universally praised to a degree that not even Robert Heinlein’s work was afforded. According to Campbell, every reader who ranked the stories in that issue chose
Nerves
as the best, a unanimity which del Rey claims he saw equaled only once.
Nerves
wasn’t merely successful in its own day. In the early 1970s, the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America voted it as one of the ten best novelettes and novellas in the field.
John W. Campbell, the editor of
Astounding
, probably wasn’t surprised that del Rey had written a masterpiece, since he had been a strong supporter of del Rey since receiving his first story in 1937. Campbell sent del Rey encouraging letters and requests for more stories, and he frequently paid him the bonus the editor reserved for stories which he particularly liked.
Many other people must have been surprised, however—including, I think, del Rey himself, though he doesn’t explicitly say that. His production of fiction slacked off a great deal following the success of
Nerves
. After World War II ended, he took a job as an agent and stopped writing science fiction.
Despite Campbell’s enthusiasm for him, del Rey had been a journeyman writer who had gotten everything right one time. The fact that many people (almost certainly including Campbell himself) asked del Rey to duplicate
Nerves
was both irritating and frustrating.
Then in 1949 something changed: Horace Gold asked del Rey to write a science fiction suspense story like
Nerves
for the new magazine he planned,
Galaxy
. Del Rey agreed to try after seven years of refusing such requests.
It would be easy to say that the difference was that Gold was offering three cents a word, a pay rate never before seen in the science fiction field. Campbell had raised
Astounding
’s pay to two cents/word a few years earlier, which was twice (or more) the rate of any fantasy or science fiction magazine since the failure of the Clayton chain in 1933.
The Magazine of Fantasy
(after the first issue,
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
) had just appeared and matched
Astounding
’s rate, but Gold was offering half again as much as the best.
I am inclined to doubt that money alone changed del Rey’s mind. Campbell had, after all, doubled his rate after
Nerves
was published without enticing del Rey to try to repeat his success.
The high word rate was only part of the new magazine.
Galaxy
was going to be really
different
,
new
,
exciting
; in Gold’s mind, it was going to read like a general news magazine of the next century and compete for sales not with existing science fiction magazines but with
Time
and
Look
on the newsstands of the present.
Gold was selling the future, not only to readers but to the authors he wanted for his new magazine. Lester del Rey was one of the authors Gold recruited, and he bought Gold’s vision.
Del Rey went to work. On his description, it appears that the only editorial requirements were that the story have the effect of
Nerves
—that is, that it be a fast-paced science fiction suspense story—and that it be 15,000 words. Unlike John Campbell’s frequent behavior, Gold didn’t suggest a particular theme or development for the author to follow.
The (short) length was a problem, however.
Nerves
had been 30,000 words, and even so del Rey felt that he could have used more room. (In 1956 he expanded the novella to book-length.) Still, he proceeded.
Del Rey had created a written formula and charts on how to develop suspense in a story before he plotted
Nerves
. He had lost those materials during a move, however. On his telling it, he did not first reread the earlier novella and break it down into elements to build up into the new framework. Instead he played with ideas on paper until he found one which he thought would work. The differences between the structures of the two stories are significant and support his description.
Nerves
involves a disaster at a plant making nuclear isotopes. The precise cause
Nerves
as the best, a unanimity which del Rey claims he saw equaled only once.
Nerves
wasn’t merely successful in its own day. In the early 1970s, the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America voted it as one of the ten best novelettes and novellas in the field.
John W. Campbell, the editor of
Astounding
, probably wasn’t surprised that del Rey had written a masterpiece, since he had been a strong supporter of del Rey since receiving his first story in 1937. Campbell sent del Rey encouraging letters and requests for more stories, and he frequently paid him the bonus the editor reserved for stories which he particularly liked.
Many other people must have been surprised, however—including, I think, del Rey himself, though he doesn’t explicitly say that. His production of fiction slacked off a great deal following the success of
Nerves
. After World War II ended, he took a job as an agent and stopped writing science fiction.
Despite Campbell’s enthusiasm for him, del Rey had been a journeyman writer who had gotten everything right one time. The fact that many people (almost certainly including Campbell himself) asked del Rey to duplicate
Nerves
was both irritating and frustrating.
Then in 1949 something changed: Horace Gold asked del Rey to write a science fiction suspense story like
Nerves
for the new magazine he planned,
Galaxy
. Del Rey agreed to try after seven years of refusing such requests.
It would be easy to say that the difference was that Gold was offering three cents a word, a pay rate never before seen in the science fiction field. Campbell had raised
Astounding
’s pay to two cents/word a few years earlier, which was twice (or more) the rate of any fantasy or science fiction magazine since the failure of the Clayton chain in 1933.
The Magazine of Fantasy
(after the first issue,
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
) had just appeared and matched
Astounding
’s rate, but Gold was offering half again as much as the best.
I am inclined to doubt that money alone changed del Rey’s mind. Campbell had, after all, doubled his rate after
Nerves
was published without enticing del Rey to try to repeat his success.
The high word rate was only part of the new magazine.
Galaxy
was going to be really
different
,
new
,
exciting
; in Gold’s mind, it was going to read like a general news magazine of the next century and compete for sales not with existing science fiction magazines but with
Time
and
Look
on the newsstands of the present.
Gold was selling the future, not only to readers but to the authors he wanted for his new magazine. Lester del Rey was one of the authors Gold recruited, and he bought Gold’s vision.
Del Rey went to work. On his description, it appears that the only editorial requirements were that the story have the effect of
Nerves
—that is, that it be a fast-paced science fiction suspense story—and that it be 15,000 words. Unlike John Campbell’s frequent behavior, Gold didn’t suggest a particular theme or development for the author to follow.
The (short) length was a problem, however.
Nerves
had been 30,000 words, and even so del Rey felt that he could have used more room. (In 1956 he expanded the novella to book-length.) Still, he proceeded.
Del Rey had created a written formula and charts on how to develop suspense in a story before he plotted
Nerves
. He had lost those materials during a move, however. On his telling it, he did not first reread the earlier novella and break it down into elements to build up into the new framework. Instead he played with ideas on paper until he found one which he thought would work. The differences between the structures of the two stories are significant and support his description.
Nerves
involves a disaster at a plant making nuclear isotopes. The precise cause
Similar Books
