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Amazing Stories

Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances in other magazines, including some published by Gernsback, but Amazing helped define and launch a new genre of pulp fiction.

Amazing has been published, with some interruptions, for 98 years, going through a half-dozen owners and many editors as it struggled to be profitable. Gernsback was forced into bankruptcy and lost control of the magazine in 1929. In 1938 it was purchased by Ziff-Davis, who hired Raymond A. Palmer as editor. Palmer made the magazine successful though it was not regarded as a quality magazine within the science fiction community. In the late 1940s Amazing presented as fact stories about the Shaver Mystery, a lurid mythos that explained accidents and disaster as the work of robots named deros, which led to dramatically increased circulation but widespread ridicule. Amazing switched to a digest size format in 1953, shortly before the end of the pulp-magazine era. It was sold to Sol Cohen's Universal Publishing Company in 1965, which filled it with reprinted stories but did not pay a reprint fee to the authors, creating a conflict with the newly formed Science Fiction Writers of America. Ted White took over as editor in 1969, eliminated the reprints and made the magazine respected again: Amazing was nominated for the prestigious Hugo Award three times during his tenure in the 1970s. Several other owners attempted to create a modern incarnation of the magazine in the following decades, but publication was suspended after the March 2005 issue. A new incarnation appeared in July 2012 as an online magazine. Print publication resumed with the Fall 2018 issue.

Gernsback's initial editorial approach was to blend instruction with entertainment; he believed science fiction could educate readers. His audience rapidly showed a preference for implausible adventures, and the movement away from Gernsback's idealism accelerated when the magazine changed hands in 1929. Despite this, Gernsback had an enormous impact on the field: the creation of a specialist magazine for science fiction spawned an entire genre publishing industry. The letter columns in Amazing, where fans could make contact with each other, led to the formation of science fiction fandom, which in turn had a strong influence on the development of the field. Writers whose first story was published in the magazine include John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Howard Fast, Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, and Thomas M. Disch. Overall, though, Amazing itself was rarely an influential magazine within the genre after the 1920s.

Origins
By the end of the 19th century, stories centered on scientific inventions, and stories set in the future, were appearing regularly in popular fiction magazines. The market for short stories lent itself to tales of invention in the tradition of Jules Verne. Magazines such as Munsey's Magazine and The Argosy, launched in 1889 and 1896 respectively, carried a few science fiction stories each year. Some upmarket "slick" magazines such as McClure's, which paid well and were aimed at a more literary audience, also carried scientific stories, but by the early years of the 20th century, science fiction (though it was not yet called that) was appearing more often in the pulp magazines than in the slicks.

In 1908, Hugo Gernsback published the first issue of Modern Electrics, a magazine aimed at the scientific hobbyist. It was an immediate success, and Gernsback began to include articles on imaginative uses of science, such as "Wireless on Saturn" (December 1908). In April 1911, Gernsback began the serialization of his science fiction novel, Ralph 124C 41+, but in 1913 he sold his interest in the magazine to his partner and launched a new magazine, Electrical Experimenter, which soon began to publish scientific fiction. In 1920, Gernsback retitled the magazine Science and Invention, and through the early 1920s he published much scientific fiction in its pages, along with non-fiction scientific articles.

Gernsback had started another magazine called Practical Electrics in 1921. In 1924, he changed its name to The Experimenter, and sent a letter to 25,000 people to gauge interest in the possibility of a magazine devoted to scientific fiction; in his words, "the response was such that the idea was given up for two years." In 1926, he decided to proceed, and ceased publication of The Experimenter to make room in his publishing schedule for a new magazine. The editor of The Experimenter, T. O'Conor Sloane, became the editor of Amazing Stories. The first issue appeared on 10 March 1926, with a cover date of April.

1920s
Initially the magazine focused on reprints; both classics such as Wells, Verne and Poe, and stories from other Gernsback magazines. The first original story was "The Man From the Atom (Sequel)" by G. Peyton Wertenbaker in the second issue, May 1926. In the August issue, new stories (still a minority) were noted with an asterisk in the table of contents. The editorial work was largely done by Sloane, but Gernsback retained final say over the fiction content. Two consultants, Conrad A. Brandt and Wilbur C. Whitehead, were hired to help find fiction to reprint. Frank R. Paul, who had worked with Gernsback as early as 1914, became the cover artist; Paul had produced many illustrations for the fiction in The Electrical Experimenter. Amazing was issued in the large bedsheet format, 8.5 × 11.75 in (216 × 298 mm), the same size as the technical magazines. It was an immediate success and by the following March reached a circulation of 150,000. Gernsback saw there was an enthusiastic readership for "scientifiction" (the term "science fiction" had not yet been coined), and in 1927 started a Discussions section and issued Amazing Stories Annual. The annual sold out, and in January 1928, Gernsback launched a quarterly magazine, Amazing Stories Quarterly, as a regular companion to Amazing. It continued on a fairly regular schedule for 22 issues. Gernsback was slow to pay his authors and creditors; the extent of his investments limited his liquidity. On 20 February 1929 his printer and paper supplier opened bankruptcy proceedings against him. It has been suggested that Bernarr Macfadden, another magazine publisher, maneuvered to force the bankruptcy because Gernsback would not sell his titles to Macfadden, but this is unproven. Experimenter Publishing did not file any defence and was declared bankrupt by default on 6 March; Amazing survived with its existing staff, but Hugo and his brother, Sidney, were forced out as directors. Arthur H. Lynch took over as editor-in-chief, though Sloane continued to have effective control of the magazine's contents. The receivers, Irving Trust, sold the magazine to Bergan A. Mackinnon on 3 April.

1930s
In August 1931, Amazing was acquired by Teck Publications, a subsidiary of Bernarr Macfadden's Macfadden Publications. Macfadden's deep pockets helped insulate Amazing from the financial strain caused by the Great Depression. The schedule of Amazing Stories Quarterly began to slip, but Amazing did not miss an issue in the early 1930s. However, it became unprofitable to publish over the next few years. Circulation dropped to little more than 25,000 in 1934, and in October 1935 it switched to bimonthly (publishing every other month).

By 1938, with Amazing ' s circulation down to only 15,000, Teck Publications was having financial problems. In January, Ziff-Davis took over the magazine and shortly thereafter moved production to Chicago; the April issue was assembled by Sloane but published by Ziff-Davis. Bernard Davis, who ran Ziff-Davis's editorial department, attempted to hire Roger Sherman Hoar as editor; Hoar turned down the job but suggested Raymond A. Palmer, an active local science fiction fan. Palmer was hired that February, taking over editorial duties with the June issue. Ziff-Davis launched Fantastic Adventures, a fantasy companion to Amazing, in May 1939, also under Palmer's editorship. Palmer quickly managed to improve Amazing's circulation, and in November 1938, the magazine went monthly again, though this did not last throughout Palmer's tenure: between 1944 and 1946 the magazine was bimonthly and then quarterly for a while before returning to a longer-lasting monthly schedule.

1940s
In September 1943, Richard Shaver, an Amazing reader, began to correspond with Palmer, who soon asked him to write stories for the magazine. Shaver responded with a story called "I Remember Lemuria," published in the March 1945 issue, which was presented by Palmer as a mixture of truth and fiction. The story, about prehistoric civilizations, dramatically boosted Amazing's circulation, and Palmer ran a new Shaver story in every issue, culminating in a special issue in June 1947 devoted entirely to the Shaver Mystery, as it was called. Amazing soon drew ridicule for these stories. A derisive article by William S. Baring-Gould in the September 1946 issue of Harper's prompted William Ziff to tell Palmer to limit the amount of Shaver-related material in the magazine; Palmer complied, but his interest (and possibly belief) in this sort of material was now significant, and he soon began planning to leave Ziff-Davis. In 1947 he formed Clark Publications, launching Fate the following year, and in 1949 he resigned from Ziff-Davis to edit that and other magazines.

Howard Browne, who had been on a leave of absence from Ziff-Davis to write fiction, took over as editor and began by throwing away 300,000 words of inventory that Palmer had acquired before he left. Browne had ambitions of moving Amazing upmarket, and his argument was strengthened by Street & Smith, one of the longest established and most respected publishers, who shut down all of their pulp magazines in the summer of 1949. The pulps were dying, largely as a result of the success of pocketbooks, and Street & Smith decided to concentrate on their slick magazines. Some pulps struggled on for a few more years, but Browne was able to persuade Ziff and Davis that the future was in the slicks, and they raised his fiction budget from one cent to a ceiling of five cents per word. Browne managed to get promises of new stories from many well-known authors, including Isaac Asimov and Theodore Sturgeon. He produced a dummy issue in April 1950, and planned to launch the new incarnation of Amazing in April 1951, the 25th anniversary of the first issue. However, the economic impact of the Korean War, which broke out in June 1950, led to budget cuts. The plans were cancelled, and Ziff-Davis never revived the idea.

1950s
Browne's interest in Amazing declined when the project to turn it into a slick magazine was derailed. Although he stayed involved with Fantastic Adventures, another Ziff-Davis magazine, he left the editing work on Amazing to William Hamling and Lila Shaffer. In December 1950, when Ziff-Davis moved their offices from Chicago to New York, Hamling stayed behind in Chicago, and Browne revived his involvement with the magazine.

In 1952, Browne convinced Ziff-Davis to try a high-quality digest fantasy magazine. Fantastic, which appeared in the summer of that year, focused on fantasy rather than science fiction and was so successful that it persuaded Ziff-Davis to switch Amazing from pulp format to digest in early 1953 (while also switching to a bimonthly schedule). Circulation fell, however, and subsequent budget cuts limited the story quality in both Amazing and Fantastic. Fantastic began to print science fiction as well as fantasy. Circulation increased as a result, but Browne, who was not a science fiction aficionado, once again lost interest in the magazines.

