Weird Fiction & Fantasy Magazines

I started writing about weird fiction and fantasy magazines two months ago. My aim was to get back around to Robert A.W. Lowndes and the magazines he edited in the 1960s. Now as I do more research, I find that there are more magazines than I thought. Leaving out science fiction titles, British and Canadian magazines, and fanzines, I'm still left with fifty-five titles. It would take me a couple of months to write about all of them. In the meantime I would have to leave biographies by the wayside. The last biography I wrote was the last of a four-part series on Bob Lowndes. That was on July 31. I think it's time to get back to the writers and artists who contributed to Weird Tales. The weird fiction and fantasy magazines will have to wait for another day.

Eerie Tales was published by C.K. Publishing of Toronto. It lasted for one whole issue in July 1941. I'm not sure why the main title and the subtitle, "Every Story Original," were hand lettered, while the rest of the front cover copy was typeset. The whole effect is a little amateurish, although the cover art itself isn't bad. The artist signed his or her work. Unfortunately I can't read the signature. Thomas P. Kelley, whose name appears on the cover, also wrote for Weird Tales. He had three serials published in that magazine between 1937 and 1940.

Text and captions copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Robert A.W. Lowndes (1916-1998)-Part 4

Robert W. Lowndes had his first science fiction published when he was a teenager. That was in 1935 when Wonder Stories printed "Letter: Report of the Plutonian Ambassador" on its letters page. According to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, his first paying work would have been the poem "Lurani" (as by Paul Dennis Lavond) in Unknown Fantasy Fiction for February 1940. Lowndes' first paying short story was "My Lady of the Emerald" (as by Wilfred Owen Morley) in Astonishing Stories from November 1941.

Lowndes wasn't an especially prolific author, but over the next couple of decades, he wrote several dozen stories and poems and a few novels. He was busier as an editor, essayist, and reviewer. His credits as editor include the following:

• Future Fiction (and variant titles, 1941-1960)
• Science Fiction (1941)
• Science Fiction Quarterly (1941-1958)
• Dynamic Science Fiction (1952-1953)
• Science Fiction Stories (1953-1960)
• Magazine of Horror (1963-1971)
• Famous Science Fiction (1966-1969)
• Startling Mystery Stories (1966-1971)
• Thrilling Western Magazine (1967)
• World Wide Adventure (1967)
• Weird Terror Tales (1969)
• Bizarre Fantasy Tales (1970-1971)
• Sexology

I should point out that these dates are not necessarily inclusive of all years within those dates. Also, some dates and titles come from conflicting or not entirely reliable sources and are in question. 

In the 1940s and '50s, Lowndes worked for Columbia Publications, mostly in science fiction magazines. Lowndes' titles of the 1960s and '70s were published by Health Knowledge, Inc. Most prominent among them was Magazine of Horror, a digest-sized homage to Weird Tales. The website Vault of Evil has what I think is a complete listing of stories, plus images of the covers of Magazine of Horror. Vault of Evil is well worth a look.

Robert A.W. Lowndes continued working as a writer and editor even after Health Knowledge, Inc., went under. In 1981, Lin Carter began editing a third incarnation of Weird Tales. (The first was the original run, from 1923 to 1954; the second was Sam Moskowitz's four-issue revival of 1973-1974.) Robert Lowndes contributed half a dozen poems to a series that lasted just four more issues between Spring 1981 and Summer 1983.

It has taken me a month to draw this discussion of Robert A.W. Lowndes and The Futurians to a close. This four-part series has led me to another series of postings in which Lowndes' name will appear again. Before closing I will add that Robert Lowndes died on July 14, 1998, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was eighty-one years old.

