Nebula Science Fiction
Encyclopedia
Nebula Science Fiction was the first Scottish science fiction
Science fiction magazine
A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard copy periodical format or on the Internet....

 magazine. It was published from 1952 to 1959, and was edited by Peter Hamilton, a young Scot who was able to take advantage of spare capacity at his parents' printing company, Crownpoint, to launch the magazine. Because Hamilton could only print Nebula when Crownpoint had no other work, the schedule was initially erratic. In 1955 he moved the printing to a Dublin-based firm, and the schedule became a little more regular, with a steady monthly run beginning in 1958 that lasted into the following year. Nebulas circulation was international, with only a quarter of the sales in the United Kingdom (UK): this led to disaster when both South Africa and Australia imposed import controls on foreign periodicals at the end of the 1950s. Excise
Excise
Excise tax in the United States is a indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are far from uniform throughout the United States...

 duties imposed in the UK added to Hamilton's financial burdens, and he was rapidly forced to close the magazine down. The last issue was dated June 1959.

The magazine was popular with writers, partly because Hamilton went to great lengths to encourage new writers, and partly because he paid better rates per word than much of his competition. Initially he could not compete with the American market, but he offered a bonus for the most popular story in the issue, and eventually was able to match the leading American magazines. He published the first stories of several well-known writers, including Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...

, Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE is an English author of both general fiction and science fiction. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss. Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society...

, and Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw, born Robert Shaw, was a science fiction author and fan from Northern Ireland. He was noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980...

. Nebula was also a fan favourite: author Ken Bulmer recalls that it became "what many fans regard as the best-loved British SF magazine".

Publishing history

In 1952 Peter Hamilton was eighteen years old and had just left school; he was looking for a job, but was not healthy enough for hard physical work. His parents ran a printing house in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Crownpoint Publications, and occasionally had spare capacity: they were interested in using the idle time on their machinery to enter the publishing business, and Peter persuaded them to publish paperback science fiction (sf) novels. Two novels were acquired, but when Crownpoint approached a local wholesaler to handle the distribution, they were told that paperbacks would be a mistake, and that a magazine, with a regular publication schedule, would be more likely to sell well. The result was Nebula Science Fiction. The first issue was dated Autumn 1952, and sold 4,000 copies.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
1952 1/1
1953 1/2 1/3 1/4 2/1 2/2
1954 2/3 2/4 9 10 11
1955 12 13 14
1956 15 16 17 18 19
1957 20 21 22 23 24 25
1958 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37
1959 38 39 40 41
Issues of Nebula showing volume/issue number. The first four issues were
dated Autumn 1952, and then Spring, Summer and Autumn 1953; from
issue 5 they were dated with the month.
Several British fans helped Hamilton with the production of the magazine, including Ken Slater, Vince Clarke, and John Brunner
John Brunner (novelist)
John Kilian Houston Brunner was a prolific British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, about an overpopulated world, won the 1968 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel. It also won the BSFA award the same year...

. William F. Temple
William F. Temple
William Frederick Temple was a British science fiction writer. He was a member of the British Interplanetary Society and involved in science fiction fandom before writing. His best known work might be the novel which formed the basis for the film Four Sided Triangle, a novel which Groff Conklin...

 was involved as an editorial consultant and also assisted with editing the manuscripts. All of the financing was provided by Hamilton, and he had to wait for the money to come in from each issue before he could afford to produce the next. In addition, Crownpoint only intermittently had enough spare capacity to print Nebula, therefore the first few issues appeared on an erratic schedule. After a dozen issues, the conflicts led to Hamilton moving Nebula to a printing firm based in Dublin, and breaking the connection with Crownpoint. He was then able to publish on a slightly more regular schedule, although the planned bi-monthly issues were still sometimes delayed. Hamilton paid 21 shillings
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...

 (£1.05) per thousand words, the equivalent of three tenths of a cent per word; this was a low rate compared to the American market, but was marginally better than the contemporary British magazine Authentic Science Fiction
Authentic Science Fiction
Authentic Science Fiction was a British science fiction magazine published in the 1950s that ran for 85 issues under three editors: Gordon Landsborough, H.J. Campbell, and E.C. Tubb...