Paul W. Fairman replaced Browne as editor in September 1956. Early in Fairman's tenure, Bernard Davis decided to try issuing a companion series of novels, titled Amazing Stories Science Fiction Novels. Readers' letters in Amazing had indicated a desire for novels, which Amazing did not have room to run. The novel series did not last; only one, Henry Slesar's 20 Million Miles to Earth, appeared. However, in response to readers' interest in longer fiction, Ziff-Davis expanded Amazing by 16 pages, starting with the March 1958 issue, and the magazine began to run complete novels.

Fairman left to edit Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine at the end of 1958, and his place was taken by Cele Goldsmith. Goldsmith had been hired in 1955 as a secretary and became assistant editor to help cope with the additional work created when Ziff-Davis launched two short-lived magazines, Dream World and Pen Pals, in 1956. Ziff-Davis were not confident of Goldsmith's abilities as an editor, so when Fairman left, a consultant, Norman Lobsenz, was hired to work with her. She performed well and Lobsenz's involvement soon became minimal.

1960s
Goldsmith is well regarded by science fiction historians for her innovation, and the impact she had on the early careers of writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Roger Zelazny, but circulation lagged during her tenure. By 1964 Fantastic's circulation was down to 27,000, with Amazing doing little better. The following March both Amazing and Fantastic were sold to Ultimate Publishing Company, run by Sol Cohen and Arthur Bernhard. Goldsmith was given the choice of going with the magazines or staying with Ziff-Davis; she stayed, and Cohen hired Joseph Wrzos to edit the magazines, starting with the August and September 1965 issues of Amazing and Fantastic, respectively. Wrzos used the name "Joseph Ross" on the mastheads to avoid mis-spellings. Both magazines immediately moved to a bi-monthly schedule.

Cohen had acquired reprint rights to the magazines' back issues, although Wrzos did get Cohen to agree to print one new story every issue. Cohen was also producing reprint magazines such as Great Science Fiction and Science Fiction Classics, but no payment was made to authors for any of these reprints. This brought Cohen into conflict with the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), a professional writers' organization formed in 1965. Soon SFWA called for a boycott of Ultimate's magazines until Cohen agreed to make payments. Cohen agreed to pay a flat fee for all stories, and then in August 1967 this was changed to a graduated rate, depending on the length of the story. Harry Harrison had acted as an intermediary in Cohen's negotiations with SFWA, and when Wrzos left in 1967, Cohen asked Harrison to take over. SF Impulse, which Harrison had been editing, had folded in February 1967, so Harrison was available. He secured Cohen's agreement that the policy of printing almost nothing but reprinted stories would be phased out by the end of the year, and took over as editor with the September 1967 issue.

By February 1968 Harrison decided to leave, as Cohen was showing no signs of abandoning the reprints. He resigned, and suggested Barry N. Malzberg to Cohen as a possible successor. Cohen knew Malzberg from his work at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, and thought that he might be more amenable than Harrison to continuing the reprint policy. Malzberg took over in April, but immediately came into conflict with Cohen over the reprints, and then threatened to resign in October over a disagreement about artwork Malzberg had commissioned for a cover. Cohen contacted Robert Silverberg, then the president of SFWA, and told him (falsely) that Malzberg had actually resigned. Silverberg recommended Ted White as a replacement. Cohen secured White's agreement and then fired Malzberg; White assumed control with the May 1969 issue.

1970s
When White took over as editor, Amazing's circulation was about 38,500, only about 4% of which were subscribers (as opposed to newsstand sales). This was a very low ebb for subscriptions; Analog, by comparison, sold about 35% of its circulation through subscriptions. Cohen's wife mailed out the subscription copies from home, and Cohen had never tried to increase the subscriber base as this would have increased the burden on his wife. White worked hard to increase the circulation despite Cohen's lack of support, but met with limited success. One of his first changes was to reduce the typeface to increase the amount of fiction in the magazine. To pay for this he increased the price of both Fantastic and Amazing to 60 cents, but this had a strong negative effect on circulation, which fell about 10% from 1969 to 1970.

In 1972, White changed the title to Amazing Science Fiction, distancing the magazine slightly from some of the pulp connotations of "Amazing Stories". White worked at a low wage, and his friends often read manuscripts for free, but despite his efforts the circulation continued to fall. From near 40,000 when White joined the magazine, the circulation fell to about 23,000 in October 1975. White was unwilling to continue with the very limited financial backing that Cohen provided, and he resigned in 1975. Cohen was able to convince White to remain; White promised to stay for one more year, but in the event remained as editor until late 1978.

Amazing raised its price from 75 cents to $1.00 with the November 1975 issue. The schedule switched to quarterly beginning with the March 1976 issue; as a result, the 50th anniversary issue had a cover date of June 1976. In 1977, Amazing and Fantastic lost $15,000, though Amazing's circulation (at nearly 26,000) was as good as it had been for several years. Cohen looked for a new publisher to buy the magazines, but in September of the following year sold his half-share in the company to his partner, Arthur Bernhard. White had occasionally suggested to Cohen that Amazing would benefit from a redesign and investment; he made the same suggestions to Bernhard in early October. According to White, Bernhard not only said no, but told him he would not receive a salary until the next issue was turned in. In late 1978 White resigned, and returned all manuscripts in his possession to their authors, even if copy-edited and ready for publication. White claimed Bernhard had told him to do this, though Bernhard denied it.

1980s to 2000s
Elinor Mavor took over as editor in early 1979. She had worked for Bernhard as an illustrator and in the production department of several of his magazines, though not for Amazing. She had also been an editor at Bill of Fare, a restaurant trade magazine. Mavor had read a good deal of science fiction but knew nothing about the world of science fiction magazines when she took over. She was not confident that a woman would be accepted as the editor of a science fiction magazine, so she initially used the pseudonym "Omar Gohagen" for both Amazing and Fantastic, dropping it late in 1980. Circulation continued to fall, and Bernhard refused to consider Mavor's request to undertake a subscription drive. Instead, in late 1980, Bernhard decided to merge the two magazines. Fantastic's last independent issue was in October; thereafter the combined magazine returned to a bimonthly schedule. At the same time the title was changed to Amazing Science Fiction Stories. Bernhard cut Mavor's salary after the merger, as she was editing only one magazine. Despite this, she stayed with Amazing, but was unable to prevent circulation from dropping again, down to only 11,000 newsstand sales in 1982.

Shortly after the merger, Bernhard decided to retire, and approached Edward Ferman, the editor of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Joel Davis, at Davis Publications, among others, about a possible sale of Amazing. Jonathan Post, of Emerald City Publishing, believed he had concluded a deal with Bernhard, and began to advertise for submissions, but the negotiations failed. Bernhard also approached George H. Scithers, who declined, but put Bernhard in touch with Gary Gygax of TSR. On 27 May 1982 TSR, Inc. acquired the trademarks and copyrights of Amazing Stories. Scithers was taken on by TSR as editor beginning with the November issue. He was replaced by Patrick Lucien Price in September 1986, and then by Kim Mohan in May 1991. TSR ceased publication of Amazing with the Winter 1995 issue, but in 1997, shortly after they were acquired by Wizards of the Coast, the magazine was relaunched, again with Mohan as editor. This version lasted for only ten issues, though it did include a special celebratory 600th issue in early 2000. The science fiction trade journal Locus commented in an early review that distribution of the magazine seemed to be weak. The title proved unable to survive: the last issue of this version was dated Summer 2000. The title was then acquired by Paizo Publishing, who launched a new monthly version in September 2004. The February 2005 issue was the last printed; a March issue was released in PDF format, and in March 2006 Paizo announced that it would no longer publish Amazing. In September 2011, the trademark for Amazing Stories was acquired by Steve Davidson. Two online issues appeared, in July and August 2012, followed by another in 2014. Davidson relaunched print publication of Amazing Stories with the Fall 2018 issue with Ira Nayman as editor. In 2022 Davidson stepped down as publisher for personal reasons and former Creative Director, Kermit Woodall, took over as publisher.

Gernsback era
Gernsback's editorial in the first issue asserted that "not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are also always instructive". He had always believed that "scientifiction", as he called these stories, had educational power, but he now understood that the fiction had to entertain as well as to instruct. His continued belief in the instructional value of science fiction was not in keeping with the general attitude of the public towards pulp magazines, which was that they were "trash".

The first issue of Amazing contained only reprints, beginning with a serialization of Off on a Comet, by Jules Verne. In keeping with Gernsback's new approach, this was one of Verne's least scientifically plausible novels. Also included were H. G. Wells's "The New Accelerator", and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"; Gernsback put the names of all three authors on the cover. He also reprinted three more recent stories. Two came from his own magazine, Science and Invention; these were "The Man from the Atom" by G. Peyton Wertenbaker and "The Thing from—'Outside by George Allan England. The third was Austin Hall's The Man Who Saved the Earth, which had appeared in All-Story Weekly.

In the June 1926 issue Gernsback launched a competition to write a short story to suit a cover drawn by illustrator Frank R. Paul, with a first prize of $250. The competition drew over 360 entries, seven of which were eventually printed in Amazing. The winner was Cyril G. Wates, who sold three more stories to Gernsback in the late 1920s. Two other entrants went on to become successful writers: one was Clare Winger Harris, whose story, "The Fate of the Poseidonia", took third place in the competition, and was published in the June 1927 issue as by "Mrs. F.C. Harris". The other notable entrant was A. Hyatt Verrill, with The Voice from the Inner World, which appeared in July 1927.

