Other Worlds, Universe Science Fiction, and Science Stories

33: 1037: 1199: 1345:, and that flying saucers originated from an unexplored source on the earth's surface. In 1965 Palmer published an article by Delmar H. Bryant that debunked the idea that the earth was hollow, but the following year again suggested that the earth might be donut shaped. On the June 1970 issue, the cover picture showed a donut-shaped earth from space; Palmer claimed this was evidence from a satellite photograph. 425:, in the March 1945 issue. The story, about prehistoric civilizations, explained all the disasters on Earth as the work of evil robots. Palmer presented the story as a mixture of truth and fiction, and the response from readers was strong enough that he bought more stories from Shaver, and promoted what he called the "Shaver Mystery". Circulation grew dramatically, but the publisher, 1337:

fiction; thereafter it was a nonfiction magazine about UFOs. He wrote in the following issue that he would print news of flying saucers and rumors, and would debunk any claims he could prove fake. Over the next twenty years he included such fringe ideas such as that the earth was not spherical, and in December 1959 ran an article in

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contributing good interior illustrations. In Casebeer's view the Finlay and Lawrence illustrations were the best the magazine had to offer, and he considers the quality of the fiction to have gone downhill after a fairly promising start. In the last three issues the artwork was also weak, with poor

1175:, Palmer was unable to obtain enough material of this quality to fill the magazine, and most of the remaining stories were unremarkable space adventures. Ashley comments that the stigma of the Shaver Mystery clung to Palmer and damaged the magazine; and suggests that much of the best-quality work in 1336:

in 1951 titled "I Flew in a Flying Saucer", bylined "Captain A.V.G.", though Lester del Rey reports in his history of sf magazines that it may have been written by Palmer himself. Eventually Palmer decided to drop science fiction; from June 1957 only three issues—June, July and September—included

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Palmer was contacted by a Chicago businessman interested in starting a sf magazine, and took the opportunity to resolve his financial problems by forming a new company, Bell Publications, in partnership with the businessman (whose name was never revealed), and starting two magazines:

452:. Printing delays meant the magazine did not appear until late in the year. At the convention Palmer announced that "Robert N. Webster" was his pseudonym, and gave the convention organizers the original artwork for the first issue for auction. He also met, and immediately hired, 1287:, in May 1955, had a black-and-white cover picture; later issues returned to colour, though until 1956 these were all reprints of covers from the first incarnation of the magazine. For the cover of the November 1955 issue (the first in pulp format) Palmer reprinted artwork by 497:

suffered as a result. The magazine was doing well enough for Palmer to move it to monthly publication at the end of 1952. It stayed on a regular schedule until the July 1953 issue, but Palmer's finances eventually worsened to the point that he was unable to pay his printer.

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was still being published. It was financed by Palmer's partner, and intended as a bimonthly, though in fact the first four issues were on a quarterly schedule. It was edited by Palmer and Mahaffey, who used the collective pseudonym "George Bell" for the first two issues.

465:, to be launched in the fall of 1950, but in June, he suffered a serious accident and was temporarily paralyzed, and Mahaffey took over in his absence. Palmer was able to help with editing both magazines even while in the hospital, but by September he decided to sell 443:

format; the editor was listed as Robert N. Webster, a pseudonym Palmer used to conceal his activities since he was still working at Ziff-Davis when the first issue appeared. Palmer had planned to distribute free copies of the first issue to fans at that year's

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was edited and published by the same person, which meant there were no constraints on Palmer's editorial policy. He attempted to find new and daring material, and in the early years of the magazine, he obtained some of the better stories being published.

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The following year Palmer switched the magazine's focus to flying saucers. To try to maintain the existing readership while attracting new readers, Palmer emphasized sf and flying saucers in alternate issues: for example, the June 1957 issue was titled

1218:, Albert A. Nuetzell, and Jones; Wendy Bousfield, an sf historian, considers the last one the best, and also singles out the last issue's interior illustrations, all by Finlay, for praise. The writing was not up to the standard of the artwork, with 429:, became alarmed at the ridicule the stories were drawing in the press, and ordered Palmer to tone down the material. Palmer complied, but planned to leave. He formed his own publishing company, Clark Publications, in 1947, and launched 1213:

maintained the same high quality of artwork. The first issue, dated October 1953, was painted by Bok, who also did the interior illustration for Jack Williamson's story based on the cover. The remaining three covers were by

1018:. He also hoped that each issue would be kept longer on newsstands if the distributors thought they were dealing with two magazines. The experiment did not last; from the July/August 1958 issue the title was shortened to 1005:

size: this was against the prevailing market winds, as almost all the pulps had died out by this time. In 1956 an unexpected tax bill forced Palmer to let Mahaffey go, and he ran the magazine by himself from that point on.

