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''Satellite Science Fiction'' was an American science-fiction magazine published from October 1956 to April 1959 by
''Satellite Science Fiction'' was an American science-fiction magazine published from October 1956 to April 1959 by Leo Margulies
Leo Margulies (June 22, 1900 – December 26, 1975) was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines and paperback books.
Biography
Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, but was raised in ...
' Renown Publications. Initially, ''Satellite'' was digest size
Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately , but can also be and , similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes have evolved from the printin ...
d and ran a full-length novel in each issue with a handful of short stories accompanying it. The policy was intended to help it compete against paperbacks, which were taking a growing share of the market. Sam Merwin
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
edited the first two issues; Margulies took over when Merwin left and then hired Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long (April 27, 1901 – January 3, 1994) was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known ...
for the February 1959 issue. That issue saw the format change to letter size
Letter or ANSI Letter is a paper size standard defined by the American National Standards Institute, commonly used as home or office stationery in the United States, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, the Dominican ...
, in the hope that the magazine would be more prominent on newsstands. The experiment was a failure and Margulies closed the magazine when the sales figures came in.
The novels included the original version of Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...
's first novel, ''The Cosmic Puppets
''The Cosmic Puppets'' is a science fiction novel by American author Philip K. Dick, published in 1957. It is a revision of ''A Glass of Darkness'', first published in the December 1956 issue of '' Satellite Science Fiction''.
''The Cosmic Pup ...
'', and well-received work by Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...
and Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names.
...
, though the quality was not always high. Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
, Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
, and L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...
were among the short story contributors. Sam Moskowitz
Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction.
Biography
As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...
wrote a series of articles on the early history of science fiction for ''Satellite''; these were later to be revised as part of his book ''Explorers of the Infinite''. In 1958 Margulies tracked down the first magazine publication of H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Paperbacks were a growing share of the science fiction (sf) market in the mid-1950s; they were successful partly because they offered novels, which most readers preferred to short stories. Margulies decided to combat the threat from paperbacks by including a novel in every issue of the magazine. This was a strategy that had been used by pulp sf magazines like ''
Since the word count for the whole magazine was only about 53,000 words, there was little space for other stories or for non-fiction features, and as a result the accompanying stories were usually very short expositions of an idea or joke; in Michael Shaara's "Four-Billion Dollar Door", the first crewed mission to the moon lands successfully but discovers that the door has frozen shut and cannot be opened.
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' from 1894 to 1895 and reprinted a short excerpt from it that had been omitted by every subsequent printing.
Publication history
In 1952,Leo Margulies
Leo Margulies (June 22, 1900 – December 26, 1975) was an American editor and publisher of science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines and paperback books.
Biography
Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, but was raised in ...
and H. Lawrence Herbert founded King-Size Publications, which published '' Saint Detective Magazine'' and ''Fantastic Universe
''Fantastic Universe'' was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishin ...
''. By 1956 the company was in debt, and Margulies sold his share of the company to Herbert. With the money from the sale he founded Renown Publications, launching ''Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
'' in September 1956, and the first issue of ''Satellite Science Fiction'' in October.Ashley (1985), p. 493. ''Satellite''distributor
A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...
, PDC, was run by old friends of Margulies.Sherman (2017), p. 176. The magazine began as a bimonthly, though Margulies hoped to make it monthly eventually. The first editor was Sam Merwin
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
, with whom Margulies had worked since the 1930s. Margulies also hoped to launch a book imprint, Renown Books, with the goal of issuing four books a month. One title each month would be science fiction; the content would be featured in ''Satellite'' before it appeared in book form.Ashley (2005), pp. 164–165.
Merwin left after two issues and Margulies took over as the editor with the February 1957 issue. In an attempt to make ''Satellite'' more visible on the newsstands, Margulies changed the format from digest-size to letter-size with the February 1959 issue, handing over the editorship to Frank Belknap Long
Frank Belknap Long (April 27, 1901 – January 3, 1994) was an American writer of horror fiction, fantasy, science fiction, poetry, gothic romance, comic books, and non-fiction. Though his writing career spanned seven decades, he is best known ...
at the same time, and switching to a monthly schedule. This proved to be a mistake.Ashley (1985), p. 496. The production costs for the new format were higher, and the sales figures for the first issue in the new format were weak; when Margulies saw the numbers he immediately closed down the magazine. The June 1959 issue was assembled but never printed, though a few galley proofs made their way into the hands of collectors. The end of the magazine also meant the end of Margulies' plans for Renown Books.