A letter column, titled Discussions soon appeared, and became a regular feature with the January 1927 issue. Many science fiction readers were isolated in small communities, knowing nobody else who liked the same fiction. Gernsback's habit of publishing the full address of all his correspondents meant that the letter column allowed fans to correspond with each other directly. Science fiction fandom traces its beginnings to the letter column in Amazing and its competitors, and one historian of the field, author Lester del Rey, has commented that the introduction of this letter column "may have been one of the most important events in the history of science fiction".

For the first year, Amazing contained primarily reprinted material. It was proving difficult to attract new, high-quality material, and Gernsback's slowness at paying his authors did not help. Writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, H.G. Wells, and Murray Leinster all avoided Amazing because Gernsback took so long to pay for the stories he printed. The slow payments were probably known to many of the other active pulp writers, which would have further limited the volume of submissions. New writers did appear, but the quality of their stories was often weak.

Frederik Pohl later said that Gernsback's magazine published "the kind of stories Gernsback himself used to write: a sort of animated catalogue of gadgets". Gernsback discovered that the audience he had attracted was less interested in scientific invention stories than in fantastical adventures. A. Merritt's The Moon Pool, which began serialization in May 1927, was an early success; there was little or no scientific basis to the story, but it was very popular with Amazing's readers. The covers, all of which were painted by Paul, were garish and juvenile, leading some readers to complain. Raymond Palmer, later to become an editor of the magazine, wrote that a friend of his was forced to stop buying Amazing "by reason of his parents' dislike of the cover illustrations". Gernsback experimented with a more sober cover for the September 1928 issue, but it sold poorly, and so the lurid covers continued. The combination of poor quality fiction with garish artwork has led some critics to comment that Gernsback created a "ghetto" for science fiction, though it has also been argued that the creation of a specialized market allowed science fiction to develop and mature as a genre.

Among the regular writers for Amazing by the end of the 1920s were several who were influential and popular at the time, such as David H. Keller and Stanton Coblentz, and some who would continue to be successful for much longer, most notably Edward E. Smith and Jack Williamson. Smith's The Skylark of Space, written between 1915 and 1920, was a seminal space opera that found no ready market when Argosy stopped printing science fiction. When Smith saw a copy of the April 1927 issue of Amazing, he submitted it to Sloane, and it appeared in the August–October 1928 issues. It was such a success that Sloane requested a sequel before the second installment had been published. It was also in the August 1928 issue that "Armageddon – 2419 AD", by Philip Francis Nowlan, appeared; this was the first appearance of Buck Rogers in print.

Sloane, Palmer, Browne and Fairman
Sloane took over full control of the content of Amazing when Gernsback left in 1929. He was infamous for his slow response to manuscripts, and when Astounding Stories was launched in January 1930, with better rates and faster editorial response, some of Sloane's writers quickly defected. Little of quality appeared in Amazing during Sloane's tenure, though "The Lost Machine", an early story by John Wyndham, appeared in April 1932, under Wyndham's real name of John Beynon Harris. John W. Campbell and Howard Fast sold their first stories to Sloane; Campbell's "When the Atoms Failed" appeared in the January 1930 issue, and Fast's "Wrath of the Purple" was printed in the October 1932 issue.

Raymond Palmer, who took over in 1938 after production of the magazine was moved to Chicago, was less interested in the educational possibilities of science fiction than Sloane had been. He wanted the magazine to provide escapist entertainment, and had no interest in scientific accuracy. His terse instruction—"Gimme Bang-Bang"—to one pulp writer sums up his approach. Palmer disposed of almost all of Sloane's accumulated inventory, instead acquiring stories from local Chicago writers he knew through his connections with science fiction fandom. He also added features such as a "Correspondence Corner" and a "Collectors' Corner" to appeal to fans, and introduced a "Meet the Authors" feature, though on at least one occasion the featured author was a pseudonym, and the biographical details were invented. An illustrated back cover was tried, and soon became standard. In 1939 Palmer acquired Isaac Asimov's first sale, "Marooned off Vesta".

In the 1940s, several writers established themselves as a stable of reliable contributors to Amazing. These included David Wright O'Brien and William P. McGivern, both of whom wrote an immense amount for Ziff-Davis, much of it under house names such as Alexander Blade. John Russell Fearn became a prolific contributor, using the pseudonyms "Thornton Ayre" and "Polton Cross". Palmer also encouraged long-time science fiction writers to return, publishing pulp authors such as Ed Earl Repp and Eando Binder. This policy did not always meet with approval from Amazing's readers, who, despite a clear preference for action and adventure stories, could not stomach the work of some of the early pulp writers such as Harry Bates.

The first Shaver Mystery story, "I Remember Lemuria", by Richard S. Shaver, appeared in the March 1945 issue. Shaver claimed that all the world's accidents and disasters were caused by an ancient race of deros (short for "detrimental robots") who lived in underground cities. This explanation for the world's ills, coming towards the end of World War II, struck a chord with Amazing's readership. Palmer received over 2,500 letters, instead of the usual 40 or 50, and proceeded to print a Shaver story in every issue. The June 1947 issue was given over entirely to the Shaver Mystery. From March 1948 the Shaver Mystery was dropped as a regular feature of the magazine, at Ziff's insistence. Palmer left the following year, and Browne, his successor, "was determined to make sure that the lunatics were no longer in charge of the asylum", in the words of science fiction historian Mike Ashley.

Browne had acquired some good-quality material in the process of planning the launch of a new slick version of Amazing, and when the plan was abandoned this material appeared in the continuing pulp version. This included "Operation RSVP" by H. Beam Piper, and "Satisfaction Guaranteed" by Isaac Asimov. Despite the cancellation of the planned change to a slick format, news had reached the writing community of Amazing's new approach, and Browne began to receive much better material than Palmer had been able to publish. The existing stable of Amazing writers, such as Rog Phillips and Chester S. Geier, were replaced by writers such as Fritz Leiber, Fredric Brown, and Clifford D. Simak. Browne also discovered several writers who went on to success in the field, publishing first stories by Walter M. Miller, Mack Reynolds, John Jakes, Milton Lesser and Charles Beaumont, all within nine months in late 1950 and early 1951. Browne was disappointed by the cancellation of the planned slick version, and to some extent reverted to Palmer's policy of publishing sensational fiction. In 1952, for example, he serialized the anonymous Master of the Universe, which purported to be a history of the future from 1975 to 2575.

With the change to digest size in 1953, Browne once again attempted to use higher-quality fiction. The first digest issue, dated April–May 1953, included stories by Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, and Murray Leinster. Further well-regarded stories appeared over the course of 1953, including Arthur C. Clarke's "Encounter in the Dawn", and Henry Kuttner's "Or Else". Subsequent budget cuts meant that Browne was unable to sustain this level. As in the 1940s, Amazing gained a stable of writers who appeared frequently, though this time the quality of the writers was rather higher—it included Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, and Randall Garrett—and the regular writers were not appearing only in Ziff-Davis magazines. This remained the situation after Browne's departure in 1956 and through Paul Fairman's tenure.

Cele Goldsmith
Cele Goldsmith's tenure as editor began with the opportunity to showcase two very well-established writers: E.E. Smith and Isaac Asimov. Smith's The Galaxy Primes was serialized from March to May 1959. Asimov's first published story "Marooned off Vesta" had appeared in the March 1939 Amazing, and Goldsmith reprinted it in March 1959 along with a sequel "Anniversary" and Asimov's comments. She soon began to publish some of the better new writers. Cordwainer Smith's "Golden the Ship Was—Oh! Oh! Oh!" appeared in April; and by the middle of the following year she had managed to attract stories from Robert Sheckley, Alan E. Nourse, Fritz Leiber, Gordon R. Dickson, Robert Bloch, and James Blish. The changes she made were enough to bring Robert A. Heinlein back as a subscriber; he read the June 1961 issue, which, he wrote to her, "caused me to think I had been missing something".

In September 1960, Amazing began to carry Sam Moskowitz's series of author profiles, which had begun in Fantastic, the sister magazine. The following month the cover and logo were redesigned. In April 1961, the 35th anniversary of the first issue, Goldsmith ran several reprints, including by Ray Bradbury and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Goldsmith had little previous experience with science fiction, and bought what she liked, rather than trying to conform to a notion of what science fiction should be. The result was the debut of more significant writers in her magazines than anywhere else at that time: she published the first stories of Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, Piers Anthony and Thomas M. Disch, among many others. Award-winning stories published during Goldsmith's editorship include Zelazny's "He Who Shapes", a novella about the use of dream therapy to cure phobias. It was serialized in the January and February 1965 issues, and won a Nebula Award from the newly established Science Fiction Writers of America. Goldsmith often wrote long, helpful letters to her authors: Zelazny commented in a letter to her that "most of anything I have learned was stimulated by those first sales, and then I learned, and possibly even learned more, from some of the later rejections". Disch and Le Guin have also acknowledged the influence Goldsmith had on their early careers; Le Guin called her in 1975 "as enterprising and perceptive an editor as the science fiction magazines ever had".

Goldsmith's open-minded approach meant that Amazing and Fantastic published some writers who did not fit into the other magazines. Philip K. Dick's sales to magazines had dropped, but his work began to appear in Amazing, and Goldsmith also regularly published David R. Bunch's stories of Moderan, a world whose inhabitants were part human and part metal. Bunch, whose stories were "bewildering, exotic word pictures" according to Mike Ashley, had been unable to sell regularly elsewhere.

The cover art for Amazing had been largely supplied by Ed Valigursky during the late fifties, but during the early sixties a much wider variety of artists appeared, including Alex Schomburg, Leo Summers and Ed Emshwiller. Frank Paul, who had painted all the covers for the first few years of Amazing, contributed a wraparound cover for the April 1961 35th anniversary issue; this was his last cover art for a science fiction magazine.