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took the opposite approach, with uninteresting covers and poor interior artwork, but it had some good stories in the first two issues, which sf historian E.F. Casebeer attributes to Mahaffey's influence.

1028:, and took over its printing. Bibliographic sources focus on the science fiction issues, and do not index the magazine after 1958, but it continued publication until 1976 as a non-fiction magazine. 2778: 1364:

were initially published by Bell Publications, for one and two issues, respectively; thereafter both were published by Palmer Publications. Both magazines were edited by Palmer and Bea Mahaffey.

646:, Palmer explained the reason for the new magazine: "For a variety of reasons—and let's be honest, most of them were financial—we had to make a spur-of-the-moment decision to discontinue 2255: 481:

did well enough for Palmer to increase the publication frequency from bimonthly to every six weeks, but faced competition from two new magazines launched at about the same time:

1275:"; a treatment of homosexuality controversial for the 1950s. Once Palmer became more involved with the magazine again the artwork improved, with Finlay, Lawrence Stevens, and 1001:, Illinois, and edited the magazine from his home in Wisconsin; Mahaffey continued to work on the magazine by mail from Cincinnati. From November 1955 the format changed to 1356:

was edited by Raymond Palmer and published by Clark Publications from November 1949 to July 1953, and by Palmer Publications from May 1955 until at least November 1957.

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had 160 pages for the first run, and 128 pages when it returned in May 1955, dropping to 96 pages for the pulp issues, until at least the November 1957 issue. Both

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When the anonymous businessman lost interest in the project Palmer bought him out, financed by the sale of his half share in Clark Publications, which had published

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was due to the influence of Mahaffey, who in Ashley's opinion "had excellent taste in fiction". A high point of the non-fiction pieces was a series of articles by

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was launched in November 1949 by Palmer's Clark Publications and lasted for four years in its first run, with well-received stories such as "Enchanted Village" by

1187:, which ran from 1952 to 1953. The covers were attractive, often with artwork on both covers, by well-known artists such as Malcolm Smith, Robert Gibson Jones, 1329:, but he was unable to get authorization from the Burroughs estate, and had to shelve the idea, however, unauthorized editions have been published since then. 2248: 2757: 1063:

Palmer declared in the first issue that he wanted to present science fiction from across the spectrum: hard-science stories of the kind that appeared in

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followed in October, also edited by Palmer and Mahaffey as "George Bell", and published by Bell Publications; this was effectively the same magazine as

2545: 2447: 84:" stories. Since Palmer was both publisher and editor, he was free to follow his own editorial policy, and presented a wide array of science fiction. 957: 1226:

the only two authors whose reputation has lasted. A lower page count meant less non-fiction material and readers' departments (such as letters) in

2241: 483: 2608: 2363: 493:, which published its first issue in October 1950. Both were very successful, with higher budgets than Palmer was able to afford, and 2788: 2783: 2440: 1717: 1159:

contributed "Heroes Are Made", the first in their Hoka series, and Palmer obtained fiction from other well-known writers such as

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began as a digest and switched to pulp with the November 1955 issue, and was 35 cents until at least the end of 1958.

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was Shaver's "The Fall of Lemuria", still presented as truth in the guise of fiction. The cover illustration was by

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and replace it with the magazine you are now reading. We phoned the typesetter, halted work on the August

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regulars, and it initially appeared that the new magazine would not be very much different from Palmer's

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were given the option to continue their subscription with whichever of the two magazines they preferred.

