Science fiction magazine
|
Oct. 1939 issue of Astounding |
A
science fiction magazine is a
magazine that publishes primarily
science fiction.
Horror and
fantasy fiction magazines, most notably
Weird Tales, began earlier and have a life of their own which continues today. Science fiction magazines contain primarily fiction in
short story,
novelette,
novella, or (usually serialized)
novel form, but many also contain an
editorial,
book reviews, articles or other features. From 1926 until the early
1950s, science fiction magazines were the main sources of written science fiction. Today, there are relatively few science fiction magazines and most written science fiction appears first in book form. There is a growing trend toward important work being published first on the
Internet, though the recent demise of the primere e-zine, [Sci-Fiction]], leaves the future of that venue uncertain. The
World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) awarded a
Hugo Award each year to the best science fiction magazine until that award was changed to one for Best Editor in the early 1970s; the Best Semi-Professional Magazine award can go to either a news-oriented magazine or a
small press fiction magazine.
Science fiction magazines began in the
United States but there were several major British magazines and science fiction magazines have been published around the world, for example in
France and
Argentina.
|
First issue of Amazing Stories, art by Frank R. Paul |
The first science fiction magazine,
Amazing Stories, was published in a format known as
bedsheet, roughly the size of
Life magazine but with a square spine. Later, most magazines changed to the
pulp magazine format, roughly the size of
comic books or
National Geographic but again with a square spine. Now, most magazines are published in
digest format, roughly the size of
Reader's Digest, although a few are in the standard roughly 8.5" x 11" size, and often have stapled spines, rather than glued square spines. Science fiction magazines in this format often feature other-media coverage in addition to the fiction. The main importance of magazine format is in locating magazines in a library or collection, where magazines are usually shelved according to size.
As noted above, the first science fiction magazine was
Amazing Stories, edited and published by
Hugo Gernsback. The first issue was dated April 1926 and features a cover by
Frank R. Paul illustrating
Off on a Comet by
Jules Verne. After many minor changes in title and major changes in format, policy, and publisher,
Amazing Stories ended in January 2005 after 607 issues.
Other magazines followed the success of
Amazing Stories. Here is a list of those in bedsheet format, some very briefly:
*
Amazing Stories, 1926-2005, 607 issues.
*
Amazing Stories Annual, 1927, 1 issue, featuring
Synthetic Men of Mars by
Edgar Rice Burroughs.
*
Amazing Stories Quarterly, 1928 - 1934, 22 issues.
*
Air Wonder Stories, 1929, 11 issues.
*
Science Wonder Stories, 1929-1930, 12 issues.
*
Wonder Stories (combining the two titles above), 1930 - 1936, 66 issues (before changing to pulp format and adopting the title
Thrilling Wonder Stories.
*
Science Wonder Quarterly, 1929 - 1933, 14 issues.
*
Fantastic Adventures, 1939 and following, changing to pulp and then digest, companion to Amazing.
*
Stirring Science Stories, 1941 - 1942, the last issue only was bedsheet, the others pulp.
Except for the last issue of
Stirring Science Stories, the last true bedsheet size sf (and fantasy) magazine was
Fantastic Adventures, in 1939, but it quickly changed to the pulp size, and it was later absorbed by its digest-sized stablemate
Fantastic in 1953. Before that consolidation, it ran 128 issues.
Most of the fiction published in these bedsheet magazines, except for classic reprints by writers such as
H. G. Wells,
Jules Verne, and
Edgar Allan Poe, is only of antiquarian interest. Some of it was written by teenage science fiction fans, who were paid little or nothing for their efforts.
Jack Williamson for example, was 19 when he sold his first story to
Amazing Stories. His writing improved greatly over time and, as of 2005, he is still a publishing writer at age 97. Some of the stories in the early issues were by scientists or doctors who knew little or nothing about writing fiction, but who tried their best, for example Dr.
David H. Keller. Probably the two best original sf stories ever published in a bedsheet science fiction magazine were the following. "The
Gostak and the Doshes", by Dr.
