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?
When Amazing Stories debuted in April 1926 under the editorship of Hugo Gernsback, it did more than publish speculative tales. It unified a readership, emphasized science as the core of speculative storytelling, and helped create the conditions for modern science fiction fandom. Over time, these developments became so embedded they are rarely ever examined today.
Rather than revisiting the familiar celebratory history of Amazing Stories, this series approaches its centennial from a different angle—by removing it from the picture and observing what else might disappear along with it.
Today’s opening episode establishes the cultural and technological context of the 1920s, including rapid developments in radio, aviation, physics, and medicine, as well as the role of pulp magazines in shaping popular imagination. It also traces Hugo Gernsback’s editorial path through Modern Electrics, The Electrical Experimenter, and Science and Invention, culminating in the launch of the first all–science fiction magazine.
By treating Amazing Stories as a structural foundation rather than a sacred object, this series aims to explore how editorial decisions, fan organization, and institutional frameworks shaped the genre we know today.
Future episodes will examine specific elements of science fiction’s development—fandom, editorial authority, scientific emphasis, and cultural legitimacy—through this counterfactual lens.
Subsequent entries will be archived together as part of this inquiry.
