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MAGAZINES
ASTOUNDING/ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2009, it is the longest running continually published magazine of that genre. Initially published in 1930 in the United States as Astounding Stories as a pulp magazine, it has undergone several name changes, primarily to Astounding Science-Fiction in 1938, and Analog Science Fact & Fiction in 1960. In November 1992, its logo changed to use the term "Fiction and Fact" rather than "Fact & Fiction".
One of the major publications of what fans and historians call the Golden Age of Science Fiction and afterward, it has published much-reprinted work by such major SF authors as E.E. Smith, Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. van Vogt, Lester del Rey, and many others.
In 1926, Hugo Gernsback launched Amazing Stories, the first science fiction magazine. Gernsback had been printing scientific fiction stories for some time in his hobbyist magazines, such as Modern Electrics and Electrical Experimenter, but decided that there was enough interest in the genre to justify a monthly magazine. Amazing was very successful, quickly reaching a circulation of over 100,000.[1] William Clayton, a successful and well-respected publisher of several pulp titles, considered starting a competitive title in 1928: according to Harold Hersey, one of his editors at the time, Hersey had "discussed plans with Clayton to launch a pseudo-science fantasy sheet".[2] Clayton was unconvinced. The following year, however, Clayton decided to launch a new magazine, mainly because the sheet on which the color covers of his magazines were printed had a space for one more cover. He suggested to Harry Bates, a newly hired editor, that they start a magazine of period adventure stories. Bates proposed instead a science fiction pulp, to be titled Astounding Stories of Super Science, and Clayton agreed.[3][4]
[edit] The early years
Astounding was initially published by Publisher's Fiscal Corporation, which became Clayton Magazines in March 1931.[4][5][6] The first issue appeared in January 1930, with Bates as editor. Bates aimed for straightforward action-adventure stories, with scientific elements only present to provide minimal plausibility. Clayton paid much better rates than Amazing and Wonder Stories—two cents a word on acceptance, rather than half a cent a word, on publication (or sometimes later)—and consequently Astounding attracted some of the better-known pulp writers, such as Murray Leinster, Victor Rousseau, and Jack Williamson.[3][4] In February 1931, the original name Astounding Stories of Super-Science was shortened to Astounding Stories.[7]
The magazine was profitable,[7] but the Depression caused Clayton problems. Normally a publisher would pay a printer three months in arrears, but when a credit squeeze began in May 1931, it led to pressure to reduce this delay. The financial difficulties led Clayton to start alternating the publication of his magazines, and he switched Astounding to a bimonthly schedule with the June 1932 issue. Some printers bought the magazines which were indebted to them: Clayton decided to buy his printer to prevent this from happening. This proved a disastrous move. Clayton did not have the money to complete the transaction, and in October 1932 Clayton decided to cease publication of Astounding, with the expectation that the January 1933 issue would be the last one. As it turned out, there were enough stories in inventory, and enough paper, to publish one further issue, so the last Clayton Astounding was dated March 1933.[8] In April Clayton went bankrupt, and sold his magazine titles; the buyer quickly resold the titles to Street & Smith, a well-established publisher.[9]
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analog_Science_Fiction_and_Fact
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is still available and you can find its web site at www.analogsf.com
In the article on FSF, I described it as the "Queen of science fiction magazines" and if that is so, ASF must surely be the king. Its longevity is exceeded only by Weird Tales and Amazing, but without the irregular schedules and lengthy gaps in publication suffered by those magazines, and in number of issues it nearly equals the two of them put together (at April 2005, 898 issues against 336 and 608). It still has the highest circulation of any of the three mass-market SF digests (ASF 33,000, Asimov's 25,000, FSF 19,000). Moreover, it benefits from the resources of Dell Magazines which publishes not only ASF but also Asimov's Science Fiction and the Ellery Queen's and Alfred Hitchcock's mystery magazines, as well as a wide range of puzzle, crossword and logic magazines. For a large part of its life, it was part of the Street and Smith publishing empire, also a large and resourceful publishing company with a wide portfolio of magazines.
Possibly one of the main reasons for Analog's continued survival and success is a consistent editorial policy over a long period of time. From 1938 to 1971, it was edited by John W Campbell jr., certainly the most famous and influential and, I think, the longest serving of all SF editors. His towering influence shaped not only Astounding (as it was until 1960) but the careers of many leading authors and, through them, the whole field of science fiction. What is less well known is that, since 1978, Analog has again had a single editor, Stanley Schmidt, who is probably therefore the second longest serving SF editor. It is impressive that a magazine that has survived for more than 75 years has, for 60 of them, been directed by just two men. (Gardner Dozois, by the way, has edited Asimov's for nearly two decades, so Dell certainly seem to believe in backing their editors).
MORE: http://www.sfcovers.net/Magazines/ASF/
SUBSCRIBE: http://www.amazon.com/Analog-Science-Fiction-Fact/dp/B00005N7VP
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