BW33: Hugo Gernsback

 

Happy Sunday! This week, we celebrate the anniversary of the birthday of Hugo Gernsback -  born August 16, 1884.  Yes, you may be experiencing deja vu since I love to revisit Hugo every few years or so.  

Hugo Gernsbacher was born in Luxembourg and immigrated to the United States in 1904.  He was fascinated by electricity and invented a dry battery which he patented upon arriving in the United States.   He established a radio and electrical supply house called Electro Importing Company and developed a small portable radio transmitter called the Telimco Wireless Telegraph.  He went on to patent 80 inventions.

Gernsback  published a magazine for electrical experimenters called Modern Electronics which was later taken over by Popular Science.   To fill up some empty space in the magazine, he decided to write a futuristic story which ran in 12 installments. The story named Ralph 124C 41+ was later published in 1926. It was set in the 27th century and is still available today.  

He started a number of magazines including the first magazine dedicated exclusively to science fiction called  Amazing Stories in 1926.  Hugo coined the term scientifiction which later went on to be known as Science Fiction.

He unfortunately went bankrupt and lost control of Amazing Stories. He quickly bounced back and went on to publish three more magazines:  Air Wonder Stories, Science Wonder Stories and Science Wonder Quarterly.  Air Wonder and Science Wonder were merged into one magazine Wonder stories in 1930 and sold it in 1936 to Beacon Publications where it continued to be published for 20 more years.  Digital copies of Amazing Stories, Air Wonder, Science Wonder, and Wonder magazines are available to view through the Pulp Magazines Project. 

Gernsback is lauded as one of the fathers of science fiction. In 1960 he was given a special Hugo Award as The Father of Magazine Science Fiction. The award were unofficially called the Hugo's until the name was officially changed beginning in 1993. 

Hugo Gernsback died in New York on August 19, 1967 at the age 83.  

If you are in the mood for more science fiction and fantasy fun, don't forget you can dive into Mind Voyages and explore the Hugo and Nebula winners and nominees, take side trips through the different decades reading the nominees, check out Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein or the all inclusive I'm going to Pluto because Pluto is still a planet as far as I'm concerned Voyage in which you can mix it up, choose the number of books you want to read from each voyage, include some new books you pick up along the way and enjoy the ride. 

Links to all the voyages are available on the Mind Voyages blog.

BW29: To the Moon and Back!

 

This week on July 20th we celebrate the very first time Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon in 1969 with the historic words:  "That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”  In honor of the moon walk, we're going to take a Mind Voyage, which just also happens to be one of our 52 Books Bingo categories. 

Science fiction and fantasy stories became my first true love ever since I discovered the genre back in the 70's.   I don't remember who captured my attention first, whether it was Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur Clark, Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey or Robert Silverberg but my love for the genre has never stopped. 

What do you think of when you hear the words Science Fiction and Fantasy?  I think of books with adventure, exploration, mind altering worlds, knights, dragons, cool space ships, alternate realities, magical quests, new technology,  evil villains and heroes.  Books that entertain and enlighten, books that take you away, books that take you on a voyage.  Which is why I created the Mind Voyage challenge back in to 2010 revolving around the vast world of Fantasy and Science fiction. Join me in exploring and take a voyage to another planet. 

Voyages

Moon Voyage :  Choose from the winner on the Hugo Winners List

Sling shot back to Earth:  Choose a story from the Nebula Winner's List

Venus Voyage:   Philip K. Dick Quest 

Mercury Voyage:   Robert Heinlein Quest 

Mars Voyage:  Take a side trip through the 21st century. 

Go into Warp Drive and visit the other planets

Jupiter Voyage:   Go side tripping 90's Style

Saturn:  Go Side Tripping 80's Style

Uranus: Go Side Tripping 70's Style

Neptune Voyage:  Go Side Tripping through the 50's and 60's

The I'm going to Pluto because Pluto is still a planet as far as I'm concerned Voyage.  Mix it up, choose whatever you want to read, and enjoy the ride.

All the links may be found on Mind Voyages in the menu bar. 

This post sponsored by the letter X. Big X, little x, what begins with X?  Xu and Xun Zi and xenophone and xylophones and xyloid.

Have Fun!   

Y'all know what to do. Leave a link or comment below!

BW27: Scifi July

We embracing the heat with Scifi July, our author of the month, Octavia Butler as well as this month's gemstone, Ruby.  This month we are celebrating Independence Day in the United States in honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, 241 years ago on July 4, 1776.  July is also National Blueberry, Hot dog, Ice Cream and Cell Phone Courtesy month.  Let's not forget Video Game day, Embrace your Geekness day, Global Hug Your Kids day as well as Ugly Truck Day and Threading the Needle Day. 

Our birthstone of the month is one of my favorites - Ruby.  Is anyone else thinking of Dorothy with her ruby red slippers.   There's no place like home.   You may choose to spell out the word, reading one book per letter or read a book with the name or the colors of the stone in the title.  Or perhaps find an author whose name is Ruby.   You may decide to find a book set in the time period where the birthstone was discovered or surrounding the myth and lore or set in countries where the birthstone is currently found.

Rubies were originally discovered in Myanmar (Burma) in the ancient times and soldiers thought the stones made them invincible.  Rubies have long been believed to symbols of passion, protections and prosperity. They were traded along China's North Silk Road and the stones were buried beneath the foundations of building to secure good fortune. Thailand is the main source today and the gemstones area also found in India, Madagascar, Russia, Kenya, Afghanistan and Pakistan.  

Our armchair travels continue as we delve into Science Fiction this month.  According to the Gunn Center for the study of science fiction, the genre is the literature of the human species encountering change through science, technology, and cultural shifts as well as ideas and philosophy, alternative point of view and an approach to understanding the universe.  More simply put, it is speculative fiction about the future, taking us through time and space and parallel universes.  

The sub genres vary from alien invasion to steampunk to artificial intelligence to nanotechnology to space operas. World's Without End has always been a fun site to explore  when it comes to finding science fiction and fantasy reads.  Other sites include Unbound Worlds, Tor, and SFFworld.  Our mini challenge - Mind Voyages  - also provides a variety of Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees from which to choose. Octavia Butler, our author of the month, won numerous awards for her science fiction short stories, novelettes and books.  I have Dawn in my book stacks to read this month and will talk more about Octavia next week. 

Happy reading! 

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Please link to your specific post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, leave a comment telling us what you have been reading. Every week I will put up Mr. Linky which will close at the end of each book week. No matter what book you are reading or reviewing at the time, whether it be # 1 or # 5 or so on, link to the current week's post

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