Contents
Paperbacks were a growing share of the science fiction (sf) market in the mid-1950s; they were successful partly because they offered novels, which most readers preferred to short stories. Margulies decided to combat the threat from paperbacks by including a novel in every issue of the magazine. This was a strategy that had been used by pulp sf magazines like ''Startling Stories
''Startling Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1955 by publisher Ned Pines' Standard Magazines. It was initially edited by Mort Weisinger, who was also the editor of ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'', S ...
'', for which Margulies had been editorial director. It was not common in digest magazines, where a story as short as 15,000 words might be listed as a novel on the contents page, but Margulies acquired true novel-length works, with an average length of about 40,000 words, for ''Satellite''. Margulies used the slogan "The Magazine That Is a Book!" in advertisements for the magazine, and the tagline "A Complete Science Fiction Novel in Every Issue!" appeared on many of the covers.
The first two issues featured Algis Budrys
Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...
's novel "The Man From Earth", and Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...
's debut novel, under the title "A Glass of Darkness". Both were revised and appeared as paperbacks in the next couple of years, titled ''Man of Earth
''Man of Earth'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Algis Budrys, first published in 1958 by Ballantine Books. "The Man from Earth", a "greatly different" earlier version of the story, was published in the debut issue of ''Satellite S ...
'' and ''The Cosmic Puppets
''The Cosmic Puppets'' is a science fiction novel by American author Philip K. Dick, published in 1957. It is a revision of ''A Glass of Darkness'', first published in the December 1956 issue of '' Satellite Science Fiction''.
''The Cosmic Pup ...
'', respectively. The high standard of these two issues could not be maintained, and in the opinion of sf historians Malcolm Edwards
Malcolm John Edwards (born 3 December 1949) is a British editor and critic in the science fiction field. An alumnus of The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, he received his degree from the University of Cambridge. He was Deputy CEO at the Orion ...
and Mike Ashley the magazine's quality declined thereafter.Ashley (1985), p. 495. Hal Clement
Harry Clement Stubbs (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003), better known by the pen name Hal Clement, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. He also painted astronomically oriented artworks under ...
's "Planet for Plunder", which appeared in the third issue, was told from the point of view of an alien on a mission to Earth. It was too short to fit Margulies' policy of publishing a lead novel, so Merwin wrote additional chapters from the human perspective, and alternated the two points of view in the published version. Ashley speaks highly of Clement's original novella, which was eventually published without the additions in 1972, and comments that Merwin's additions serve as "an object lesson in how to ruin a good story". Edwards and Ashley single out two other novels as worthy of mention: J. T. McIntosh
James Murdoch MacGregor (14 February 1925 – 22 July 2008National Library of ScotlandSpecial and Named Printed Collections in the National Library of Scotland ''J.T. McINTOSH COLLECTION'') was a Scottish journalist and author best known for wri ...
's ''One Million Cities'' (in the August 1958 issue), and Jack Vance
John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published under the name Jack Vance, he also wrote several mystery novels under pen names.
...
's ''The Languages of Pao
''The Languages of Pao'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, first published in 1958, based on the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, which asserts that a language's structure and grammar construct the perception and consciousness o ...
'' (December 1957), described by sf critics Peter Nicholls and David Langford
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most ...
as "one of the most intelligent uses in genre sf" of the Whorf hypothesis
The hypothesis of linguistic relativity, also known as the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis , the Whorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, is a principle suggesting that the structure of a language affects its speakers' world view, worldview or cognition, and ...
– the theory that the language one speaks determines one's perception of reality. Frank Belknap Long's novel ''Mission to a Distant Star'' (February1958) was at one point considered for publication as the first novel in the planned Renown Books line.
The novels in the first five issues were all original, but in August 1957 the lead novel was a reprint: John Christopher's ''The Year of the Comet'', which had been published in the UK in 1955, but had not yet appeared in the US. More reprints followed, including Charles Eric Maine
David McIlwain (21 January 1921 – 30 November 1981) better known by his pen name, Charles Eric Maine, was an English writer best known for several science fiction serials published in the 1950s and 1960s. He also wrote detective thrillers und ...
's ''Wall of Fire'', E. C. Tubb's ''The Resurrected Man'', and Noel Loomis
Noel Loomis (April 3, 1905 – September 7, 1969) was a writer, principally of western, mystery and science-fiction, in the middle of the 20th century.
Born and raised in the American West, he was sufficiently familiar with that territory to wr ...
's ''The Man With Absolute Motion''. Each had been published in the previous few years in the UK, but not in the US.