Miles Breuer. This story is one of the few from this era that is still widely read today. Breuer had a large influence on Jack Williamson. The other well remembered story is "
A Martian Odyssey" by
Stanley G. Weinbaum. Other stories of interest from the bedsheet magazines include the first
Buck Rogers story.
Armageddon 2419 A.D, by
Philip Francis Nowlan and
The Skylark of Space by
E. E. Smith and Mrs. Lee Hawkins Garby, both in
Amazing Stories in 1928.
There have been a few unsuccessful attempts to revive the bedsheet size, using better quality paper, notably
Science Fiction Plus edited by Hugo Gernsback, 1953, seven issues.
Astounding on two occasions briefly attempted to revive the bedsheet size, with 16 bedsheet issues in 1942 - 1943 and 25 bedsheet issues (featuring the first publication of
Dune) in 1963- 1965. The fantasy magazine
Unknown, also edited by John W. Campbell, changed its name to
Unknown Worlds and published 10 bedsheet size issues before returning to pulp size for its final four issues.
Amazing Stories published 36 bedsheet size issues in 1991 - 1999, and its last three issues were bedsheet size, 2004 - 2005.
Galileo magazine appeared for four isues as a bedsheet in the 1970s.
Turning now to the pulp format magazines, the first and most famous
pulp science fiction magazine was
Astounding Stories, which began in January
1930. After several changes in name and format (
Astounding Science Fiction,
Astounding Science Fact and Fiction,
Analog) it is still published today (though it ceased to be pulp format in
1943). Its most important editor,
John W. Campbell, Jr., is credited with turning science fiction away from adventure stories on alien planets and toward well-written, scientifically literate stories with better characterization than in previous pulp science fiction. The
Foundation Trilogy and
Robert A. Heinlein's
Future History in the
1940s,
Hal Clement's
Mission of Gravity in the
1950s, and
Frank Herbert's
Dune in the
1960s, and many other science fiction classics all first appeared under Campbell's editorship.
Here is a list of the pulp magazines, their dates, and the number of issues published.
*
Astounding/
Analog,
1930 - date.
*
Unknown,
1939 -
1943, 37 issues, including 14 as
Unknown Worlds, 10 of those in bedsheet format, companion to Astounding.
*
Miracle,
1931, 2 issues.
*
Flash Gordon Strange Adventure Magazine,
1936, 1 issue,
hero pulp.
*
Startling Stories,
1939-
1955, 99 issues.
*
Marvel Stories,
1938 -
1941, 9 issues; revived
1950-
1952 with two pulp sized issues, three digest sized issues, and a final pulp size issue.
*
Dynamic Stories, 1939, 2 issues
*
Astonishing Stories,
1940 -
1943, 16 issues.
*
Super Science Stories, 1940 - 1943, 16 issues; continued as
*
Super Science Novels,
1949 -
1951, 15 issues.
*
Cosmic Stories, 1941, 3 issues.
*
Stirring Stories,
1941-
1942, 3 pulp issues followed by one bedsheet issue listed above.
*
Future Fiction, 1939 - 1943, 17 issues (two 1943 issues titled
Science Fiction); revived in 1950 as a digest titled
Future Science Fiction.
*
Science Fiction, 1939 - 1941, 17 issues, revived in 1953 as a digest.
*
Famous Fantastic Mysteries, 1939 -
1953, 81 issues, all reprints.
*
Fantastic Novels, 1940 - 1941, companion to the above, all reprints.
*
Planet, 1939 - 1955, 71 issues, one of the best loved pulps.
*
Captain Future, 1940 - 1944, 17 issues,
hero pulp.
*
A. Merritt's Fantasy, 1949 - 1950, 5 issues.
*
Science Fiction Quarterly, 1940 - 1943, 10 issues, revived as a digest in 1951.
*
Out of this World, 1950, 2 issues, included a
comic book insert.
*
Two Complete Science Adventure Books, 1950 - 1954, 11 issues.
*
Fantastic Stories Quarterly (later retitled
Fantastic Stories), 1950 - 1955, reprints.
*
Wonder Stories Annual, 1950 - 1953, 4 issues, reprints.
*
Ten Story Fantasy, 1951, 1 issue.