Reprint era and Ted White
When Sol Cohen bought both Amazing and Fantastic in early 1965, he decided to maximize profits by filling the magazines almost entirely with reprints. Cohen had acquired second serial rights from Ziff-Davis to all stories that had been printed in both magazines, and also in the companion magazines such as Fantastic Adventures. Joseph Wrzos, the new editor, persuaded Cohen that at least one new story should appear in each issue; there was sufficient inventory left over from Goldsmith's tenure for this to be done without acquiring new material. Readers initially approved of the policy, since it made available some well-loved stories from earlier decades that had not been reprinted elsewhere. Both of Wrzos's successors, Harry Harrison and Barry Malzberg, were unable to persuade Cohen to use more new fiction.

When Ted White took over, it was on condition that the reprints be phased out. This took some time: for a while both Amazing and Fantastic continued to include one reprint every issue; with the May 1972 issue the transformation was complete, and all stories were new. As well as eliminating the reprints, White reintroduced features such as a letter column and "The Clubhouse", a fanzine review and fannish news column. He continued the book review column, and a series of science articles by Gregory Benford and David Book. White also redesigned the look of the magazine, making it, in sf historian Mike Ashley's words, "far more modern and sophisticated".

White was willing to print a variety of fiction, mixing traditional stories with more experimental material that was influenced by the British New Wave or by 1960s psychedelia. In 1971, he serialized Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, about a man whose dreams can modify reality. One writer influenced by this was James Tiptree, Jr., who later wrote that "after first plowing into the first pulpy pages of the 1971 Amazing in which Lathe came out, my toe-nails began to curl under and my spine hair stood up". White's willingness to experiment led to Amazing running more stories with sexual content than other magazines. One such story, White's own "Growing Up Fast in the City", was criticized as pornographic by some of Amazing's readers. Other stories, such as Rich Brown's "Two of a Kind", about the violent rape of a black woman and the subsequent death of her rapists, also led to controversy. White printed more conventional fiction as well, much of it high quality. The magazine was nominated for the Hugo award (a readers' award, named for Hugo Gernsback) for best editor three times during his tenure (1970, 1971 and 1972), finishing third each time.

White's ability to attract new writers suffered because of the low rates he paid: one cent per word, as compared to three or five cents per word at the leading competitive magazines. To compensate, White cultivated new writers whose experimental work was not selling elsewhere. He made a deal in 1971 with Gordon Eklund, who was hesitating to become a full-time writer because of the financial risks. White agreed to buy anything Eklund wrote, on condition that Eklund himself believed it was a good story. The result was that much of Eklund's fiction appeared in Amazing and Fantastic over the next few years.

Amazing's reputation had been for formulaic science fiction almost since it began, but White was able to take the magazine to a higher standard than any other editor except Cele Goldsmith, and gave Amazing a respected position in the field. His successors were not able to maintain the same level of quality.

After Ted White
When Elinor Mavor took over, in early 1979, she had no experience with science fiction magazines, and was unaware of the history of bad feeling within the science fiction community about the poor payments for reprinted stories. She was given an extremely limited budget to work with, and had few stories on hand to work with initially, and as a result her first issues contained several reprints. Mavor experimented in her first year with some new ideas, such as starting a story on the back cover in order to hook readers into buying the magazine to finish the story. She also began a serial story in graphic format that used reader input to continue its plot. It was not a success and "thankfully", according to Mike Ashley, the experiment was terminated after only three episodes.

Over time Mavor was to some extent able to reverse the negative perceptions of Amazing among established authors, but she was initially forced to work primarily with newer writers. Early discoveries of hers include Michael P. Kube-McDowell, John E. Stith and Richard Paul Russo. In a notice published in her first issue, she asked readers for help in assembling news, reviews and fan information, and soon added columns that covered these areas. In 1981 Robert Silverberg began a series of opinion columns. The artwork was of high quality, including work by Stephen Fabian, and later by David Mattingly.

After the merger with Fantastic, Mavor continued to draw well-known writers to the magazine, including Orson Scott Card, George R. R. Martin, and Roger Zelazny. Brad Linaweaver's Moon of Ice, which appeared in March 1982, was nominated for a Nebula Award; Martin's Unsound Variations, which had appeared the issue before, was nominated for both a Nebula and a Hugo award.

Historian James Gunn's assessment of Amazing in the 1980s is that Mavor, Scithers and Price, who between them edited Amazing for a decade, were unable to sustain the standards established by Ted White in the 1970s. Brian Stableford, by contrast, comments that both Scithers and Price made efforts to publish good material, and that the packaging, from 1991 onwards, was perhaps the best presented of any science fiction magazine.

With the Wizards of the Coast relaunch in 1998 the contents, under editor Kim Mohan, became more media-focused. The initial plan was to have two or three stories per issue based on films, TV, and games. The 600th issue, in early 2000, included a Harlan Ellison story, as well as a story from the 100th issue, the 200th issue, and so on, up to the 500th issue. Pamela Sargent also contributed a story. The Paizo publishing relaunch, in 2004, was even more focused on media content than the Wizards of the Coast version had been, with much more movie and comics-related material than science fiction. Several well-known authors appeared in the first issue, including Harlan Ellison, Bruce Sterling, and Gene Wolfe. Paizo also ran a blog for the magazine. The fiction received positive reviews, but Paizo soon put the magazine on temporary hold, and canceled it permanently the following year. The title remained in limbo until Steve Davidson's online version appeared in 2012.

Influence on the field
Amazing Stories was influential simply by being the first of its kind. In the words of science fiction writer and critic Damon Knight, the magazine was "a snag in the stream of history, from which a V-shape spread out in dozens and then in hundreds of altered lives". Many early fans of the field began to communicate with each other through the letter column, and to publish fanzines—amateur fan publications that helped establish connections among fans across the country. Many of these fans in turn became successful writers; and the existence of an organized science fiction fandom, and of writers such as Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov, who came to writing directly from fandom, can be dated to the creation of Amazing Stories. After the first few years, when there was little or no competition, Amazing Stories never again led the field in the eyes of critics or fans. Despite its long history, the magazine rarely contributed much to science fiction beyond the initial creation of the genre, though Gernsback himself is commemorated in the name Hugo, which is the almost universally used term for the World Science Fiction Society's annually presented Science Fiction Achievement Awards. Gernsback has also been called the "Father of Science Fiction" for his role in creating Amazing Stories.

Editors
Bibliographers do not always agree who should be listed as editor of any given issue of Amazing. For example, Gernsback was in control for the first three years, but Sloane performed all the editorial duties related to fiction, and he is sometimes described as the editor. Similarly, later editors were sometimes under the supervision of editorial directors. Bernard Davis held the title of "Editor" of all Ziff-Davis magazines when at that company, with the actual editing of the magazines done by respective "Managing Editors". The table below, and the charts above, generally follow the mastheads in the magazines, with short notes added. More details are given in the publishing history section, above, which focuses on when the editors involved actually obtained control of the magazine contents, instead of when their names appeared on the masthead.
 * Hugo Gernsback (April 1926 – April 1929). Sloane performed almost all the editorial duties related to fiction.
 * Arthur Lynch (May 1929 – October 1929). As under Gernsback, Sloane was essentially the editor during Lynch's tenure.
 * T. O'Conor Sloane (November 1929 – May 1938)
 * Raymond A. Palmer (June 1938 – December 1949)
 * Howard Browne (January 1950 – August 1956). Fairman actually took over editorial duties with the May or June 1956 issue.
 * Paul W. Fairman (September 1956 – November 1958)
 * Cele Goldsmith Lalli (December 1958 – June 1965). Norman Lobsenz was introduced as editor, but in fact Cele Goldsmith did all the editorial work. When she married she used her married name of Cele Lalli.
 * Joseph Ross (August 1965 – October 1967). A pseudonym for Joseph Wrzos.
 * Harry Harrison (December 1967 – September 1968)
 * Barry N. Malzberg (November 1968 – January 1969)
 * Ted White (March 1969 – February 1979)
 * Elinor Mavor (May 1979 – September 1982). From May 1979 – August 1981 Mavor used the pseudonym Omar Gohagen; subsequently she used her real name.
 * George H. Scithers (November 1982 – July 1986)
 * Patrick Lucien Price (September 1986 – March 1991)
 * Kim Mohan (May 1991 – Winter 1995 and Summer 1998 – Summer 2000)
 * Dave Gross (September 2004 – December 2004)
 * Jeff Berkwits (January 2005 – March 2005)
 * Steve Davidson (July 2012 – August 2018)
 * Ira Nayman (August 2018 - November 2022)
 * Lloyd Penney (November 2022 to present)

Other bibliographic details
Amazing began as a bedsheet format magazine and remained so until October 1933, when it switched to pulp size. With the April–May 1953 issue Amazing became a digest. Seven issues in the early 1980s, from November 1980 to November 1981, were a half-inch taller than the regular digest size, but thereafter the magazine reverted to the standard digest format. In May 1991 the magazine returned to a large format, but this lasted only until the Winter 1994 issue, and the next three issues were digest-sized again. When the magazine reappeared in 1998, it was in bedsheet format and remained that size until the very end. The last issue, March 2005, was distributed only as a PDF download, never as a physical magazine. The volume numbering contained some irregularities: the numbering given in the tables above appears to be in error for the period from 1979 to 1983, but in fact it is given correctly in the table. Vol. 27 no. 8 was a single issue, not two, as it seems to be from the table; it was dated Dec 1953/Jan 1954.

