Astounding (magazine)

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Astounding Stories was a seminal science fiction magazine founded in 1930. It was initially published by Publisher's Fiscal Corporation, which later became Clayton Magazines; Clayton went out of business in early 1933 and the title was bought by Street & Smith. Astounding Stories of Super-Science, first edited by Harry Bates, is generally considered the forum where modern science fiction was created. It has changed names repeatedly, most importantly in 1938 to Astounding Science-Fiction, and then in the 1960s to Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact, under which name it is still published. The word "and" was sometimes replaced in the logo by a pseudo-mathematical symbol comprising a horizontal right-pointing arrow piercing an inverted U-shape. The symbol, apparently invented by Campbell, was said to mean "analogous to."

Image:Astounding Grey Lensman.png Following 8 years of publication under two different editors, the magazine's helm was assumed by John W. Campbell, who took over from the December 1937 issue. Campbell retitled it Astounding Science-Fiction and brought an unprecedented insistence on placing equal emphasis on both words of "science fiction." No longer satisfied with gadgetry and action alone, Campbell demanded that his writers think out how science and technology might really develop in the future - and, most important, how those changes would affect the lives of human beings.

Writer L. Ron Hubbard published the first article on his Dianetics concepts, which would soon expand into Scientology, in the magazine in 1950. [1]

Image:Analog Sub in Martian Orbit.jpg The new sophistication soon made Astounding the undisputed leader in the field. Campbell later began to think the old title was too "sensational" or "juvenile" to reflect what the magazine was actually doing, so he initially de-emphasized the word "Astounding" by having it printed in narrow script above the bold words "SCIENCE FICTION," and then renamed the magazine Analog in 1960. Over the course of a year the title logo was changed; the large initial "A" stayed the same while the letters "stounding" were faded down and the letters "nalog" faded up on top of them. Bibliographers often abbreviate the magazine as ASF, which can of course stand for either title.

Ben Bova took over as editor after Campbell died suddenly in 1971, starting with the January 1972 issue, and was himself succeeded by Stanley Schmidt in 1978.

Due to the economics of the magazine publishing industry (i.e. not much money in the budget), Analog frequently prints material from previously unknown authors, and has launched the careers of popular contributors within the genre (e.g. Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game in the 1970s, and early work by Harry Turtledove in the 1980s.)

Each year, Analog conducts a readers' poll—called the Analytical Laboratory, or AnLab—to determine the favorite stories, articles and cover art published in the magazine in the previous year. Many recipients of the AnLab Award have gone on to receive the much-coveted Hugo Award.

Image:AnalogOctober1972.jpg

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