Robert A.W. Lowndes' Poems in Weird Tales

"The Courier" (Vol. 48, No. 1, Spring 1981)

"The Worshippers" (Vol. 48, No. 1, Spring 1981)

"The Guardian" (Vol. 48, No. 2, Spring 1981)

"Liberation" (Vol. 48, No. 2, Spring 1981)

"The Summons" (Vol. 48, No. 3, Fall 1981)

"The Viola" (Vol. 48, No. 3, Fall 1981)

Text copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Robert A.W. Lowndes (1916-1998)-Part 3

On September 18, 1938, Isaac Asimov wrote in his diary: "I attended the first meeting of the Futurians, and boy, did I have a good time." The meeting took place in "a sort of hall which is also a Communist Party headquarters at other times." In attendance were Asimov, Rudolph Castown, Jack Gillespie, Cyril Kornbluth, Walter Kubilis, Herbert Levantman, Robert W. Lowndes, John B. Michel, Frederik Pohl, Jack Rubinson, and Donald A. Wollheim. "After the meeting," Asimov wrote, "we all went down to an ice cream parlor. . . ." The young men splurged on $1.90 worth of "sodas, banana splits, and sandwiches." Every couple of weeks thereafter, the group met in various places, at Jack Gillespie's house or Dick Wilson's house. Seventeen-year-old James Blish attended the third meeting. By the end of the year, there were even women joining The Futurians in their revelry. (1)

Isaac Asimov made his first sale that fall. "On October 21, 1938," he recorded, "Amazing accepted 'Marooned Off Vesta', the third story I wrote." (2) A prodigy perhaps among prodigies, Asimov was among the first of The Futurians to become a professional. Others followed in rapid order.

Isaac Asimov (1919 or 1920-1992)--Author, editor, anthologist, chemist, teacher. First published science fiction: "Marooned Off Vesta" in Amazing Stories, Mar. 1939.

James Blish (1921-1975)--Author, critic, editor. First published science fiction: "Emergency Refueling" in Super Science Stories, Mar. 1940.

Rudolph Castown (1920-1982)--Member of The Futurians. No index entry in The Immortal Storm by Sam Moskowitz or All Our Yesterdays by Harry Warner, Jr.

Jack Gillespie (dates unknown)--Member of The Futurians and science fiction fan.

Cyril Kornbluth (1923-1958)--Author. First published science fiction: "The Rocket of 1955," in Richard Wilson's fanzine Escape (Aug. 1939).

Walter Kubilis, later Kubilius (1918-1993)--Author. First published science fiction: "Trail's End" in Stirring Science Stories, June 1941.

Herbert Levantman (dates unknown)--Member of The Futurians and science fiction fan. He is called by this name in The Futurians by Damon Knight. Sam Moskowitz called him Herman Leventman. I did not find records for a Herbert Levantman, but there was a Herman Leventmen (1920-2009), who enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942.

Robert W. Lowndes (1916-1998)--Author, poet, editor. First published science fiction: "Letter: Report on the Plutonian Ambassador" in Wonder Stories, Sept. 1935. Editor: Future Fiction (and variant titles, 1941-1960); Science Fiction (1941); Science Fiction Quarterly (1941-1958); Dynamic Science Fiction (1952-1953); Science Fiction Stories (1953-1960); Magazine of Horror (1963-1971); Famous Science Fiction (1966-1969); Startling Mystery Stories (1966-1971); Bizarre Fantasy Tales (1970-1971). (3)

John B. Michel (1917-1968)--Author, poet, editor, publisher, artist. First published science fiction: "The Menace from Mercury" with Raymond Z. Gallun in Wonder Stories Quarterly, Summer 1932. Editor of various fan magazines, including The Fantasy Amateur.

Frederik Pohl (b. 1919)--Author, poet, editor, literary agent. First published science fiction: "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna," a poem as by Elton Andrews, in Amazing Stories, Oct. 1937. Editor: Astonishing Stories (1940-1941); Super Science Stories (1940-1941); Star Science Fiction (1958); Galaxy (1961-1968); If (1962-1969); Worlds of Tomorrow (1963-1967); International Science Fiction (1967-1968).

Jack Rubinson, aka Jack Robins (dates unknown)--Member of The Futurians and science fiction fan.

Richard "Dick" Wilson (1920-1987)--Author, editor. First published science fiction: "Murder from Mars" in Astonishing Stories, Apr. 1940.

Donald A. Wollheim (1914-1990)--Author, editor. First published science fiction: "The Man from Ariel" in Wonder Stories, Jan. 1934. Editor: Cosmic Stories (1941); Stirring Science Stories (1941-1942); Avon Fantasy Reader (1947-1952); others. (4)

Note that some of the first published science fiction by these authors was printed in magazines edited by other Futurians.