The title of the magazine changed several times:

Two different series of reprints of Amazing appeared in the United Kingdom. First came a single undated issue from Ziff-Davis, in November 1946. In June 1950, Thorpe & Porter began a second series that lasted until 1954, and totalled 32 issues. The Ziff-Davis issue and the first 24 issues from Thorpe & Porter were pulp-sized; the last eight were digests. The Thorpe & Porter issues were undated, but the pulp issues were numbered from 1 to 24, and were initially bimonthly. The March 1951 issue was followed by April and November, however, and in 1952 issues appeared in February, March, April, June, July, September and November. 1953 saw nine pulp issues, omitting only March and May; and with December came the change to digest-size and a perfectly regular bimonthly schedule that lasted until February 1955. These last eight issues were numbered volume 1, numbers 1 to 8. There was also a Canadian edition, which lasted for 24 issues, from September 1933 to August 1935, from Teck Publications; these were identical to the US editions except that the front covers were overprinted with "Printed in Canada on Canadian Paper". A Japanese edition ran for seven issues in mid-1950, selecting stories from Fantastic Adventures as well as from Amazing.

From 1940 to 1943, and again from 1947 to 1951, copies of Amazing Stories were rebound, three at a time, and resold as Amazing Stories Quarterly. A total of 27 of these issues appeared; they should not be confused with the magazine of the same name which ran from 1928 to 1934 as a companion to Amazing Stories.

Several anthologies of stories from Amazing have been published, including:

Media crossovers
Director Steven Spielberg licensed the title for use on an American television show called Amazing Stories that ran from 1985 to 1987. In 2020, a revival of the show debuted on Apple TV+.

Between 1998 and 2000, Amazing Stories published a series of short stories based upon the Star Trek franchise. In 2002, these stories were reissued by Pocket Books in the collection Star Trek: The Amazing Stories.

title: Amazing Stories


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Stress management

Stress management consists of a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces numerous physical and mental symptoms which vary according to each individual's situational factors. These can include a decline in physical health, such as headaches, chest pain, fatigue, and sleep problems, as well as depression. The process of stress management is named as one of the keys to a happy and successful life in modern society. Life often delivers numerous demands that can be difficult to handle, but stress management provides a number of ways to manage anxiety and maintain overall well-being.

There are several models of stress management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. Much more research is necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.

Historical foundations
Walter Cannon and Hans Selye used animal studies to establish the earliest scientific basis for the study of stress. They measured the physiological responses of animals to external pressures, such as heat and cold, prolonged restraint, and surgical procedures then extrapolated from these studies to human beings.

Subsequent studies of stress in humans by Richard Rahe and others established the view that stress is caused by distinct, measurable life stressors, and further, that these life stressors can be ranked by the median degree of stress they produce (leading to the Holmes and Rahe stress scale). It is important to note that the done by Holmes and Rahe is focused on how life's stressors can influence ones health and wellness. The scale was developed to measure the effects of stress on health using life change units, in an attempt to quantify stress and its correlation to illness.Thus, stress was traditionally conceptualized to be a result of external insults beyond the control of those experiencing the stress. More recently, however, it has been argued that external circumstances do not have any intrinsic capacity to produce stress, but instead, their effect is mediated by the individual's perceptions, capacities, and understanding.

Models
The generalized models are:
 * The emergency response/fight-or-flight response by Walter Cannon (1914, 1932)
 * General Adaptation Syndrome by Hans Selye (1936)
 * Stress Model of Henry and Stephens (1977)
 * Transactional (or cognitive) Stress Model / stress model of Lazarus after Lazarus (1974)
 * Theory of resource conservation by Stevan Hobfoll (1988, 1998; Hobfoll & Buchwald, 2004)

Transactional model
In 1981, Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman suggested that stress can be thought of as resulting from an "imbalance between demands and resources" or as occurring when "pressure exceeds one's perceived ability to cope". Stress management was developed and premised on the idea that stress is not a direct response to a stressor but rather an individual's resources and abilities to cope and mediate the stress response which are amenable to change, thus allowing stress to be controllable. Among the many stressors mentioned by employees, these are the most common:
 * Conflicts in company

 * How the company treats co-workers
 * How the company treats co-workers

In order to develop an effective stress management program, it is first necessary to identify the factors that are central to a person controlling his/her stress and to identify the intervention methods which effectively target these factors. Lazarus and Folkman's interpretation of stress focuses on the transaction between people and their external environment (known as the Transactional Model). The model contends that stress may not be a stressors if the person does not perceive the stressors as a threat but rather as positive or even challenging. Also, if the person possesses or can use adequate coping skills, then stress may not actually be a result or develop because of the stressors. The model proposes that people can be taught to manage their stress and cope with their stressors. They may learn to change their perspective of the stressors and provide them with the ability and confidence to improve their lives and handle all of the types of stressors.

Health realization/innate health model
The health realization/innate health model of stress is also founded on the idea that stress does not necessarily follow the presence of a potential stressor. Instead of focusing on the individual's appraisal of so-called stressors in relation to his or her own coping skills (as the transactional model does), the health realization model focuses on the nature of thought, stating that it is ultimately a person's thought processes that determine the response to potentially stressful external circumstances. In this model, stress results from appraising oneself and one's circumstances through a mental filter of insecurity and negativity, whereas a feeling of well-being results from approaching the world with a "quiet mind". This theory deposits that moods fluctuate and cannot be changed by a specific pattern of thinking. Mental discomfort is only deepened by focus on how to change one's mood, so moods should be "waited out" and dwelling avoided based on this framework. This model proposes that helping stressed individuals understand the nature of thought—especially providing them with the ability to recognize when they are in the grip of insecure thinking, disengage from it, and access natural positive feelings—will reduce their stress.

Techniques
Many stress management techniques cope with stresses one may find themselves withholding. Some of the following ways reduce a lower than usual stress level temporarily, to compensate the biological issues involved; others face the stressors at a higher level of abstraction: • Autogenic training

• Social activity

• Cognitive therapy

• Conflict resolution

• Cranial release technique

• Getting a hobby

• Meditation

• Mindfulness

• Music as a coping strategy

• Deep breathing

• Yoga Nidra

• Nootropics

• Reading novels

• Prayer

• Relaxation techniques

• Artistic expression

• Fractional relaxation

• Humour

• Physical exercise

• Progressive relaxation

• Spas

• Somatics training

• Spending time in nature

• Stress balls

• Natural medicine

• Clinically validated alternative treatments

• Time management

• Planning and decision making

• Listening to certain types of relaxing music

• Spending quality time with pets Some stresses are caused by high demand levels that load the person with extra effort and work. in this case, a new time schedule can be worked up, limiting the normal frequency and duration of former schedules until the period of abnormally high personal demand has passed.

Techniques of stress management will vary according to the philosophical paradigm.

Stress prevention and resilience
Although many techniques have traditionally been developed to deal with the consequences of stress, considerable research has also been conducted on the prevention of stress, a subject closely related to psychological resilience-building. A number of self-help approaches to stress-prevention and resilience-building have been developed, drawing mainly on the theory and practice of cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Measuring stress
There are different ways to measure stress levels. One way is through psychological testing. The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale is used to rate stressful life events and how life stressors influence illness. The DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales) contains a scale for stress based on self-report items. Changes in blood pressure and galvanic skin response can also be measured to test stress levels. A digital thermometer can be used to evaluate changes in skin temperature, which can indicate activation of the fight-or-flight response drawing blood away from the extremities. Cortisol is the main hormone released during a stress response and measuring cortisol from hair will give a 60- to 90-day baseline stress level of an individual. This method of measuring stress is currently the most popular method in the clinic.

Despite stress often being thought of as a subjective experience, levels of stress are readily measurable; using various physiological tests, similar to those used in polygraphs. An example of stress being measured is using nano EEG sensors in detecting stress.

Effectiveness
Stress management has physiological and immune benefits.

Positive outcomes are observed using a combination of non-drug interventions:
 * treatment of anger or hostility,
 * autogenic training which is a relaxation technique used to reduce stress and bring the mind and the body into balance through repeated exercises, such as deep breathing, to promote mental relaxation. Research done by L. Varvogli and C. Darviri shows that this technique has several therapeutic health benefits aiding in those that experienced tension headaches, heart disease, anxiety, and many others.
 * talking therapy (around relationship or existential issues)
 * biofeedback allows people to monitor their bodies internal function such as, heart rate, muscle tension, temperature, and use this information to learn how to control the bodies response which can lead to better physical, mental, and emotional health. Some consider it to be effective however critics have compared its efficacy to that of conventional therapies as well as the cost effectiveness of biofeedback is uncertain.
 * cognitive therapy for anxiety or clinical depression

Acute stress
Acute stress is the most common form of stress among humans worldwide. It deals with the pressures of the near future or the very recent past. While acute stress is often interpreted as being a negative experience, it can actually be beneficial and even necessary for one's wellbeing because of its protective effects against potentially dangerous threats. Slamming on the brakes while driving in order to avoid a car accident could be considered a moment of beneficial acute stress. Running or any other form of exercise would also be considered an acute stressor. Some exciting or exhilarating experiences such as riding a roller coaster is an acute stress but is usually very enjoyable. Acute stress is a short term stress and as a result, does not have enough time to do the damage that long term stress causes.

Chronic stress
Unlike acute stress, which only lasts for a moment, chronic stress lasts for longer time spans. It has a wearing effect on people that can become a very serious health risk if it continues over a long period of time.

Chronic stress can lead to memory loss, damage spatial recognition and produce a decreased drive of eating. Additional symptoms of chronic stress include aches and pains, insomnia or other sleep disturbances, changes in social behaviors, low energy, emotional withdrawal or other changes in emotional responses, and unfocused thinking. Chronic stress has also been associated with other medical conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and arthritis.

