By Justin T. O’Conor Sloane, Editor Worlds of IF Science Fiction: [An excerpt from his editorial in the forthcoming issue.]
The second issue of Worlds of IF Science Fiction magazine will be here soon and I am beyond excited to be publishing in this issue one of the “lost” and never-before-published Professor Jameson stories by Neil R. Jones, titled “Battle Moon!”
Nobody knew what had happened to the lost stories and it was believed, incorrectly, that there were a total of six stories that had yet to be published. But there is ONE more that no one knew about, a PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN story titled, “The Metal Menace!” The addition of “The Metal Menace” to the Professor Jameson series will require that histories of the series be appended to include this story. All of this thanks to Mike Dooley, whose enthusiasm for the Professor Jameson stories ultimately led to the discovery of the manuscript of “The Metal Menace” and the other six stories, bringing them at long last, to the publishing world and the reading public, after untold years spent in the dusty oblivion of archival boxes!
Mike spent years diligently tracking down these stories and attempting to get them published, but because of the various legal ambiguities surrounding the rights, no one was willing to publish them. But his steadfast perseverance in working to see these stories published was finally coming to fruition as I saw nothing problematic with any of it and knew this to be the perfect magazine in which to introduce the stories to the world: a relaunched classic, ideal for showcasing these previously unpublished and newly rediscovered science fiction stories from a legendary series. How wonderful! It was meant to be.
The process to acquire the rights moved very quickly and smoothly I am happy to say. (Waiting patiently for this issue to hit the presses will have been the hard part for everyone.) Entirely through Mike’s efforts and the relationships that he has built with members of the Jones family over the years and librarians at Syracuse University like Amy McDonald who are the custodians of the stories, Starship Sloane Publishing was granted the rights to publish these stories by Javene Decker of the Neil R. Jones literary estate (thank you!) and Neil R. Jones Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries (thank you!).
I think this is a big deal, even if there are only several dozen serious fans of the series out there right now—which, by the way, is good enough for me! Though I reckon there are far more than that and I hope that many new fans will be made with the appearance of these stories from the classic era of science fiction.
The Professor Jameson series influenced some of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, like Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl and in turn, that influence has been transmitted into popular culture in some very memorable ways (see more about this in Douglas Draa’s excellent essay in this very issue). Professor Jameson is the longest-running science fiction series in history—and now running even longer!—and is the oldest series involving cyborgs. I also have a special place in my heart for these stories as T. O’Conor Sloane published the first twelve installments of the series while the editor of Amazing Stories. They were extremely popular with the readership.
The remaining five stories will be published in upcoming issues of IF. In this issue, we are presenting the first and the second to last of the unpublished stories, with the new and corrected sequence of these stories now understood to be as follows:
#25 “Battle Moon”
#26 “The Lost Nation”
#27 “The Voice Across Space”
#28 “The Satellite Sun”
#29 “Hidden World”
#30 “The Metal Menace”
#31 “The Sun Dwellers”
In doing it this way, we will follow the sequence with the exception of the previously unknown story, which is the true #30, “The Metal Menace,” because my enthusiasm to bring it to science fiction readers could not wait until a future issue, simple as that. Further to all of this, I have been informed by Mike that “The Sun Dwellers,” which is in fact the final story in the series, is NOT a finished manuscript. What?! So, I am pleased to say that Mike will be sharing co-writer credit with Mr. Jones in completing the manuscript—with the blessings of the Jones estate. Is that cool or what? It will be a history-rich writing credit for a good guy and super sleuth who has spent years working to bring these lost stories to science fiction fans everywhere—in the process becoming its own noteworthy story, a story of lost stories. Quite an accomplishment. Cheers, Mike! (Be sure to read Mike’s guest editorial in this issue to get the full scoop.)
To be able to conclude the Professor Jameson series at long last, with its never-before-published stories, almost 100 years after the first story appeared in print, is an exciting development I think and hopefully readers will agree! I am honored to help Mike see all of his hard work finally materialize (and those who helped him along the way). This is part of the continuum I wrote about in the editorial of the debut issue. I had also thought about publishing these stories in Galaxy, but decided against doing such as the rights would need to be revisited, but more importantly, because Worlds of IF is literally the perfect magazine for these stories, both in the tradition of its approach to its content and especially as the illustrious former editor of this very magazine, Frederik Pohl, was a fan of the series. Again, it was just meant to be. The Prof rides the science fiction range once again on wild stories swift and sure to entertain!