Early sci-fi
The Drop
In the far future, humanity has expanded out to explore the outer reaches of the solar system, leaving behind the radioactively poisoned planet once known as Earth, now more commonly referred to as the ‘Forbidden World’. When Captain Robert Newsam’s cousin disappears in mysterious circumstances, Capt Newsam comes to discover that the authorized version isn’t necessarily the truth … In 2010, Cornucopia Radio broadcast an updated version of the John Christopher short story, originally broadcast by ABC Radio in 1953.
Harry Turner’s Footnotes to Fandom
Science-fiction was where Sam Youd’s writing career began, and here artist Harry Turner’s 1941 diary chronicles events from those heady days of sci-fandom, when magazines like ‘The Fantast’ were duplicated by hand and Sam’s myopia barred him from a flying career in the RAF.
The Futurian War Digest
The December 1940 edition of ‘The Futurian’ – ‘incorporating Pseud-Futurian and Science Fantasy Review’s War Digest’ – introduces the 19-year-old Christopher Samuel Youd, described as ‘quite a promising writer, but searching frantically for an adequate philosophy of life, which he hasn’t found yet’.
Keeping sci-fandom alive
After the outbreak of World War II, Sam Youd organized chains of fans to each of which he would circulate a page or more of news; each fan would make additions and pass the bundle on to the next guy …
