Pulp Magazines

Heinlein Cover Art: Pulp Magazines

The pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s are a time machine to a colorful past-future of exuberance and, in some respects, innocence. This is the era of Percival Lowell’s canal-girded Mars and of a cloud-shrouded Venus of swamp and jungle, visited by streamlined rocket ships carrying strong-jawed spacemen and, occasionally, shapely spacewomen in semi-transparent costumes. Of course, Heinlein’s works, it should be noted, are never simple space opera or cowboys-and-Indians in space.

Back then, these magazines cost only a quarter. Nowadays, if you can get one for a hundred times that—if you even happen to stumble across one of these rare old babies in a shop somewhere—you’re doing pretty well. But when you pull such a periodical off the shelf, you are holding a piece of history...and smelling it, too, that soft, evocative scent of paper-fragile years now vanished. When the magazines below were published, after all, Heinlein was still at the beginning of his career, the outcome of the Second World War was by no means certain, and the first manned space shot was still a quarter-century away.

One interesting difference between these magazine covers and those of books, by the way, is that these are beautifully big. Even a small one, like the Imagination at the bottom of this page or some of the 1950s or 1960s magazines on my “Serializations” page are 7.5 x 5.5 inches, which is noticeably larger than a paperback. The Astounding Science-Fiction of the 1930s through mid-1942, however, are a beautiful 9.25 x 6.5 inches. And yet Unknown of late 1942, and the Astounding of mid-1942, are a staggering 11.25 x 8.5 inches. These can be, therefore, huge canvases for the SF art of a lifetime ago, and well worthy of our enjoyment and study.

“Life-Line,” Astounding Science-Fiction August 1939—Heinlein’s first published story

“Life-Line”— Cover art (for Del Rey’s “Luck of the Ignatz”) by Virgil Finlay

“Life-Line”— Interior art by M. Isip

“Misfit,” Astounding Science-Fiction November 1939

“Misfit”—Cover art (for Smith’s “Gray Lensman”) by Hubert Rogers

“Misfit”—Interior art by Wesso

“Requiem,” Astounding Science-Fiction January 1940

“Requiem”—Cover art (for Vincent’s “Neutral Vessel”) by Schneeman

“Requiem”—Interior art by M. Isip

Interior art by M. Isip

“ ‘If This Goes On—’,” Astounding Science-Fiction February and March 1940

“ ‘If This Goes On—’ ” (1st installment of 2)—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘If This Goes On—’ ” (1st installment of 2)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘If This Goes On—’ ” (2nd installment of 2)—Cover art (for Schnachner’s “Cold”) by Gilmore

“ ‘If This Goes On—’ ” (2nd installment of 2)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Let There Be Light” (as Lyle Monroe), Super Science Stories May 1940

“Let There Be Light”—Cover art by Gabriel H. Mayorga

“Let There Be Light”—Interior art by G. Thorp

“The Roads Must Roll,” Astounding Science-Fiction June 1940

“The Roads Must Roll”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“The Roads Must Roll”—Interior art by Schneeman

“Coventry,” Astounding Science-Fiction July 1940

“Coventry”—Cover art (for Knight’s “Crisis in Utopia”) by Hubert Rogers

“Coventry”—Interior art by Orban

“Blowups Happen,” Astounding Science-Fiction September 1940

“Blowups Happen”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Blowups Happen”—Interior art by Schneeman

“The Devil Makes the Law” / “Magic, Inc.,” Unknown September 1940

The bibliography in Grumbles from the Grave mistakenly says this was a pseudonymous Anson MacDonald, but it indeed had a Heinlein byline.

