For more years than we can count, the publishers of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION have been donating copies of their back issues to the members of PulpFest and its predecessor, Pulpcon.
In the fall of 1949, THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY first appeared on newsstands. A digest magazine that began as a quarterly, it added the words, “. . . AND SCIENCE FICTION” to its title with the Winter-Spring 1950 issue.
First edited by Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas and published by Lawrence Spivak, its founders sought to move away from pulp concepts. They asked writers for science fiction and fantasy that met “the literary standards of the slick magazines that had shaped U. S. short-story writing between the wars.” Publishing works such as Richard Matheson’s “Born of Man and Woman,” the “People” series by Zenna Henderson, Walter Miller’s stories that served as the basis for the award-winning novel, A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ, Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon,” Roger Zelazny’s “A Rose for Ecclesiastes,” and many other classic tales, F&SF has played a tremendous role in humanizing science fiction and helping it mature as a fiction genre.
THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION will soon publish its 746th issue. Congratulations to current publisher Gordon Van Gelder and editor C. C. Finlay.
(The debut issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY was dated Fall 1949. It featured a photographic cover created by Bill Stone. The artist would go on to create two similar covers for FANTASY FICTION in 1950.)