The severity varies from person to person. Gender difference can also be an underlying factor. Women are able to take longer durations of stress than men without showing the same maladaptive changes. Men can deal with shorter stress duration better than women can but once males hit a certain threshold, the chances of them developing mental issues increase drastically.

Chronic stress is a major health issue that affects people of all ages and can have profound effects on physical and mental health. It is a long-standing, unrelieved, and unavoidable stress, such as busy work and school schedules, and complex relationships. Over time, chronic stress can alter the body's systems, leading to a variety of illnesses and conditions.

Workplace
All of us have some position in society, in the workplace, within the family, economic status and so on. Unfortunately, most of us are unwilling to accept where we are. Instead, we wish we were somewhere else, usually at a higher position. Managing that stress becomes vital in order to keep up job performance as well as relationship with co-workers and employers. For some workers, changing the work environment relieves work stress. Making the environment less competitive between employees decreases some amounts of stress. Companies and businesses tend to be more successful when the work environment facilitates more cooperation rather than competition. In this type of environment people feel more comfortable and capable of completing the work that needs to be done because they are able to find support from coworkers and employers. As a result, both companies and employees benefit from that. Competition in the workplace can leave employees feeling like it is “every man for himself” which can increase stress.

Author J, Carr highlighted three areas of the workplace that affects the levels of stress experienced which are: Job demands, individual differences, and social demands. These areas that heighten stress are addressed in Rahe's scale suggesting that some of the greatest stressors in life are connected to the workplace

That said, stress in the workplace does not always have to be negatively viewed. When managed well, stress can increase employees' focus and productivity.

According to the Yerkes–Dodson law, stress is beneficial to human functioning, but only up to a point. People who experience too low levels of stress might feel understimulated and passive; people experiencing stress that are at excessively high levels would feel overwhelmed, anxious, and irritable. Thus, establishing an optimum level of stress is key.

Organizational stress levels that an individual faces is dependent not just on external factors such as job characteristics or environment, but also on intrapersonal factors such as personality, temperament, and individual coping and thinking styles. Both aspects need to be managed well.

Also, stress at workplace is not limited to employees. Entrepreneurs also undergo stress This stress can vary from team management, business management or unfavorable policy from the government.

Some examples of stressors in the workplace can be their perception of Organization Commitment, which is the way an employee conceptualizes his/her reasons for staying in the organizations for either Affective, Continuance, or Normative reasons.

Affective commitment to the organization is ideal, as it is the situation where an employee strongly identifies with the values and culture of the organization. While this is not directly telling of an employee's stress levels, genuine interest and enjoyment in the employee's work and work relations places the employee in a good position to manage stress well.

Employees who stay in an organization for continuance reasons stay as a result of weighing the pros and cons, and then decides that the opportunity cost of leaving the organization is too high.

Employees under this category might experience moderate levels of stress, as their reasons for staying is driven more by external rather than internal motivation.

Employees who stay for normative reasons, however, are most likely to experience the highest levels of stress, as these are the employees who stay out of obligation and duty.

Salary can also be an important concern of employees. Salary can affect the way people work because they can aim for promotion and in result, a higher salary. This can lead to chronic stress.

Cultural differences have also shown to have some major effects on stress coping problems. Eastern Asian employees may deal with certain work situations differently from how a Western North American employee would. In a study conducted in Malaysia, it was found that while the classification of workplace stress is similar between Malaysians and Western employees, the perception of workplace stress as well as the approaches to coping with stress were different.

In order to manage stress in the workplace, employers can provide stress managing programs such as therapy, communication programs, and a more flexible work schedule. There have been many studies conducted demonstrating the benefits of mindfulness practices on subjective well-being and work outcomes. Productivity, organization, and performance increase, while burnout rates decrease. Individuals who received either low or high levels of support from their supervisors for stress management tended to view the intervention positively. This perception was described in terms of the intervention either compensating for or complementing their work environment, depending on the level of support received.

Medical environment
A study was done on the stress levels in general practitioners and hospital consultants in 1999. Over 500 medical employees participated in this study done by R.P Caplan. These results showed that 47% of the workers scored high on their questionnaire for high levels of stress. 27% of the general practitioners even scored to be very depressed. These numbers came to a surprise to Dr. Caplan and it showed how alarming the large number of medical workers become stressed out because of their jobs. Managers stress levels were not as high as the actual practitioners themselves. An eye opening statistic showed that nearly 54% of workers suffered from anxiety while being in the hospital. Although this was a small sample size for hospitals around the world, Caplan feels this trend is probably fairly accurate across the majority of hospitals.

In addition, there is a study that the objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between work performance and self-reported symptoms of depression, stress, and anxiety among nurses working in tuberculosis (TB)/HIV and COVID-19 units on Timor Island, Indonesia. The study used a comparative, cross-sectional design and collected data between October 2020 and January 2021. The study group comprised 236 nurses working in TB/HIV isolation rooms and 423 nurses in COVID-19 isolation rooms. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale (DASS-42) and a work performance questionnaire were used to collect data, which were analyzed using independent t-testing and Pearson correlation coefficient. The results showed that the mean DASS-42 scores of nurses in TB/HIV isolation units were low, indicating minimal effects, while those in COVID-19 isolation units demonstrated moderate levels of depression, stress, and anxiety. Additionally, the work performance results indicated that the nurses in the TB/HIV isolation rooms had sufficient work performance, while those in the COVID-19 isolation rooms had weaker work performance. There was a significant difference in work performance between nurses in the two units. The study concluded that there was a correlation between nurses' depression, stress, and anxiety levels and their work performance in TB/HIV and COVID-19 isolation units.

Stress management programs
Many businesses today have begun to use stress management programs for employees who are having trouble adapting to stress at the workplace or at home. Some companies provide special equipments adapting to stress at the workplace to their employees, like coloring diaries and stress relieving gadgets. Many people have spill over stress from home into their working environment. There are a couple of ways businesses today try to reduce the stress levels of their employees. One way is through individual intervention. This starts off by monitoring the stressors in the individual. After monitoring what causes the stress, next is attacking that stressor and trying to figure out ways to alleviate them in any way. Developing social support is vital in individual intervention, being with others to help you cope has proven to be a very effective way to avoid stress. Avoiding the stressors altogether is the best possible way to get rid of stress but that is very difficult to do in the workplace. Changing behavioral patterns, may in turn, help reduce some of the stress that is put on at work as well.

Employee assistance programs can include in-house counseling programs on managing stress. Evaluative research has been conducted on EAPs that teach individuals stress control and inoculation techniques such as relaxation, biofeedback, and cognitive restructuring. Studies show that these programs can reduce the level of physiological arousal associated with high stress. Participants who master behavioral and cognitive stress-relief techniques report less tension, fewer sleep disturbances, and an improved ability to cope with workplace stressors.

Another way of reducing stress at work is by simply changing the workload for an employee, or even giving them more control as to when or where they work. Some may be too overwhelmed that they have so much work to get done, or some also may have such little work that they are not sure what to do with themselves at work.

Improving communications between employees also sounds like a simple approach, but it is very effective for helping reduce stress. Sometimes making the employee feel like they are a bigger part of the company, such as giving them a voice in bigger situations shows that you trust them and value their opinion. Having all the employees mesh well together is a very underlying factor which can take away much of workplace stress. If employees fit well together and feed off of each other, the chances of much stress are minimal. Lastly, changing the physical qualities of the workplace may reduce stress. Changing things such as the lighting, air temperature, odor, and up to date technology.

Intervention is broken down into three steps: primary, secondary, tertiary. Primary deals with eliminating the stressors altogether. Secondary deals with detecting stress and figuring out ways to cope with it and improving stress management skills. Finally, tertiary deals with recovery and rehabbing the stress altogether. These three steps are usually the most effective way to deal with stress not just in the workplace, but overall.

Aviation industry
Aviation is a high-stress industry, given that it requires a high level of precision at all times. Chronically high stress levels can ultimately decrease the performance and compromise safety. To be effective, stress measurement tools must be specific to the aviation industry, given its unique working environment and other stressors. Stress measurement in aviation seeks to quantify the psychological stress experienced by aviators, with the goal of making needed improvements to aviators' coping and stress management skills.

To more precisely measure stress, aviators' many responsibilities are broken down into "workloads." This helps to categorize the broad concept of "stress" by specific stressors. Additionally, since different workloads may pose unique stressors, this method may be more effective than measuring stress levels as a whole. Stress measurement tools can then help aviators identify which stressors are most problematic for them, and help them improve on managing workloads, planning tasks, and coping with stress more effectively.

To evaluate workload, a number of tools can be used. The major types of measurement tools are:
 * 1) Performance-based measures;
 * 2) Subjective measures, like questionnaires which aviators answer themselves; and
 * 3) Physiological measures, like measurement of heart rate.

Implementation of evaluation tools requires time, instruments for measurement, and software for collecting data.

Measurement systems
The most commonly used stress measurement systems are primarily rating scale-based. These systems tend to be complex, containing multiple levels with a variety of sections, to attempt to capture the many stressors present in the aviation industry. Different systems may be utilized in different operational specialties.

 * The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) – The PSS is a widely used subjective tool for measuring stress levels. It consists of 10 questions, and asks participants to rate, on a five-point scale, how stressed they felt after a certain event.  All 10 questions are summed to obtain a total score from 0 to 40.  In the aviation industry, for example, it has been used with flight training students to measure how stressed they felt after flight training exercises.
 * The Coping Skills Inventory – This inventory measures aviators' skills for coping with stress. This is another subjective measure, asking participants to rate, on a five-point scale, the extent to which they use eight common coping skills: Substance abuse, Emotional support, Instrumental support (help with tangible things, like child care, finances, or task sharing), Positive reframing (changing one's thinking about a negative event, and thinking of it as a positive instead), Self-blame, Planning, Humour and Religion. An individual's total score indicates the extent to which he or she is using effective, positive coping skills (like humor and emotional support); ineffective, negative coping skills (like substance abuse and self-blame); and where the individual could improve.
 * The Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT) – SWAT is a rating system used to measure individuals' perceived mental workload while performing a task, like developing instruments in a lab, multitasking aircraft duties, or conducting air defense. SWAT combines measurements and scaling techniques to develop a global rating scale.

