 Van Dine's Philo Vance novel, "The Bishop Murder Case", began serialization in the first issue, which probably assisted sales, since the hardcover edition of the novel, which had appeared only a few months previously, had sold well.It was not science fiction, however, and throughout the magazine's run, only one or two stories per issue include elements that would qualify them as science fiction.Mike Ashley, a historian of the field, suggests that Gernsback was more interested in stories about the science of detection than in imaginary science