Fantastic Novels

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Cover of the November 1949 issue
Fantastic Novels was a pulp magazine published from 1940 to 1941, and again from 1948 to 1951. It was a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries, and like that magazine mostly reprinted science-fiction and fantasy classics from earlier decades. It printed a total of 25 issues. The editor was Mary Gnaedinger throughout.[2]

There was a Canadian edition for 17 issues from 1948 to 1951, and two issues were reprinted in Britain in 1950 and 1951.[2]

Publication history

By the early decades of the 20th century, science fiction (sf) stories were frequently seen in popular magazines.[3] The Munsey Company, a major pulp magazine publisher, printed a great deal of science fiction in these years,[3] but it was not until 1926 that Amazing Stories, the first pulp magazine specializing in science fiction appeared.[4] Munsey continued to print sf in Argosy during the 1930s, and in 1939 decided to take advantage of the new genre's growing popularity by launching Famous Fantastic Mysteries as a vehicle for reprinting the most popular fantasy and sf stories from the Munsey magazines.[5]

The new magazine immediately became successful, and demand for reprints of old favorites was so strong that Munsey decided to launch an additional magazine, Fantastic Novels, in July 1940, edited, like Famous Fantastic Mysteries, by Mary Gnaedinger.[5] The two magazines were placed on alternating bimonthly schedules,[4] though the scheduled slipped slightly with the fifth issue of Fantastic Novels, dated April 1941 but following the January 1941 issue.[2] Fantastic Novels was suspended with that issue and merged with Famous Fantastic Mysteries.[2] The reason given in the magazine was that Famous Fantastic Mysteries "is apparently the favorite title", but it seems likely that production difficulties caused by World War II played a part as well.[2] The June 1941 and August 1941 issues of Fantastic Novels both carried the slogan "Combined with Fantastic Novels Magazine" on the cover, though this was the point at which Fantastic Novels was launched, not the point at which it was combined with Famous Fantastic Mysteries.[6][7]

In 1948 Fantastic Novels reappeared, this time from Popular Publications, which had acquired Famous Fantastic Mysteries from Munsey at the end of 1942.[8] Gnaedinger had remained editor of Famous Fantastic Mysteries when Popular bought it, and she was also editor of the second incarnation of Fantastic Novels.[2][8] The March 1948 issue was the first of the new series; it was number volume 1, number 6, as if there had been no break in publication.[2] This version lasted for a further 20 issues, ending without notice with the June 1951 issue. It was apparently a sudden decision, because the final issue announced plans to reprint Otis Adelbert Kline's Maza of the Moon.[9]

Contents and reception

Fantastic Novels came into existence because of the demand from readers of Famous Fantastic Mysteries for book-length reprints.[5] Gnaedinger commented that "Everyone seems to have realized that although [the] set-up of five to seven stories with two serials running, was highly satisfactory, that the long list of novels would have to be speeded up somehow".[8] When Fantastic Novels was launched, Famous Fantastic Mysteries was partway through serialization of The Blind Spot, by Austin Hall and Homer Eon Flint, with the third episode appearing in the May/June 1940 issue. Rather than complete the serialization, Gnaedinger decided to print the novel in its entirety in the first issue of Fantastic Novels, ensuring that readers of Famous Fantastic Mysteries would also acquire the new magazine.[5] Over the next four issues Gnaedinger printed Ray Cummings' People of the Golden Atom, Ralph Milne Farley's The Radio Beasts, and two novels by A. Merritt: The Snake Mother, and The Dwellers in the Mirage. Gnaedinger's interest in reprinting Merritt's work helped make him one of the better-known fantasy writers of the era.[2]

In the second series, from 1948 to 1951, Gnaedinger continued to reprint work by A. Merritt, along with many other reader favourites from the Munsey years, including works by George Allan England, Victor Rousseau, Ray Cummings, and Francis Stevens (the pen name of Gertrude Barrows Bennett).[2][10] Some more recent works appeared, including Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore's Earth's Last Citadel, which had been serialized in Argosy in 1943, but these were exceptions.[2][11] By the early 1950s, when first Fantastic Novels and two years later Famous Fantastic Mysteries ceased publication, it is likely that the audience for science fiction was growing too sophisticated for these early works.[2]

