Astounding N-Grams

The most popular 4-word sequences in Harry Bates’s Astounding Stories of Super Science–from February 1930 to May 1931–are overwhelmingly locative:

• the edge of the       121
• the center of the    85
• the surface of the    81
• the side of the        80
• the bottom of the    74
• the end of the        71
• for the first time    67
• the gens of dalis    67
• at the end of        65
• the rest of the        64
• the top of the        64
• brigands of the moon    57
• at the same time    54
• dear editor i have    53
• in the center of    52
• the base of the        52
• the owner of the    52
• of one of the        50

The phrase “the Gens of Dalis” comes from Arthur J. Burks’s Earth, the Marauder, a novel published in three parts from July to September 1930 concerning tribal communities of the future, spread across the globe after a major ecological catastrophe.  Brigands of the Moon is the title of a serial novel by Ray Cummings that was especially popular among readers, who mention it in almost every “letters to the editor” section over this period.