I don’t remember why I picked up “Foundation” back in 2008, but it would be the beginning of an obsession with Asimov that saw me reading collection after collection of his stories from the 1930s – 1960s, finding greater and greater interest in Asimov’s partially biographical forwards to each story that formed my understanding of modern SF’s beginnings — and for Asimov, the story always began with his reading pulp fiction stories from his father’s candy shop and working up the nerve to walk into the editor of Astounding Stories‘s office and submit his own first effort. Astounding takes readers into that office, being largely a biography of John W. Campbell, married to a partial history of the field of science fiction which he shaped. Although it sometimes meanders off course, through either tangents or gossip, the book as a whole is a fascinating look back at SF in its formative period as a popular product.

The early 20th century was marked by the arrival of mass man and the mass market, creating spectator sports, the penny press, and pulp fiction alike. Although early ‘science fiction’ tales were merely other pulp fiction tropes transposed into new settings, when aspiring physics researcher-turned-magazine editor John W. Campbell took over Astounding Stories, he brought with him a desire to be taken more seriously which formed his approach to choosing stories and cultivating authors who would establish science fiction as something distinct — a unique offering that would shine a light into the future. As such, he incorporated editorials and nonfiction content into the issues. Previous editors had begun moving in this direction, but Campbell was a forceful personality who actively fed his authors suggestions and served as a mentor to the youngest of them, like Isaac Asimov. Asimov’s “Nightfall” was the result of one of Campbell’s suggestion, and remains one of his best-known stories. More people were beginning to look at SF in this period, as modernity’s snowball effect was becoming noticeable among the public, who were seeing speculation in the wildest stories of the imagination become reality in mushroom clouds and rocket liftoffs. Nevala-Lee focuses on Campbell’s general editor role, but continually works in Campbell’s relationship to three of his most prominent authors (Asimov, Heinlein, and Hubbard), and addresses their work to varying degrees Hubbard is better known now as the creator of the bullyboy Scientology cult, and unfortunately given Campbell’s fascination with the ‘promise of Dianetics’, whole chapters are devoted to Hubbard while Asimov and Heinlein have to settle for running guest appearances. The ‘unfortunately’ is experience not just by readers of this biography, but by readers of Astounding back in the day, who were disappointed to see so many stories about ‘psionics’ dominating each issue, instead of the more hard-science offerings Campbell had been known for. Nevala-Lee frequently strays from his subject, frequently drifting into gossip: I have no interest in sex lives of Heinlein and Asimov, and these gratuitous details have no bearing on what the men wrote — a case could be made for Heinlein, I suppose, given that he explored sexual expression in some of his stories, but that’s not how the details are incorporated here. The interesting evolution of Heinlein from someone who voted for Eugene Debs into the author of Starship Troopers and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is not explored, but written off as the influence of Heinlein’s wife Virginia, and Asimov’s serious thinking about science fiction — its stages of development, from idle Mars adventures to serious examinations of how technology would transform society — are similarly ignored, despite their relevance. We do, however, get informed that Asimov grew from an awkward lover into a charming dirtyish old man with a penchant for bottom-pinching. These have nothing to do with the subject and seem more a way for the author to score cheap shots against men who should have known better but are not around to defend themselves. Interestingly, though, despite harboring the prejudices of his day, Campbell was perfectly willing to publish female authors — something the author mentions but does not expand on.

I enjoyed Astounding for the most part, having almost no familiarity with Campbell at all, and not enough to mention re: Heinlein. I enjoyed getting to know them a little, and as someone who has read nearly a hundred works by Asimov, including his autobiographies, rubbing shoulders with him was a delight as always. I’m so used to think of him as the old man with flaring lambchops and a bolo tie that seeing him in photos and the text here as young and unsure of himself was a nice change of pace. I disliked the parts on Hubbard, dianetics, and Campbell’s psychic obsession enormously, but count that as my very healthy prejudice toward Hubbard’s cult. Readers going in should know that Campbell’s role in shaping science fiction is more the subject than science fiction himself.