Where Wonders Never Cease: THRILLING WONDER STORIES (Dec. 1950)

Here are some highlights from the Dec. 1950 issue of THRILLING WONDER STORIES (Vol. 37, #2), published by Standard Magazines. The Internet Speculative Database entry for this issue notes that Sam Merwin, Jr. was the mag's editor. The editorial discusses the growing role of women in SF, an interesting topic given that this was way back in 1950! This issue's lead story happens to have been written by a woman, Leigh Brackett, who was an author mentor to the young Ray Bradbury several years before. The topic of women writers also comes up in the letters column, where a pre-pro Lin Carter writes, "And still our Women in Lit discussions grind on! Hot diggety!" Pro writers Isaac Asimov and James Blish lead off this issue's lettercol.

Speaking of the lettercol, I zoomed in on the Asimov/Blish letters below, making them a little easier to read, but due to time (i.e, lack of it) I have left the other lettercol pages pretty much as-is. Which is too bad, given that the mag used such tiny-tiny type for the letters, making it hard to read. Also, the text often got close to the inner spine of the issue, making it hard to scan without wrecking the magazine. So, my apologies in advance for how poorly the lettercol (which is jam-packed and runs 14 pages!) is reproduced below.

I first saw the front cover of this issue (illustrated by Earle Bergey) in the first volume of Jim Steranko's History of Comics (the chapter devoted to the pulps), never thinking that I'd own the issue myself one day, nor how cheaply I would acquire it (five bucks or thereabouts, if memory serves). At 164 big pages (including the covers) for only 25 cents, this is a grand example of why the pulps were so popular.

As always, click the images to view them at a larger size. Enjoy!