Fantasy (1938 magazine)
Fantasy was a British pulp science fiction magazine that published three issues in London between 1938 and 1939. The editor was T. Stanhope Sprigg; when the war started, he enlisted in the RAF and the magazine was closed down. The publisher, George Newnes Ltd, paid respectable rates, and as a result, Sprigg was able to obtain some good quality material, including stories by John Wyndham, Eric Frank Russell, and John Russell Fearn.
Contents and reception
The lead story for the first issue was "Menace of the Metal Men", by A. Prestigiacomo; this was a 1933 reprint from the British edition of Argosy, but the other stories in the issue were all new. Contributors included John Wyndham, Eric Frank Russell, and John Russell Fearn, and a couple of writers who were not known in the science fiction world but who had contributed to Newnes' other magazines: J.E. Gurdon and Francis H. Sibson. There was an article on interplanetary travel by P.E. Cleator, which continued a series of articles he had published in Scoops. Newnes paid competitive rates for fiction, so they were able to attract good quality submissions, many of which were subsequently reprinted in the U.S. These included Wyndham's "Beyond the Screen" (described by sf historian and critic Sam Moskowitz as "an engrossing story"); Halliday Sutherland's "Valley of Doom"; and Eric Frank Russell's "Vampire from the Void", which was reprinted in Fantastic in 1972, having been submitted by Russell's agent as if it were a new story. When the editor, Ted White, was told that the story was over thirty years old, he initially denied that it was possible, but ultimately accepted that it was a reprint: science fiction historian Mike Ashley comments that this indicated Russell's fiction "stood well the test of time".
The main artist for Fantasy was Serge Drigin, a Russian-born artist who worked for Pearson's and had been responsible for all the covers for Scoops; Drigin did interior artwork and all three covers. Though his work has been described as "crude" and "mediocre", science fiction art historian Robert Weinberg regards the cover for the second issue, illustrating "Winged Terror" by G.R. Malloch, as "highly effective and easily the best thing he ever did".
Bibliographic details
Fantasy was printed in pulp format, 128 pages, and priced at 1/-. All three issues were edited by T. Stanhope Sprigg and published by Newnes. There was no volume numeration; each issue was dated only with the year.
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root