pseudo-science n.
Chiefly associated with the early pulp era. Now hist.
SF Encyclopedia
SF Criticism
Genre
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1927
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When I asked him just what that sort was, he summed up his requirements as ‘ghost and pseudo-science’.
Listening in on Editors in Author & Journalist Aug. 16/1 -
1944
Dick Eney
pseudoscience — Scientific explanations which actually clash with accepted scientific beliefs, but by glossing-over pass for plausibility to the untutored minds of Fantastic Adventures' audience and other children. The use of the word to describe science-fiction in general is fiercely fought by lovers of the literature.
Fancylopedia 69/2
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1948 Thrilling Wonder Stories Feb. 109/1
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Failure to like good fantasy (No, don’t say it, plizz) seems to us to reveal a lamentable lack of imagination. After all, the most highly technical pseudo science story is truly nothing but fantasy dressed up with a lot of fantastic, slide rule suppositional gadgets.
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1952
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Clark Ashton Smith
In the fall of 1929 I began in [sic] intensive campaign of fiction-writing, both weird and pseudo-science.
Letter to L. S. de Camp in Klarkash Ton #1 (June 1988) 23/2 -
1957
Sam Moskowitz
Similarly, when a 1949 cover of The Writer’s Monthly featured a review of ‘pseudo science’ publication requirements, many of the newer writers weren’t quite sure what was being referred to, so anachronistic had the term become.
1957 in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Feb. 76/2 -
1957
‘Pseudo-Science’ and The Reader’s Guide
‘Pseudo-Science’ & Reader's Guide in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar. 47 (title) -
1966
Judith Merril
Actually, this is a more than adequate adventure yarn—well-told, well-paced, filled with thrills, chills, and spills, and the very model of the modern version of the Pseudoscience Story.
in Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Mar. 48/1
Research requirements
antedating 1927
Earliest cite
Willis Knapp Jones in "The Author & Journalist"
Research History
Fred Galvin submitted a 1948 cite from editorial matter in Thrilling Wonder Stories.Fred Galvin submitted a 1957 cite from Sam Moskowitz's "How Science Fiction Got Its Name".
Fred Galvin submitted a 1959 cite from Dick Eney's "Fancyclopedia II"; Jesse Sheidlower confirmed it in the 1944 original edition, edited by "John Bristol" (J. B. Speer).
John Locke submitted a cite from Willis Knapp Jones's "Listening in on the Editors" in an (unpaginated) electronic version of "The Author & Journalist" from August 1927; Jeff Prucher verified the cite in the original publication.
Jesse Sheidlower submitted a 1952 cite from a letter by Clark Ashton Smith to L. Sprague de Camp.
Fred Galvin located a 1947 book by Clare Winger Harris, titled "Away from the Here and Now: Stories in Pseudo-Science"; we would like to obtain a cite from a print edition.
We would likes citations of any date from other authors.
Last modified 2020-12-16 04:08:47
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