Hugo Gernsback's pulp Amazing Stories virtually established the genre of the science fiction magazine when it was launched in 1926 and, despite frequent ownership and editorial policy changes, the magazine has maintained its position as one of the most prominent purveyors of science fiction throughout the century. Amazing Stories either launched or boosted the careers of dozens of sci-fi writers, and it helped create the intimate culture of sci-fi magazines by publishing letter columns, supervising competitions, and encouraging a relationship between readers, writers, and publishers. Still accepting science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories in the late 1990s, Amazing Stories was the oldest science fiction magazine in the nation.

Publisher Gernsback emigrated to America from Luxembourg in 1904, and quickly established a business selling dry cell batteries and home radio sets. In order to promote sales he issued a catalogue and then the first radio magazine, Modern Electrics, in...