I love book sales. Big surprise, right? I finally joined the Association of University Women, which has -- over the years -- put on some of the very best book sales I've ever attended. So this was the first time I could help to put one together. This specific event has the following schedule:

Thursday Oct. 23, 2008 3-8 p.m.

Friday Oct. 24, 2008 9 a.m.-8 p.m.

Saturday Oct. 25, 2008 9 a.m.-5 p.m. half-price day

Sunday Oct. 26, 2008 noon-3 p.m. "$5 per armload"

It's inside the Northland Mall in Appleton, Wis. But that's not my point.

You might want to Google "AAUW" plus "book" plus the name of a nearby city to see whether there's a similar sale scheduled for your area. Since some will already have ended this late in the year, it's a good idea to check it out every few months. But that's not my point.

What's my point? Well, I suggest you go in with your eyes open and your mind set to explore whatever it is you find there. Because what happened to me yesterday is that I walked by an opened box that had a bunch of old magazines sitting in it, and below you'll see three that were among them. Let me explain in advance:

Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) is sometimes called "The Father of Modern Science Fiction." The annual Hugo Awards are named for him. He was also a radio pioneer and founded radio station WRNY. He founded the first magazine devoted exclusively to science fiction -- Amazing Stories -- with its first issue dated April 1926. (In fact, he founded the first six science-fiction magazines.) But before he created Amazing Stories, he injected SF concepts in some of his other work. He wrote the SF novel Ralph 124C41+ and he hired classic SF artist Frank R. Paul to illustrate material in magazines before Amazing Stories began.

And the three issues that were in that opened box were edited by Hugo Gernsback before Amazing Stories. The first below was the last of the three published and looks like a sort of Popular Science -- but it has some SF content (and even a letter from a reader complaining about the fiction). It was dated Dec 1925. The second below (May 1924) has a science-fictional thrust (and, I'd guess, a cover by Paul). The third (Aug 1924) clearly has extraterrestrial content. I pulled the three issues, since the highest price for the AAUW wasn't likely to be reached in a local book sale. And this week I'll start sending messages to possible sellers. In the meantime, enjoy. (And what looks like brown on the covers is actually a fifth ink: gold. Gernsback wrote, "THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE is symbolized by the golden cover OF SCIENCE & INVENTION, LOOK FOR THE GOLD COVER every month!")