Every issue of Fantastic Novels except the last featured a lead novel with some additional short fiction.[12] The cover artwork was mostly by Virgil Finlay, Lawrence Stevens, Peter Stevens, and Norman Saunders, with one early cover contributed by Frank R. Paul.[notes 1][13][14]

Bibliographic details

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1940 1/1 1/2 1/3
1941 1/4 1/5
1948 1/6 2/1 2/2 2/3 2/4
1949 2/5 2/6 3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4
1950 3/5 3/6 4/1 4/2 4/3 4/4
1951 4/5 4/6 5/1
Issues of Fantastic Novels, showing volume and issue numbers. The editor was
Mary Gnaedinger throughout.

Mary Gnaedinger was the editor of Fantastic Novels for all 25 issues in both series. Five issues appeared between July 1940 and April 1941, and an additional twenty from March 1948 to June 1951. The schedule was bimonthly, with only two irregularities: the issues that would have been dated March 1941 and March 1951 were delayed by one month. The volume numbering was regular throughout, with four volumes of six numbers, and a final fifth volume of one number. The magazine was printed in pulp format throughout both series, and was priced at 20 cents for the first two issues, then 10 cents for the remainder of the first series, and then 25 cents for all issues in the second series. Fantastic Novels was 144 pages for the first two issues, then 128 pages for two issues, and then 112 pages for the last issue of the first series; it was 132 pages from the start of the second series until the November 1950 issue, and then 128 pages for January 1951, and 112 pages for the last two issues. The publisher was the Frank A. Munsey company for the first series, and Popular Publications for the second series.[2]

A Canadian reprint edition ran from September 1948 to June 1951; these were published by New Publications, Toronto.[2] They were half an inch taller than the U.S. editions and used different back-cover advertisements, but were otherwise identical to the U.S. issues of the same date.[15] Two issues were released in Britain: a single issue was released in March 1950; it was a copy of the November 1949 U.S. issue but was neither numbered nor dated. The other British issue was a copy of the May 1949 issue, cut to only 64 pages; it was released in June 1951 and was undated but numbered 1. Both these issues were published by Pemberton's and distributed by Thorpe & Porter.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Both Lawrence Stevens' covers, and those by his son Peter, were signed "Lawrence".[1]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Weinberg, A Biographical Dictionary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, p. 260.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Thomas D. Clareson, "Fantastic Novels", in Tymn & Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 241–244.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ashley, Time Machines, pp. 16–23.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Malcolm Edwards & Peter Nicholls, "SF Magazines", in Clute & Nicholls, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 1066–1068.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Ashley, Time Machines, pp. 150–151.
  6. ↑ Famous Fantastic Mysteries vol. III, no 2 (June 1941), front cover.
  7. ↑ Famous Fantastic Mysteries vol. III, no 3 (August 1941), front cover.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Thomas D. Clareson, "Famous Fantastic Mysteries", in Tymn & Ashley, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines, pp. 211–216.
  9. ↑ "In the Next Issue", Fantastic Novels vol. 5, no 1 (May 1951), p. 69.
  10. ↑ Davin, Partners in Wonder, p. 100.
  11. ↑ Malcolm Edwards, Brian M. Stableford, "Henry Kuttner", in Clute & Nicholls, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, pp. 682–683.
  12. ↑ Brian Stableford & Peter Nicholls, "Fantastic Novels", in Clute & Nicholls, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, p. 405.
  13. ↑ Day, Index to the Science Fiction Magazines, p. 171.
  14. ↑ Ashley, Time Machines, p. 280.
  15. ↑ Tuck, Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume 3, pp. 559–560.

References

  • Ashley, Mike (2000). The Time Machines:The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-865-0. 
  • Ashley, Mike (2005). Transformations:The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-779-4. 
  • Clute, John; Grant, John (1997). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc. ISBN 0-312-15897-1. 
  • Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (1993). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc. ISBN 0-312-09618-6. 
  • Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (1985). Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-21221-X. 
Science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction pulp magazines
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