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Final Hugo reading
Mar. 15th, 2018 11:08 pmI haven’t completed any if my books in progress over the past week, because I’ve mostly been reading pulp magazines from 1942. Twenty-four of them, in fact. I did not read cover to cover, but I gave every piece of fiction a few oaragraphs to engage me, and if it did, I read it. Say, about two-thirds of the stories published. Most of the magazines were Campbell edited - primarily Amazing Stories and Unknown Worlds - with a few others tossed in for variety.
I did this because I wanted to give a fair shot at nominations for the Retro Hugos. Certainly I found some gems that I would never have thought of had I not done this reading.
And I noticed a few interesting things about the stories I read, too. First, there were a lot of stories that touched, in one way or another, on the war. Not surprising, the US had just gotten into the war a few months before the year began, and writers, even those who write speculative fiction, write about the world they live in, even if they put it into futuristic or fantasy trappings. Time travel was big. I found a lot of stories that in one way or another dealt with time travel, forward or back. Robots were pretty big, too. Not just Asimov, but other writers as well. On the fantasy side, there was a definite market for humorous stories, with L. Sprague de Camp being particularly known for such. And ghosts. A lot of fantasy involved ghosts. Actually, both Anthony Boucher and A. E. van Vogt wrote time travel stories involving ghosts. There were a fair few ‘bargain with the devil’ fantasies, too.
It was really rather interesting, immersing myself in sff from another time for a week. But now I’m back to the present, and all my Hugo nominations are in, and I’ve got some things I want to read for myself.
Next week, back to regular Wednesday reading posts. At least, that’s the plan.
I did this because I wanted to give a fair shot at nominations for the Retro Hugos. Certainly I found some gems that I would never have thought of had I not done this reading.
And I noticed a few interesting things about the stories I read, too. First, there were a lot of stories that touched, in one way or another, on the war. Not surprising, the US had just gotten into the war a few months before the year began, and writers, even those who write speculative fiction, write about the world they live in, even if they put it into futuristic or fantasy trappings. Time travel was big. I found a lot of stories that in one way or another dealt with time travel, forward or back. Robots were pretty big, too. Not just Asimov, but other writers as well. On the fantasy side, there was a definite market for humorous stories, with L. Sprague de Camp being particularly known for such. And ghosts. A lot of fantasy involved ghosts. Actually, both Anthony Boucher and A. E. van Vogt wrote time travel stories involving ghosts. There were a fair few ‘bargain with the devil’ fantasies, too.
It was really rather interesting, immersing myself in sff from another time for a week. But now I’m back to the present, and all my Hugo nominations are in, and I’ve got some things I want to read for myself.
Next week, back to regular Wednesday reading posts. At least, that’s the plan.