That's a long list containing a lot of information. The point is that the members of The Futurians made their mark on science fiction, some primarily as authors (Asimov, Blish, Kornbluth), others primarily as editors (Wollheim), and some as both (Lowndes, Pohl). Some were published before forming The Futurians, others shortly afterwards. In any case, by 1940, they were on their way, occupying a place as up-and-coming science fictioneers.

To be concluded . . .

Notes

(1) Quotes and other details are from The Futurians by Damon Knight, pp. 16-21.

(2) The story was published in Amazing Stories in March 1939. Quoted in The Futurians p. 19.

(3) These dates are not necessarily inclusive of all years within the dates.

(4) Most of the author's and editor's credits come from the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.

Text copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Robert A.W. Lowndes (1916-1998)-Part 2

According to the Speculative Fiction Database, Robert W. Lowndes' first published science fiction was "Letter: Report of the Plutonian Ambassador" in Wonder Stories for September 1935. The byline was "Sir Doc Lowndes," and "Letter" was actually printed on the letters page and not as part of the main contents of the magazine. The issue in which Lowndes' story appeared came out just in time for his nineteenth birthday. Years of poverty and obscurity still lay before him, but nothing could have detracted from the joy the young author must have felt in seeing his name in print.

That same year, Donald Wollheim, already a published author, began attending meetings of the Brooklyn Science Fiction League. Robert W. Lowndes was already there, as were John B. Michel and Frederik Pohl. As the Great Depression ground on, and "[h]aving no real prospects, Wollheim and his friends immersed themselves more and more deeply in the worlds of their imagination." (1) The four wrote poetry and fiction and printed their own fan magazines. Lowndes' contributions in that arena included a journal called Le Vombiteur, which commenced on December 1, 1938, with a statement of policy, followed by a contradictory disclaimer: "No statement of policy expressed either here or hereafter is to be taken as binding." (2) There was joshing and foolishness, in-jokes and nonsense. I suppose there was also preparation for professional writing and editing.

"For people of Lowndes's generation," Damon Knight wrote, "the Great Depression was something that had always existed; it was just the way things were." (3) Donald Wollheim, whose father was a doctor, thus a little better off than most, remembered:

The problem was psychological. The problem was that you had no future. I mean you were eighteen, nineteen, and there were absolutely no jobs, no openings, no anything. It was an endless futility--you knew what you wanted to do, but there wasn't a chance in the world. (4)

Times may have been hard, but would science fiction fandom have prospered were it not for the Depression? A generation of young men (and a few women) sat idle. Reading, writing, meetings, trips, conventions, and endless talk filled their days. Fandom and future writers were born from all that activity. Beyond that, science fiction gave those early fans a means of escape from a harsh reality--and hope for a better future. Their lives and their art were focused on that future.

On September 18, 1938, two weeks to the day after his twenty-second birthday, Robert W. Lowndes was on hand for the first meeting of The Futurians, a group of science fiction fans and budding writers. The charter members of the group were John B. Michel, Donald A. Wollheim, Rudolph Castown, Robert W. Lowndes, Frederik Pohl, Jack Rubinson, Walter Kubilis, Jack Gillespie, Isaac Asimov, Cyril Kornbluth, and Herbert Levantman. In 1938, after nine long years, the Great Depression still had not receded. At the same time The Futurians were conducting their initial meetings, other meetings were taking place in Europe, meetings by which Hitler would be appeased, Czechoslovakia dismembered, and the seeds of war planted. But what is now called the Golden Age of Science Fiction had begun, and the members of The Futurians were on the cusp of new lives as professional authors and editors.

To be continued . . .

Notes

(1) From The Futurians by Damon Knight, p. 8.

(2) I can only assume that the title Le Vombiteur was a reference to Clark Ashton Smith's story "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis," published in Weird Tales in May 1932.

(3) From The Futurians, p. 8.

(4) Quoted in The Futurians, p. 8.

Revised on July 5, 2013.

Copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley

Robert A.W. Lowndes (1916-1998)-Part 1

Aka Doc Lowndes
Author, Essayist, Poet, Reviewer, Editor
Born September 4, 1916, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Died July 14, 1998, Newport, Rhode Island

The original Weird Tales ran for 279 issues between 1923 and 1954. Sam Moskowitz revived the magazine in 1973-1974 for four issues approaching the original format. In 1980-1981, Lin Carter edited four more issues in a series of mass-market paperbacks. I haven't covered any of the authors from Lin Carter's Weird Tales until now. Robert A.W. Lowndes is the first.

Robert Ward Lowndes was born on September 4, 1916, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. His father was Harry Irving Lowndes, an electrician by trade. Lowndes' mother was, I believe, Fanny R. Stevens Lowndes. That will be my assumption here. Fanny Lowndes died in the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. "At that point," Lowndes remembered,

my father, who was tremendously broken up, sort of disappeared; I was put in the care of various relatives, and for several years, until my father remarried, was shuttled from one to another. As a result, I never felt I belonged anywhere. (1)

In the 1920 census, Robert Lowndes was enumerated in the household of his wife's parents, Ward B. and Annie S. Stevens of Redding, Connecticut. (They had earlier lived in Stamford.) Harry I. Lowndes was then living in New York City. By 1930 the Lowndes family was back together. Harry Lowndes and his new wife, Naomi, shared their home with Robert and two of his half-siblings, Harry I. Junior and Ruth. They lived in Darien, Connecticut, throughout the 1930s.

In looking into the life of Robert A.W. Lowndes, you're faced with questions of names. Like I said, I believe Lowndes' mother was named Fanny R. Stevens. Her brother was named Robert, her father Ward. It's easy enough to assume that Robert Ward Lowndes was named after two of his mother's family members. So where did the "A" come from? According to Damon Knight, Lowndes became an Episcopalian in the 1960s and adopted the name Augustine, hence Robert A.W. Lowndes. Lowndes earned the nickname "Doc" from his friends when they learned that he had worked in a hospital, as a porter, in the late 1930s. 

Lowndes used other names as well, all in his writing, alone or in collaboration with others. His pseudonyms included (in addition to his own initials or combinations of initials and his surname): Doc Lowndes, Sir Doc Lowndes, Jacques DeForest Erman, S. D. Gottesman, Carol Grey, Carl Groener, Henry Josephs, Mallory Kent, Paul Dennis Lavond, Wilfred Owen Morley, Richard Morrison, Michael Sherman, Peter Michael Sherman, and Lawrence Woods.

Finally, I should point out that Ward (which sounds a lot like a surname used as a Christian name) and Stevens are two surnames associated with H.P. Lovecraft and his family. It makes me wonder now if Lowndes was related to Lovecraft, a writer he admired and with whom he corresponded, if only briefly.

"Damon Knight says that, as children, all we science fiction writers were toads." The quote is from Frederik Pohl (2), but note his use of the first person plural. You could argue that toadishness in science fiction writers doesn't end in childhood. Reportedly, Cyril Kornbluth didn't brush his teeth and they were in fact green. (A simple solution: brush your teeth.) Raymond Palmer was deformed in a childhood accident. According to Knight, Robert W. Lowndes was born prematurely and with a club foot. (As a child he wore a high shoe; his foot was partially corrected through surgery.) Knight continues:

Lowndes grew up awkward and ungainly, with buck teeth that embarrassed him and made his speech difficult. His arches fell when he was in high school, and it was years before he found out about arch supports. He lurched a good deal; it was not safe to walk beside him. He covered his insecurities with an affected aristocratic manner; I think he must have practiced his sneer in front of a mirror. (3)

After graduating high school, Lowndes served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and attended Stamford Community College briefly before returning to the CCC. By the late 1930s, out on his own again, he was living in poverty, staying at the YMCA or sleeping in subways and eating by way of handouts from friends. But he was also writing science fiction stories and in contact with others who shared his interests, the group of New York science fiction fans called The Futurians.

To be continued . . .

Notes
(1) Quoted in The Futurians by Damon Knight (1977), p. 7.
(2) In The Way the Future Was (Ballantine, 1978), p. 2.
(3) From The Futurians, p. 7.

Original text copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley