Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02
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4 lew York City CONTENTS In Our Next Issue: Contents for May "DOCTOR HACKENSAWS SECRETS", by Clement Fezandie, by popular requests. A new and hitherto un- of the Earth A Trip to the Center published story of the great and illustrious Dr. Hacken- saw, which can not fail to hold your interest from start to finish. Mesmeric Revelation "THE RUNAWAY SKYSCRAPER", by Murray Lcin- Fourth Dimension, in which the great By Edgar Allan Poe ster, a story of the Metropolitan Life skyscraper in New York vanishes into the Fourth Dimension. One of the most surprising tales The Crystal Egg we have ever read. (This story was scheduled for the By H. G. Wells May issue, but had to make room for the Jules Verne The Infinite Vision "THE SCIENTIFIC ADVENTURES OF MR. FOS- DICK", by Jack Morgan. Perhaps you did not know it, By Charles C. Winn - but there can be excellent humor in scieotifiction. One, most excruciatingly funny stories, which at From the Atom {Sequel) of the The Man same lime is an excellent piece of scientifiction, is By G. Peyton Wertenbaker [i:!td "Mr. Fosdick Invents the Seidl immobile." "A TRIP TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH"-', . Off On a Comet (Conclusion) Jules Verne, (second installment), wherein our heroes have now penetrated to subterranean depths and find a By Jules Verne ., tremendous number of surprises. "WHISPERING ETHER" by Charles S. Wolfe, a radio story that holds your interest and injects iiuite a few Illustrates this month's stoi new thoughts into a well-known subject. One of the Wells. This is a, supposed vi of t! plan greatest short stories we have ever seen. (This story by Mr. Cave through the Cry' Egg, from the eart also was due for publication in May, and was crowded Verne story, On a COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT out by the conclusion of the Jules "Off Comef). met", and "A Trip to the Center of the Another weird story by Edgar Allan Poe, which we copyright 1911, by Vincent Parke & Ci 1 like. .> i vrrfiiNAi'iov-u,. si-ii- . AMAZING- RruHIKS and Canada. £-,roroaa :i -. i r tarp. Betels- Prtalid T. F. Magrano. Park Snuarn Btdg., Boston, Mm AMAZING STORIES BLANK CARTRIDGE PISTOL Price IB 1 Make Your Watches, Clocks, Etc., £?J ^, ,»^ a Visible by Night ° $100 11 2&a?J-ff *KB 'p /TbjMflj/)/ lis I SHI Sj?*- Agents Wanted a ADDRESS ORDERS FOR ALL GOODS OJV THIS PAGE TO Pokbk JOHNSON SMITH & CO. depths, mcIHE, WIS. '"»' ppim THE MAGAZINE OF SCIENTIFICTION HUGO GERNSBACK, F.R.S., Editor DR. T. O'CONOR SLOANE, M. A., Ph.D. ; Aaodau Editor Editorial and General Offices 53 Park Place. New York, N. Y. Extravagant Fiction Today ------- Cold Fact Ton THANK YOU! By HUGO GERNSBACK, F.R.S. HE firstI issue of AMAZING STORIES and each time get something new from them." 4 been on the newsstands only about Michael II. Kay, Brooklyn, N, Y., says : "You will i week, as we go to press with this, the g"e!"ua'u(ly find that when one has read your magazine second issue of the magazine; yet, even he will become so enthusiastic, so elated over his during this short time, we have been discovery, that he will deem it a pleasure to extol its deluged with an avalanche of letters of virtues to his friends. Even now my wife is approval and constructive criticism fruni practically anxiously waiting for me to finish this first issue, so every section of the country, except the West—as that she may read it herself." we have not yet had time to hear from it. Lack of space precludes adding to the list in- We hereby take this medium to thank all our definitely. friends for their kind wishes and willingness to co- As to the future: Some very valuable suggestions operate with us. We sincerely regret that we cannot were made—upon which we have acted. There was answer each and every letter individually. There are quite a demand for "Dr. Hackensaw's Secrets." Act- simply too many letters—and we feel that our read- ing upon this demand, we will, beginning with our ers would rather we utilize our efforts in the im- next issue, print new and hitherto unpublished Dr. provement of the magazine. llackeusaw st-ocies. We have a good many of these After all, it is your paper, and we are striving famous stories by Clement Fezandie. Again, a good hard to please you. Judging from the various com- many of our readers want some of the stories of ments, the first issue of AMAZING STORIES was Edgar Rice Burroughs. Accordingly, we have con- just about right—the stories pleased and the length tracted for some, to be published in the future. of the shorter stories and the division of the long Among the newer works of which we have acquired ones seemed satisfactory. the publication rights are: "Die