1938 in science fiction

Years in science fiction
1880s 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889
1890s 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899
1900s 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909
1910s 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919
1920s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929
1930s 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939
1940s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
1950s 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
1960s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970s 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
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2000s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
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The year 1938 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.

Larry Niven

Orson Welles tells reporters that no one connected with the broadcast had any idea that it would cause panic (October 31, 1938).

Births and deaths

Births

Hans-Jürgen Dittfeld
Peter Griese (d. 1996)
Paul van Herck (d. 1989)
Michael Kurland
Justin Leiber (d. 2016)
Larry Niven. His best-known work is Ringworld (1970)
William Voltz (d. 1984)
Ted White
M. K. Wren (d. 2016)
Janusz A. Zajdel (d. 1985)

Deaths

Curt Abel-Musgrave (b. 1860)
Karel Čapek (b. 1890)
Frigyes Karinthy (b. 1887)
Karl August von Laffert (b. 1872)
Max Osterberg (b. 1865)
Emil Sandt (b. 1864)

Events

October 30 - The War of the Worlds, radio drama directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1898). The episode became famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.^[1]

Literary releases

Novels

For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein
Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith
Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis

Short stories

"Azathoth" by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Command" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Helen O'Loy" by Lester del Rey
"Hollerbochen's Dilemma" by Ray Bradbury
"How We Went to Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke
"Hyperpilosity" by L. Sprague de Camp
"The Men and the Mirror" by Ross Rocklynne
"The Merman" by L. Sprague de Camp
"Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak
"Tidal Moon" by Stanley G. Weinbaum and Helen Weinbaum
Who Goes There?, novella by John W. Campbell, Jr.

Movies

Title	Director	Release	Primary cast	Production country	Notes	Ref(s)
Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars	Ford Beebe, Robert F. Hill	31 March 1938	Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles B. Middleton	United States	Film serial with 15 chapters	^[2]^[3]
Flight to Fame	C. C. Coleman Jr.	12 October 1938	Charles Farrell, Jacqueline Wells, Hugh Sothern	United States		^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Awards

The main science-fiction Awards known at the present time did not exist at this time.

See also

References

^ Pooley, Jefferson; Socolow, Michael (October 28, 2013). "The Myth of the War of the Worlds Panic". Slate. Retrieved November 1, 2013.
^ Hardy 1984, p. 98.
^ Kinnard et al 2008, p. 86.
^ Hardy 1984, p. 100.
^ "Flight to Fame". American Film Institute. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
^ Erickson, Hal. "Flight to Fame". AllMovie. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
^ Pitts, Michael R. (14 October 2010). Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1982. McFarland. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-7864-5766-3.

Sources

Hardy, Phil, ed. (1984). Science Fiction. New York : Morrow. ISBN 0-688-00842-9.
Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony; Vitone, R. J. (2008). The Flash Gordon Serials, 1936–1940. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786455003.

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