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A ''science fiction magazine'' is a Magazine that publishes primarily Science Fiction , in print or on the internet, or both. Science fiction magazines contain primarily fiction in Short Story , Novelette , Novella , or (usually serialized) Novel form, but many also contain an Editorial , Book Review s, articles or other features. Many science fiction magazines also publish stories in the fantasy and horror genres. There is a growing trend toward important work being published first on the , and the Australian magazine Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine are examples of successful internet magazines. (Andromeda provides copies electronically or on paper.) Web-based magazines tend to favor shorter stories and articles that are easily read on a screen, and pay little or nothing to the authors. 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. From 1926 until the early 1950s, American science fiction magazines were the main sources of written science fiction. Today, there are relatively few paper-based science fiction magazines, and most printed science fiction appears first in book form. Science fiction magazines began in the United States , but there were several major British magazines and science fiction magazines that have been published around the world, for example in France and Argentina . THE FIRST SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINES 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:
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 Frank Herbert 's '' 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. THE PULP ERA 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. Isaac Asimov 's 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.
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 (in the United States). 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 , 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. ODD-SIZED MAGAZINES There were a few odd-sized sf magazines, published in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
DIGEST SIZED MAGAZINES After 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 ''. Here is a list of all of the American digest science fiction magazines.
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. BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINES 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.
As of 2007, the only surviving major British science fiction magazine is '' Interzone '', published in "magazine" format. THE DECLINE OF THE SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE 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:
Magazines in paperback (or occasionally hardback) format include:
THE RISE OF THE SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE In the past ten years, Science Fiction World , China's longest-running science fiction magazine, has doubled its circulation to 320,000, and launched a sister magazine {Link without Title} . The magazine malaise described above may simply be a phenomenon of the United States and United Kingdom. BEST OF THE YEAR ANTHOLOGIES Beginning 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. 2005 As of 2005 there were three US digest sized science fiction magazines: ''Analog'', ''Asimov's'', and ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. There was 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 included 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. '', a Hungarian SF magazine]] REFERENCES
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