Cosmic Stories
Entry updated 13 August 2021. Tagged: Publication.
1. See Amateur Magazine; Jerry Siegel.
2. US Pulp magazine, three bimonthly issues, March to July 1941, edited by Donald A Wollheim. Cosmic Stories was one of two companion magazines (the other being Stirring Science Stories) started by Wollheim in 1941 and published by Albing Publications, New York, a father-and-son organization, Andrew and Gerald Albert, who had plenty of enthusiasm but no money. It was cheaply produced (lacking full-colour covers) and had a microscopic editorial budget – most of the stories were not paid for at all, being solicited by Wollheim from his fellow Futurians, notably Cyril M Kornbluth, and published under a variety of pseudonyms. Those who appeared under their own names included Isaac Asimov, James Blish and David H Keller. It also featured many illustrations by Hannes Bok. The title changed with the second issue to Cosmic Science Fiction, but with insufficient finance or experience the magazine (and Albing Publications) soon failed. The one story most fans would remember in later years was "Mecanica" (March 1941) by Frank Edward Arnold, where a team of adventurers travel through time (see Time Travel) to the thirtieth century and discover a world controlled by soulless Machines. Its parallels with the rise of Nazi Germany were not lost on readers. [MA]
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