*
Space Stories, 1951 - 1953, 5 issues.
*
Dynamic Science Fiction, 1952 -
1954, 6 issues.
*
Tops in SF, 1953, 1 pulp issue, later one digest issue.
By
1955, the pulp era was over. Even the most famous of the pulp magazines,
The Shadow, changed to digest size, and soon ended. Printed adventure stories with colorful heroes were now relegated to the comic books. This same period saw the end of
radio adventure drama. Later attempts to revive both
pulp fiction and radio adventure have met with failure, but both enjoy a nostalgic following who collect the old magazines and radio programs. Many characters, most notably The Shadow, were popular both in pulp magazines and on radio.
Most pulp science fiction consisted of adventure stories transplanted, without much thought, to alien planets. And most of it was so badly written that even today science fiction still carries a slight whiff of its pulp heritage. The classic image of pulp science fiction is a beautiful, scantily-clad, large-breasted woman being carried off by a
bug-eyed monster. But there were also many famous stories first published in the crumbling pages of pulp magazines. The most important of the pulps, by far, was
Astounding, the most important pulp editor
John W. Campbell, Jr., the ground breaking year,
1939. All of the following writers sold their first professional sf story in 1939:
Isaac Asimov,
Robert A. Heinlein,
Arthur C. Clarke,
Alfred Bester,
Fritz Leiber,
A. E. Van Vogt, and
Theodore Sturgeon, all among the most important writers of the pulp era, all still read today.
There were a few odd sized sf magazines, published in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's.
*
Unusual Stories, 1934 - 1935, 3 issues.
*
Marvel Tales, 1934 - 1935, 5 issues.
*
Fantasy Book, 1947 - 1951, 8 issues.
*
Arkham Sampler, 1948 - 1949, 8 issues.
*
Destinies, appeared as a very fat paperback, with one reaapearance as
New DestiniesAfter the pulp era, digest sized magazines dominated the newsstand.
The first sf magazine to change to digest size was
Astounding, in 1943. Other major digests, which published more literary science fiction, were
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction,
Galaxy Science Fiction, and
if. Under the editorship of
Cele Goldsmith,
Amazing changed from pulp style adventure stories to literary science fiction. Goldsmith published the first stories by
Roger Zelazny and
Ursula Le Guin. There was also no shortage of digests that continued the pulp tradition of hastily written adventure stories set on other planets.
Other Worlds and
Imaginative Tales had no literary pretensions. The major pulp writers, such as Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke, continued to write for the digests, and a new generation of writers, such as
Ray Bradbury and
Walter M. Miller, Jr., sold their most famous stories to the digests.
Fahrenheit 451 first appeared in
Galaxy Science Fiction, and
A Canticle for Leibowitz in
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
|
Sept. 1951 issue of Galaxy |
|
April 1971 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction |
Here is a list of all of the American digest science fiction magazines.
*
Astounding, began as a pulp, changed its name to
Analog, still published in 2005.
*
Amazing Stories, began as a bedsheet, changed to pulp, then a digest, then back to a bedsheet, ended in 2005.
*
Fantastic, began as a late bedsheet, changed to pulp, then digest. Companion to Amazing.
*
Avon Fantasy Reader, 1947 - 1952, 18 issues, reprints.
*
Avon Science Fiction Reader, 1951 - 1952, 3 issues, reprints.
*
Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, 1952, 2 issues, reprints.
*
Other Worlds, 1949 - 1957, edited by
Ray Palmer. Other Worlds underwent many changes in format, title, and content. Other formats include odd size and pulp, other titles include
Universe and
Science Stories, other content includes replacing science fiction with "true" flying saucer reports. There were 57 issues in all.
*
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (
F&SF) (first issue only titled
The Magazine of Fantasy), 1949 - date, still published, one of the major digests.
*
Fantasy Magazine, (reprint), 1950, 2 issues
*
Galaxy Science Fiction, 1950 - 1980, 245 issues, one of the major magazines. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to revive
Galaxy, both in magazine format and on-line.
*
Galaxy Novels, 1950 - 1957, 31 digest issues followed by 4 paperback issues, mostly abridged reprints.
