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10 Left Cox, Erle, 1873-1950. Out of the silence / Erle Cox. (Melbourne : Robertson & Mullens, 1947) Erle Cox was a journalist on the Argus, a Melbourne daily newspaper. Out of the Silence first appeared as a serial in that newspaper in 1919. It is set on a pastoral property in the Victorian countryside where a farmer uncovers an advanced civilization. The main character is a woman "Earani", who has been in a state of suspended animation for two thousand years. She teleports herself into the office of the Australian Prime Minister and takes control of his mind. Her plan is to use Australia as a base from which to conquer the world. As well as appearing in book form in various editions in England Australia and America, and in Russian, and French translations, it was also made into a comic strip in the Argus in 1934, and was broadcast as a wireless serial.

12 Right Valdez, Paul. The fatal focus / by Paul Valdez. (Sydney : Transport Publishing, [1950]) Paul Valdez was a pseudonym for Alan Yates, better known under his other pseudonym, Carter Brown. The Fatal Focus was part of the "Scientific Thriller" series. The hero, George Wiggs had X-ray vision. The cover art is perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this pulp paperback.

15 Left and Below Amazing stories. (New York, N.Y. : Experimenter Pub. Co., 1926-1958) 7 v. Variant title: Amazing stories quarterly. Continues: Amazing stories annual Continued by: Amazing science fiction (New York, N.Y. : 1958) The science fiction stories Gernsback published in Science and Invention were popular enough for him to begin a magazine devoted entirely to them, Amazing Stories. This began in 1926. It was the first magazine devoted entirely to science-fiction. He had originally intended to call it "Scientifiction". Each issue had the heading "Extravagant fiction today, cold fact tomorrow". In 1927 and 1928 the companion titles, Amazing Stories Annual and Amazing Stories Quarterly were launched.

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16 Right Wonder stories quarterly. (Mt. Morris, Ill. : Stellar Pub. Corp., 1930-1933) 4 v. Continues: Science Wonder Quarterly This was another of Gernsback’s titles. All the covers were by F. R. Paul. Each issue included a long novel as well as some shorter pieces. Interplanetary travel was the usual theme. The issue for Summer 1931 saw the publication of "Vandals of the Void" by Australian writer James Morgan Walsh under his own name; there is even a portrait of Walsh included. This was his first published work. It deals with Mercurian space pirates with their disintegrator rays preying on the shipping routes between the Earth and Mars.

17 Left Wonder stories. (Mount Morris, Ill., Stellar Pub. Corp., 1930-1936. 6 v. Merger of: Science wonder stories and Air wonder stories. Continued by: Thrilling wonder stories Gernsback’s various Wonder Stories magazines run through the first half of the 1930s. F. R. Paul was the cover artist. Among the issues on display are some which included stories by Alan Connell, an Australian writer. The December 1935 issue has a dramatic cover showing a battleship floating upside down above New York. This illustration relates to Connell’s "Dream’s end", a philosophical science-fiction tale on the theme that our reality is merely part of some cosmic being’s dream.

18 Right Thrilling wonder stories. (New York, N.Y. : Beacon Magazines 1936; Better Publications, Aug. 1937-1943; Standard Magazines, fall 1943-1955) Continues: Wonder stories Absorbed by: Startling stories spring 1955 Thrilling wonder stories was a continuation of Wonder Stories. It began in 1936 and ran until 1955 when it was absorbed in Startling stories. There was a conscious attempt to appeal to the younger audience. A comic strip, "Zarnak" appeared in the earlier issues.

19 Left Astounding Stories. (New York, N.Y. : Street & Smith, 1933-1938) 9 v Continues: Astounding stories of super-science (New York, N.Y. : 1933) Continued by: Astounding science-fiction Astounding stories was the major SF magazine of the 1930s. It paid its contributors better than the other magazines did. Among the writers we find E. E. "Doc" Smith. His first SF novel, "The Skylark of Space" ran as a serial in Amazing Stories in 1928. Throughout the 1930s his "Lensman" series ran in Astounding. It is similar in some ways to Star Wars, featuring a battle throughout the universe between the forces of good and evil.

