Beyond Fantasy Fiction

History and significance

Beyond Fantasy Fiction was a fantasy-oriented companion to the more successful Galaxy Science Fiction, which launched in 1950; Beyond had been planned by editor H. L. Gold from the time Galaxy was launched, but it had to wait until Galaxy was firmly established. *Beyond'''s first issue, dated July 1953, included an editorial by Gold in which he laid out the magazine's scope, excluding (in his words) only "the probably possible" and "the unentertaining". Gold recruited Sam Merwin, who had recently quit as editor of Fantastic Universe, to help in editing, though the masthead of both magazines listed Gold as editor. A typical issue of *Beyond'' included several stories that were long enough to be listed as novellas or novelettes, with the contents augmented with shorter works, usually for a total of at least seven stories.

The first issue featured Theodore Sturgeon, Damon Knight, Frank M. Robinson, and Richard Matheson. Other writers who appeared in the magazine included Jerome Bixby, John Wyndham, James E. Gunn, Fredric Brown, Frederik Pohl (both under his own name and with Lester del Rey under the joint pseudonym "Charles Satterfield"), Philip José Farmer, Randall Garrett, Zenna Henderson, and Algis Budrys.

The magazine was not commercially successful: at that time circulation figures were not required to be published annually, as they were later, so the actual circulation figures are not known. However, Fred Pohl, who was editor of Galaxy Publishing Co. from 1960-1969, stated in 1967 that the magazine showed a loss of $40,000 () during its publication. Its demise after less than two years can be attributed in part to the decreasing popularity of fantasy and horror fiction.

Reception

*Beyond'''s selection of stories has been described by science fiction historian Michael Ashley as "seeking to achieve … high quality fantasy fiction acceptable to all readers"; he adds that Beyond was more artistically successful than *Fantastic'', a competitor in this niche, because Gold "had a clearer vision and was more determined … to achieve it. … despite sales problems, Gold persisted in publishing fiction that sought to stretch the boundaries of imagination."

Several significant or widely reprinted stories appeared during *Beyond'''s short history:

• "…And My Fear Is Great…", by Theodore Sturgeon (July 1953)
• "The Wall Around the World", by Theodore R. Cogswell (September 1953)
• "Kid Stuff", by Isaac Asimov (September 1953)
• "The Watchful Poker Chip", by Ray Bradbury (March 1954). Generally reprinted under the title "The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse"
• "Sine of the Magus", by James E. Gunn (May 1954)
• "The Green Magician", by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt (November 1954). Part of the Incompleat Enchanter series
• "Upon the Dull Earth", by Philip K. Dick (November 1954)

Although no Hugo Awards were presented in 1954, the 2004 World Science Fiction Convention awarded "Retro Hugos" for that year. Two Beyond stories appeared as runners-up: Sturgeon's "…And My Fear Is Great…" placed third in the novella category, and Cogswell's "The Wall Around the World" fifth in the novelette category. In addition, Gold placed fifth in the editor category, though this recognized his work at Galaxy as well as at Beyond.

Bibliographic details

The publisher was Galaxy Publishing Corporation, New York. The magazine was initially titled Beyond Fantasy Fiction, and this remained the title on the masthead throughout the ten-issue run. However, issue 9 changed the title to simply Beyond Fiction on the cover, spine, and table of contents. Issue 10 used the new, shorter title on the cover and spine, but reverted to Beyond Fantasy Fiction for the table of contents.

The magazine began as a 160-page digest, priced at 35 cents. The price stayed the same throughout the run, but the page count was cut to 128 for the eighth issue, September 1954. The magazine was bimonthly, but issues 9 and 10 did not carry month and year dates, which has led different bibliographers to catalogue them in different ways. However, the masthead for these issues indicates that the magazine remained bimonthly, and so they are now usually catalogued as November 1954 and January 1955, respectively; the copyright dates on the last two issues correspond to these dates. The volume numbering was completely regular; volume 1 had six numbers, and volume 2 ceased with its fourth number.

A British edition of the magazine ran for four issues on a bimonthly schedule starting in November 1953 and finishing in May 1954. These copied the first four issues of the US version, with slightly cut contents. They were numbered 1 to 4 but were not dated. Ten years after the magazine folded, nine stories from Beyond were collected into the 160-page paperback Beyond, published in 1963 by Berkley Books (F712) and edited by Thomas Dardis (who was not credited on the book).

References

Sources

References

1. "Issue Grid: Beyond Fantasy Fiction". [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
2. (September 1953). ""Kid Stuff" & "The King of the Elves"". [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
3. Michael Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp. 65–66.
4. H.L. Gold, "Beyond", in ''Beyond Fantasy Fiction'', July 1953, p. 2.
5. "Richard Powers: Summary Bibliography". [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
6. (January 1954). "Feline Facts". Beyond Fantasy Fiction.
7. See for example the statement of circulation in "Statement Required by the Act of October 23, 1962", ''Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact'' vol. 76, no 4 (December 1965), p.161.
8. Frederik Pohl. (1978). "The Way the Future Was: A Memoir". Del Rey.
9. James Ashe. (December 1967). "Fred Pohl Reveals Losses on Magazines".
10. (August 1958). "Treasure Located". Galaxy.
11. Donald H. Tuck writes "Although it printed some very good material, it was never commercially successful." "''Beyond Fantasy Fiction''", in Donald H. Tuck, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy'' (Chicago: Advent, 1982; {{ISBN. 0-911682-26-0), Vol. 3, p.549.
12. Malcolm Edwards describes it as "conceived in the same spirit as ''Unknown''". Edwards, "Beyond Fantasy Fiction", in Peter Nicholls and John Clute, eds, ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction: An Illustrated A to Z'' (London: Granada, 1981; {{ISBN. 0-586-05380-8), p.70. Mike Ashley comments that ''Beyond'' "is generally acknowledged as the natural successor to ''Unknown''". Ashley, "''Beyond Fantasy Fiction''", p.110.
13. James Gunn. (1970). "The Witching Hour". Dell.
14. "The Reference Library", ''Analog Science Fact—Science Fiction'' vol. 71, no 5 (July 1963), pp. 87–88.
15. All but the Gunn and Dick stories are included by Tuck in his list of "Notable fiction" from ''Beyond''. The Gunn story is mentioned as a classic by Ashley, in "''Beyond Fantasy Fiction''", p.110. Dick's story is included because of his current prominence; see Tuck "''Beyond Fantasy Fiction''".
16. "The Long List of Retro Hugo Awards, 1954". [[NESFA]].
17. "Issue Grid: Beyond Fantasy Fiction". [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
18. The stories were printed in the two-column format usual to digest magazines.Not described in the reference works; see the individual issues.
19. Ashley, ''Beyond Fantasy Fiction,'' p.110; Tuck, "''Beyond Fantasy Fiction''", p.549.
20. Mike Ashley, ''Beyond Fantasy Fiction,'' in John Clute and John Grant, eds, ''The Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (New York: St. Martin's; {{ISBN. 0-312-14594-2), 110.