''Science Fiction Adventures'' was a British
digest-size science fiction magazine
A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet.
Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, nove ...
, published from 1958 to 1963 by Nova Publications as a companion to ''
New Worlds
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...
'' and ''
Science Fantasy''. It was edited by John Carnell. ''Science Fiction Adventures'' began as a reprint of the American magazine of the same name, ''
Science Fiction Adventures'', but after only three issues the American version ceased publication. Instead of closing down the British version, which had growing circulation, Nova decided to continue publishing it with new material. The fifth issue was the last which contained stories reprinted from the American magazine, though Carnell did occasionally reprint stories thereafter from other sources.
Publication history and contents
In 1956,
John Carnell
Edward John Carnell (8 April 1912 – 23 March 1972) was a British science fiction editor known for editing '' New Worlds'' in 1946 then from 1949 to 1963. He also edited ''Science Fantasy'' from the 1950s. After the magazines were sold to anoth ...
, the editor of the British science fiction (sf) magazines ''
New Worlds
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartn ...
'' and ''
Science Fantasy'', attended the
World Science Fiction Convention in New York, where he met
Larry Shaw and Irwin Stein.
Shaw was the editor of an American sf magazine, ''
Science Fiction Adventures'', which Stein's company, Royal Publications, was planning to launch at the end of the year.
[Ashley (1985a), pp. 524-526.] Carnell and Stein agreed on a British reprint edition, to be a sister magazine to the two Carnell was already editing. In the event it took over a year to work out the details, and it was not until March 1958 that the first issue appeared.
Carnell's plan was to use longer stories in the British ''SF Adventures'', and the first issue included three novelettes from the June and September 1957 American magazine: Cyril Kornbluth's "The Slave", Robert Silverberg's "Chalice of Death" (under his "Calvin M. Knox" pseudonym), and Algis Budrys's "Yesterday's Man". In the summer of 1958 Stein shut down the American magazine, but since sales of the new British version were strong, Carnell decided to keep it going, with a combination of reprinted stories from other sources, and new stories acquired specifically for ''SF Adventures''. The first issue consisting of entirely new stories was dated January 1959.
Notable fiction included
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
's ''The Drowned World'',
Michael Moorcock
Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worke ...
's ''The Blood Red Game'', and
John Brunner's ''Times Without Number'', published as series of short stories. The magazine was cancelled because of declining sales after 32 issues, with the final issue dated May 1963. Carnell hoped this would be a temporary hiatus, but the following year Nova went out of business, and ''Science Fiction Adventures'' was never revived.
[Ashley, "Science Fiction Adventures (1958–1963)", in Tymn & Ashley, ''Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines'', pp. 526–529.]
Bibliographic details
The editor for all thirty-two issues was John Carnell, and the publisher was Nova Publications of London. There were five volumes of six numbers and a final volume of two numbers, but the numbering ran consecutively, so that volume 1 number 6 was following by volume 2 number 7. It was bimonthly, except for a short period at the end of 1959, when the September issue was skipped and then three consecutive monthly issues appeared from October to December. All issues were 112 pages except for 21, which was 116 pages; it was priced at
2/- until issue 18, and 2/6 for the remaining 14 issues.
[Ashley (1985b), pp. 526-529.]
Footnotes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Science Fiction Adventures(British magazine)
1958 establishments in the United Kingdom
1963 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1958
Magazines disestablished in 1963
Science fiction digests
Science fiction magazines established in the 1950s