Since the word count for the whole magazine was only about 53,000 words, there was little space for other stories or for non-fiction features, and as a result the accompanying stories were usually very short expositions of an idea or joke; in Michael Shaara's "Four-Billion Dollar Door", the first crewed mission to the moon lands successfully but discovers that the door has frozen shut and cannot be opened. Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
and Dal Stevens were frequent contributors of short fiction, and there were appearances by other well-known writers such as Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
and L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp (; November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biog ...
.Ashley (1985), p. 494. Margulies was aware that a couple of pages of H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
Revised 18 May 2015. ''
The Time Machine
''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...
'' had been omitted from every printing of the novel since its original serialization in 1894–1895 in ''The New Review
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', so he paid for a library search and was rewarded by the discovery of the magazine containing the missing pages in the New York Public Library, across the street from his office. The omitted material, which dealt with a far future where humans have degenerated to small, rabbit-like creatures, was reprinted in the August 1958 issue.Sherman (2017), pp. 199–203.
Sam Moskowitz
Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction.
Biography
As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...
began a book review column in February 1957 that quickly turned into a series of articles about early science fiction, beginning with "The Real Earth Satellite Story" in the June 1957 issue, about the idea of satellites in early sf. Moskowitz also suggested stories that could be reprinted to supplement the articles, such as Fitz-James O'Brien
Fitz James O'Brien (also spelled Fitz-James; 25 October 1826 – 6 April 1862) was an Irish-American Civil War soldier, writer, and poet often cited as an early writer of science fiction.
Biography
O'Brien was born Michael O'Brien in Cork, Irela ...
's 1864 short story "How I Overcame My Gravity", which accompanied the essay on O'Brien in the June 1958 issue. Most of these articles were later revised for his book, ''Explorers of the Infinite'', though the illustrations, which reproduced early artwork or book covers, were omitted for the book version. Margulies wrote an editorial for every issue except the last one. In the April 1959 issue his essay argued that a letter column was a way to " trengthenthe bond between writers and readers"; he accordingly introduced a letter column in the May 1959 issue, which proved to be the last.See the individual issues. An online index is available at ''Satellite''Alex Schomburg
Alexander A. Schomburg, born Alejandro Schomburg y Rosa (; May 10, 1905Alejandro Schomburg Y Rosa
's half-dozen covers for praise, but describes the interior art, much of it by Leo Morey, as "mediocre".
When the format changed, at the start of 1959, Margulies dropped the policy of having a full-length novel in every issue. He added a "Department of Lost Stories", which reprinted old stories, selected by reader's requests; the first to be reprinted was Ralph Milne Farley
Roger Sherman Hoar (April 8, 1887 – October 10, 1963) was an American state senator and assistant Attorney General, for the state of Massachusetts. He wrote and published science fiction under the pseudonym of Ralph Milne Farley.
Family
Hoar w ...
's 1932 short story "Abductor Minimi Digit", requested by Theodore Sturgeon
Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American fiction author of primarily fantasy, science fiction and horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 reviews and more than 120 sh ...
. The June 1959 issue, which was never distributed, would have contained Philip José Farmer
Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories.
Obituary.
Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...
's "The Strange Birth", which eventually appeared in the May 1960 issue of ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...
'', under the title "Open to Me, My Sister".Ashley (2005), p. 216. A mockup of the cover for the July 1959 has survived, showing some of the planned contents; the two unpublished issues would have contained stories and articles by Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. van Vogt
Alfred Elton van Vogt ( ; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction author. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, notably Philip K. Dick. He was one of the ...
, and Frank Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...
, among others. Most of the stories and articles were eventually published elsewhere.
Bibliographic details
''Satellite'' was digest-sized for the first fourteen issues, and converted to letter-size for the last four. It maintained a regular bimonthly schedule until the switch to letter size, at which point it became monthly. There were three volumes of six numbers each. The digest issues were each 128 pages, and the letter-sized issues were 64 pages. The price was 35 cents throughout. Sam Merwin edited the first two issues; he was succeeded by Leo Margulies for the rest of the digest run. Frank Belknap Long took over as editor for the four letter-sized issues.Ashley (1985b), p. 497. Margulies' wife, Cylvia, was managing editor for all issues, under her maiden name, Cylvia Kleinman.Sherman (2017), p. 13. The publisher for all issues was Renown Publications, which was wholly owned by Leo Margulies.Notes
References
Sources
* * * * * * {{featured article Science fiction magazines established in the 1950s Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1956 Magazines disestablished in 1959