Author analysis from Astounding/Analog through the decades

[Bick]

I had no idea Budrys wrote so many short stories. He's an uneven writer for my taste, author of two of my all-time favorites ("Rogue Moon" and Who?) and of things I had to push myself to finish (or didn't).

I think in the fifties he was cranking a handle at Campbell's request, Extollager. The output was bound to be uneven, I would say. He was published 16 times in one 2 year period in the mid-50's: quite a frequency for genuine quality. He probably took more time and care over his famous novels. Just conjecture, but seems likely.

 

[Randy M.]

Yes, you're quite right that the idea needs some context. Additional context such as you suggest explains the phenomena but I don't think it changes the facts. Bova published far more new authors than Campbell at any time. During Bova's 'reign' there were probably the fewest magazines in which to publish in the history of SF, so he could perhaps have published more from established authors if he'd chosen. Asimov's hadn't started, Galaxy and If had folded, only F&SF probably offered real competition in the years 72-78. This was also before the Star Wars uptick in interest, so that doesn't account for all the new authors published.

I was thinking in terms of the number of s.f. writers available to publish may have expanded since the '40s and '50s. Between kids who'd read the pulps showing up as adult writers and new fans coming into the fold with the popularity of s.f. movies and then-cult classics like Dune, I think the field expanded even if the number of short story outlets didn't. Still, good, valid points.

 

[Bick]

I was thinking in terms of the number of s.f. writers available to publish may have expanded since the '40s and '50s. Between kids who'd read the pulps showing up as adult writers and new fans coming into the fold with the popularity of s.f. movies and then-cult classics like Dune, I think the field expanded even if the number of short story outlets didn't. .

Yes, that's quite probable. Perhaps then the surprise is that the increase in numbers of writers only seemed to kick in with Bova, rather than start to increase in the last decade under Campbell - but this may be because Campbell's ideas and preferences had calcified a bit, as you suggested. Bova accepted the new blood more readily perhaps. It will be interesting to see how it goes under Schmidt.

 

[Bick]

The final 1980's table. This isn't presented in more depth on the website yet, but the bottom line:

 

[Extollager]

The final 1980's table. This isn't presented in more depth on the website yet, but the bottom line:

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I'm not sure I've read any of those except for Flynn (Eifelheim)! --Well, I started a Turtledove novel once, but didn't stick with it.

 

[Bick]

I'm not sure I've read any of those except for Flynn (Eifelheim)! --Well, I started a Turtledove novel once, but didn't stick with it.

Zahn's early short stories, before he got sucked into writing Star Wars extended-universe books, were generally pretty good. I've read and enjoyed several.

Have you not read Sheffield? His novel Between the Strokes of Night, is excellent.

I've read Oltion and Flynn - both still publish often in Analog (at least they were still publishing a few years back).

 

[Extollager]

No, never have read Sheffield, but maybe I will give that one a try. But before then I think I'll give Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama a try.

 

[Vince W]

W.T. Quick is not a name I've heard in a while. He wrote some very enjoyable cyberpunk stories, I thought. I still have his Dreams Trilogy books on my shelf.

 

[Don]

I had no idea Budrys wrote so many short stories. He's an uneven writer for my taste, author of two of my all-time favorites ("Rogue Moon" and Who?) and of things I had to push myself to finish (or didn't).

Back in the day, there was an AM radio aphorism along the lines: we can make any song a hit by simply playing it all the time. And it certainly proves true, in my case, with "Citidal" by Budrys. Its audio book, along with a few others, was downloaded to a flash drive and played over the stereo in my work van. It's sort of a hassle to download new material, so, despite my best intentions to download new material (real soon now), "Citidal" was listened to over and over again.

In the end, you know what? I now like the story.

 

[clovis-man]

No, never have read Sheffield, but maybe I will give that one a try. But before then I think I'll give Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama a try.

Sheffield, a physicist, wrote some very interesting things. He died of cancer in an untimely fashion. He was married to Nancy Kress.

 

[Bick]

I finished my feature write up on the 1980's, see here.

 

[Bick]

The 1930s was the period of the "thought variant" stories, right? I think Schachner wrote one or two of those perhaps.

Yes indeed - and I've decided to seek out and read a couple of these. I'll post on them in due course.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

This is extremely interesting stuff.

