Post by MacNimon on Jan 9, 2012 18:44:26 GMT
This magazine appeared under a variety of names:
Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine (v1#1 - v1#3)
Vargo Statten British Science Fiction Magazine (v1#4 - v1#5)
British Science Fiction Magagazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v1#6 - v1#12)
British Space Fiction Magazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v2#1 - v2#7)
Information in this post quoted from two sites...
www.sfcovers.net/mainnav.htm
bearalley.blogspot.com/2008/06/vargo-statten-sf-magazine.html
Vargo Statten was a pseudonym used by British writer John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) - one of about forty that he used in writing for a wide range of genres, not only SF. He had already published more than 50 novels under the Scion label before the magazine saw the light of day in 1954 and Scion clearly were aiming to capitalize on the name by attaching it to the magazine. Authorities differ on exactly who was the editor for the first few issues - CN95 says it was Alistair Paterson, while Tuck and SFFWF only credit him as associate editor under Statten/Fearn. The juvenile slant of the magazine and the poor rates of pay on offer made it hard to attract top quality authors. The only authors of note to appear besides Fearn were E C Tubb and Barrington Bayley, who would only have been 17 - 18 at the time of his first appearance. Much of the material that appeared comprised recycled Fearn stories under the name Vargo Statten or other pseudonyms.
Artist credit is given on hardly any of the issues...In fact, all of the covers were done either by Ron Turner or by John Richards (who appeared as "Davis" on 23 consecutive issues of Authentic). Turner did vol 1#1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, vol 2#1-7, while Richards did vol 1#2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9. Aside from the superimposed text, #7 and 8 are identical, as are #6 and 9. All of volume 2 appeared with the same design on the left hand side of the cover, with a list of contents against a varying background colour on the right.
This magazine was a spin-off from the hugely successful Vargo Statten novels published by Scion Ltd. from 1950. (see the paperback thread in the General Board) Written by John Russell Fearn, already well-established in American pulps as a leading sf writer, the Statten novels were colourful, exciting adventure yarns, strong on ideas and action.
By 1950, the original paperback market was looking for ways to expand their output and Scion led the way with Fearn's novels. Publishers began to flood the market with dozens of other titles, often using bizarre pseudonyms (Astron Del Martia, Vektis Brack, Bengo Mistral, etc.) to disguise the names of authors who had no background in sf. With no quality control at work, the good sf that was appearing (usually from Scion and Hamilton & Co.) was swamped by mediocre stories.
The Vargo Statten SF Magazine arrived in January 1954 and styled itself upon the pulp action of the novels. This made the magazine too juvenile for the tastes of many, although at the same time the magazine was very fan-friendly, carrying columns and reviews by some of the leading fans of the day, notably A. Vince Clarke's "Inquisitor" column and a "Who's Who in Fandom". The lead stories were generally written by some of the better authors contributing to Scion, namely Fearn himself and E. C. Tubb. As a market for new writers, the magazine scored only once, publishing the first sf story by Barrington J. Bayley.
The magazine had potential but changes behind the scenes led to numerous problems. Scion needed to be re-financed, owing large debts to their printers and editor Alistair Patterson departed after only three issues. John Russell Fearn took over as editor and struggled to find good material with only a limited budget. A film fan, he introduced adaptations of movies such as It Came From Outer Space and Them!. With issue 6, Vargo Statten was dropped from the title, which became the more sedate British Science Fiction Magazine and Fearn began revising old stories from American pulps to eke out the money. Science articles were a regular feature, as they were in most British sf magazines.
From December 1954, the printers Dragon Press also became the publisher and Fearn's budget was cut again. Unknown bylines such as Maxwell M. Commander and Ralph Gaylen were appearing, some almost certainly pen-names while others were authors whose sales to the British Space Fiction Magazine (as the title became in June 1955) were often their one and only contribution to sf.
Under Dragon Press the magazine settled to a digest format with 128 pages (having initially appeared as a pulp and then in a large digest format). As well as a new title, the magazine also adopted a standard cover design, but even these cost-cutting exercises failed to save the magazine from a national printers' strike and the last issue appeared in February 1956.