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Palmer entered a partnership with a Chicago businessman in 1953 to create Bell Publications, and printed

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continued, going bimonthly after the March 1954 issue. A total of ten issues appeared under the title

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from the back cover of the November 1952 issue; St. John's artwork had saved another Palmer magazine,

2559: 2510: 2468: 2426: 2335: 2307: 1317:, though he never ran it and eventually returned the manuscript to Bradley. Palmer hoped to publish 1236: 1020: 2461: 2268: 1081: 2671: 2454: 2433: 2398: 2391: 2377: 2349: 2014:

Ashley, Mike (1985c). "Other Worlds Science Stories". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.).

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Casebeer, E.F. (1985). "Universe Science Fiction". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.).

1969: 1125:: "Enchanted Village", one of van Vogt's best-liked stories, and "War of Nerves", part of his 115:, on the other hand, was drab in appearance, but included some well-received stories, such as 2629: 2594: 2496: 2482: 2370: 2233: 1306: 422: 151: 32: 2167: 2111: 2084: 2015: 1988: 1961: 168:, and after the September 1957 issue no more fiction appeared. Palmer eventually settled on 2721: 2552: 2412: 2163: 1953: 1326: 1293: 1102: 456:, a Cleveland fan, as his managing editor, starting with the fourth issue, dated May 1950. 156: 142:, numbering the issues to make the new magazine appear a continuation of both the original 8: 2735: 2321: 1272: 120: 2700: 2573: 2503: 2083:

Bousfield, Wendy (1985). "Science Stories". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.).

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under a new company. In 1955 he ceased publication of both magazines and brought back

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Science Fiction Rebels: The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1981 to 1990

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Ashley, Mike (1985b). "Mystic Magazine". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.).

1920: 1234:, but Palmer found space for cartoons and advertisements for his own books, such as 2650: 2517: 2419: 2356: 1110: 2664: 2342: 2293: 1395:

with the July/August 1958 issue. In 1961 the title changed twice more, first to

1322: 1310: 1256: 1219: 431: 417: 1444: 2728: 2580: 2538: 2137: 1743: 1241: 1122: 1075: 73: 2772: 2587: 2271: 2166:(1985). "Galaxy Science Fiction". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.). 1957: 1839: 1223: 1215: 1160: 1002: 124: 2228: 2223: 2218: 2045:

Transformations:The Story of the Science-Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970

1445:"Culture : Other Worlds : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia" 99:, in order to escape from Clark Publications' financial difficulties. Hence 2384: 1264: 1260: 1152: 1132: 1114: 453: 150:. In this new incarnation the magazine was less successful, but did print 77: 1869: 1069:, and stories representative of the styles of the other leading magazines— 973:

failed to sell well, and ceased to appear after the April 1954 issue, but

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were in digest format for all their issues and were priced at 35 cents;

1192: 449: 426: 947:. He founded Palmer Publications and took over the new magazines with 642:, with "Other Worlds" dropped from the title. In the second issue of 2657: 610:, showing issue number; all four were edited by Palmer and Mahaffey. 2144:

The World of Science Fiction: 1926–1976: The History of a Subculture

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Palmer's interest in the Shaver Mystery did not abate when he left

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Palmer's Chicago partner lost interest, so Palmer took over both

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Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States

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Palmer had long been interested in UFOs, and ran an article in

1024:, and the magazine ceased to carry fiction. Palmer retired to 966: 2263: 993:'s numbering and the issue numbering from the original run of 1391:

After it became a non-fiction magazine, the title changed to

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as the title, and in that form it survived until June 1976.

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was visually attractive but contained no memorable fiction.

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History of US science fiction and fantasy magazines to 1950

1093:, but within a few issues the quality improved noticeably. 1840:"Publication: Other Worlds Science Stories, November 1955" 955:' second issue, and abandoned the pseudonym. He launched 1403:, which it retained until it ceased publication in 1976. 1167:. Partly because of competition from the newly-launched 1280:

quality black-and-white covers and little interior art.

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and Mack Reynolds contributed to the early issues, with

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with "Tedric", which appeared in the March 1953 issue.

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from June 1953. Palmer used the new company to abandon

933:, and Palmer was the editor for the subsequent issues. 435:

in 1948. In 1949 Palmer left Ziff-Davis, and launched

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was visually attractive but lacked memorable fiction.

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