Publishing history Fantastic (magazine)

1 publishing history

1.1 years
1.2 mid-1950s late 1960s
1.3 1970s present

publishing history

in 1938, ziff-davis, chicago-based publisher looking expand pulp magazine market, acquired amazing stories. number of science fiction magazines grew quickly; several new titles appeared on next few years, including fantastic adventures, launched ziff-davis in 1939 companion amazing. under editorship of raymond palmer magazines reasonably successful published poor quality work, , when howard browne took on editor of amazing in january 1950 decided try move magazine upmarket. ziff-davis agreed new magazine, , browne put sample copy, when korean war broke out ziff-davis cut budgets , project abandoned. browne did not give up, , in 1952 received go-ahead try new magazine instead, focused on high-quality fantasy, genre had become more popular. first issue of fantastic, dated summer 1952, appeared on march 21 of year.

early years

sales good, , ziff-davis sufficiently impressed move magazine quarterly bimonthly schedule after 2 issues, , switch amazing pulp format digest-size match fantastic. shortly afterwards decision taken eliminate fantastic adventures: march 1953 issue last, , may–june 1953 issue of fantastic added mention of fantastic adventures masthead, though disappeared following issue. payment started @ 2 cents per word rights, go ten cents @ editor s discretion; put fantastic in second echelon of magazines, behind markets such astounding , galaxy. experiment quality fiction did not last; circulation dropped, led budget cuts, , in turn quality of fiction fell. browne had wanted separate fantastic amazing s pulp roots, found had print more science fiction (sf) , less fantasy in order attract amazing s readers sister magazine. fantastic s poor results consequence of overloaded sf magazine market; far more magazines appeared in 1950s market able support. ziff-davis sales staff able sell fantastic , amazing along technical magazines published, , availability of national sales network, though not focused solely on fantastic, undoubtedly helped magazine survive.

in may 1956 browne left ziff-davis become screenwriter. paul w. fairman took on editor of both fantastic , amazing. in 1957 bernard davis left ziff-davis; had been davis had suggested acquisition of amazing in 1939, , had stayed involved sf magazines throughout time spent there. departure amazing , fantastic stagnated; remained monthly drew no attention ziff-davis s management.

mid-1950s late 1960s

in november 1955, ziff-davis hired assistant, cele goldsmith, began helping 2 new magazines under development, dream world , pen pals. read slush piles magazines, , given more responsibility. in 1957 made managing editor of both amazing , fantastic, doing administrative chores , reading unsolicited manuscripts; , @ end of 1958 became editor, replacing fairman, left edit ellery queen s mystery magazine. goldsmith (who became cele lalli when married in 1964) stayed editor 6 , half years.

circulation dropped both amazing , fantastic; in 1964 fantastic had paid circulation of 27,000. in 1965 sol cohen, @ time galaxy s publisher, set own publishing company, ultimate publishing, , bought both amazing , fantastic ziff-davis. cohen had decided make magazines profitable possible filling them reprints. possible because ziff-davis had acquired second serial rights stories had published, , since cohen had bought backfile of stories able reprint them using these rights. using reprints in way saved cohen $8,000 year between 2 magazines. lalli decided did not want work cohen, , stayed ziff-davis. last issue june 1965. cohen replaced lalli joseph wrzos, used name joseph ross on magazines. cohen had met wrzos @ galaxy offices not long before; wrzos teaching english full-time, had worked gnome press assistant editor in 1953–1954.

cohen launched series of reprint magazines, drawing backfile of both amazing , fantastic, again using second serial rights had acquired ziff-davis. first reprint magazine great science fiction; first issue, titled great science fiction amazing, appeared in august 1965. 1967 had been joined thrilling science fiction ever told , science fiction classics. these increased workload on wrzos, though cohen made selection of stories, , wrzos found himself able work on fantastic , amazing part-time. cohen hired herb lehrman other magazines.

although cohen felt deal ziff-davis gave him reprint rights needed, newly formed science fiction writers of america (sfwa) received complaints cohen s refusal pay reprints. reportedly not responding requests reassignment of copyright. sfwa organized boycott of cohen s magazines; after year cohen agreed pay flat fee reprints, , in august 1967 agreed graduated scale of payments, , boycott withdrawn.

