Wonder Stories

***Wonder Stories*** is an early American science fiction magazine. It was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. Hugo Gernsback started the magazine after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, _Amazing Stories_.

_Air Wonder Stories_ and _Science Wonder Stories_ were merged in 1930 as _Wonder Stories_. The magazines were not financially successful, and in 1936 Gernsback sold _Wonder Stories_ to Ned Pines at Beacon Publications, where, retitled _Thrilling Wonder Stories_, it continued for nearly 20 years. The last issue was dated Winter 1955, and the title was then merged with _Startling Stories_, another of Pines' science fiction magazines.

The editors under Gernsback's ownership were David Lasser, who worked hard to improve the quality of the fiction, and, from mid-1933, Charles Hornig.

### Gernsback era

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|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 11pt; text-align: left"|Volume and issue numbers of _Air Wonder Stories_.  The editor was David Lasser throughout.||||||||||||

Gernsback's new magazine, _Amazing Stories_, was successful, but Gernsback lost control of the publisher when it went bankrupt in February 1929.

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|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 11pt; text-align: left"|Volume and issue numbers of _Science Wonder Stories_.  The editor was David Lasser throughout.||||||||||||

Gernsback claimed that science fiction was educational.

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|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of _Wonder Stories_ from the merger of _Science Wonder_ and _Air Wonder_ to the acquisition by Beacon Publications, indicating editors: Lasser (blue, 1930–1933), and Hornig (yellow, 1933–1936)||||||||||||

In 1930, Gernsback decided to merge _Science Wonder Stories_ and _Air Wonder Stories_ into _Wonder Stories_.

The first issue of the merged magazine appeared in June 1930, still on a monthly schedule, with Lasser as editor.

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|colspan="13" style=" width:100%; font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|_Science Wonder Quarterly_ (first three issues) and _Wonder Stories Quarterly_ (all subsequent issues).  The editor was David Lasser throughout.||||

_Wonder Stories_ had a circulation of about 25,000 in 1934.

### _Thrilling Wonder Stories_

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|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of _Thrilling Wonder Stories_ from 1936 to 1945.  Editors are Mort Weisinger (green, 1936–1941), Oscar Friend (pink, 1941–1944), and Sam Merwin (purple, 1945).  Underlining indicates that an issue was titled as a quarterly (e.g. "Winter 1944") rather than as a monthly.|||||||||||

Pines' magazines included several with "Thrilling" in the title, such as _Thrilling Detective_ and _Thrilling Love Stories_.

The title was changed to _Thrilling Wonder Stories_ to match the rest of the "Thrilling" line. The first issue appeared in August 1936—four months after the last Gernsback _Wonder Stories_ appeared.

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|colspan="13" style="font-size: 8pt; text-align:left"|Issues of _Thrilling Wonder Stories_ from 1946 to 1955. Editors are Sam Merwin (purple, 1946–1951), Samuel Mines (orange, 1951–1954), and Alexander Samalman (gray, 1954–1955).  Underlining indicates that an issue was titled as a quarterly (e.g. "Winter 1946") rather than as a monthly.|||||||||||

## Publication details

- _Air Wonder Stories_
    - David Lasser (July 1929 – May 1930)

- _Science Wonder Stories_
    - David Lasser (June 1929 – May 1930)

- _Science Wonder Quarterly_
    - David Lasser (Fall 1929 – Spring 1930)

- _Wonder Stories_
    - David Lasser (June 1930 – October 1933)
    - Charles Hornig (November 1933 – March–April 1936)

- _Wonder Stories Quarterly_
    - David Lasser (Summer 1930 – Winter 1933)

- _Thrilling Wonder Stories_
    - Mort Weisinger (August 1936 – April 1941)
    - Oscar Friend (August 1941 – Fall 1944)
    - Sam Merwin (Winter 1945 – October 1951)
    - Samuel Mines (December 1951 – Summer 1954)
    - Alexander Samalman (Fall 1954 – Winter 1955)

## Sources

- Perry, Tom "An Amazing Story: Experiment in Bankruptcy" in _Amazing Science Fiction_ vol. 51, no 3 (May 1978)

## Other websites

- Website for relaunched _Thrilling Wonder Stories_

## Infobox (magazine)

- **title**: Wonder Stories
- **image file**: Air wonder stories 192907.jpg
- **image size**: 200px
- **image caption**: The first issue of _Air Wonder Stories_, July 1929. The cover is by Frank R. Paul.
- **founder**: Hugo Gernsback
- **country**: USA
- **language**: English