Macht der Drei" And it was with a feeling of gratification that we (The Might of the Three), one of the greatest—and noted the almost unanimous condemnation of the perhaps the greatest—recent scientific!, ion story; so-called "sex-appeal" type of story that seems so and "Feuer am Nordpol" (The North Pole Fire). much in vogue in this country now. Most of bur Both these works were published in Germany. correspondents seemed to heave a great sigh of re- We also obtained the rights to an excellent radio lief in at last finding a literature that appeals to the story—one of the finest that has ever been written imagination, rather than carrying a sensational ap- —"Station X", by G. MacLeod Winsor. peal to the emotions. It is that which justifies our "The Messiah of the Cylinder", by Victor Rous- new venture—our expenditure of time and money. seau is another tremendous story, and then, of The letters, extracts from which are printed be- course, there is H. G. Wells, with his "The War in low, seem to best express the general trend of the Air." opinion. There is only one thing that troubles us now: we Mr. George W. Anderson, of Fairmount, W. Va., have more good stories to publish than we have space in addition to giving us a good suggestion, saya: in which to publish them. And here is where you "Print all scientific facts its related in the stories, can help. During the next three or four months it in italics. This will serve to more forcefully drive is our intention to enlarge the magazine, but only an home the idea upon which you have established your increased circulation can make this possible. You magazine. Personally, wr hen I have some such sys- can do your share by making the magazine known tem blazing forth before my eyes I am inclined to among your friends. If you like AMAZING stop and consider what I have learned, for future STORIES, your friends will probably' like it too. reference." If each one of you who reads this could get one ". A. Lee Gladwin, of Ames, Iowa, writes: . friend to buy the next issue of AMAZING Amazing Stories is entertaining and has food for STORIES, we would immediately be able to in- thought that no other fiction work eould begin to crease the size of the magazine fifty per cent, and compete with." thereby give vou more material. Raymond E. Dickens, Air Mail Radio Station, The success of AMAZING STORIES is entirely Iowa City, Iowa, says: in your hands. We shall do our part—we pledge "I can read these stories over several times ourselves to do everything to merit your confidence. p/imvtothedmmoftheMmE 3 if- Jules Verne half eaten away by the corrosive action of time, th« do you begin to have faith?" cried my uncle. It Was Introduction to the Story T TA VING won the attention of the -public with today ovr scientists would declare impossible. The J^J_ "Five Weeks in a Balloon," Jides Verne wrote interior of the earth is still unknown; and there in rapid success ion several- truly masterly tales. may well be rifts, passages, descending from ex- Of these remarkable- inventions of the human mind, tinct volcanoes and. penetrating far within. There "A Trip to the Center of the Earth" was the first may well be huge cavities, bubbles left in the cooling to be completed in its present form. It was -published mass, vast enough to harbor inland, seas, and shelter in 1864, in a series of books bij Verne-, denominated many of the ancient forms of life now extinct upon "Voyages Extraordinaires." This series, started in earth's surface. that year by the publisher Hetzel, has been continued The main scientific objection to this, as indeed to to recent times. most of the more fanciful of Verne's tales, lies in This particular "Voyage" has sometimes been de- the extravagant means he employs to bring his ex- clared our author's masterpiece. In it he for the plorers home again from their reckless ventures. first time gives free rein to that bold yet scientifical- But, es romance obviously demands their return ly exact imagination, whereby he. lias constructed for somehow, science discreetly accents in silence the us in fancy the entire universe. There is nothing astonishing accidents and coincidences in all the daring visions of this tale which, even they escape the doom they have invited. ' A TRIP TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 101 and kept the knowledge he acquired to himself. There was a reason, and it may be regarded as a MAKES A GREAT DISCOVERY MY UNCLE good one, why my uncle objected to display his than was absolutely necessary; he OOKING back to all that has occurred to learning more whten intent upon explaining the me since that eventful day, I am scarce- stammered, and ly able to believe in the reality of my phenomena of the heavens, was apt to find himself adventures.