The Seventies was the golden age of monthly and weekly magazines which crowded the shelves of WH Smiths and John Menzies as well as local newsagents. One of the most visually memorable was Science Fiction Monthly. Due to being tabloid size (sixteen inches by eleven inches), like the weekly music magazines, rather than the conventional magazine size it stood out already. Yet what really made it dazzle were the covers. Gloriously colourful and evocative works depicting strange aliens, unusual planets, asymmetrical spaceships and much more were ideal images to stick on your bedroom wall! Which actually was the point!
The New English Library
(NEL) had been formed in 1961 by the Times Mirror Company of Los Angeles
after it took over two small British paperback companies, Ace Books Ltd and
Four Square Books Ltd. The idea was that it would be a sister company to the
New American Library. Though mainly concerned with book publishing the company
had established a magazine department and it was here that the idea for a
monthly science fiction magazine gestated.
NEL were regularly
publishing science fiction novels by well-known writers in paperback with some
incredible front covers. These images had proved as popular as the books themselves
and their eye catching frontage helped sell the books. The company had been receiving
constant requests as to whether these striking covers were available in poster
form. Sensing a business opportunity, NEL
came up with the idea of a monthly magazine that would include several of these
covers and other science fiction art in a format that would enable them to be detached
and stuck to many a sci fi fan’s walls. The publication would also include several
short stories each issue. The thinking was that the magazine would encourage
more people to buy the books while also introducing established readers to an
even wider range of authors. Various issues also had interviews with the
artists who, despite the familiarity of their work in various genres, were
rarely featured in other publications unless they had happened to decorate the
cover of a well known album.
The magazine’s dimensions were not it only unusual aspect. The publication was unstapled allowing people to detach the images – some of which ran across two pages- to be displayed. It was also never dated, only the issue number appeared on the cover. Given how male dominated the genre was back then it’s a surprise to discover both of the magazine’s editorial directors were women; Patricia Hornsey and Julie Davis. The former’s other work seems to have been almost all publications about historical subjects or transport (ships, trains) so SFM is an anomaly in her cv. Of course, giving your monthly science fiction magazine such a definitive title as `Science Fiction Monthly does add a suggestion of authority though in fact there were no other rivals in this area at the time. The fact that NEL published it made it seem at first glance just another promotional tool even more so when most of the cover art and almost all the ads were for NEL titles, at least in the initial issues.
Along with a
simultaneous rise in interest in album cover design, science fiction posters
became popular around this time. For followers of the genre which was often marginalised
by mainstream media, there was plenty of writing to balance the images. Amongst
the established authors who contributed material to the publication were
Christopher Priest, Brian Aldiss, Bob Shaw, Jack Williamson and Robert
Holdstock. Newer authors were invited to submit material; both Terry Greenhough
and Chris Morgan had their first published work in the magazine. Artists whose
work featured included Bruce Pennington, Chris Foss, Roger Dean and Jim Burns.
The contents also included some nonfiction items including interviews with
writers and well-known science experts.
The first issue was published
in February 1974. Sales were strong at first with issues regularly selling at
least 100,000 copies, enough to justify what was an expensive production
method. Glossy, colour pages cost a lot more to produce than black and white
ones though the paper was not as thick as that used by some publications. However, while scans of the magazines look
impressive there were niggles, one being that these astonishing pieces of art
had been specially created to suit the smaller size of a paperback book. The
larger you increase the size the more their origins as drawings starts to show
so some art fared better in this format than others. This may well be why
posters of sci fi book covers were otherwise hard to find.
The magazine also had
the misfortune to arrive around a time when the UK was heading for economic
difficulties and increased costs inevitably meant raising the cover price which
doubled from the initial 25p to 50p by late 1975. Obviously this seems cheap to
us and equates to roughly £6 today, still a competitive price for a monthly
print magazine but at the time for the mainly younger readership this was a
steep increase. In the end it was cancelled after twenty eight issues, the
final edition being published in May 1976.
A problem perhaps
nobody would have foreseen is that because the paper wasn’t especially thick,
it didn’t last as timelessly as the magazine might have wanted us to believe
meaning there aren’t a massive amount of complete copies circulating and some
that are can be yours for around £25. Many readers at the time would no doubt have
removed the posters to hang on a wall and eventually chucked the rest of the
issue. I managed to scoop up what seemed to be the last available issues on
Amazon to give me a flavour of what the magazine offered.
Volume 2 Number 2 is adorned
with artwork painted by Tim White of a crashed spaceship in a forest
environment and on ethe inside cover the second part of a an ongoing comic
strip called `The Size of Things to Come` written and illustrated by Malcolm
Poynter. Much of the issue consists of fiction- `Brainstorm In A Pleasure Dome`
by Barry Sutton, `Beautiful Dreamer` by David Henderson were both winners of a writing
competition the magazine held. `The
Harme-Oats Effect` by J Jeff Jones and Michael Butterworth was written
specially for the issue and there’s also a reprint of an AE van Vogt story `A
Can of Paint`.
Analytical articles
include `Taking A Trip` in which John Radford looks at the way in which science
fiction is “fundamentally new (yet) at the same time it gains much of its
strength from characteristics that are ancient and perhaps universal”
especially in the theme of a journey or voyage. There’s a precis of Michael
Moorcock’s career to date including an extensive checklist of his work up to
that point, later in the issue AE van Voght receives a shorter resume. A news page
includes details of the upcoming Seacon 75, an event due to be graced by guests
such as Brian Aldiss, Philip K Dick, Christopher Priest, Harry Harrison, Anne
MaCaffrey and more. Held in the Da Vere Hotel in Coventry, registration fee is
£2.50!
Volume 2 Number 3 has
Ray Felbush’s startling cover for `Empire of the Atom` as its cover. Fiction in
this issue includes `The Tunkun` by Robin Douglas, `The Conqueror` by Brian
Stableford and `Number Nine` by Eric Frank Russell. The latter also has his career summarised elsewhere
in the issue. Peter Weston writes about stories containing parallel universes
in an article illustrated by covers of vintage pulp sci fi magazines. There’s also
an interview with Samuel Delaney. The centre poster by Robin Hidden depicts a barren
vista in which the edge of a mountain is shaped like a skeletal Statue of
Liberty. There’s also a feature on the paintings of EAJ Duffy.
Volume 1, Number 10
(30p!) has my favourite sci fi book cover of all time, Bruce Pennington’s
striking image from `Earthworks`. Fiction comes from Chris Penn, Ina Watson and
EE `Doc` Smith who is also profiled in the issue. Michael Ashley examines the
role of female sci-fi writers who at the time were estimated to be a small
minority amongst the genre’s readers and authors. Another feature is part of a series looking
at science fiction artists and this issue features Robert Fowke while there is
a profile of Edgar Rice Burroughs. A
colour centre sections shows the winners of the magazine’s art competition,
each of these pictures will reappear as centre spread posters in forthcoming
issues.
You have to admire NEL
for trying something boldly different both in content and style during the
heyday of professional magazines. In the end various factors ensured Science
Fiction Monthly was a short lived but memorable publication.
Gallery - Some pictures from the issues I bought plus a few more covers -
Cool :)
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