Considering that some interviewees died decades ago and related their own experiences dating from the 1920s, this source material is probably incapable of duplication through traditional research.

Wolinsky’s contributors include his co-hosts (both now deceased) and household names such as Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick. They also include authors who are quite familiar to casual science fiction fans, including Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, Harry Harrison, and Theodore Sturgeon. Perhaps surprisingly, they include a few authors best known for their contributions to other genres, like Louis L’Amour and Joyce Carol Oates. And, finally, they include authors who were influential and prolific during the pulps’ early years, but are nearly forgotten today by all but the most diehard fans.

Although Space Ships! is subtitled Interviews with Science Fiction Legends, that title is somewhat misleading. Wolinsky could easily have compiled a fascinating book comprising his interviews with some of the authors. (His radio show, now titled Bookwaves/Airwaves, regularly rebroadcasts some of these rare interviews.) Instead, he organized the material chronologically, detailing the rise (and often fall) of the pulp magazines. His contributing authors describe their experiences with legendary publishers and editors like Hugo Gernsback (publisher of the nearly century-old Amazing Stories and for whom the Hugo Awards are named) and John W. Campbell.

Throughout the book, various themes emerge. Authors were paid by the word in the early days, and many lived from royalty check to royalty check, literally. They were often paid only when a story actually appeared in a magazine, sometimes months after it had been accepted. Since the going rate for a story usually ranged from $10 to $50, authors needed to be prolific (and often freely use pseudonyms) to survive. Publishers like Gernsback had their own problems with creditors and often resorted to slow (or non-) payment to keep their magazines afloat.

Wolinsky’s approach to organizing Space Ships! leads to considerable repetition and more-than-occasional confusion. A contributing author’s excerpts often appear in several widely separated chapters, making it difficult for readers to get an accurate feel for that author’s experiences. The editor treats Space Ships! like a screenplay, with a dialogue cue (such as “Ray Bradbury:”) followed by one or two paragraphs excerpted from that author’s interview, followed by similar contributions from several other authors. Occasionally, this approach is effective, as when some authors describe their often-bizarre encounters with H.P. Lovecraft. More often, readers struggle to keep the various contributors straight. At the start of each chapter, Wolinsky includes a one- or two-sentence mini-bio of authors appearing for the first time in that chapter. Readers won’t find those mini-bios helpful when an author reappears several chapters later.

Since most readers of this book in 2026 have limited, if any, exposure to pulp magazines that folded three-quarters of a century ago, titles such as Astounding Stories and Weird Tales, while evocative, won’t register. Magazine publishing is a business, and many of these magazines changed hands several times over their publishing history. Wolinsky tries to map out the changing landscape over the years, but widely scattered references to publishing houses like Ziff-Davis and Street & Smith don’t make the content any clearer or easier to follow. A more traditional approach to the business end of the subject matter would have been more enlightening for the readers.

Space Ships! includes several good anecdotes by and about the various contributing authors and other influential authors of the era, like Robert Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard. Some anecdotes are quite entertaining, like Harlan Ellison’s story about one 1950s publisher who tried to stiff him out of payment. When Ellison went to see the publisher, he claimed to be from the Manhattan branch of the IRS to gain entry to the office. Then, when the publisher refused to pay him, Ellison grabbed a typewriter from one of the secretaries’ desks and walked several blocks with the bulky typewriter in his arms until he arrived at a pawnshop, where he sold it.

Although Ellison’s story (and several similar ones in Space Ships1) is entertaining, I would have preferred to read more about the writing and editing process the various authors experienced. That material is present but scattered, often used to contrast the differing editorial processes at various, now long-gone magazines. Genre completists may be interested to know which magazines had more lenient or rigorous policies, but, like much of the other material in the book, it felt like filler.

Space Ships! Ray Guns! Martian Octopods! is a book that’s pretty much for hardcore, period sci-fi fans only. More casual genre fans like me will enjoy the anecdotes and get a sense of what life was like for the authors and publishers in that era, but will struggle to distinguish obscure authors and publications. What upsets me the most about Wolinsky’s approach to this book is the way he squandered much of his rare, invaluable source material. I would have loved to hear more from some of these greats in one place, so I could follow their careers and approaches to writing, rather than picking up a stray paragraph or two here and there. Space Ships! is a case of YMMV, even for fans of vintage sci-fi. Even those who enjoy it will wish the editor had done a better job of editing and assembling the material.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.