AIR WONDER STORIES
Volume 1, Number 1, July, 1929
Hugo Gernsback, Editor
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NEXT MONTH
THE ROBOT MASTER, by O. Beckwith. When man gets drunk with the knowledge
of his power, the lust to exercise it unwisely often becomes an obsession
with him. If, in addition he is a great inventor of immense robot flying machines,
the world may well tremble. This story is full of suspense, excitement and
contains a mad dream that was greater than anything Napoleon ever dreamed.
Don't miss it.
BEYOND GRAVITY, by Edward Earl Repp. Here is a science fiction aviation story,
par excellence. In many ways it is remarkable--for the situations the characters
find themselves in and the ingenuity which is used to save them. Aviation
a hundred years hence is dealt with in this romance of the air, which for
sheer daring of construction, alone, deserves special mention.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, by Victor MacClure. In the second installment of
this classic of air stories, the author shows us the power that a new invention
can possibly exert upon humanity if the inventor chooses to exert his will.
But there are inventors who invent for the good of humanity and others who
only seek destruction. In the present installment, you will quickly find out
which is pictured here.
THE PLANET AIR RULER, by Edward E. Chappelow. Here is a most exciting and
interesting air story. This well known author has a knack of giving us science
and adventure in large doses, and at the same time, he knows how to keep up
the excitement from page to page. Once you have read a single page of this
excellent story, we feel sure that you will not be able to lay down the book
until you have finished it.
AND OTHERS
"AIR WONDER STORIES"
AVIATION is no longer a new thought in literature. Over a dozen such magazines
testify to this. But practically all of these magazines are of the purely
"WildWest"--world war--adventure-- sky busting type.
AIR WONDER STORIES imitates no other magazine in print, rather it pioneers
intonew and higher realms, yet at the same time into a field that is increasing
inpopularity every year.
Briefly, AIR WONDER STORIES will present SOLELY flying stories of the future,
strictly along scientific--mechanical-- technical lines, full of adventure,exploration
and achievement.
Years ago, Edgar Allen Poe wrote his immortal "Unparalleled Adventure of
One Hans Pfaal," as well as "The Balloon Hoax." Later, the illustrious Jules
Verne gave the world his "Five Weeks in a Balloon." Still later, H. G. Wells
startled us with his incomparable "The War in the Air." All of these famous
stories, it should be noted, fall in the class of scientific fiction; they
are all dramatized mechanics of the air.
Thirty years ago, a famous man of science and a great mathematician proved
mathematically, that an airplane--a heavier than air machine--was a scientific
impossibility. Yet airplanes flew before he died. Where will aviation be 30
years hence? In 100 years? In 1000 years? AIR WONDER STORIES gives that answer
in an unmistakable manner. The reason is that the authors who contribute to
this magazine are all trained in science and mechanics. They are the prophets
who will mirror the future of aviation better than the best aeronautical authority.
Engineers and pure scientists are too bound by conventions and far too practical
and cautious to look far into the future. They do not as a rule risk their
reputations by making "inspired guesses." Your science fiction author knows
no such restraints. Take Jules Verne for example. His "Five Weeks in a Balloon,"
though deemed impossible at the time it was written, has long ago become an
actuality, yet he was bitterly denounced and ridiculed when he first published
it. When we read it today, it sounds hopelessly tame. Yet only 66 years intervened
since he wrote it; which again proves that today's scientific "pipe dreams"
are tomorrow's actualities.
AIR WONDER STORIES, then, enters into this new land of fiction, convinced
ofthe tremendous possibilities of future aviation.
Having been closely identified, as a publisher, with scientific publications
of a popular nature for over 25 years, I may be pardoned in believing that
I willsucceed in making this new magazine the greatest and most popular air
fiction magazine in its field.
As creator and editor of such pioneer publications such as "MODERN ELECTRICS,"
"THE ELECTRICAL EXPERIMENTER," "SCIENCE & INVENTION," "RADIO NEWS," "AMAZING
STORIES," "AEROMECHANICS," "SCIENCE WONDER STORIES," "RADIO CRAFT" and others,
I believe I am qualified to do the new magazine full justice.
I am most happy to announce that I have secured the full and enthusiastic
co- operation of a number of well known and outstanding science fiction authors,who
have agreed to write for the new magazine.
And I am particularly proud and happy to present to the readers of AIR WONDER
STORIES the very distinguished aeronautical educators who compose thescience-aeronautical
talent of our editorial board.
As associate editors these well known Professors of a number of leadinguniversities
and institutions, will carefully scrutinize all manuscripts in AIRWONDER STORIES
before they are printed, with the object to prevent grossscientific-aviation
misinformation from reaching our readers.
For while no man can predict how far aviation will actually advance in the
next 100 or 500 years, still the limitations of nature's laws will prevail,
then as now. So while an author may have a poetic license in letting his imagination
soar skyward, he should keep away from pseudo-science and pseudo-aviation.
And he should not picture the impossible as far as scientific principles and
laws are concerned.
Our editorial board, then, is a guarantee to our readers that the scientifically
impossible will not be published in AIR WONDER STORIES, but that, on the contrary,
the educational motif will always be uppermost in our minds. We must instruct
while we entertain.
For the future of aviation springs from the imagination! And by translating
the product of imagination into actuality, the evolution of aviation will
be hastened.
And further as an innovation for a magazine of this kind is the department
entitled "Aviation News of the Month." This gives a complete resume
of the month's advances in aviation. Over 40 magazines and other sources are
consulted in the compilation of this department. It gives a real educational
digest not obtainable otherwise in a single publication. New aviation inventions,
patents, new air-fields, improvements of airplanes and airships,etc., are
discussed intelligently every month.
From the hundreds of enthusiastic letters that come pouring in, I know AIR
WONDER STORIES will be one of the most discussed magazines in America. Science
Fiction as it will be published in AIR WONDER STORIES already is a tremendous
force in America. Everyone talks about aviation and science. This type of
story is constantly discussed in the classroom by educators. Teachers encourage
the reading of this fiction because they know that it gives the pupil a fundamental
knowledge of science and aviation. Likewise parents insist that their children
read this type of fiction in preference to the debasing and mischief- creating
sex and crime stories.
I therefore dedicate this new magazine to the air-minded, to the progressive
air enthusiasts not only of this country, but of the entire civilized world,
who are not afraid to peer ahead into the unknown.
I am particularly addressing myself to that vast army of young and red blooded
men and women who believe that aviation will change the face of thisearth--who
believe that the future of our country lies in the air--and finally those
who believe and know that it is first, last and always the great and tremendous
force of IMAGINATION that is the key to the future progressof Aviation.
With such readers AIR WONDER STORIES can and will accomplish wonders.
DEDICATION
