 Although science fiction ( sf ) had been published before the 1920s , it did not begin to <unk> into a separately marketed genre until the appearance in 1926 of Amazing Stories , a pulp magazine published by Hugo <unk> . By the end of the 1930s the field was booming , and several new sf magazines were launched in 1939 . Frederik Pohl , a science fiction fan and aspiring writer , visited Robert <unk> , the editor of Marvel Science Stories and Dynamic Science Stories , to ask for a job . <unk> did not have an opening for him , but told Pohl that Popular Publications , a leading pulp publisher , was starting a new line of low @-@ paying magazines and might be interested in adding a science fiction title . On October 25 , 1939 , Pohl visited Rogers <unk> at Popular , and was hired immediately , at the age of nineteen , on a salary of ten dollars per week . Pohl was given two magazines to edit : Super Science Stories and Astonishing Stories . Super Science Stories was intended to carry longer pieces , and Astonishing focused on shorter fiction ; Super Science Stories was retitled Super Science Novels Magazine in March 1941 , reflecting this policy , but after only three issues the title was changed back to Super Science Stories . 