23 Right Startling Stories. (Chicago : Better Publications, 1939-1955) Complete in 99 issues. Cf. Day, Bradford M. Complete checklist of science-fiction magazines, p. 49-50. A thrilling publication. Later issues published in Kokomo, Ind. Absorbed: Thrilling wonder stories, and: Fantastic story magazine, spring 1955. Startling Stories was published by the same firm as Thrilling Wonder Stories. In the late 1940s and early 1950s theses two were widely regarded as the best Science fiction magazines. The policy of Startling Stories was to publish one long story per issue. These novella length works included material from such writers as Eando Binder and Manly Wade Wellman, both of whom also contributed to Thrilling Wonder Stories.

24 Right Fantastic adventures. (Chicago, Ziff-Davis, 1939-1953) 15 v. This was a companion to Amazing Stories. It contained an Edgar Rice Burroughs story, "The Scientists Revolt" in issue no. 1 (July 1939). Among the issues on display we find one which features "He fell among thieves" by Milton Lesser (March 1952). The cover art sets the scene. Joseph Stalin stands watching an American and a Russian struggle while a little green man stands alongside the Communist leader. The plot deals with a Martian who crashed behind the Iron Curtain and helped the Russians build flying saucers which were sent on spy missions over America. This explains why so many were seen over the United States during that period. The term "flying saucer" was coined by American newsmen in 1947. The issue for November 1951 is also on display. The cover shows a man calmly walking through a tiled bathroom wall as a woman emerges from her shower. This is an illustration for a fantasy story, "The man who stopped at nothing" by Paul W. Fairman. The protagonist is enjoying these unusual powers as a spirit after having been killed in a car crash.

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34 Left Amazing science fiction stories. (New York, N.Y. : Ziff-Davis Pub., 1958-1960) Continues: Amazing science fiction (New York, N.Y. : 1958) Continued by: Amazing stories (New York, N.Y. : 1960) This was a continuation of Amazing stories in the smaller format which had become popular by the late 1950s. The cover for the October 1958 issue shows how science fiction tied in with politics, with a Venusian appearing in front of Kruschev at the United Nations. This issue also includes what was probably a paid advertisement although it has the appearance of an article, "Jehovah’s Witnesses aren’t Science Fiction" (p. 5).

39 Right 39. Flying saucers from other worlds. (Evanston, Ill. : Palmer Publications, 1957-1958) Editor: R.A. Palmer. Continues: Other world's science stories Continued by: Flying saucers

45 Left The Adventures of Buck Rogers. (Melbourne, Fitchett Brothers, 1936-1953) Buck Rogers began as a comic strip in the United States in January 1929. It was adapted by Phil Nowlan from his novel, Armaggedon 2419 A.D. It was originally entitled "Buck Rogers in the Year 2429 A.D.", later "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century", a name which was used in some of the "Buck Rogers Specials" in Australia. Buck Rogers was a U.S. Air Force Lieutenant who awakes from a sleep of 500 years to find America over-run by invaders. He is able to rout them but then has to fight fresh waves of invaders from outer space. The strip ran with various artists and writers until 1965. The Australian version began in November 1936 and finished in January 1953. As with many of the Australian science fiction comics, it was a local reprint of American strips.

47 Above Captain Marvel Adventures (Melbourne, Vee Publishing Co., 1946-1953)

54 Left Island of Amazement (Sydney , NSW Bookstall Co., [1943]) This one-off comic by Will Donald, features Doctor Sun-Yo. He lives a Dr. Moreau-like existence on an island in the middle of the ocean. Two men on a raft are washed up on the beach, and they observe the inventions the Doctor has built. These include robot servants and various rays which can increase or diminish the size of living beings. Another ray "develops to an abnormal degree the good or bad in a human mind". This is being trained on a strange mutant figure in a cage, "The subject of my experiment posed as a public benefactor – at other people’s expense. But in his heart he is what you see him fast becoming. A human vulture." He also has a magnetic ray which he uses to capture "the Nazi battleship ‘Schwinehunde’". He then uses the reducing ray, and quips that "She is now a veritable pocket battleship." Of course all this meddling with nature does not go unpunished. The robot servants turn upon their master and Doctor Sun Yo dies in a "terrific explosion" and a "heap of twisted mechanism".

55 Left The Death Ray (Sydney NSW Bookstall Co., [1944]) Terry Powis was the other major comic artist to work for the New South Wales Bookstall Company during the Second World War. This was a time when the Australian comic industry was enormously popular as there was a restriction on imports from Britain and the United States. The local industry was limited only by the amount of paper the publishers could muster. The Death Ray is a war-time story set in the South American jungle where the English have set-up a secret laboratory to develop a death ray which can kill people and knock down planes.