circulation , sellthrough (percentage of print run sold) fantastic

harry harrison had been involved in negotiations between sfwa , cohen, , when agreement reached in 1967 cohen asked harrison if take on editor of both magazines. harrison available because sf impulse, had been editing, had ceased publication in 1967. cohen agreed phase out reprints end of year, , harrison took job. cohen added harrison s name masthead of 2 issues of great science fiction, although harrison had had nothing magazine, reprints in fantastic , amazing continued , harrison decided quit in february 1968. recommended barry malzberg replacement. cohen had worked malzberg @ scott meredith literary agency, , felt malzberg more cooperative harrison. malzberg, however, turned out unwilling harrison work cohen if reprints continued, , regretted taking job. in october 1968 cohen refused pay cover malzberg had commissioned; malzberg insisted, threatening resign if cohen did not agree. cohen contacted robert silverberg, president of sfwa, , told him (falsely) malzberg had resigned. silverberg recommended ted white replacement. cohen secured white s agreement , fired malzberg; white took on in october 1968, because there backlog of stories malzberg had acquired, first issue on credited editor june 1969 issue.

1970s present

like immediate predecessors, white took job on condition reprints phased out. time before achieved: there @ least 1 reprinted story in every issue until end of 1971. february 1972 issue contained artwork reprinted 1939, , after reprints ceased.

fantastic s circulation 37,000 when white took over; 4 percent of subscription sales. cohen s wife filled subscriptions garage, , according white, cohen regarded burden, , never tried increase subscription base. despite white s efforts, fantastic s circulation fell, 37,000 when took on editor less 24,000 in summer of 1975. cohen rumored interested in selling both fantastic , amazing; among other possibilities, both roger elwood, @ time active science fiction anthology editor, , edward ferman, editor of magazine of fantasy & science fiction, approached cohen view acquiring titles. nothing came of it, however, , white not aware of possible sales. working @ low salary, unpaid friends read unsolicited submissions—at 1 point introduced 25-cent reading fee manuscripts unpublished writers; fee refunded if white bought story. white found himself @ odds cohen s business partner, arthur bernhard, due different political views. white s unhappiness working conditions culminated in resignation after cohen refused proposal publish fantastic slick magazine, larger pages , higher quality paper. white commented in article in science fiction review had brought magazines lot of energy , enthusiasm , great many ideas improvement ...well, have put effect every idea allowed follow through on ... , have spent of energy , enthusiasm. cohen able persuade him stay year; in event white stayed three.

white unable halt slide in circulation, though rose little in 1977. year cohen lost $15,000 dollars on magazines, , decided sell. spent time looking new publisher—editor roy torgeson 1 of interested—but on september 15, 1978, sold half of business arthur bernhard, partner. white renewed suggestions improving format of magazine: wanted make fantastic same size time, , believed avoid mistakes had been made other sf magazines had tried approach. white proposed increase in budget , asked raise. bernhard not turned down white s ideas, stopped paying him: white responded resigning. last official day editor november 9; last issue of fantastic under control january 1979 issue. returned submissions authors, saying had been told bernhard; bernhard denied this.

bernhard brought in elinor mavor edit both amazing , fantastic. mavor had edited bill of fare, restaurant trade journal, , long-time science fiction reader, had little knowledge of history of magazines. unaware, example, not first woman edit them, , adopted male pseudonym— omar gohagen —for while. suggested campaign increase circulation, , went far gather information costs while on trip new york in 1979. bernhard decided instead merge 2 magazines. circulation continuing drop; figures last 2 years not available, sf historian mike ashley estimates fantastic paid circulation may have been low 13,000. bernhard felt since fantastic had never been profitable, whereas amazing had made money, best keep amazing. until march 1985 issue, amazing included mention of fantastic on spine , on contents page. in 1999, fiction magazine formerly known pirate writings revived fantastic title , cele goldsmith-era logotype several issues, unsuccessfully, though not intended continuation of original magazine.

in august 2014, warren lapine, former editor of absolute magnitude, realms of fantasy, , weird tales, revived fantastic logotype of fantastic stories of imagination free webzine.

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