Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Famous Fantastic Mysteries February 1949

The Magazine of the Week is the February 1949 issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries, cover art by Lawrence Sterne Stevens. The cover story is a reprint of the short novel The Scarlet Plague (1912) by Jack London.

Jack London is remembered today as the author of such classics as The Call of the Wild and The Sea-Wolf, but a great deal of his output was what we now call science fiction. The Scarlet Plague, a post-apocalyptic tale set in the year 2072, is a good example. Other Jack London SF includes The Iron Heel (1908), about a future dystopia; Before Adam (1907) and The Star Rover (1915), both of which feature time travel through out-of-body experiences; "The Unparalleled Invasion" and "Goliah" (1910), which describe future warfare involving biological and energy weapons; and "The Red One" (1918), in which an island comes under extraterrestrial control.

Also included in the Magazine of the Week is "Angel Island" by Inez Haynes Gillmore, a reprint of an important early work of feminist fantasy first published in 1914. The premise is that five sailors shipwrecked on a strange island fall in love with five beautiful native women who can fly. The men manage to woo the angelic women and marry them, but soon decide that it would be best to clip off their wives' wings. The story is a rather obvious, but remarkable for 1914, parable for Gillmore's feminist views.

We'll look at some less socially conscious pulp fiction next week.

Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Fantasy & Science Fiction Fall 1949

The Magazine of the Week is the first issue, Fall 1949, of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, cover by Bill Stone. This initial issue bore the title "Magazine of Fantasy," but the name was expanded by the second issue and has remained "Fantasy & Science Fiction" ever since. F&SF is still going strong, having published over 650 issues to date.

Under the direction of editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, F&SF quickly emerged as one of the leading magazines in the field in the 1950's. However, this initial issue was rather unimpressive, filled with second-tier writers, reprints, and a pseudonymous story by Boucher. The issue's saving grace was a story by Theodore Sturgeon, "The Hurkle Is a Happy Beast," with its bizarre opening line, "This is Earth, and it once was horrible with wars, and murders, and young love in the spring."

Next week we will look to honor a Hugo Award winner, perhaps even one published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: 1984 by George Orwell

The Book of the Week is the first American edition with red dust jacket of 1984 by George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair. A landmark work of science fiction (don't try to deny it) and perhaps the most important dystopia ever written, 1984 is far too famous to require any synopsis, but I will give you this note on the title: It is often said that Orwell wrote 1984 in 1948, and created the book's title by reversing the last two digits of the date. This is demonstrably false, since Orwell's original manuscript bore the title 1980, which he pushed back to 1982 and then to 1984 as completion of the novel was delayed. Orwell also considered the alternative title The Last Man in Europe.

1984 was first published in England on June 8, 1949 and in the United States on June 13, 1949. That five-day difference makes the British first edition the more valuable (even though there were more copies of the British edition printed), but the first American edition is also a prized collector's item, especially in the coveted red dust jacket. The 20,000 copies of the first American edition were printed in both red and blue dust jackets. Neither color has priority, i.e., neither one can fairly be said to have come "first," but the red dust jacket is much more valuable, because hundreds of thousands of copies of subsequent editions also had the blue cover. In explaining to a friend why your copy of a book is worth hundreds of dollars and theirs is worthless, flipping three pages and pointing to the small "first American edition" notation is much less satisfying than being able to say, "Well, this one's red, donchasee?"

Next week, we return to our history of the pulp magazines, with an early copy of the very first science fiction magazine ever published.

Aaron's Book of the Week :: The African Queen by C.S. Forester

Last week's Magazine of the Week uncovered a C.S. Forester fan in our midst, so in his honor the Book of the Week is the first paperback printing of The African Queen by C.S. Forester. The unlikely love story of a boozing sailor and a religious Englishwoman forced to make their way together through central Africa, The African Queen is perhaps Forester's most famous novel, certainly his most famous outside of the Hornblower series. The African Queen was filmed by John Huston in 1951 and starred Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, who won the only Oscar of his career for his performance.

In lieu of the first hardcover edition -- published in England in 1935 and currently selling in London's rare book shops for around $25,000 -- this is the original paperback edition, Bantam 712, first printed in 1949. As reflected in Ken Riley's suggestive cover art, the novel is a bit spicier than the film version. This American edition has a different ending than the original British edition, and the ending of the movie is different than either. As usual, the Hollywood ending is the happiest.