Before he helped found MLJ Comics — later Archie Comics — Louis Silberkleit published pulp magazines. Martin Goodman’s mentor, Silberkleit followed trends, hoping to make a quick profit through the magazines he published. Noting the growing science-fiction market in 1939, Silberkleit issued two magazines.
The first to hit the stands was Science Fiction, released in the second month of the year. Future Fiction came late in the year, its first issue dated November 1939. Former Gernsback editor Charles D. Hornig helmed both magazines, working freelance from home. Produced on tight budgets, neither magazine offered much memorable fiction, since most authors could find better-paying venues. Both pulps became repositories for stories other publishers rejected, with authors hiding behind pseudonyms.
During the summer of 1940, Silberkleit added a third science-fiction title—Science Fiction Quarterly — to the mix. Each issue featured a complete novel. The magazine reprinted a handful of Ray Cummings’ early novels, plus the lead stories from the first two issues of Hugo Gernsback’s Science Wonder Quarterly. Arthur J. Burks also contributed two original novels.
In the spring of 1941, Robert W. Lowndes became editor of both Future Fiction and Science Fiction Quarterly. Soon thereafter, Science Fiction merged with Future Fiction to become Future combined with Science Fiction. Under Lowndes, the quality of the Silberkleit science-fiction pulps improved markedly as the new editor coaxed fiction from his friends among the Futurians, a group of science-fiction fans based in New York City. However, despite Lowndes’ efforts, the publisher canceled both science-fiction titles in 1943 as war-induced paper shortages took their toll on the industry.
During the 1950s science-fiction boom, Louis Silberkleit resurrected all three of his science-fiction magazines. The quarterly ran until 1958, while Future Science Fiction and Science Fiction Stories ran until spring 1960.
Our featured image is taken from Frank R. Paul’s cover art for the March 1939 number of Science Fiction. It’s the pulp’s first issue. The middle image is the first number of Future Fiction. Dated November 1939, it features cover art by J. W. Scott. Our final image is Science Fiction Quarterly, dated February 1958, featuring cover art by Ed Emshwiller.
