by Mortimer Weisinger
That Penn State Froth, the official comic magazine for Penn
University, recently burlesqued Amazing Stories.
That Charles Willard Diffin composes his stuff on a dictaphone.
That the A. in A. Hyatt Verrill's name stands for Alpheus.
That Jack Williamson is the only writer who ever copped a cover for
each part of a serial.
That it's ironic that the letters in Verne's name, rearranged, spell
'never.'
That P. S. Miller is a descendant of Alexander Hamilton.
That Wonder Stories is the only s-f mag on file in the New York Public
Library.
That the reason the first eleven issues of Amazing Stories were
printed on heavy paper was because the publishers wanted to give the
fans "a big package for their money."
That, with the exception of his first story, Hamilton has never had a
story refused by Weird Tales. And even the first was accepted after
rewriting.
That William Briggs MacHarg and Edwin Balmer (the creators of Luther
Trant) are brothers-in-law.
That Wonder Stories paid over seven cents a word for Charles Tanner's
story "The Color of Space."
That Forrest J. Ackerman used to correspond regularly with 115 fans.
That Jack Williamson is a cowboy.
That Charles Cloukey was fifteen years old when he sold his first
story.
That the mystery novel, "The 13th Murder," refers to Amazing Stories
and Weird Tales as "detective and mystery fiction"--and they ring
Saturn!
That the story, "Warriors of Space," featured in the first issue of
Science Wonder Stories, was a sequel to "The World in the Balance," in
an old Argosy.
That Hugo Gernsback conducted a contest in Science & Invention to
obtain a name for his projected magazine--named Amazing Stories after
the winner was announced.
That P. Schuyler Miller had a B.S. and an M.S. degree before he was 21.