*
Beyond, 1953 - 1955, 10 issues, companion to
Galaxy.
*
Imagination, 1950 - 1958, 63 issues.
*
if, 1952 - 1974, 175 issues, plus an attempt at revival, 1 issue in 1987.
*
Fantasy Fiction, 1953, 4 issues.
*
Imaginative Tales, 1954 - 1958, 26 issues, the last three after a name change to
Space Travel, companion magazine to
Imagination.
*
Spaceway, 1953 - 1955, 1967 - 1970, 12 issues.
*
Worlds Beyond, 1950 - 1951, 3 issues.
*
Science Fiction Adventures, 1952 - 1954, 9 issues.
*
Space Science Fiction, 1952 - 1953, 8 issues.
*
Cosmos, 1953 - 1954, 4 issues.
*
Fantastic Universe, 1953 - 1960, 69 issues.
*
Orbit, 1953 - 1954, 5 issues.
*
Universe, 1953 - 1955, see
Other Worlds.
*
Rocket, 1953, 3 issues.
*
Vortex, 1953, 2 issues.
*
Science Stories, 1953 - 1954, 4 issues.
*
Science Fiction Digest, 1954, 2 issues.
*
Infinity, 1955 - 1958, 20 issues.
*
Science Fiction Adventures, 1956 - 1958, 12 issues, a companion to Infinity that published many of
Harlan Ellison's early stories, not a continuation of the earlier magazine of the same title. A fanzine,
Science Fiction Five Yearly, published Ellison parodying his earlier adventure sf style.
*
Satellite, 1956 - 1959, 18 issues, the last four bedsheet.
*
Super Science Fiction, 1956 - 1959, 18 issues.
*
Amazing Stories Science Fiction Novels, 1957, 1 issue.
*
Dream World, 1957, 3 issues.
*
Space Stories, 1957, 2 issues.
*
Saturn, 1957 - 1958, 5 issues.
*
Venture, 1957 - 1958, revived 1969 - 1970, 10 + 6 issues, companion to
F&SF.
*
Vanguard, 1958, 1 issue.
*
Star SF, 1958, 1 issue. Later revived in paperback format.
*
Gamma, 1963 - 1965, 5 issues.
*
Worlds of Tomorrow, 1963 - 1967, 26 issues, companion to If.
*
Famous Science Fiction, 1966 - 1969, 9 issues.
*
Beyond Infinity, 1967, 1 issue.
*
International Science Fiction, 1967 - 1968, 2 issues.
*
Worlds of Fantasy, 1968 - 1971, 4 issues.
*
Eternity, (semi-pro), 1972 - 1974, 4 issues
*
Unearth, (semi-pro), 8 issues
*
International Science Fiction (reprints)
*
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (
Asimov's), 1977 - date, one of the major digests and the last successful science fiction digest.
It is easy to see that most digest magazines began in the 1950s, in the years between the film
Destination Moon, the first major science fiction film in a decade, and the launching of
Sputnik, which sparked a new interest in
space travel as a real possibility. It is also easy to see that most of these magazines only survived a few issues. In the United States, by 1960 there were only 6 digests, in 1970 there were 7, in 1980 there were 5, in 1990 only 4, and in 2000 only 3.
The first British sf magazine was
Tales of Wonder, pulp size, 1937 - 1942, 16 issues, (unless you count
Scoops, a tabloid boys' paper that published 20 weekly issues in 1934). It was followed by two magazines, both named
Fantasy, one pulp size publishing 3 issues in 1938 - 1939, the other digest size, publishing 3 issues in 1946 - 1947. The most important British sf magazine,
New Worlds, published 3 pulp size issues in 1946 - 1947, before changing to digest size. With these exceptions, the pulp phenomenon, like the comic book, was largely a US format.
The digest phenomenon produced a small number of magazines in Great Britain.
*
Outlands, 1946, 1 issue
*
New Worlds, 1946 - 1971, 201 issues.
*
Science Fantasy, 1950 - 1967, 81 issues, followed by 12 issues under the name
Impulse and
SF Impulse.