“Magic, Inc.”—Interior art by Edd Cartier

Sixth Column (as Anson MacDonald), Astounding Science-Fiction January, February, & March 1941

“Sixth Column” (1st installment of 3)—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Sixth Column” (1st installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column ”(1st installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column” (1st installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column” (2nd installment of 3)—Cover art (for Bond’s “Magic City”) by Hubert Rogers

“Sixth Column” (2nd installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column” (3rd installment of 3)—Cover art (for “Logic of Empire”) by Hubert Rogers

“Sixth Column” (3rd installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column”(3rd installment of 3) —Interior art by Schneeman

“Sixth Column” (3rd installment of 3)—Interior art by Schneeman

“ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House’,” Astounding Science-Fiction February 1941

“ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House’ ”—Cover art (for Bond’s “Magic City”) by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House’ ”—Interior art by Schneeman

“Logic of Empire,” Astounding Science-Fiction March 1941

“Logic of Empire”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Logic of Empire”—Interior art by Schneeman

“They,” Unknown April 1941

“They”—Interior art by Schneeman

“Universe,” Astounding Science-Fiction May 1941

“Universe”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Universe”—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Solution Unsatisfactory,” Astounding Science-Fiction May 1941

“Solution Unsatisfactory”—Cover art (for “Universe”) by Hubert Rogers

“Solution Unsatisfactory”—Interior art by Kramer

Future History chart, Astounding Science-Fiction May 1941

“Future History” chart—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

Is Heinlein’s “Future History” chart a piece of art? Perhaps so. Here is its very first public appearance, from May 1941.

Note “ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House—’,” which disappears from later versions.

Methuselah’s Children, Astounding Science-Fiction July, August, and September 1941

“Methuselah’s Children” (1st installment of 3)—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children”(1st installment of 3) —Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children” (1st installment of 3)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children” (2nd installment of 3)—Cover art (for Schnachner’s “Jurisdiction”) by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children” (2nd installment of 3)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children” (3rd installment of 3)—Cover art (for Asimov’s “Nightfall”) by Hubert Rogers

“Methuselah’s Children” (3rd installment of 3)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘—We Also Walk Dogs’,” Astounding Science-Fiction July 1941

“ ‘—We Also Walk Dogs’ ”—Cover art (for “Methuselah’s Children”) by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘—We Also Walk Dogs’ ”—Interior art by Kolliker

“Elsewhere” / “Elsewhen,” Astounding Science-Fiction September 1941

“Elsewhere”/ “Elsewhen”—Cover art (for Asimov’s “Nightfall”) by Hubert Rogers

“Elsewhere”/ “Elsewhen”—Interior art by Kramer

“By His Bootstraps” (as Anson MacDonald), Astounding Science-Fiction October 1941

“By His Bootstraps”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“By His Bootstraps”—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Common Sense,” Astounding Science-Fiction October 1941

“Common Sense”—cover art (for “By His Bootstraps”) by Hubert Rogers

“Common Sense”—interior art by Orban

“Lost Legion” / “Lost Legacy” (as Lyle Monroe), Thrilling Wonder Stories October 1941

Interior art by Hannes Bok

“Goldfish Bowl” (as Anson MacDonald), Astounding Science-Fiction March 1942

“Goldfish Bowl”—Cover art (for Van Vogt’s “Recruiting Station”) by Hubert Rogers

“Goldfish Bowl”—Interior art by Kramer

“Pied Piper” (as Lyle Monroe), Astonishing Stories March 1942

“Pied Piper”—Cover art by Wesso

“Pied Piper”—Interior art by Hannes Bok

Beyond This Horizon (as Anson MacDonald), Astounding Science-Fiction April and May 1942

“Beyond This Horizon” (1st installment of 2)—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Beyond This Horizon” (1st installment of 2)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Beyond This Horizon” (2nd installment of 2)—Cover art (for Van Vogt’s “Asylum”) by Hubert Rogers

“Beyond This Horizon” (2nd installment of 2)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Waldo” (as Anson MacDonald), Astounding Science-Fiction October 1942

“Waldo”—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Waldo”—Interior art by Orban

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (as John Riverside), Unknown Worlds October 1942

“The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag”—Interior art by Kramer

“The Green Hills of Earth,” The Saturday Evening Post 8 February 1947

The Saturday Evening Post definitely is not a pulp magazine—it’s actually a “slick,” and in fact one of most high-end and respectable of the era. When Heinlein finally began having his stories publishing in the Post, Blue Book, and Town and Country after the Second World War, he started to bring science fiction out of its cheap pulp roots and into more mainstream literary culture.