Pilot stress report systems
Early pilot stress report systems were adapted and modified from existing psychological questionnaires and surveys. The data from these pilot-specific surveys is then processed and analyzed through an aviation-focused system or scale. Pilot-oriented questionnaires are generally designed to study work stress or home stress. Self-report can also be used to measure a combination of home stress, work stress, and perceived performance. A study conducted by Fiedler, Della Rocco, Schroeder and Nguyen (2000) used Sloan and Cooper's modification of the Alkov questionnaire to explore aviators' perceptions of the relationship between different types of stress. The results indicated that pilots believed performance was impaired when home stress carried over to the work environment. The degree of home stress that carried over to work environment was significantly and negatively related to flying performance items, such as planning, control, and accuracy of landings. The questionnaire was able to reflect pilots' retroactive perceptions and the accuracy of these perceptions.

Alkov, Borowsky, and Gaynor started a 22-item questionnaire for U.S. Naval aviators in 1982 to test the hypothesis that inadequate stress coping strategies contributed to flight mishaps. The questionnaire consists of items related to lifestyle changes and personality characteristics. After completing the questionnaire, the test group is divided into two groups: "at-fault" with mishap, and "not-at-fault" in a mishap. Then, questionnaires from these two groups were analyzed to examine differences. A study of British commercial airline pilots, conducted by Sloan and Cooper (1986), surveyed 1,000 pilot members from the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA). They used a modified version of Alkov, Borowsky, and Gaynor's questionnaire to collect data on pilots' perceptions of the relationship between stress and performance. Being a subjective measure, this study's data was based on pilots' perceptions, and thus rely on how accurately they recall past experiences their relationships to stress. Despite relying on subjective perceptions and memories, the study showed that pilot reports are noteworthy.

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is another scale used in many industries, including the mental health professions, to screen for depressive symptoms. Parsa and Kapadia (1997) used the BDI to survey a group of 57 U.S. Air Force fighter pilots who had flown combat operations. The adaptation of the BDI to the aviation field was problematic. However, the study revealed some unexpected findings. The results indicated that 89% of the pilots reported insomnia; 86% reported irritability; 63%, dissatisfaction; 38%, guilt; and 35%, loss of libido. 50% of two squadrons and 33% of another squadron scored above 9 on the BDI, suggesting at least low levels of depression. Such measurement may be difficult to interpret accurately.

College
College can be a stressful time for many students, as they adjust to a new and unfamiliar environment while transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Nearly 80% of college students report frequently dealing with daily stress. Sources of stress that influence college students’ stress levels include family and friends who are often physically further away, as well as changes in communication patterns with these individuals. Long-held beliefs (i.e. religious beliefs) as well as new opportunities for various behavior (i.e. alcohol and drug use) are also significant influential factors. In addition to these potential sources of stress, college students are also faced with often rigorous academic demands. In order to manage this stress, students rely on many strategies including problem-focused and emotion-focused coping.

Problem-focused strategies employ action-oriented behavioral activities like planning, for example. Emotion-focused strategies involve the expression of emotion and often include the altering of expectations. Although problem-focused strategies have often been found to be more effective than emotion-focused strategies, both categories include coping mechanisms that effectively reduce the negative impacts of stress.

There are several practical examples of problem-focused or approach-based coping strategies. Notably, developing time management skills, avoiding procrastination, and goal-setting are associated with stress reduction. These skills allow students to better prioritize new responsibilities, leaving them more time for sleep and leisure activities, which have been shown to reduce stress. Additionally, working towards or maintaining healthy sleep habits helps individuals better cope with high levels of stress.

Several emotion-focused strategies have also been found to be effective in combating stress. Accommodation strategies that do not directly change the stressor, but rather change one's emotions surrounding the stressors, such as positive re framing, are widely associated with stress reduction. Strategies like finding humor and journaling—especially gratitude journaling—are also effective.

Without effective coping skills, students tend to engage in unsafe behaviors as a means of trying to reduce the stress they feel. Ineffective coping strategies popular among college students include drinking excessively, drug use, excessive caffeine consumption, withdrawal from social activities, self-harm, and eating disorders. These ineffective strategies can be dangerous because they often become habitual, addictive, and sometimes fatal. For example, when college students turn to drinking as a way of coping with stress, they begin to drink larger quantities and more frequently, instead of just occasionally with friends. This can lead to alcohol poisoning, addiction, and other dangerous behaviors. The problems these coping methods create can cause more harm than good and often lead to more stress for the student.

Researchers have not found significant gender differences in regard to how men and women use problem-focused coping strategies. However, there is gender variation in regard to emotion-focused coping. Women tend to use emotion-focused coping strategies more often than men on average. However, men do report using one emotion-focused coping strategy more often than women—mental disengagement in the form of alcohol use. Mental disengagement refers to when individuals refocus their negative emotions to an alternative resource, such as alcohol, instead of addressing the original stressor. Overall, women report higher stress levels than men, specifically for social relationships, daily hassles, finances, self-imposed stress, frustration, and academics. This could be because women are often more in-tune to their emotions and are more comfortable expressing their feelings.

While stress for college students is part of the transitional experience, there are many strategies that students can use to reduce stress in their lives and manage the impacts of stress. Time management skills which encompass goal setting, scheduling, and pacing are effective approaches to reducing stress. Additionally, students should keep up their physical and mental health with regular exercise, healthy eating, good sleep habits, and mindfulness practices. There are several services, such as counseling and therapy, available to students that can be accessed both on and off campus to support stress management and overall student wellbeing. Adults in college benefit fairly equally from methods that are more directly related to stress management (such as time management and relaxation exercises) and being physically active (such as adding running or weight lifting into your regular routine).

An approach for stress relief commonly adopted by college students is engaging in gaming as a hobby. While some research suggests a negative relationship between video game usage and academic performance, several studies indicate a positive correlation between stress reduction and playing casual video games. For instance, one study demonstrated that engaging in casual video games effectively decreased psychological and physiological stress levels among students, with comparable benefits to stress-relieving meditation. When utilized with appropriate time management, video gaming can serve as a viable stress-relief strategy for college students.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Stress management


text:
Talk:Pink (singer)

Semi-protected edit request on 18 July 2019
AirB-AV (talk) 15:21, 18 July 2019 (UTC) P!nk was born in Elkins Park, not in Doylestown. Please change the infobox.
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Melmann (talk) 06:09, 23 July 2019 (UTC)

On it. JackAnon12345 (talk) 18:21, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

On it. JackAnon12345 (talk) 18:21, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

"Pink"
The usage of Pink is under discussion, see Talk:Pink (disambiguation).  Crouch, Swale  ( talk ) 17:44, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Songs has an RFC
Wikipedia:WikiProject Songs has an RFC for the use of radio station/networks' playlists being cited in articles. A discussion is taking place. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments on the discussion page. Thank you. Heartfox (talk) 00:08, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:25, 6 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Madonna, Rotterdam, 26-8-1987.jpg

Trustfall Release.
I'd love to have When I get There, Turbulence, Feeling Something Our Song, reproduced in the CDG formatt. Thank you for the emotional, meaningful words. 2600:1009:B049:1718:0:3:B957:7701 (talk) 15:24, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Pink (singer)


text:
Talk:Halifax Explosion

Bundled citations
, I came back to try to re-do these a different way, but two of the four sources are dead links (in suspicious ways), so I couldn't make the change I wanted to attempt. Bst, Sandy Georgia (Talk)  23:50, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I've swapped in new links. Nikkimaria (talk) 00:21, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

the blast travelled through the Earth at nearly 23 times the speed of sound
The article says: the blast travelled through the Earth at nearly 23 times the speed of sound, which isn't so obvious. Does it mean 23 times faster than the speed of sound in air? At STP? Presumably it travels at the speed of sound in earth. Gah4 (talk) 08:54, 20 July 2021 (UTC)
 * I can't find anything in the NASA report on this, so I don't know why it's cited. What MacDonald says: "On land, the sound arrived first. It rippled through the earth at the punishing speed of 13,320 miles per hour -- twenty-three times the speed of sound." This is somewhat incoherent: first we're on land, then we're rippling through the earth, as if those are somehow related, and who or what is being punished -- Mother Earth? I'm prepared to be corrected on this, but I had the same thought you had when I saw your heading for this thread: this is the just the speed of sound in the earth's crust, which is (apparently ) something like 13000-15000 mph i.e. about 23X the speed of sound in air. While this is apparently a true statement, its use by Macdonald to dramatize something (the power of the explosion, I guess?) is misleading. It's like saying someone watching from afar "learned of the explosion at the speed of light!". Well, yeah, that's what always happens. I've removed it.This article could use some toning down e.g. "Firefighter Billy Wells, who was thrown away from the explosion and had his clothes torn from his body, described the devastation survivors faced...". EEng 12:30, 20 July 2021 (UTC)

Biggest explosion at the time
Which explosion that was the biggest in 1917 is an outdated fact. What is relevant to our readers is which explosions are the biggest now.

We could of course say "still one of the biggest"... but if it actually remains the biggest, why not say so?

So,, which source says Halifax isn't the biggest explosion? Or rather, which source claims another explosion as the biggest one? What is your basis for "the sources don't agree"?

