Amazing Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1

Amazing Stories, April 1926 This inaugural issue of the first "scientifiction" magazine features serialized and complete works by canonical science fiction authors. The lead story is Jules Verne's "Off on a Comet" (titled "Hector Servadac"), depicting a collision between Earth and a comet that transports scattered individuals—including two antagonists, a count and a captain, engaged in a dispute—into space. The narrative explores astronomical conditions on other planets. H.G. Wells's "The New Accelerator" appears at page 57, concerning a substance that alters temporal perception. "The Man From the Atom" by G. Peyton Wertenbaker, "The Thing From—Outside" by George Allen England, and "The Man Who Saved the Earth" by Austin Hall are also included. Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" rounds out the fiction selection. Editor Hugo Gernsback's foreword defines "scientifiction" as romance interwoven with scientific fact, positioning Poe, Verne, and Wells as genre pioneers whose prophetic visions have proven increasingly accurate.