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The idea that Hugo Gernsback paid “absolutely nothing” for Stanley G. Weinbaum’s “A Martian Odyssey” and the other five stories Weinbaum published in Gernsback’s Wonder Stories seems to be one of those vampire legends that will not die no matter how often a stake is driven through its heart. I am revisiting this ancient legend once again because it has raised its hoary head once again.
So let us set the matter straight, once again.
Recently I purchased and read The Threshold of Forever, a 2017 collection of essays and reviews by well-known fiction writer, critic, and editor Darrell Schweitzer, published by his Wildside Press. In it was his essay, “Why Stanley G. Weinbaum Still Matters” (originally published in NYRSF #255, November 2009). I was disappointed upon reading it because, while it makes a strong case for its title point about why Weinbaum still matters, it repeats once again the allegation that Hugo Gernsback paid “absolutely nothing” for the six Weinbaum stories including “A Martian Odyssey,” which appeared in the July 1934 Wonder Stories. The only evidence cited for this claim was the assertion in Mike Ashley and Robert A. W. Lowndes’s 2004 Wildside Press book, The Gernsback Days (wherein Ashley wrote the Weinbaum material).
This widespread assertion, however, alleged by Ashley and repeated by Schweitzer (and no doubt many others), simply is not true. In fact, Gernsback paid Weinbaum for all of his stories published in Wonder Stories, including “The Martian Odyssey.”
This fact was made clear more than a quarter of a century ago in the special “Weinbaum Memorial Issue” of A. Langley’s Searles’ Fantasy Commentator, fall 1991. In that issue I published my 1988 interview with Margaret Weinbaum Kay, Stanley Weinbaum’s widow, which also appeared in my 1999 book, Pioneers of Wonder. In that same issue, Sam Moskowitz published his definitive essay, “The Marketing of Stanley G. Weinbaum,” based upon his examination of two documentary collections: The complete financial records of the Schwartz-Weisinger Literary Agency, which represented Weinbaum in most of his sf sales after “A Martian Odyssey” (and of which Moskowitz had photocopies), and Stanley Weinbaum’s business correspondence, then in the possession of the family and now in the Special Collections Department of Temple University.
These two sources revealed that there was, indeed, initial tardiness on Gernsback’s part to remit payment for “A Martian Odyssey” and four subsequent Weinbaum stories he acquired, “The Valley of Dreams,” “Pygmalion’s Spectacles,” “The Worlds of If,” and “The Ideal.” According to Weinbaum’s calculations, he was owed $215 for the five stories at the official payment rate of a half cent per word.
After Mort Weisinger became Weinbaum’s agent, he harassed Gernsback for payment and seems to have been successful to a degree. In a July 10, 1935, letter to Samuel Scheff, treasurer of Gernsback Publications, Weinbaum agreed to a payment schedule for all five stories of four monthly payments, beginning in July, of $25, $50, $50, and $45, for a total of $170. Further, Gernsback agreed to pay on acceptance for all future stories from Weinbaum.
Greenback seems to have kept to his payment schedule and perhaps speeded it up. In an August 16, 1935, letter, Weisinger wrote Weinbaum saying, “I am assured by Wonder that you’ll get the balance due you in about a month. Minus our commission, that makes $58 due you on your Wonder account.”
On August 18, 1935, Julie Schwartz wrote Weinbaum saying, “Since Gernsback came across with the checks, I let him have ‘The Point of View.’ If accepted, they’ll have to pay $25 on acceptance, as per agreement.”
On August 19, 1935, Wonder’s Managing Editor, Charles Hornig, wrote Weinbaum informing him that he had accepted “The Point of View.”
On August 20, 1935, Samuel Scheff, treasurer for Gernsback Publications, mailed Weinbaum a check for $25 for the story, indicating that Gernsback was honoring his agreement to pay for all future Weinbaum stories on acceptance.
So the documentary evidence reported by Moskowitz in 1991 and repeated by me in my 1999 book tells us that Ashley’s 2004, claim repeated by Schweitzer in 2009 and again in 2017, that Gernsback paid “absolutely nothing” for Weinbaum’s stories is simply not true.
Knowledgeable sf scholars such as Ashley and Schweitzer should have known this. Mike Ashley subscribed to Fantasy Commentator and published in it. He also owns a copy of my 1999 book wherein I reported this information. Darrell Schweitzer also owns a copy of this book with the details of Gernsback’s payments to Weinbaum. I know because I autographed his copy of my book for him.
I contacted Mike Ashley and asked him the source of his contention that Gernsback did not pay Weinbaum. Ashley consulted his notes and told me that the contention came from an interview he conducted with Charles Hornig, the managing editor of Wonder Stories at the time Gernsback published Weinbaum. For decades Hornig, who was in a position to know the facts in the matter, was certain Gernsback paid Weinbaum for all his stories. However, a year or so before Ashley interviewed Hornig, an anonymous fan, who was in no position to know the facts in the matter, told Hornig that Gernsback never paid for Weinbaum’s stories. Doubting his own memory, Hornig accepted the allegation as fact.
Then, when Ashley interviewed Hornig about the matter, Hornig repeated the unknown fan’s allegation. Ashley accepted this hearsay testimony from an anonymous fan simply because Hornig repeated it and reported it in his own work on Gernsback. Believing Ashley to be an authoritative source, Schweitzer then repeated the allegation. And thus, the unfounded allegation proliferates despite easily accessible documentary evidence to the contrary.
It is past time to definitively stake this vampire legend through the heart and lay it to rest forever. Hugo Gernsback paid Stanley G. Weinbaum for “A Martian Odyssey” and all other Weinbaum stories he published in Wonder Stories.
Eric Leif Davin lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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