Or, alternatively, could it be that your edit summary was just too short and you meant to say you would like us to use more qualifiers? CapnZapp (talk) 12:47, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

 * The way we were taught, the Halifax Explosion was the biggest "man made" explosion. Only with the dawn of the nuclear age was that superseded. Regards,  Aloha27  talk  13:39, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I have tried to clarify the statement in the article.  Aloha27  talk  13:48, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

 * The Halifax Explosion was roughly equivalent to 2.9kt TNT.
 * Multiple sources claim the N1 rocket explosion was more than double that, close to 7kt, and name this as the largest
 * Minor Scale was over 4kt
 * Misty Picture was around 4kt
 * Operation Big Bang was 3 or 4kt
 * Some sources place the Texas City disaster at over 3kt, although estimates are variable
 * Similarly the Port Chicago disaster may have been as much as 5kt
 * Plus many nuclear explosions were considerably larger. I expect your change was meant to address this last point, but given Port Chicago was technically pre-nuclear age I'd suggest reverting. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:10, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * I was looking here the ranking of the Port Chicago blast places it at #3. As I read it, the first nuclear chain reaction was December 1942. Port Chicago was a year-and-a-half later.  Aloha27  talk  14:37, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * The nuclear age is typically dated to Trinity in 1945. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:43, 8 March 2023 (UTC)

Talking about Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions here. Nikkimaria, seems you disagree with our own list. If you would like to update the list to match your new sources, that'd be great. CapnZapp (talk) 19:39, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
 * To be honest I cannot see improving upon the definition given here. "The Halifax Explosion was the largest man-made explosion to occur before the dropping of the atomic bombs during the Second World War." Regards,  Aloha27  talk  20:13, 9 March 2023 (UTC)
 * The issue is that sources don't agree on that claim. They do agree on the one currently in the article, at least as far as I'm aware. Nikkimaria (talk) 01:24, 10 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Claiming what was biggest in 1917 just doesn't cut it for an encyclopedia in 2023 - it is an hopelessly outdated fact. You list sources that conflict with those selected by our Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions page. In order to constructively move forward (i.e. updating the fact to no longer focus on what was biggest in 1917) you should gain consensus for the validity of your sources. I suggest over at our existing compilation page, so the discussion can be had just once. In the meanwhile, let us agree that page is definitive. Finally, allow me to clarify I have no beef in the game, insofar that I don't particularly care if the subject of this article ranks 1st or 10th. What I care about is getting the outdated claim off the page: we simply should not present hopelessly obsolete facts. We could instead say "it was the biggest at the time, and, as of 2023 still remains one of the largest non-nuclear explosions." or similar. CapnZapp (talk) 12:06, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
 * If we were to agree that that page is definitive, then - since I've already updated it, per your request - that page supports that this event is no longer the largest. Beyond that, I don't agree that we need to say anything more than this was the biggest ever at the time. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:34, 11 March 2023 (UTC)

Dead external links
I am not sure how to remove dead external links as I am inexperienced and don't want to mess anything up, but there are a few audio links on this page that 'ave ceased to be :( Sorry about that! Pdxrosss (talk) 17:59, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

Distance the Mont Blanc's gun traveled
This article states that the Mont Blanc's gun flew 5.6 kilometres, yet the official placard on the monument states the distance as "almost 2 miles" (so under ~3km) to Little Albro Lake, which is only 2.1 to 2.4 kilometres from the blast site. Is the 5.6 figure taking into account the trajectory and not just the horizontal distance? If so, this should be clarified as it is misleading, especially considering how the distance given for the anchor is linear. These 2 measurements should be presented in the same way, unless I'm missing something. 38.59.182.219 (talk) 20:24, 25 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Halifax Explosion


text:
Operation Whetstone

The United States's Whetstone nuclear test series was a group of 46 nuclear tests conducted in 1964–1965. These tests followed the Operation Niblick series and preceded the Operation Flintlock series.

Two tests were conducted during this series by the United Kingdom: Cormorant and Courser.

title: Operation Whetstone


text:
Erik the Viking

Erik the Viking is a 1989 British comedy-fantasy film written and directed by Terry Jones. The film was inspired by Jones's children's book The Saga of Erik the Viking (1983), but the plot is completely different. Jones also appears in the film as King Arnulf.

Plot
Erik, a young Viking, discovers that he has no taste for rape and pillage, and suffers guilt over the death of an innocent woman, Helga.

Erik learns from the wise woman Freya that Fenrir the wolf has swallowed the sun, plunging the world into the age of Ragnarök. Erik resolves to travel to Asgard to petition the gods to end Ragnarök. Freya informs him that to do so he must seek the Horn Resounding in the land of Hy-Brasil. The first note blown upon the Horn will take Erik and his crew to Asgard, the second will awaken the gods, and the third will bring the crew home. Erik sets out with a crew of all ages and professions from his village, including Harald, a Christian missionary who does not believe the myths.

Keitel Blacksmith is persuaded by his apprentice Loki into secretly opposing Erik's plan, and joins Erik's crew in order to sabotage Erik's plans. Loki sneaks out to inform Halfdan the Black, a local warlord afraid that peace will mean the end of his reign. Halfdan's crew sets sail in pursuit of Erik.

Arriving at Hy-Brasil, Erik and crew are astonished to find it a sunlit land where the people, who dress like ancient Greeks, are exceedingly friendly and hospitable (if musically untalented). Erik promptly falls in love with Princess Aud, daughter of King Arnulf. During one of their romantic encounters, Erik hides from Arnulf using Aud's magic cloak of invisibility.

Aud has warned the Vikings that should blood ever be shed upon Hy-Brasil, the entire island would sink beneath the waves. Erik and his crew defend Hy-Brasil against Halfdan's ship. Loki is found aboard the ship, and pretends to have sneaked aboard to sabotage it. In gratitude for Erik's having saved Hy-Brasil, King Arnulf presents him with the Horn Resounding, which is much larger than Erik had imagined. Loki steals the Horn's mouthpiece in the night, without which it cannot be sounded, and persuades Keitel to throw it in the sea. Snorri, one of Erik's men, catches them in the act and Loki kills him. A single drop of the man's blood falls from Loki's dagger and triggers an earthquake that causes the island to sink.

Erik's crew prepare to escape in their ship with Aud and the Horn safely aboard. Arnulf refuses to join them, denying that the island is sinking, up to the very moment he and the other islanders are swallowed by the waves. Aud, who witnessed Snorri's murder and was able to recover the mouthpiece, sounds the first note on the Horn. The ship is propelled over the edge of the flat Earth and into space, where it comes to rest upon the plane of Asgard. Erik sounds the second note to awaken the gods, and he and his crew climb a path made of stars to approach the great Hall of Valhalla.

Erik and the crew encounter old friends and enemies slain in battle. The gods are revealed to be petulant children who have no interest in answering mortal prayers. Harald the missionary sees neither hall, nor ghosts or gods, and passes intangibly through its walls due to his Christianity. Odin persuades Fenrir to spit out the sun, but tells Erik that the end of Ragnarök will not bring peace to the world. Odin then informs Erik that he and his crew cannot return home. Nor may they remain in Valhalla, since they were not slain in battle; instead they are to be cast into the fiery Pit of Hel. Some of the crew who died earlier in the adventure attempt to save them, but even as they are drawn into the Pit, they hear the Horn Resounding's third note, blown by Harald, who had returned to the ship, which flings them clear.

Erik's crew, including the formerly dead men, immediately find themselves back in their home village. They are dismayed to find that Halfdan and his soldiers have arrived before them and are holding the villagers captive. Halfdan and his men are suddenly crushed to death by Erik's ship as it falls out of the sky, with Harald aboard. As the villagers celebrate Erik's return and Halfdan's defeat, the sun rises, ending the age of Ragnarök.

Production
Principal photography took place at Shepperton Studios in England. Some footage of Erik's village and environments was shot in Norway, while the Hy-Brasil sequence was filmed in Malta. Artwork was made by Tolkien artist Alan Lee. The music score was composed by Neil Innes.

Amadeus star Tom Hulce was originally going to star as Erik, but he decided instead to pursue his stage career.

The production by the Monty Python company Prominent Features received financial backing from Swedish Svensk Filmindustri, which contributed to the film having its premiere in Sweden on 1 September 1989, followed by the US on 22 September, and the UK on 29 September. On cinema it had a running time of 107 minutes, but unhappy with the film's slow pacing, Jones cut it down to 89 minutes for the VHS release the following year.

In 2006 Jones was given the opportunity of re-editing the film for its DVD release. He delegated the actual editing work to his son Bill, who produced a 75-minute "Director's Son's Cut", with re-ordered scenes and much tighter pacing as well as a completely remixed and re-dubbed soundtrack.

Media adaptations
Graham Thompson adapted the film into a 1989 comic book.

A video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System was in development by Eurocom and was to be published by Video System and Kemco but was cancelled before release.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 20 critics.

Variety magazine gave the film a positive review: "The idea of telling the story of a Viking warrior who thought there must be more to life than rape and pillage is an amusing one", and concluded that it was "an enjoyable film". Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave it 3 out of 5 and wrote: "Doesn't measure up to the best of the Python films, but it consistently entertains through the occasional gags that do not work and dialogue that is sometimes obscured by sound effects."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 0 out of a possible 4 stars, calling it "An utterly worthless exercise in waste and wretched excess, uninformed by the slightest spark of humor, wit or coherence." Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times gave it a negative review, and called it "A stillborn comedy in which minutes sometimes mysteriously go by between even attempted gags, and in which virtually no comic scene works up to any kind of viable punch line or payoff."

Box office
It made £845,436 in the UK.

title: Erik the Viking