The first of three volumes, this history takes on the early days of the science-fiction pulp magazine, from its birth in the technophobic years after World War I through its decline in the atomic age. In their heyday, the magazines produced world-class writers including Isaac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke and helped create science fiction as it exists today. Ashley, a writer who's specialized in the history of science fiction and fantasy for almost 30 years, includes four appendices that provide details about non-English language magazines; a summary of science-fiction magazines, with issue and editorial details; a directory of magazine editors and publishers through 1950; and a directory of magazine cover artists. Distributed by ISBS. c. Book News Inc.