In any event, just as The Saturday Evening Post is no pulp magazine, neither does a single story in one issue either a serial or a novel make. Rather than bend the definition of the “Serialized Novels” page, therefore, instead I’ll bend the definition here.

“The Green Hills of Earth”—Cover art by Stevan Dohanos

“The Green Hills of Earth”—Interior art by Fred Ludekens

“Space Jockey,” The Saturday Evening Post 26 April 1947

Another “ ‘slick’ rather than ‘pulp’ ” situation--

“Space Jockey”—Cover art by John Atherton

“Space Jockey”—Interior art by Fred Ludekens

“Columbus Was a Dope,” Startling Stories May 1947

“Columbus Was a Dope”—cover art by Earle Bergey

“Columbus Was a Dope”—interior art by Astarita (?)

“It’s Great to Be Back,” The Saturday Evening Post 26 July 1947

Further work in the “slicks”—higher pay, wider audience, and more prestige than any of the earlier pulp magazines.

“It’s Great to Be Back”—cover art by Alajalov

“It’s Great to Be Back”—interior art by Fred Ludekens

“Jerry Is a Man” / “Jerry Was a Man,” Thrilling Wonder Stories October 1947

“Jerry Was a Man”—Cover art by Earle Bergey

“Our Fair City,” Weird Tales January 1949

“Our Fair City”—Cover art by Lee Brown Coye

“Our Fair City”—Interior art by Boris Dolgov

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon,” Boys’ Life April and May 1949

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon” (1st of 2 installments)—Cover art by Paul Parker

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon” (1st of 2 installments)—Interior art by Reynold Brown

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon” (2nd of 2 installments)—Cover art by Dudley Gloyne Summers

“Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon” (2nd of 2 installments)—Interior art by Reynold Brown

“Delilah and the Space-Rigger,” Blue Book December 1949

Closer to the Post than to Astounding, Blue Book is a “semi-slick” rather than a “pulp.”

“Delilah and the Space-Rigger”—Back cover art by Cleveland Woodward

“Delilah and the Space-Rigger”—Cover art by Cleveland Woodward

“Delilah and the Space-Rigger”—Interior art by John Griffin

“Gulf,” Astounding Science Fiction November and December 1949

“Gulf” (1st of 2 installments)—Cover art by Hubert Rogers

“Gulf” (1st of 2 installments)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“Gulf” (2nd of 2 installments)—Cover art by Zboyan

“Gulf” (1st of 2 installments)—Interior art by Hubert Rogers

“ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House’ ” reprint, Famous Fantastic Mysteries December 1951

“ ‘—And He Built a Crooked House’ ” reprint—Cover art by Lawrence

What the average readers’ girlfriends will be wearing after dinner, apparently…

“Where To?” Galaxy February 1952

“Where To?”—Cover art by Richard Powers

“Year of the Jackpot,” Galaxy March 1952

“Year of the Jackpot”—Cover art by Richard Arbib

“Year of the Jackpot”—Interior art by Willer

“A House to Make Life Easy” by Thomas E. Stimson, Jr., Popular Mechanics June 1952

This is not writing by Heinlein, of course, but is an article about the house he had designed in Colorado Springs.

“Sky Lift,” Imagination November 1952

“Sky Lift”—Cover art by W.E. Terry

“Sky Lift”—Interior art by W.E. Terry

“Project Nightmare,” Amazing Stories April-May 1953

“Project Nightmare”—Cover art by Barye Phillips

“Project Nightmare”—Back cover art by Jack Coggins

“Project Nightmare”—Interior art by William Ashman

“The Menace from Earth,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction August 1957

“The Menace from Earth”—Cover art by Barry Waldman

“Sky Lift” reprint, Rogue for Men August 1958

“Sky Lift”—Cover art by Lester Bentley

“Sky Lift”—Interior art by D. Bruce Derry

In case there was any doubt, Rogue for Men apparently indeed was, well, for men... Interestingly, though, these photos really aren’t any more explicit than the painted or pen-and-ink illustrations of most science fiction or fantasy pulps of the 1930, ’40s, and ’50s.

Shades of the advertisement from the 1951 Famous Fantastic Mysteries pictured above...