Revision history for Unknown
Additions:
Despite the rather rocky history of [[FantasyGenre fantasy fiction pulps]], with the failures of largely-fantasy //[[ThrillBook The Thrill Book]]// and //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//'s former Clayton stablemate //[[StrangeTales Strange Tales]]//, along with the continuing marginal commercial status of //[[WeirdTales Weird Tales]]//, Campbell apparently made the argument that work such as Eric Frank Russell's //Sinister Barrier//, the lead novel in the first issue (dated March), would be better presented in a fantasy setting rather than as [[FantasyGenre science fiction]] in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//. Considering the thread of fantasy and near-fantasy Campbell would continue to publish in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]// after //Unknown//'s folding in 1943, it was clear that his heart was at least as much with the kind of "rational fantasy" he published in //Unknown// as with the "hard" [[FantasyGenre science fiction]] he is best-remembered for.
//Sinister Barrier// wouldn't have been too out of place in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//, but the first issue also boasted a fine grim [[WellmanManlyWade Manly Wade Wellman]] [[HorrorGenre horror]] story, "Where Angels Fear," and [[GoldHL H.L. Gold]]'s "Trouble with Water," a fresh variation on the kind of humorous fantasy Thorne Smith was publishing to great success in book form. This last vein was probably the mode //Unknown// has been best remembered for, stories which followed H.G. Wells's dictum that a fantastic story should have only one miraculous situation in it and retain as much realism as possible around that miracle; Campbell published a number of similar works, particularly by [[DeCampLSprague L. Sprague de Camp]] alone and in collaboration, which featured a fairly rigoruous working-out of the limits of the fantasy devices employed.
Leiber's groundbreaking "urban horror" story "Smoke Ghost" and first novel //Conjure Wife// were among the most important examples of the macabre //Unknown// would publish; like Leiber, another new Campbell star, [[SturgeonTheodore Theodore Sturgeon]] was also publishing in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]// but seemed at least as much at home in //Unknown//, offering among many others such influential [[HorrorGenre horror stories]] as "It" and "Shottle Bop," and slightly more surreal exercises such as "The Ultimate Egoist" and "Yesterday was Monday." In fact, most of Campbell's favorites in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//, including [[HeinleinRobert Robert Heinlein]], [[VanVogtAE A. E. van Vogt]], [[CartmillCleve Cleve Cartmill]], [[KuttnerHenry Henry Kuttner]] and others, would also publish in //Unknown//.
//Sinister Barrier// wouldn't have been too out of place in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//, but the first issue also boasted a fine grim [[WellmanManlyWade Manly Wade Wellman]] [[HorrorGenre horror]] story, "Where Angels Fear," and [[GoldHL H.L. Gold]]'s "Trouble with Water," a fresh variation on the kind of humorous fantasy Thorne Smith was publishing to great success in book form. This last vein was probably the mode //Unknown// has been best remembered for, stories which followed H.G. Wells's dictum that a fantastic story should have only one miraculous situation in it and retain as much realism as possible around that miracle; Campbell published a number of similar works, particularly by [[DeCampLSprague L. Sprague de Camp]] alone and in collaboration, which featured a fairly rigoruous working-out of the limits of the fantasy devices employed.
Leiber's groundbreaking "urban horror" story "Smoke Ghost" and first novel //Conjure Wife// were among the most important examples of the macabre //Unknown// would publish; like Leiber, another new Campbell star, [[SturgeonTheodore Theodore Sturgeon]] was also publishing in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]// but seemed at least as much at home in //Unknown//, offering among many others such influential [[HorrorGenre horror stories]] as "It" and "Shottle Bop," and slightly more surreal exercises such as "The Ultimate Egoist" and "Yesterday was Monday." In fact, most of Campbell's favorites in //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//, including [[HeinleinRobert Robert Heinlein]], [[VanVogtAE A. E. van Vogt]], [[CartmillCleve Cleve Cartmill]], [[KuttnerHenry Henry Kuttner]] and others, would also publish in //Unknown//.
Deletions:
//Sinister Barrier// wouldn't have been too out of place in //[[AstoundingMagazine Astounding]]//, but the first issue also boasted a fine grim [[WellmanManlyWade Manly Wade Wellman]] [[HorrorGenre horror]] story, "Where Angels Fear," and [[GoldHL H.L. Gold]]'s "Trouble with Water," a fresh variation on the kind of humorous fantasy Thorne Smith was publishing to great success in book form. This last vein was probably the mode //Unknown// has been best remembered for, stories which followed H.G. Wells's dictum that a fantastic story should have only one miraculous situation in it and retain as much realism as possible around that miracle; Campbell published a number of similar works, particularly by [[DeCampLSprague L. Sprague de Camp]] alone and in collaboration, which featured a fairly rigoruous working-out of the limits of the fantasy devices employed.
Leiber's groundbreaking "urban horror" story "Smoke Ghost" and first novel //Conjure Wife// were among the most important examples of the macabre //Unknown// would publish; like Leiber, another new Campbell star, [[SturgeonTheodore Theodore Sturgeon]] was also publishing in //[[AstoundingMagazine Astounding]]// but seemed at least as much at home in //Unknown//, offering among many others such influential [[HorrorGenre horror stories]] as "It" and "Shottle Bop," and slightly more surreal exercises such as "The Ultimate Egoist" and "Yesterday was Monday." In fact, most of Campbell's favorites in //[[AstoundingMagazine Astounding]]//, including [[HeinleinRobert Robert Heinlein]], [[VanVogtAE A. E. van Vogt]], [[CartmillCleve Cleve Cartmill]], [[KuttnerHenry Henry Kuttner]] and others, would also publish in //Unknown//.
Additions:
**Publication range:** March 1939-October 1943>>Founded in 1939, //Unknown// (later //Unknown Worlds//) was an indication of the faith publishers [[StreetandSmith Street and Smith]] were ready to place in their young editor of //[[AstoundingStories Astounding]]//, [[CampbellJohnW John W. Campbell Jr.]]
