Fantasy Magazine (1953)

First issue cover, with art by Hannes Bok.

Fantasy Magazine (titled Fantasy Fiction after the first issue) was a fantasy and science fiction magazine published in the United States in 1953. It was published by Future Publications out of New York City. Between February 1953 and November 1953 they released a total of four issues in the digest format.

Fantasy Fiction published works by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian. It also published two of Philip K Dick's short stories, "Out in the Garden" and "The Cookie Lady".

Publication history and contents[]

In October 1950, the first issue of Galaxy Science Fiction appeared; it reached a circulation of 100,000 within a year, and its success encouraged other publishers to enter the field.^[1] John Raymond, at that time primarily a publisher of men's magazines, was told by his distributor that science fiction (sf) was a growing field; Raymond knew nothing about sf so he asked Lester del Rey for advice, and then offered him the job of editor on the new magazine. Del Rey was initially hesitant, but agreed, and became the editor of Space Science Fiction, with the first issue dated May 1952. Raymond began Science Fiction Adventures, also edited by del Rey, later in 1952, and followed this by launching two more magazines in 1953: Rocket Stories, another sf title, aimed at a juvenile audience, and Fantasy Magazine. Raymond gave both to del Rey to edit.^[2] Del Rey used several pseudonyms for these magazines: he edited the last issue of Fantasy Magazine as "Cameron Hall",^[3] and edited Rocket Stories as "Wade Kaempfert";^[3] for Science Fiction Adventures he edited as "Philip St. John" and used another alias, "R. Alvarez", as the publisher's name.^[2] Sf historian Mike Ashley suggests that del Rey had arranged a deal with Raymond to produce all four magazines. Del Rey hired Michael Shaara, later a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, as associate editor.^[2]

Ziff-Davis had launched Fantastic, a rival fantasy magazine, in 1952, and once Fantasy Magazine appeared they threatened to sue Raymond because of the similarity of the titles. Raymond renamed the magazine Fantasy Fiction from the second issue onwards. The schedule was intended to be bimonthly, but sf historian Mike Ashley records that Raymond was not systematic about the schedule, sometimes suddenly asking del Rey to put together an issue with only one day's notice, from whatever manuscripts he had available.^[2] Despite these constraints, Ashley considers that the result was a high-quality and collectible magazine, with cover art by Hannes Bok, and stories from well-known writers such as Philip K. Dick, Clark Ashton Smith, Algis Budrys, Randall Garrett, John Wyndham, and Robert Sheckley.^[2][4] The first issue also contained a Conan story, by Robert E. Howard, edited by L. Sprague de Camp and rewritten by del Rey, based on Howard's story "The Black Stranger".^[2][5]

The break-even circulation for Raymond's digest magazines was 45,000; according to del Rey, Fantasy Magazine's circulation was about 70,000, so it was a profitable venture. Del Rey met with Raymond to propose that the money should be plowed back into the magazines, and Raymond agreed. Raymond did nothing to put the new plan into effect, however, and when del Rey went to the offices to complain because he had heard that some authors had not been paid, he was told by the art director that Raymond, who was not there, had decided to cut payment rates to one cent per word, only include art by the art director, and cut the page count to 144 pages. Del Rey resigned, and later recalled that "Raymond informed everyone that I'd been fired, and his lawyer threatened to sue me for slander and libel because I'd returned the manuscripts to authors, stating that the new rate was in effect. My reply convinced the lawyer to lay off."^[6]

When del Rey left, Raymond hired Harry Harrison to edit the magazines, but Harrison refused to take on Fantasy Magazine, saying he was not sufficiently knowledgeable about fantasy. Raymond hired Fletcher Pratt instead; Pratt assembled a fifth issue, but would not pass the manuscripts to Raymond until the authors were paid. Raymond did not pay, and the fifth issue never saw print.^[2]

Bibliographic details[]

Fantasy Magazine was published by John Raymond's Future Publications and edited by Lester del Rey. The issues were dated March, June, August and November 1953. All four issues were digest-sized, 160 pages, and priced at 35 cents.^[7]

References[]

Sources[]

• Ashley, Mike (1997). "Fantasy Magazine". In Clute, John; Grant, John (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Westport, Connecticut: St. Martin's Press. pp. 341–342. ISBN 0-312-15897-1.
• Ashley, Mike (2005). Transformations: The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-779-4.
• Letson, Russell (1985). "Fantasy Magazine". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.). Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 268–270. ISBN 0-3132-1221-X.

External links[]

• "Fantasy Magazine [1953]". Galactic Central. Retrieved 2019-11-22.

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