Space Science Fiction Magazine
Encyclopedia
Science fiction magazine
A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard copy periodical format or on the Internet....
published by Republic Features Syndicate, Inc. as part of a package of radio shows and related genre magazines. Two issues appeared, both in 1957. It published stories by well-known writers, including Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
and Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
, but it was not successful, and the magazine ceased publication late in 1957.
Publication history and bibliographic data
Science fiction was one of the staple genres of American pulp magazinePulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
publishing, beginning in 1926 with Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories
Amazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
. A brief boom in the late 1930s was cut short by World War II, but the field expanded again in the late 1940s. By 1957 the boom had reached its height; 24 science fiction magazines published at least one issue that year. One of the most prominent of these magazines, Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by an Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break in to the American market. World Editions hired as editor H. L...
, had a successful association with two radio shows, Dimension X
Dimension X
Dimension X was an NBC radio program broadcast on an unsponsored, sustaining basis from April 8, 1950 to September 29, 1951. The first 13 episodes were broadcast live, and the remainder were pre-recorded...
and X Minus One
X Minus One
X Minus One was a half-hour science fiction radio drama series broadcast from April 24, 1955 to January 9, 1958 in various timeslots on NBC.-Overview:...
. This sparked imitators, and during 1956 Lyle Kenyon Engel of Republic Features Syndicate put together a package of two radio shows and four magazines. The shows were American Agent, a spy drama, and The Frightened
The Frightened
The Frightened was a radio program broadcast in the late 1950s. During 1956 Lyle Kenyon Engel put together a package of two radio shows and four magazines. The shows were American Agent, a spy drama, and The Frightened, narrated by Boris Karloff; the magazines included Tales of the Frightened, a...
, to be narrated by Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
. The magazine package included a spy magazine and a horror magazine to tie in with the radio shows, and two additional titles: Private Investigator Detective Magazine and Space Science Fiction Magazine. Private Investigator
Space SF
Michael Avallone
Michael Avallone was a prolific American author of mystery and secret agent fiction, as well as many novels based upon various television series and films...
, who was not credited on the masthead. The second issue was dated August 1957; this proved to be the final issue, as shortly thereafter Republic Features Syndicate went out of business. The liquidation of American News Company
American News Company
American News Company was a magazine distribution company founded in 1864 by Sinclair Tousey, which dominated the distribution market in the 1940s and 1950s...
earlier that year, a major distributor, had led to the extinction of many magazines, as they had to scramble to find new distributors, but it is not known if Space SF was one of the victims.
Both issues were digest-sized, with 132 pages, and were priced at 35 cents. The issues were numbered as a single volume with two issues.
Contents
Engel obtained stories from moderately well-known science fiction names for both issues, including John JakesJohn Jakes
John William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:...
, Mack Reynolds
Mack Reynolds
Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was an American science fiction writer. His pen names included Clark Collins, Mark Mallory, Guy McCord, Dallas Ross and Maxine Reynolds. Many of his stories were published in Galaxy Magazine and Worlds of If Magazine...
, Jack Vance
Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance is an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. Most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance. Vance has published 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and 3 as Ellery Queen...
, and Raymond F. Jones
Raymond F. Jones
Raymond Fisher Jones was an American science fiction author. He is best known for his 1952 novel, This Island Earth, which was adapted into the 1955 film This Island Earth.-Career:...
, but many of the stories were "barrel-scrapings" from the Scott Meredith Literary Agency, in the words of one historian; most had already been rejected at the other active science fiction markets. Space SF also published Arthur C. Clarke's "Critical Mass", one of the popular "White Hart
Tales from the White Hart
Tales from the White Hart is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, in the "club tales" style.Thirteen of the fifteen stories originally appeared across a number of different publications. "Moving Spirit" and "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" were first...
" stories. It had already appeared in a 1949 edition of a British magazine, Lilliput, but Clarke revised it for this publication. Overall, in the words of Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley (writer)
Michael Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.He edits the long-running Mammoth Book series of short story anthologies, each arranged around a particular theme in mystery, fantasy, or science fiction...
, "... [it] carried stories by noted sf writers, [but] they read like rejects from better magazines, and there was nothing of lasting value". Ashley comments that the best story was Jakes's "The Devil Spins a Sun-Dream", which was atmospheric if poorly plotted; the protagonist, a human prospector on Mars, finds a fabulous city, but an ancient booby-trap destroys it before his eyes.
Almost every story was illustrated, with Bruce Minney
Bruce Minney
Bruce Minney is a prolific American artist who has worked in a variety of media. He was a commercial illustrator for over 40 years producing paintings for men’s adventure magazines, paperbacks, and storyboards. Later he moved to ceramics and won numerous awards for his efforts...
as artist. Both issues' covers were by Tom Ryan. There were no editorials, review columns, or any other contents other than fiction, and advertisements, all of which were for radio shows, including American Agent and The Frightened.