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Visions and illusions
(covers information from a vision or illusion)
Incredible Tales staff

The staff of the Incredible Tales magazine

Incredible Tales of Scientific Wonder, or just Incredible Tales for short, was a science fiction magazine published in New York City in the United States of America in the 1950s as experienced by Captain Benjamin Sisko under influence of visions from the Prophets and Pah-wraiths. Its owner was Mr. Stone, and its main office was in the Arthur Trill Building in Harlem. Each copy sold for 35 cents.

In the visions experienced by Sisko, the people of his life on Deep Space 9 were transposed to this setting, taking on the lives of people of the era. Sisko himself became Benny Russell, a black writer struggling with the racism of the time; Kay Eaton, aka "K.C. Hunter", also confronted prejudices of the time and was forced to hide her identity as a woman science fiction writer from the magazine's readers. Douglas Pabst was the magazine's editor and its other writers included Julius Eaton, Albert Macklin, Herbert Rossoff, and Hugh Campbell. Darlene Kursky worked there as a secretary. Russell's conflict with the magazine's position came to a head when, rather than publishing his story about a black captain of a space station, the owner of the magazine had the entire print run pulped before it went on sale.

The typical working structure of the magazine had the house illustrator, Roy Ritterhouse, creating several drawings on a monthly basis. These illustrations were then handed out to the writers on an assignment basis. The writers in turn were expected to develop stories that would accompany the images for which they typically were paid on a per-word basis.

Other artists that provided illustrations for the magazine included John Eaves and Rick Sternbach.

The magazine's main competition of the time was Galaxy, which featured the works of notable authors such as Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein. (DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars")

The various magazine covers paid homage to science fiction, including Star Trek itself, by using titles similar to those of well-known science fiction or Star Trek stories. In particular, the March 1953 issue pays homage to Star Trek: The Original Series by using names of episodes from that series, credited to their original writers, as well as featuring the matte painting used in "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
The Incredible Tales bullpen was represented with a set built on Paramount Stage 18. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 116, p. 26)

Staff[]

Incredible Tales - March 53 (part)

March, 1953

Circa 1953:

Issues[]

Cover Title Author
December, 1952
December, 1952
"This Island Mars" Benny Russell
"Lucifer's Chainsaw" K.C. Hunter & Julius Bass
Illus. by Rick Sternbach
"I Have No Voice And I Must Shout" Herbert Rossoff
"Federation and Empire" Albert Macklin
"From the Moon to the Earth" Hugh Campbell
January, 1953
January, 1953
"A Most Fortunate Accident" Olivia & Alicia Eaves
Author of "Dad's Revenge"
"Assault on Planet 10" K.C. Hunter & Julius Bass
Illus. by John Eaves
"Quantity of the Monster" Herbert Rossoff
"1001: First Odyssey" Albert Macklin
"Venusian Chronicles" Hugh Campbell
March, 1953
March, 1953
"The Cage" E.W. Roddenberry
author of "Questor"
"The Corbomite Maneuver" Jerry Sohl
Illus. by Matt Jefferies
"Journey to Babel" D.C. Fontana
"Metamorphosis" Gene L. Coon
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" Samuel Peeples
April, 1953
April, 1953
"Bad Day at Red Rock" Benny Russell
"Legends of the Ferengi" I.S. Behr & R. Wolfe
Illus. by Rex Dugler
"First Contact" Berman, Braga, & Moore
"Trials and Tribble-ations" Jonathan West
"Space Mongoose'" Seth Goldberg
August, 1953
August, 1953
"Third Foundation" Albert Macklin
author of "The Dogs Themselves"
"Strange Martian"
"Voyage into the Atom"
"Space Mutant"
"Solar Odyssey" Benny Russell
September, 1953
September, 1953
"Far Beyond the Stars" Benny Russell
author of "Solar Odyssey"
"A Wrinkle in Space" K.C. Hunter & Julius Bass
Illus. by Roy Ritterhouse
"Hazardous Images" Herbert Rossoff
"Me, Android" Albert Macklin
"Loner in a Lonely World" Hugh Campbell

Stories in the works[]

These stories were in development for an issue of Incredible Tales that was ultimately pulped and never released:

External link[]

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