo que es un resumen de los primeros años de la revista o de por lo menos los primeros números de la misma
June 29, 2016
Again, interesting to see what was considered 'astounding' in the 1930s. Some of which are old hat to us in the 21st century, and some of which (including the secret to life) which still amaze us.
Old Crompton's Secret - rated 3/5 : Begins very strongly with a young scientist discovering how to reverse the physical aspects of aging and injury. Just when things start getting good though the story seems to give up on itself and finish on a rather bland note. I was disappointed in the ending, but the story is very well told.
Spawn of the Stars - rated 3.5/5 : Thoroughly exciting hostile-alien-encounter story. Complete with fighter plane dogfights. Gets a little muddy in the middle with a bunch of chemistry talk but thankfully nothing too crazy. Still relatively believable.
The Corpse on the Grating - rated 3/5 : A fun little zombie romp. Scientist locks himself in a cemetary on a dare, haha. Short, sweet, to the point, but stereotypical of the horror genre and lacking the 'science' of "Stories of Super-Science"
Creatures of the Light - rated 1/5 : A little too 'astonishing' for my taste. Inter-dimensions, allusions to Adam and Eve, a ton of steampunk and a pretty boy protagonist... really no science in this one and the story is just convoluted and weird.
Into Space - rated 4/5 : A theoretical piece of how man will achieve space flight. Now, granted, we did achieve space flight about two to three decades later (depending on what you consider 'successful') and not a lot mentioned in this piece is entirely relevant. It is very well-paced and well-written though. Probably my favorite of the bunch.
The Beetle Horde, Pt 2 - rated 2/5 : This is the conclusion to that B-movie-tastic short story that began in January 1930. And it is just as ridiculous... now we must save the Earth from hyper-intelligent giant beetles. Pretty predictable what happens.
Mad Music - rated 2/5 : A crazy violinist takes pleasure in destroying buildings with the sound of his music. Totally absurd, but mildly entertaining. I wish there was more of the violinist and less of the protagonist. Protagonist is as dull as I'll get out...
The Thief of Time - rated 2/5 : Time travelers and bank robberies. Given the subject of the story, you think it would be a pretty quick read but apparently we are traveling time in slow motion.
Old Crompton's Secret - rated 3/5 : Begins very strongly with a young scientist discovering how to reverse the physical aspects of aging and injury. Just when things start getting good though the story seems to give up on itself and finish on a rather bland note. I was disappointed in the ending, but the story is very well told.
Spawn of the Stars - rated 3.5/5 : Thoroughly exciting hostile-alien-encounter story. Complete with fighter plane dogfights. Gets a little muddy in the middle with a bunch of chemistry talk but thankfully nothing too crazy. Still relatively believable.
The Corpse on the Grating - rated 3/5 : A fun little zombie romp. Scientist locks himself in a cemetary on a dare, haha. Short, sweet, to the point, but stereotypical of the horror genre and lacking the 'science' of "Stories of Super-Science"
Creatures of the Light - rated 1/5 : A little too 'astonishing' for my taste. Inter-dimensions, allusions to Adam and Eve, a ton of steampunk and a pretty boy protagonist... really no science in this one and the story is just convoluted and weird.
Into Space - rated 4/5 : A theoretical piece of how man will achieve space flight. Now, granted, we did achieve space flight about two to three decades later (depending on what you consider 'successful') and not a lot mentioned in this piece is entirely relevant. It is very well-paced and well-written though. Probably my favorite of the bunch.
The Beetle Horde, Pt 2 - rated 2/5 : This is the conclusion to that B-movie-tastic short story that began in January 1930. And it is just as ridiculous... now we must save the Earth from hyper-intelligent giant beetles. Pretty predictable what happens.
Mad Music - rated 2/5 : A crazy violinist takes pleasure in destroying buildings with the sound of his music. Totally absurd, but mildly entertaining. I wish there was more of the violinist and less of the protagonist. Protagonist is as dull as I'll get out...
The Thief of Time - rated 2/5 : Time travelers and bank robberies. Given the subject of the story, you think it would be a pretty quick read but apparently we are traveling time in slow motion.
August 8, 2014
I listened to this one. I downloaded it as a free audio book from Librivox. It was really fun to listen to some of those old stories from the '30s. There was one story I skipped over cuz...ahem...the dude that read it was horrible at it, he needed to take a breath and slow down, hehe..anyway...My number one fave story from this one would have to be The Corpse on the Grating. My second fave would be Into Space, and then Old Crompton's Secret. I hope to find more to listen to. These are neat!
April 1, 2010
I read a free version from Project Gutenberg, not the Kindle one, but it's the only one I could find. And I finished it a couple months ago, so I don't remember much about it, but it was enjoyable to read short stories from that far back. I'm going to get a lot of enjoyment out of the Gutenberg site. Thousands of free books for my Sony Reader.
June 30, 2013
Another great collection of early speculative science fiction from the golden era. Some of the stories are excellent in hard science fiction while others blur the line with mystery and horror and make this a great collection of short stories. They are easy to read and make for a relative short time commitment, for the dedicated reader.
Currently Reading
December 16, 2012Old Crompton's Secret: 3.5 stars
Spawn of the Stars
The Corpse on the Grating
Creatures of the Light
Into Space
The Beetle Horde
Mad Music
The Thief of Time
Project Gutenburg!
Spawn of the Stars
The Corpse on the Grating
Creatures of the Light
Into Space
The Beetle Horde
Mad Music
The Thief of Time
Project Gutenburg!
March 5, 2015
Just as much of a mixed bag as I expected.
August 19, 2016
Another good one. I think the Beetle Horde (that is concluded in this issue) would make a great big budget summer blockbuster movie.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews