Pulp Science Fiction: The History of Sci-fi magazines

“Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: (1) It's completely impossible. (2) It's possible, but it's not worth doing. (3) I said it was a good idea all along.”    
 – Arthur C Clarke

In April 1926 an event occurred that would change science fiction and, in time, completely alter popular culture.  That month Hugo Gernsback’s experimental sci-fi story magazine, Amazing Stories, made it’s debut on the news-stands of America.  For the first time in history a periodical existed that would focus solely on speculative fiction.

Gernsback’s creation would run for eighty years and completely revolutionise the way science fiction was viewed and it’s access to the public.  So invaluable was the Luxembourgish-American publishers impact on sci-fi that he is sometimes called the ‘Father of Science Fiction’ and the annual sci-fi awards, the Hugos, are named in his honour.

The inaugural April issue of Amazing Stories featured six stories, all reprints, including submissions from Edgar Allen Poe, HG Wells and Jules Verne.  This policy of reprinting past stories was eventually ditched in favour of accepting open submissions.  This decision heralded in the golden age of Science Fiction as some of the greatest authors of this genre of all time made their debuts.  Among these were Isaac Asimov, Ursula K. Le Guin, John W. Campbell, Howard Fast, Roger Zelazny, and Thomas M. Disch.  Gernsback also inadvertently created sci-fi fandom by introducing a letters page in Amazing Stories which allowed fans to make contact with each other and organise for the first time.

Gernsback lost control of Amazing Stories due to bankruptcy in 1929.  The magazine continued to grow going through many incarnations including a particularly dubious period under the ownership of publishers Ziff-Davis and editorial of Raymond Palmer in the 1940s when it publicised the Deros, robots that lived under the ground, as being real and part of a global conspiracy.

Amazing Stories was the first but not the last nor the most popular of the great pulp sci-fi mags.  Fantastic Adventures was an American Sci-fi and Fantasy magazine published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-Davis.  They placed Raymond Palmer in charge as editor and mixed sci-fi with fantasy tales in the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Astounding Stories made it’s debut in 1930.  It was under the editorship of F. Orlin Tremaine that Astounding stories became the leading magazine in pulp Sci-fi market.  In 1937 the famous writer John W Campbell took over as editor and ushered in the period officially known as the golden age of Science Fiction.  Among Campbell’s achievements was serialising Isaac Asimovs Foundation, A.E. van Vogt's Slan, and several novels and stories by Robert A. Heinlein.

Astounding changed its name to Analog Science Fiction and Fact in 1960.  Among the popular authors published in Astounding/Analog over the years were Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, L. Ron Hubbard and Robert Heinlein.
Galaxy Science Fiction was a digest sized pulp Sci-fi magazine published from 1950 to 1980.  It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market and edited by H. L. Gold, who rapidly made Galaxy the leading magazine of its kind.  Gold published famous original stories from the likes of Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein and Alfred Bester.

In 1961 veteran sci-fi writer Fredrick Pohl took over as editor of Galaxy.  He also helped out on Galaxy’s sister magazines; If, Worlds of Tomorrow and Worlds of Fantasy.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction was launched in 1949 by Fantasy House and still runs today.  The magazine is notable for having had a reputation for publishing more cerebral science fiction from writers like Richard Matheson, Brian Aldiss and Stephen King.

Science Fantasy, which also appeared under the titles Impulse and SF Impulse, was a British fantasy and science fiction magazine, launched in 1950 by Nova Publications as a British competitor in an American dominated market.  Pulp sci-fi had already reached the UK through British editions of existing magazines but Science Fantasy was the first successful national publication there.  It greatly popularised British authors of speculative fiction like Arthur C Clarke, John Christopher, John Wyndham, Brian Aldiss, JG Ballard and Terry Pratchett.

The importance of these early sci-fi magazines cannot be under played.  Up until the 1960s most science fiction was published in these magazines as paperback publishing had not yet become popular.  Our greatest sci-fi authors, legends such as Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Philip K Dick, Poul Anderson, EE Doc Smith and Larry Nevin all emerged out of these pulp digests.  The terrific hold that sci-fi has on modern popular culture was birthed during this incredible golden age.  The speculative books, comics, music, movies and Netflix series that entertain you today came out of this extraordinary genesis.