This episode dives into one of the most delicate moments in early science fiction history: 1915.
While Europe was reeling from the horrors of World War I and technology began to feel terrifying, Hugo Gernsback kept pushing a different vision. He believed science fiction should not only entertain, but educate and inspire. Across the Atlantic, American writers and publishers were still free to dream — and that stubborn optimism helped keep the future alive.
What Was Happening in 1915
A rich “proto-science fiction” scene was blooming in the pulps
Writers like George Allan England, Victor Rousseau, Perley Poore Sheehan, and Charles B. Stilson were blending scientific wonder with wild imagination
Lost-race and exotic adventure stories were exploding in popularity
The Big “What If”
Frank Munsey or Street & Smith could easily have launched an all–“lost world” pulp that year. Had that happened, the educational, forward-looking style Gernsback championed might have been pushed aside — and Amazing Stories might never have existed.
Gernsback’s Steadfast Vision
From his early days with Modern Electrics through Ralph 124C 41+, Gernsback consistently argued that science fiction could stretch the imagination toward real possibility. In the 1970s it became fashionable to dismiss him, but today we can see how his optimism helped create the imaginative soil for everything from space travel to artificial intelligence.
Rare Visuals from the Archives
Further Listening
Episode 90 – If Amazing Stories Had Never Existed
This episode inaugurates a six-part Rocketeer series examining the Amazing Stories centennial (1926–2026). We’ll open the series today by exploring the foundations of science fiction through asking a counterfactual question: What if Amazing Stories magazine had never existed?
Threads of the Mystic
In the years surrounding World War I, a remarkable cluster of stories appeared that experimented with reincarnation, psychic bonds, lost civilizations, and metaphysical time travel. These works — by authors like William Henry Warner, J. U. Giesy, Julian Hawthorne, and David Lindsay — form what I call
Pulp 101: The Dime-Novel Roots
The very first episode of the Rocketeer’s Pulp 101 series digs into the cheap, ink-stained beginnings of it all. From highly acidic wood-pulp paper and the boy-inventor stories of Luis Senarens (“Noname”) to Frank Munsey’s creation of the first true pulp magazine and Street & Smith’s clever reprint empire. Plus a quick look at why those early covers mat…
A short but pivotal chapter in the Amazing Stories centennial (1926–2026) series.
Thanks for listening!
