Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories magazine, sometimes retitled Amazing Science Fiction, began in April 1926, becoming the first science fiction magazine and one of the pioneers of science fiction in the United States.

July, 1926 issue

To give a feeling of the original magazine, here are some details on Volume 1, Number 4. (Cover picture here. The cover features a giant house fly, many times the size of a man. It is attacking a naval vessel, which is firing artillery at it. The cover splashes "Stories by H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Garrett P. Serviss". At the bottom of the cover, to make sure readers of Gernsback's other magazines are hooked, we see the legend "Experimenter Publishing Company, New York, publishers of Radio News — Science & Invention — Radio Review — Amazing Stories — Radio Internacional (sic)."

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There were 96 pages, but the page numbering continued from the previous issue, to give a feeling of continuity; perhaps to encourage readers to bind and keep issues. The only non-fiction is a 1-page editorial where Gernsback expands on the magazine's motto: Extravagant Fiction Today . . . Cold Fact Tomorrow.

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The contents page includes

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• G McLeod Windsor, Station X (part 1 of 3 parts)
• H. G. Wells, The Man Who Could Work Miracles
• Jacque Morgan, The Scientific Adventures of Mr. Fosdick: The Feline Light and Power Company Is Organised (a humorous piece about trying to generate usable static electricity from cats)
• Garrett P. Serviss, The Moon Metal
• Curt Siodmak, The Eggs From Lake Tanganyika
• Hugo Gernsback, The Magnetic Storm
• Edgar Allan Poe, The Sphinx
• Jules Verne, A Trip To The Centre of The Earth (last part of serial)
• Clement Fezandié, Doctor Hackensaw's Secrets: The Secret of the Invisible Girl

Each story has a full page illustration. There are a very few small adverts (magic tricks, trusses, etc.) and classified adverts (For sale: Rharostine "B" Eliminator, $15). There are less adverts than most pulp magazines, suggesting Gernsback was eliminating the more lurid ones.

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