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Astounding vol. 45, no. 3 (May 1950)
Be honest, the only thing we care about on this cover is “Dianetics”, a new science of the mind. This must have been one of its first appearances? And it's in a fiction magazine?
Original magazine: https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v45n03_1950-05_cape1736
Well, that is because one of the biggest cheerleaders of Dianetics was John W. Campbell jr, who just so happened to be the editor for Astounding magazine.
@nyrath @SFFMagazineCovers Yes, Campbell was very interested in powers of the mind, strange ideas about ESP and so on.
Also, L. Ron Hubbard *did* write science fiction, so he was in the SF world. I have never read any of his works, so I don't know if they were any good at all. Some golden age SF ideas seem to have been turned into the lore of scientology.
It also weems like Hubbard talked about starting a religion to get rich: https://tonyortega.org/2016/01/19/when-the-feds-tracked-down-l-ron-hubbards-boast-about-getting-rich-by-creating-a-religion/
@landetannien @nyrath @SFFMagazineCovers It has been alleged that Hubbard had a bet with Robert A. Heinlein that he could get rich from religion. Heinlein wrote "Stranger in a Strange Land"; Hubbard invented Scientology. (This was in the early 1940s when Hubbard was Heinlein's lodger, and allegedly having an affair with his wife.)
@cstross @nyrath @SFFMagazineCovers Haha, great!
Just to place this in time:
Stanger in a Strange Land was published in 1961.
Scientology was founded in the early 1950's, after a conflict about Dianetics. (Some more info about that in my link.)
@landetannien @nyrath @SFFMagazineCovers "Stranger" was, AIUI, written quite a few years before it was published—Heinlein didn't consider it publishable during the 1950s because of censorship/morality laws.
@SFFMagazineCovers
"Do you have a pass? No? Back of the line."
"I have a pass!," said the young woman who was next in line.
"Let's see some ID, kid. Huh. Checks out. Have fun storming the castle!"
"Look, I've got two hundred in gold..." It was the old guy again.
"And I've got a dagger. Get lost, you're banned now."
"Um, I don't have a pass, but um..." the kid who looked like he was just off the farm mumbled.
"It is OK, kid, I'm not a monster. Go down the road a bit, and talk to the apothecary. Then come back."
The boy nodded and ran off down the road.
It was tough being a bouncer for the most popular lair in the kingdom, but the pay was good, and you got three days off a week.
@SFFMagazineCovers
Side note - the bouncer is employed by the local village to make sure not too many people have a go at the lair at one time.
And some of them come back with stuff to boost the local economy, so it is important to conserve the resource.
Only thing we care about? Oh, I dunno. The cover story by Poul Anderson has one of the most heart wrenching endings of any of his stories.
Spoilers in link
https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/alientech.php#helpinghand
@SFFMagazineCovers Reading these old magazines, the ads are as interesting as the stories