Viva La Fan Mags!
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| Title: | Viva La Fan Mags! |
| Creator: | Charles D. Hornig |
| Date(s): | 1939 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Science Fiction |
| Topic: | Science fiction fandom and fan mags |
| External Links: | Issue archived on Fanac.org |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Viva La Fan Mags! was an essay published in Issue 3 of the science fiction zine Ad Astra. It discussed the beginnings of SF/fantasy magazines and the author Charles D. Hornig's experience starting his own fan mag and being recruited off its strength to edit Hugo Gernsback's pro mag Wonder Stories.
Excerpts
In 1932, a science fiction dealer from whom I had been making purchases for my collection, sent me the front page of the April-May 1932 issue of "The Time Traveller". Up to this time, I had never conceived of a science fiction fan mag, and I became very enthusiastic over the idea of subscribing. I went up to Julie Schwartz’s home in the Bronx and bought all the back numbers of "The Time Traveller" available (which was only a couple) and immediately subscribed. When TTT merged with "Science Fiction Digest" late in 1932, I had become a very avid follower of science fiction’s only fan mag, and even went so far as to make a few "literary" contributions....
Early in 1933, I thought it would be a swell idea to publish a small reprint magazine, but a short study of copyright entanglements forced me to resign this idea. Then I decided to issue a small-sized, neatly printed fan mag -- which, in the summer of 1933, materialized as "The Fantasy Fan".... It wasn't long before I realized that it is great fun to publish a fan mag; but far from profitable. In fact, I began to learn that it was decidedly a losing proposition, financially.The first issue of "The Fantasy Fan", dated September 1933, was sent free to the publishers of professional science fiction magazines. Whereupon Opportunity came to my door and knocked --- in the form of Hugo Gernsback. Just at that time, he had dispensed with David Lasser, his former editor of "Wonder Stories", and needed a new man for the job. The arrival of "The Fantasy Fan" gave him the idea that perhaps a real fan could do a real job of editing a real science fiction magazine.... TFF [was published until February, 1935, and] never made a profit, but I know that it filled a niche in the fantasy field. You may have noticed that many of the stories I used in its pages have since been reprinted in "Weird Tales"...
Anyway, in those days there were but two science fiction fan mags -- my own and "Science Fiction Digest", which later became the famous "Fantasy Magazine". Mort Weisinger, former fan mag editor of the "early epoch" is now the popular editor of the Thrilling Group fantasy mags, and Julius Schwartz, then of the old fan editor group, is now science fiction's leading and only exclusive science fiction agent for authors.
During the past two or three years, there has been a deluge of fan mags -- mostly mimeographed -- just as there is now such a deluge of professional science fiction books. It seems that every science fiction fan wants to issue his own publication, and the result is a horrible mess of hastily-prepared mimeod pamphlets cluttering the market. But there are a number of really fine fan mags today -- "AD ASTRA" being among the top leaders. I still get as big a kick out of reading fan mags as I did the first day I caught a glimpse of "The Time Traveller", way back in '32 -- so I say, more power to fan mag editors!