''The Fantasy Fan'' was the first

fan magazine A fan magazine is a commercially written and published magazine intended for the amusement of fans of the popular culture subject matter which it covers. It is distinguished from a scholarly, literary or trade magazine on the one hand, by the targ ...

in the

weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and other traditional antagonists of supernatural horr ...

field and therefore holds an important place in the history of the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and

horror fiction Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...

pulp magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

. Issued monthly, it was first published in September

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

, and discontinued 18 issues later in February

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

. The magazine was edited by

Charles Hornig Charles Hornig (May 25, 1916 – October 11, 1999) was one of the earliest contributors to the science fiction genre. He not only created one of the first fanzines in 1933, as a teenager, he became the managing editor for ''Wonder Stories'' magaz ...

(25 May 1916 - 11 October 1999).

Overview

Charles D. Hornig of

Elizabeth, NJ Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

, at the age of seventeen, founded the magazine, from the beginning seeking to secure the most prestigious weird and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

authors he could. Hornig had been buying and reading science fiction regularly since the Sept 1930 issues of ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is 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. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'' and ''

Wonder Stories ''Wonder Stories'' was an early American science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, ''Amazing Stor ...

''. In Jan 1933 he decided to publish a fanzine and contacted Conrad H. Ruppert, who was then producing on letterpress with handset type the fan magazine ''The Science Fic-Digest''. The first issue of Hornig's magazine ''The Fantasy Fan'' appeared July 29, 1933. Horning sent a complimentary copy to

Hugo Gernsback Hugo Gernsback (; born Hugo Gernsbacher, August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967) was a Luxembourgish–American editor and magazine publisher, whose publications including the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publ ...

, publisher of ''

''. Gernsback had just fired his editor David Lasser for spending more time promoting The Workers Alliance and organizing the unemployed than on his editorial work. Gernsback felt a much better job could be done assisting the unemployed if Lasser himself was unemployed and could therefore devote full-time to it. Gernsback was impressed by the professional look and content of Hornig's first issue of ''The Fantasy Fan''; he telegraphed Hornig to come and see him. He had been paying Lasser $75 a week. Due to Hornig's youth, Gernsback hired him at $20 a week and Hornig reported for work Aug 7, 1933. The first issue of Gernsback's ''Wonder Stories'' pulp magazine that he produced was Nov 1933, with the help of veteran associate editor C.P. Mason. This gave Hornig the resources to continue ''The Fantasy Fan'' which would have been economically difficult otherwise. Hornig stayed with ''Wonder Stories'' until 1936. ''The Fantasy Fan'' was considered one of the premier sources of weird and fantasy literature during its short duration, regardless of it being an amateur production.. While maintaining a small circulation - its print run probably never exceeded 300 copies, and it had only sixty subscribers - it represented a mixture of news, articles, stories, poems, and miscellany connected to

... Included within ''The Fantasy Fan'' was a column entitled 'The Boiling Point' which devolved to acrimonious letter exchanges between several of the magazine's regular contributors, including H.P. Lovecraft,

Forrest J. Ackerman Forrest James Ackerman (November 24, 1916 – December 4, 2008) was an American magazine editor; science fiction writer and literary agent; a founder of science fiction fandom; a leading expert on science fiction, horror, and fantasy films; a pr ...

and

Clark Ashton Smith Clark Ashton Smith (January 13, 1893 – August 14, 1961) was an American writer and artist. He achieved early local recognition, largely through the enthusiasm of George Sterling, for traditional verse in the vein of Algernon Charles Swinburne ...

; though this column was terminated with the February 1934 issue.

Necronomicon Press Necronomicon Press is an American small press publishing house specializing in fiction, poetry and literary criticism relating to the horror and fantasy genres. It is run by Marc A. Michaud. Necronomicon Press was founded in 1976, originally ...

issued ''The Boiling Point'' in book form in the 1980s. First publication of several works by noteworthy authors occurred in ''The Fantasy Fan'', including works by Lovecraft, Smith, Robert E. Howard,

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the ...

, and

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

. Perhaps one of the magazine's greatest achievements, though, was the serialization of the revised version of Lovecraft's

Supernatural Horror in Literature "Supernatural Horror in Literature" is a 28,000 word essay by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, surveying the development and achievements of horror fiction as the field stood in the 1920s and 30s. The essay was researched and written between Nove ...