Vargo Statten Science Fiction Magazine (v1#1 - v1#3)
Vargo Statten British Science Fiction Magazine (v1#4 - v1#5)
British Science Fiction Magagazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v1#6 - v1#12)
British Space Fiction Magazine - edited by Vargo Statten (v2#1 - v2#7)
Information in this post quoted from two sites...
www.sfcovers.net/mainnav.htm
bearalley.blogspot.com/2008/06/vargo-statten-sf-magazine.html
Vargo Statten was a pseudonym used by British writer John Russell Fearn (1908-1960) - one of about forty that he used in writing for a wide range of genres, not only SF. He had already published more than 50 novels under the Scion label before the magazine saw the light of day in 1954 and Scion clearly were aiming to capitalize on the name by attaching it to the magazine. Authorities differ on exactly who was the editor for the first few issues - CN95 says it was Alistair Paterson, while Tuck and SFFWF only credit him as associate editor under Statten/Fearn. The juvenile slant of the magazine and the poor rates of pay on offer made it hard to attract top quality authors. The only authors of note to appear besides Fearn were E C Tubb and Barrington Bayley, who would only have been 17 - 18 at the time of his first appearance. Much of the material that appeared comprised recycled Fearn stories under the name Vargo Statten or other pseudonyms.
Artist credit is given on hardly any of the issues...In fact, all of the covers were done either by Ron Turner or by John Richards (who appeared as "Davis" on 23 consecutive issues of Authentic). Turner did vol 1#1, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, vol 2#1-7, while Richards did vol 1#2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9. Aside from the superimposed text, #7 and 8 are identical, as are #6 and 9. All of volume 2 appeared with the same design on the left hand side of the cover, with a list of contents against a varying background colour on the right.
This magazine was a spin-off from the hugely successful Vargo Statten novels published by Scion Ltd. from 1950. (see the paperback thread in the General Board) Written by John Russell Fearn, already well-established in American pulps as a leading sf writer, the Statten novels were colourful, exciting adventure yarns, strong on ideas and action.
By 1950, the original paperback market was looking for ways to expand their output and Scion led the way with Fearn's novels. Publishers began to flood the market with dozens of other titles, often using bizarre pseudonyms (Astron Del Martia, Vektis Brack, Bengo Mistral, etc.) to disguise the names of authors who had no background in sf. With no quality control at work, the good sf that was appearing (usually from Scion and Hamilton & Co.) was swamped by mediocre stories.
The Vargo Statten SF Magazine arrived in January 1954 and styled itself upon the pulp action of the novels. This made the magazine too juvenile for the tastes of many, although at the same time the magazine was very fan-friendly, carrying columns and reviews by some of the leading fans of the day, notably A. Vince Clarke's "Inquisitor" column and a "Who's Who in Fandom". The lead stories were generally written by some of the better authors contributing to Scion, namely Fearn himself and E. C. Tubb. As a market for new writers, the magazine scored only once, publishing the first sf story by Barrington J. Bayley.
The magazine had potential but changes behind the scenes led to numerous problems. Scion needed to be re-financed, owing large debts to their printers and editor Alistair Patterson departed after only three issues. John Russell Fearn took over as editor and struggled to find good material with only a limited budget. A film fan, he introduced adaptations of movies such as It Came From Outer Space and Them!. With issue 6, Vargo Statten was dropped from the title, which became the more sedate British Science Fiction Magazine and Fearn began revising old stories from American pulps to eke out the money. Science articles were a regular feature, as they were in most British sf magazines.
From December 1954, the printers Dragon Press also became the publisher and Fearn's budget was cut again. Unknown bylines such as Maxwell M. Commander and Ralph Gaylen were appearing, some almost certainly pen-names while others were authors whose sales to the British Space Fiction Magazine (as the title became in June 1955) were often their one and only contribution to sf.
Under Dragon Press the magazine settled to a digest format with 128 pages (having initially appeared as a pulp and then in a large digest format). As well as a new title, the magazine also adopted a standard cover design, but even these cost-cutting exercises failed to save the magazine from a national printers' strike and the last issue appeared in February 1956.