The Golden Atom
The Golden Atom was a science fiction fanzine edited by Larry Farsace (Litterio B. Farsaci) and published by Kodiak City Publications in Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Named for Ray Cummings' series that began with The Girl in the Golden Atom, the first issue appeared on October 20, 1939. The first ten issues, published from 1939 till 1943, were in letter sized mimeographed format; two special issues, appearing in 1955 and in 1959, were letter press format.
Science Fiction writer and contributor Sam Moskowitz regards The Golden Atom as, "arguably the most valuable repository of new research and reference on SF" during the time it was initially published.
Farsace published a six part series on the fiction of Ray Cummings titled "Golden Atom Tales"and Fred W. Fischer wrote the column "From The Observation Deck" on stories appearing in the older pulp magazines, and Farcase included bibliographies for them as well. Also included was a reprint of Donald Wollheim's Curious Stories, a fan magazine that had previously been published in an edition of only 4 copies.
Contributors of prose included Forrest J Ackerman, John W. Campbell, Benjamin De Casseres, Farsaci, Fred W. Fischer (The Southern Star), Nils Helmer Frome (Supramundane Stories), Edmond Hamilton, P. Schuyler Miller, Sam Moskowitz (Helios, New Fandom), Dale Tarr, Fred A. Senour, Bob Tucker, and others.
Poetry was published by Stanton A. Coblentz, Elizabeth Starr Cummings (Ray Cummings' daughter), Farsaci, Virgil Finlay, Nora May French, Amanda Benjamin Hall, Jean Howard, Frank Belknap Long, H. P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Macley, David Paul, Stella River, Clark Ashton Smith, George Sterling, Chad Walsh, Donald Wandrei, Harry Warner Jr., Stanley G. Weinbaum, and Rosco E. Wright (Beyond, Eusifanso, Viewpoints).
Letters came from Forrest J Ackerman, John V. Baltadonis, Robert H. Barlow (Leaves), John W. Campbell, Ray Cummings, Nils Helmer Frome, Mary Gnaedinger (editor of Famous Fantastic Mysteries), Edmond Hamilton, Harold Hersey (editor of Thrill Book), H.P. Lovecraft (published posthumously), A. Langley Searles, Clark Ashton Smith, R.D. Swisher, Harry Warner Jr., John Wasso Jr., Donald A. Wollheim, and others.
Cover art was contributed by Farsaci, Jean Finlay, Virgil Finlay, Charles Hickox, and Rosco E. Wright.
