Two Early Works by Ray Cummings

Ray Cummings (1897-1957), American pulp sf writer once dubbed the “American H.G. Wells,” can probably be ranked as the third most popular sf author of the 1920s and 30s, behind Edgar Rice Burroughs and Abraham Merritt. His 1919 masterpiece “The Girl in the Golden Atom” was arguably one of the most well-known sf novelettes published in the Munsey magazines, and many of his sf works were reprinted as paperback books during the 1950s and 60s. Two of Cummings’ magazine stories, however, were never reprinted as books: “The Fire People” (1922) and “Around the Universe” (1923). This article is both a general introduction to the early science fiction of Ray Cummings and a discussion of these two largely forgotten sf narratives. (ABE)

Astronomy · Astrophysics · Physics · Universe · History and Developments in Astronomy