Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine
VST appeared variously under the names:
- Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine (v1#1 - v1#3)
- Vargo Statten British Science Fiction Magazine (v1#4 - v1#5)
- British Science Fiction Magagazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v1#6 - v1#12)
- British Space Fiction Magazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v2#1 - v2#7)
Vargo Statten was a pseudonym used by British writer John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) - one of about forty that he used in writing for a wide range of genres, not only SF. He had already published more than 50 novels under the Scion label before the magazine saw the light of day in 1954 and Scion clearly were aiming to capitalize on the name by attaching it to the magazine. Authorities differ on exactly who was the editor for the first few issues - CN95 says it was Alistair Paterson, while Tuck and SFFWF only credit him as associate editor under Statten/Fearn. The juvenile slant of the magazine and the poor rates of pay on offer made it hard to attract top quality authors. The only authors of note to appear besides Fearn were E C Tubb and Barrington Bayley, who would only have been 17 - 18 at the time of his first appearance. Much of the material that appeared comprised recycled Fearn stories under the name Vargo Statten or other pseudonyms.
Artist credit is given on hardly any of the issues. I am indebted, therefore, to Philip Harbottle for his information on this. In fact, all of the covers were done either by Ron Turner or by John Richards (who appeared as "Davis" on 23 consecutive issues of Authentic). Turner did vol 1#1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, vol 2#1-7, while Richards did vol 1#2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9. Aside from the superimposed text, #7 and 8 are identical, as are #6 and 9. All of volume 2 appeared with the same design on the left hand side of the cover, with a list of contents against a varying background colour on the right.
Published from 1954 until 1955, the magazine underwent several title changes in a short period of time. The fourth and fifth issues were retitled Vargo Statten British Science Fiction Magazine. The following six issues were titled British Science Fiction Magazine and the last
seven issues were titled British Space Fiction Magazine.
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root