Galaxy Magazine

Galaxy Magazine
Author: David L. Rosheim
Publisher:
Total Pages: 370
Release: 1986
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

It was never an apprentice--A new magazine will usually go through a long apprenticeship, a period of trial and error as it gradually works its way up toward the top ranks in its field. But not Galaxy! From its very first issue in 1950, Galaxy Science Fiction was in the top rank, fully the equal of John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction, hitherto the undisputed leader in the science fiction field. Under the editorship of Horace Gold Galaxy was a superior production in fiction, in artwork, and even in the quality of its cover stock. Gold ran stories by the best of the established authors, and like Campbell before him, encouraged and developed new authors. But Galaxy was not merely a superior imitation of Astounding. Gold had his own very distinctive voice. Galaxy soon became famous for stories of social satire and character insight. There were fewer of superscientific heroes and more of normal human beings, and even antiheroes. If Campbell asked how new technology would change the society, Gold asked how those social changes would affect ordinary people. David Rosheim presents a detailed history of Galaxy from its founding in 1950 to its last issue in 1980. He covers both the triumphs (which were many) and the failures (which were few) right up to the financial and management problems which finally killed the magazine. Galaxy had both its light years and its dark years, and if the dark finally took it away from us, we still have the memory of the light. This is a work of nostalgic affection (not pedantic scholarship) in the tradition of Alva Rogers' A Requiem for Astounding (now out of print, alas). With color frontispiece of the first Galaxy cover and many other covers in blackand white.

The History of the Science-fiction Magazine

The History of the Science-fiction Magazine
Author: Michael Ashley
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 527
Release: 2000
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1846310032

This third volume in Mike Ashley's four-volume study of the science-fiction magazines focuses on the turbulent years of the 1970s, when the United States emerged from the Vietnam War into an economic crisis. It saw the end of the Apollo moon programme and the start of the ecology movement. This proved to be one of the most complicated periods for the science-fiction magazines. Not only were they struggling to survive within the economic climate, they also had to cope with the death of the father of modern science fiction, John W. Campbell, Jr., while facing new and potentially threatening opposition. The market for science fiction diversified as never before, with the growth in new anthologies, the emergence of semi-professional magazines, the explosion of science fiction in college, the start of role-playing gaming magazines, underground and adult comics and, with the success of Star Wars, media magazines. This volume explores how the traditional science-fiction magazines coped with this, from the

The Year of the Jackpot

The Year of the Jackpot
Author: Robert Heinlein
Publisher: Rosetta Books
Total Pages: 61
Release: 2011-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0795321260

A statistician attempts to make sense of a world gone mad in an apocalyptic sci-fi scenario from the Hugo Award–winning author of Starship Troopers. Multiple Hugo Award winner Robert Heinlein earned countless fans, accolades, and honors with groundbreaking novels such as Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. But it was shorter works like his brilliant novella, The Year of the Jackpot, that solidified Heinlein’s position among sci-fi’s greatest. Potiphar Breen puts his trust in numbers to make sense of the world. An unassuming, middle-aged bachelor, he has been carefully noting a rise in odd behaviors all around him in order to determine some pattern or meaning in these bizarre recent events. Then one day, he comes upon a beautiful young woman at a bus stop who is taking off all her clothes. Meade Barstow has no idea what compelled her to disrobe in public, and she is grateful when Potiphar comes along to save her from herself. Needing some time and a place to recuperate, she accompanies him home. Soon, a relationship develops that is warm, mutually supportive, and sane—in dramatic contrast to the growing madness of the world outside. But “Potty’s” house won’t be a refuge forever. Because once Breen clearly identifies the cycle that humanity is undergoing, he and his newfound friend will have to run for their lives. Originally published in the early 1950s, Heinlein’s The Year of the Jackpot is a story of love, trust, and volatile human nature that still retains its wonder and unique philosophical edge.

Honeymoon in Hell

Honeymoon in Hell
Author: Fredric Brown
Publisher: Rosetta Books
Total Pages: 59
Release: 2011-10-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0795321201

A groundbreaking science fiction novelette from the early days of Galaxy magazine—plus a new foreword by Paul Di Filippo. Appearing in the second issue of Galaxy dated November 1950, Honeymoon in Hell showcased the magazine’s distinctive identity as opposed to other publications of its time—darker, more socially aware, sometimes sexually frank in ways that were shocking for the era. Dealing with copulation and its desired consequences, Honeymoon in Hell avoided euphemisms—and used a satirical attack that parodied magazine taboos. The covers of pulp magazines depicted monsters putting near-naked females in peril, but the narratives under the cover offered no equivalent. Brown’s hastily married couple, sent to the moon to see if they can breed a male child—all births on Earth over recent months having been female—encounter problems emotional as well as practical. This book includes both the landmark novelette and a new foreword by Paul Di Filippo. About the series: Debuting in 1950, Galaxy was science fiction’s most admired, widely circulated, and influential magazine, known for publication of full-length novels, novellas, and novelettes by giants in the field. The Galaxy Project is a selection of the best of Galaxy, with new forewords by some of today’s top writers. Initial selections include work by Ray Bradbury, Fredric Brown, Lester del Rey, Robert A. Heinlein, Damon Knight, C. M. Kornbluth, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Frederik Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn (Philip Klass), and Kurt Vonnegut. Foreword contributors include Paul Di Filippo, David Drake, John Lutz, Barry N. Malzberg, and Robert Silverberg. The Galaxy Project is committed to publishing new work in the spirit of Galaxy magazine and its founding editor, H. L. Gold