1938 in science fiction
# 1938 in science fiction

The year 1938 was marked, in science fiction, by the following events.

## Births and deaths

### Births

* Hans-Jürgen Dittfeld
* Peter Griese (d. 1996)
* Paul van Herck (d. 1989)
* Michael Kurland
* Justin Leiber (d. 2016)
* Larry Niven. His best-known work is Ringworld (1970)
* William Voltz (d. 1984)
* Ted White
* M. K. Wren (d. 2016)
* Janusz A. Zajdel (d. 1985)

### Deaths

* Curt Abel-Musgrave (b. 1860)
* Karel Čapek (b. 1890)
* Frigyes Karinthy (b. 1887)
* Karl August von Laffert (b. 1872)
* Max Osterberg (b. 1865)
* Emil Sandt (b. 1864)

## Events

* October 30 - The War of the Worlds, radio drama directed and narrated by actor and future filmmaker Orson Welles as an adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds (1898). The episode became famous for allegedly causing panic among its listening audience, though the scale of that panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.

## Literary releases

### Novels

* For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein
* Galactic Patrol by E. E. Smith
* Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis

### Short stories

* "Azathoth" by H. P. Lovecraft
* "The Command" by L. Sprague de Camp
* "Helen O'Loy" by Lester del Rey
* "Hollerbochen's Dilemma" by Ray Bradbury
* "How We Went to Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke
* "Hyperpilosity" by L. Sprague de Camp
* "The Men and the Mirror" by Ross Rocklynne
* "The Merman" by L. Sprague de Camp
* "Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak
* "Tidal Moon" by Stanley G. Weinbaum and Helen Weinbaum
* Who Goes There?, novella by John W. Campbell, Jr.

## Movies

| Title | Director | Release | Primary cast | Production country | Notes | Ref(s) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars | Ford Beebe, Robert F. Hill | 31 March 1938 | Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Jean Rogers, Charles B. Middleton | United States | Film serial with 15 chapters | |
| Flight to Fame | C. C. Coleman Jr. | 12 October 1938 | Charles Farrell, Jacqueline Wells, Hugh Sothern | United States | | |

## Awards

The main science-fiction Awards known at the present time did not exist at this time.

