Cover -- Contents -- Introduction. "The Hope of Today and the Reality of Tomorrow": Popular Science, Popular Culture, and Science Fiction -- PART I. CIRCULATION -- 1 "Magazines for Morons": Pulp Magazines and the Emergence of Science Fiction -- 2 Conversations from the "Backyard": Reading and Imagining Community -- PART II. READING -- 3 Discovering the Freedom of Facts: Fact, Fiction, and the Authority of Science -- 4 Involving Adventure, Reassuring Romance: Engendering Science Fiction's Domestic Tranquillity -- 5 Human Martians and Asian Aliens: The Racial Nature of Wondrous Worlds -- 6 The Progress of Time: Einstein, History, and the Dimensions of Time Travel -- PART III. PRACTICE -- 7 "Fandom Is Just a Goddamn Hobby": The Industry of Fans and Professionals -- 8 "We Want to Play with Spaceships": Popular Rocket Science in Action -- Epilogue. Beyond the "Gernsback Continuum": Science Fiction's Community and Social Networks -- List of Abbreviations -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z -- Acknowledgments.