*
Authentic Science Fiction, originally
Science Fiction Fortnightly then briefly
Science Fiction Monthly, 1951 - 1957, 85 issues.
*
Nebula, 1952 - 1959, 41 issues.
*
Vargo Staten Magazine, 19 issues.
*
Science Fiction Adventures, began as a reprint of the US magazine but continued independently until 1963, 32 issues
*
Alien Worlds, 1966, 1 issue
*
SF Digest, 1976, 1 issue
*
Fantasy Tales, 1977, semi-pro, 1 issue
As of 2005, the only surviving major British science fiction magazine is
Interzone, published in "magazine" format.
|
Thrilling Science Fiction |
For the past twenty years or more, the circulation of all digest science fiction magazines has steadily decreased. New formats were attempted, most notably the slick paper stapled magazine format, the paperback format, and the web-zine - some of the best fiction appeared in web-zines beginning in the early
21st century. The most important web-zine (as of 2005) was
SciFiction, edited by Ellen Datlow, on http://www.SciFi.com, but the management of SciFi.com cancelled it in early 2006. There are also many semi-professional magazines that struggle along on sales of a few thousand copies, but often publish important fiction.
Some of the major "magazine" format magazines include:
*
Vision of Tomorrow (UK), 1969 - 1970, 12 issues
*
Vertex, 1973 - 1975, 16 issues
*
Vortex, 1977, 5 issues
*
Odyssey, 1976, 2 issues
*
Galileo (magazine)Galileo, 1976 - 1978, 10 issues
*
Cosmos, 1977, 4 issues
*
Asimov's SF Adventure Magazine, , 4 issues
*
Omni, 1978 - 1995, 168+ issues, paid high rates to authors such as
Robert A. Heinlein and
Arthur C. Clarke, but published more non-fiction articles than fiction.
*
Twilight Zone Magazine, 1981 - 1989.
*
Tomorrow*
Interzone (UK}
*
Science Fiction Age*
Realms of Fantasy, (currently published)
Magazines in paperback (or occasionally hardback) format include:
*
Star Science Fiction, 1953 - 1959, 6 issues
*
Orbit, 1966 - 1978, 20 issues
*
Infinity, 1970 - 1973, 5 issues
*
New Dimensions, 1971 - 1977(?), 7(?) issues
*
Nova, 1970 - 1974, 4 issues
*
Quark, 1970 - 1971, 4 issues
*
Impulse (British), 12 issues, a continuation of
Science Fantasy*
New Worlds (British), a continuation of the digest magazine
*
New Writings in SF, 30 issues
*
Destinies*
Far FrontiersBeginning in 1949, each year there have been one or more
best science fiction of the year anthologies, collecting stories from the science fiction magazines. A series of paperbacks edited by
Isaac Asimov and
Martin H. Greenberg, went back to the early years of science fiction and published best of the year anthologies for the years 1939 to 1963.
Damon Knight edited an anthology of the best magazine sf from the 1930s.
There are currently three US digest sized science fiction magazines:
Analog,
Asimov's, and
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There is also
Realms of Fantasy, in magazine format, and a number of semi-professional magazines.
Major writers whose work appeared in science fiction magazines in 2005 includes
Gene Wolfe,
Larry Niven, and
Jack Williamson.
For up-to-date information about the current state of the science fiction magazine, go to http://www.locusmag.com.
|
Nov. 2004 issue of Galaktika, a Hungarian SF magazine |
*
Day, Donald B.,
Index to the Science Fiction Magazines: 1926 - 1950, Perri Press, 1952.
*
Strauss, Erwin S.,
The MIT Science Fiction Society's Index to the S-F Magazines: 1951 - 1965,
MITSFS, 1965.
*
Clute, John and
Nicholls, Peter,
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction,
St. Martin's Press, 1993.
*
Knight, Damon,
Science Fiction in the 30's,
Avon Books, 1977.
*
Asimov, Isaac and
Greenberg, Martin H.,
Isaac Asimov presents Great Science Fiction Stories of 1939,
DAW Books, 1979.
*
Fantasy fiction magazines*
:Category:Science fiction fanzines*
:Category:Science fiction related magazines*
:Category:Science fiction anthologies