The decade with which I am least familiar, by far, is the 1930's. I have only heard of a few names on the list, and have read little, if anything, by most of those whose names I recognize. (The early 1930's is much less familiar to me than the late 1930's.)

The decade with which I am most familiar is the 1940's, particularly the late 1940's. Of course, I read these authors in anthologies printed much later than their original appearance. I am pretty familiar with names from the 1950's and 1960's and 1970's, a little less so with the 1980's.

It's always interesting to find out about authors who filled up magazines but who are almost entirely forgotten.

 

[Bick]

This is extremely interesting stuff.

The decade with which I am least familiar, by far, is the 1930's. I have only heard of a few names on the list, and have read little, if anything, by most of those whose names I recognize. (The early 1930's is much less familiar to me than the late 1930's.)

The decade with which I am most familiar is the 1940's, particularly the late 1940's. Of course, I read these authors in anthologies printed much later than their original appearance. I am pretty familiar with names from the 1950's and 1960's and 1970's, a little less so with the 1980's.

It's always interesting to find out about authors who filled up magazines but who are almost entirely forgotten.

Thanks Victoria - yes that was my aim, to discover names no-one much mentions now, but who were considered to be highly publishable by top editors of the day nonetheless. I have several names to check out on my radar now, including Nat Schachner, Raymond Z. Gallun, Pauline Ashwell, Jack Wodhams, Laurence M. Jannifer, etc.

(Incidentally, I'm currently reading a 2-part serial by Charles Willard Diffin, from 1933. It's really entertaining. One is reminded that, while the tales are dated, and the science is kinda primitive, these folks could actually write well. Education in the old fashioned reading-writing-arithmetic was strong, and there were few outlets for publication. What was published was by folk who could string sentences together, even if they were rather kooky story ideas. Maybe stories before the golden age deserve a second look?).

 

[Randy M.]

Thanks Victoria - yes that was my aim, to discover names no-one much mentions now, but who were considered to be highly publishable by top editors of the day nonetheless. I have several names to check out on my radar now, including Nat Schachner, Raymond Z. Gallun, Pauline Ashwell, Jack Wodhams, Laurence M. Jannifer, etc.
[...]

I only know Gallun's name because Ballantine/Del Rey's story collections from the '70s-'80s, The Best of ..., included him. Checking ISFDB, I also see (maybe) why the name Laurence Janifer is familiar: He had a novels published in 1974 and 1983, so I may have seen one or the other on the stands, and appears to have occasionally written essays and appreciations up to the time of his death in 2002.

 

[K. Riehl]

I would think that market forces would have a big impact on writers after the war. Authors could make their name in the Pulps/Magazines then make much more money writing novels or collections of short stories. I know that Roger Zelazny very consciously followed this path.
Unless the author enjoyed the short form or liked the editors of the given magazine it make more economic sense to publish a collection under their own name.
I had lunch with Damon Knight and Kate Willhelm in the late 80's and he mentioned that editors need to entice authors back to the short form or collection with interesting ideas for a theme. He mentioned the Wild Card series, collections on Time Travel, First Contact etc.. They could publish a few in the magazines to draw interest in the upcoming full collection.
Jack Williamson loved to write short stories and contributed to Astounding/ Analog from the 1930's to 2008 with the last few published posthumously.

 

[Bick]

Onward and upward. I've collated the data for Analog authors from the 1990's now, also. So here is the top 10 from that decade:

Familiar names are coming into the picture. I've read Oltion and Flynn in recent magazines from my subscriptions from the 2000's, so they will doubtless rack up big numbers by the time I get to the current issue in my analysis. I was also slightly surprised to see G. David Nordley so high up. I've come across him on recent zoom discussions (e.g. on numerous ConZealand Worldcon panels last year), and he seemed a nice bloke.

Of course, the end of the 90's means I can collate a table for the whole of the Astounding/Analog run in the 20th century. That sounds intriguing, so hold your horses, I'll be back with that in due course.

 

[Bick]

Okay, for what its worth, here is the overall table for the 20th century. Current authors in the list are these days 'higher up', of course. I'll do a final table to date at some point...

 

[BAYLOR]

No, never have read Sheffield, but maybe I will give that one a try. But before then I think I'll give Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama a try.

Would recommend Between the Strokes of Midnight by Charles Sheffield .

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Interesting stuff. I note the lack of any double-digit author in the 1970's, while every other decade has at least one author reaching at least 29 appearances. Were there a lot of new or unprolific authors at the time?