(October 1933-February 1935); the serialization proceeded until it had reached the middle of Chapter VIII and the magazine folded. ''The Fantasy Fan'' also saw the first publication of Lovecraft's stories: "The Other Gods" (November 1933) and "From Beyond" (June 1934) as well as reprints (from amateur papers) of "Polaris" (February 1934) and "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" (October 1934); it also published the poems "The Book" (October 1934), "Pursuit" (October 1934), "The Key" (January 1935), and "Homecoming" (January 1935) from Lovecraft's sonnet cycle

Fungi from Yuggoth ''Fungi from Yuggoth'' is a sequence of 36 sonnets by cosmic horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Most of the sonnets were written between 27 December 1929 – 4 January 1930; thereafter individual sonnets appeared in ''Weird Tales'' and other genr ...

. Lovecraft was represented in no less than seventeen of the eighteen issues published. The October 1934 issue was dedicated to Lovecraft. The two following issues, November 1934 and December 1934, were tributes to

and

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

respectively. The March 1934 issue is remarkable for the first publication of Robert E. Howard's previously rejected (by ''Weird Tales'' editor Farnsworth Wright) Conan story, "The Frost King's Daughter". Hornig changed the title to "Gods of the North", and the main character was called "Amra", a Conan nickname which would have been recognized by fans at the time. The July 1934 and September 1934 issues included a cycle of weird verse octets under the title "Dreams of Yith" by Duane W. Rimel. The cycle was revised by H.P. Lovecraft and perhaps by Clark Ashton Smith. Hornig experimented with covers for three consecutive issues (September, October, and November 1934), but explained in the December 1934 issue that he was forced to abandon them due to increased printing costs. Issue thirteen (September 1934) would be billed as the First Anniversary Issue. Distribution of ''The Fantasy Fan'' was so small Hornig would sometimes hand write notations on each individual copy, such as upcoming previews (September 1933) or a missed back issue number that was available (December 1934). In the August 1934 issue, Hornig gratefully acknowledges that the September 1934 issue of ''Weird Tales'' contains a plug for ''The Fantasy Fan'' by editor

Farnsworth Wright Farnsworth Wright (July 29, 1888 – June 12, 1940) was the editor of the pulp magazine ''Weird Tales'' during the magazine's heyday, editing 179 issues from November 1924 to March 1940. Jack Williamson called Wright "the first great fantasy ...

, and he expresses hope that such exposure will increase his circulation. Unfortunately the fanzine would still fold six issues later, and today original copies of ''The Fantasy Fan'' are considered very rare amongst collectors. Having been printed on thin and cheap paper, it is commonplace for any issue to show signs of deterioration (such as edge browning on pages). ''The Fantasy Fan'' was assisted by the generosity of its contributing authors. who included Robert E. Howard,

David H. Keller David Henry Keller (December 23, 1880 – July 13, 1966) was an American writer who worked for pulp magazines in the mid-twentieth century, in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. He was also a psychiatrist and physician to shell- ...

, J. Harvey Haggard, Eando Binder, and a number of Lovecraft's correspondents including

, R.H. Barlow,

William Lumley General Sir William Lumley, (28 August 1769 – 15 December 1850) was a British Army officer and courtier during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The son of the Earl of Scarborough, Lumley enjoyed a rapid rise through the ra ...

, F.Lee Baldwin, Duane Rimel,

Emil Petaja Emil Petaja (12 April 1915 – 17 August 2000) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer whose career spanned seven decades. He was the author of 13 published novels, nearly 150 short stories, numerous poems, and a handful of books and ...

and

. Bloch had only one piece in the zine, "The Laughter of a Young Ghoul", in Issue 16 (Dec 1934). With the final issue (February 1935), Hornig notes that a favorable arrangement he had with a printer could no longer be maintained, and he had already lost a couple of hundred dollars during the fanzine's run. He also relates that the first issue (September 1933), published just a year-and-a-half earlier, was already commanding prices five to ten times its 0.10 cents cover price. After the demise of ''The Fantasy Fan'', numerous attempts were made to revive or succeed it. In the spring of 1935

William L. Crawford William Levi Crawford (September 10, 1911 – January 25, 1984) was an American publisher and editor. Career During the autumn of 1933, Crawford, a West Coast science fiction fan, proposed to start a non-paying weird fiction magazine, ''Unusu ...

contemplated reviving the defunct magazine with Lovecraft as editor, but the plan never materialised. No magazine truly filled its place as a news organ, a forum for the expression of fan's views, and a venue for work by distinguished writers in the field. In 1940, Hornig used the pen names of Derwin Lesser and Homer Porter to author stories for Superworld Comics, which folded after only 3 issues. The publisher again was Hugo Gernsback (Kosmos Publications), who was familiar with Hornig from his prior employment and also of course, ''The Fantasy Fan''.

Notes and references

External links

*
Fantasy Fan transcriptions
at

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{{Authority control Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Fantasy fiction magazines Horror fiction magazines Magazines established in 1933 Magazines disestablished in 1935 Magazines published in New Jersey Pulp magazines