Amazing Stories Vol. 2, No. 5 — August 1927
Amazing Stories Vol. 2, No. 5 was published in August 1927. It contained eight stories. The cover depicted H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds. The cover illustration — painted by Frank R. Paul — is among the most reproduced images in the history of science fiction publishing.
The cover was not the most significant thing in the issue.
On page 451, Julian Huxley — biologist, later Director-General of UNESCO — published “The Tissue-Culture King.” It was the first fictional treatment of biological cognitive control in the English-language pulp record. It describes, with reasonable scientific framing for 1927, the use of biological tissue to achieve mass psychological manipulation of a subject population. It has been largely overlooked in the decades since. The full issue is archived below.
| Publisher | Experimenter Publishing Co. |
| Editor | Hugo Gernsback |
| Volume / Issue | Vol. 2, No. 5 |
| Cover Date | August 1927 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain — no reproduction restrictions |
| TFRi Accession | TFRi-PD-1927-AS-0205 |
| Archive Status | Digitized — full issue available below |
| p. | Title | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 422 | The War of the Worlds (Part 1 of 2) | H.G. Wells |
| 451 | The Tissue-Culture King — annotated edition | Julian Huxley |
| 460 | The Retreat to Mars | Cecil B. White |
| 469 | Electro-Episoded in A.D. 2025 | E.D. Skinner |
| 476 | The Ultra-Elixir of Youth | A. Hyatt Verrill |
| 486 | The Chemical Magnet | Victor Thaddeus |
| 493 | Hick’s Automatic Apartment | Clement Fezandié |
| 498 | The Shadow on the Spark | Edward S. Sears |
An audiobook of “The Tissue-Culture King” is available via the Tinfoil Research Institute Archives. 58 minutes. Free.
58 minutes · Tinfoil Research Institute Archives, 2026 · Free download via Gumroad →
Direct file: AmazingStoriesVolume02Number05.pdf — hosted by TFRi. Public domain. No reproduction restrictions.
This issue has been digitized in full and archived here as a primary source document. No content has been altered, redacted, or abridged. The scan originates from a physical copy and contains minor artifacts consistent with original pulp paper stock. We consider these artifacts part of the record.
The Tissue-Culture King (p. 451) is the subject of ongoing analysis in the TFRi primary literature. An annotated edition with historical and scientific context is maintained at tinfoil.wtf/tissue-culture-king.
For editorial analysis of the full issue — all eight stories, the argument they collectively make, and why the cover depicted the wrong one — see Dispatch 1927: The Cover Got It Wrong at TINFOIL™.
At least two physical editions of material from this issue are available from TINFOIL™.
| Vol. 2 No. 5 // Cover Print // 1927 | Frank R. Paul’s original cover illustration. Archival print, three sizes. The cover story — not the significant story. View product → |
| Vol. 2 No. 5 // Facsimile Edition // 1927 | Complete physical facsimile reprint of the full issue. All eight stories. Currently backordered. Check availability → |
Tinfoil Research Institute · Document Archive · TFRi Accession No. TFRi-PD-1927-AS-0205 · Filed 2026