Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. At its peak, Galaxy greatly influenced the science fiction genre, and its influence did not wane until Pohl’s departure in 1969.
About Galaxy Science Fiction in brief
Galaxy Science Fiction was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. Editor H. L. Gold rapidly made Galaxy the leading science fiction magazine of its time, focusing on stories about social issues rather than technology. Gold published many notable stories during his tenure, including Ray Bradbury’s \”The Fireman\”, later expanded as Fahrenheit 451; Robert A. Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters; and Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man. At its peak, Galaxy greatly influenced the science fiction genre, and its influence did not wane until Pohl’s departure in 1969. A brief revival as a semi-professional magazine followed in 1994, edited by Gold’s son, E. J. Gold; this lasted for eight bimonthly issues. The magazine was eventually sold to Galileo publisher Vincent McCaffrey, who brought out only a single issue in 1980. The last issue of Galaxy was published on November 17, 1980. Galaxy was the last magazine to be published by World Edition, which went out of business in 1986. It is now owned by French- Italian publisher Éditions Mondial Del Duca, which has a New York office in New York, New York City, and a European office in Milan, Milan, and Paris. It has been described as one of the most influential magazines in the history of science fiction, and was a major influence on the experimental New Wave literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
It published fiction by writers such as Cordwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg, and won three Hugos instead of the annual Hugo Award for its sister magazine, If. Its success was the main reason for a subsequent flood of new releases: 22 more science fiction magazines appeared by 1954, when the market dipped again as a side effect of US Senate hearings into the putative connection between comic books and juvenile delinquency. In the late 1940s, the market began to recover. From a low of eight active US magazines in 1946, the field expanded to 20 just four years later. Galaxy’s appearance in 1950 was part of this boom. According to sf historian and critic Mike Ashley, its success was the main. reason for the subsequent flood, with 22 more magazines appearing by 1954. The genre was flourishing in the U.S. by the end of the 1930s, but World War II and its resulting paper shortages led to the demise of several magazines. In late 1949, Gold was approached by Vera Cerutti, who had once worked for an Italian publisher. She asked Gold for guidance on how to launch a magazine, which he provided. He sent a proposal for a prospectus that included a series of sf novels as well as a three-word wordical series of paperback novels, paying three cents a word, an impressively high price.
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This page is based on the article Galaxy Science Fiction published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 16, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
