Resurgence

The period from 1955 to the end of the fifties was arguably the most turbulent of all in science fiction. As we explored in Chapter 2, the pulps had virtually all passed away by the mid-fifties. The readers who were once attracted by the pulps had other avenues to explore. Those still interested in the super-heroes and action stories – mostly the young readers – had the comics. Those interested in adult science fiction had the digest magazines and the growing number of paperbacks. Those wanting more virile, violent adventures had the men's magazines. The cinema and radio had always been regular companions to the magazines, and continued to exert their influence, but there was now the added factor of television, which began to syphon readers away from magazines, slowly at first, but with increasing speed as the sixties dawned. Comics, paperbacks and television became the three-horned nemesis of the fiction magazine for the rest of the century, though they never quite managed to eradicate the medium.

At the same time advances in science were making science fiction more topical and relevant every day, especially with the dawn of the space age in October 1957. There was growing interest in flying saucers and UFOs and one side-effect of this was the growth of monster-movies in the cinema. In addition the tension of the Cold War and the continuing nuclear threat made everyone only too aware of the power of the atom and its potential to end civilization on Earth.

All of this meant that science fiction had a wider and more appreciative audience, and the magazines had to respond to that as well as facing the challenge of their opposition. The result was, to some degree, predictable, with magazines trying to pander to all interests and not necessarily satisfying any. This chapter will chart the turbulent sf magazine market from 1956 to 1960 and will explore the consequences of all these factors.

At the start of 1956 there were 14 American sf magazines, only one of which was still in pulp form. The field leaders were Astounding, Galaxy and F&SF. If and Fantastic Universe were a close second in quality.