, which paid £1 per thousand words. Hamilton offered a bonus of £2 or £5 to the story that turned out to be the readers' favourite in each issue, which helped attract writers; and he later increased the rates, paying as much as 2d (0.8p, or 2.3 cents) per word for well-known authors. This was higher than the best UK markets, such as New Worlds
New Worlds (magazine)
New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine which was first published professionally in 1946. For 25 years it was widely considered the leading science fiction magazine in Britain, publishing 201 issues up to 1971...

, and was close to the rates paid by the top magazines in the US at that time. Both the high rates of pay and Hamilton's willingness to work with new authors were designed to encourage writers to submit their work to Nebula before trying the other magazines.

Hamilton's editorial in the September 1957 issue reported a circulation of 40,000, and starting in January 1958 Nebula went on a regular monthly schedule that was maintained until early 1959. Although Nebulas circulation was strong, only about a quarter of the sales were in the UK. A quarter of the sales were in Australia, another third of the sales in the US, and nearly a tenth in South Africa. At the end of the 1950s, first South Africa and then Australia began to limit foreign magazine imports, for economic reasons, and when this was followed by UK excise
Excise
Excise tax in the United States is a indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are far from uniform throughout the United States...

 duties the magazine was quickly in debt. Hamilton was forced to cease publication with issue 41, dated June 1959. Hamilton had also had health problems which contributed to his decision to stop publication.

Contents and reception

The first two issues of Nebula contained the two novels Hamilton had bought before changing his plans from a paperback series to a magazine: Robots Never Weep by E.R. James, and Thou Pasture Us, by F.G. Rayer. These left little room for other material, but Hamilton was able to reprint a short story by A.E. van Vogt in the first issue, and stories by John Brunner and E.C. Tubb in the second issue, along with material by lesser known writers. There was also a column by Walt Willis
Walt Willis
Walter Alexander Willis was a well-known Irish science fiction fan, resident in Belfast.Willis was awarded a 1958 Hugo Award as "Outstanding Actifan" , which replaced the Best Fanzine category that year. He was nominated for a best fan writer Hugo in 1969 and two retro-Hugos in the same category...

 called "The Electric Fan", later renamed "Fanorama", which covered science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom
Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or "fandom" of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy and in contact with one another based upon that interest...

.

Many of the better known British writers began to appear in Nebula, including William F. Temple, E.C. Tubb and Eric Frank Russell
Eric Frank Russell
Eric Frank Russell was a British author best known for his science fiction novels and short stories. Much of his work was first published in the United States, in John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction and other pulp magazines. Russell also wrote horror fiction for Weird Tales, and...

; new authors also began to be published. Hamilton was glad to work with beginning writers, and in 1953 several writers who later became very well known, including Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss
Brian Wilson Aldiss, OBE is an English author of both general fiction and science fiction. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss. Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss is a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society...

, Barrington Bayley, and Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw
Bob Shaw, born Robert Shaw, was a science fiction author and fan from Northern Ireland. He was noted for his originality and wit. He won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1979 and 1980...

, each sold their first story to Nebula. Not all these stories reached print that year: Aldiss’s "T" appeared in the November 1956 issue, by which time other stories of Aldiss’s were in print, and the first story by Bayley is not certainly identified – it may have been "Consolidation", which appeared in November 1959, but it is also possible that it was never printed. Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg
Robert Silverberg is an American author, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple nominee of the Hugo Award and a winner of the Nebula Award.-Early years:...

 had begun submitting stories to Hamilton as soon as he heard of Nebula, realizing that Hamilton was unlikely to be getting many submissions from US writers, and found Hamilton very helpful. Silverberg's first story, "Gorgon Planet", was accepted by Hamilton on January 11, 1954. Brian Aldiss echoes Silverberg's assessment of Hamilton, commenting that Hamilton was "a sympathetic editor to a beginner. He was also a patient editor."

Other authors who appeared in Nebula early in their careers included Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...

, John Rackham
John T. Phillifent
John Thomas Phillifent was an English science fiction author. He wrote as John T. Phillifent and under the pen name John Rackham...

, and James White
James White (author)
James White was a Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. He was born in Belfast and returned there after spending his early years in Canada. After a few years in the clothing industry, he worked at Short Brothers Ltd. from 1965 until taking early retirement in...

. Sf historian Mike Ashley
Mike Ashley (writer)
Michael Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.He edits the long-running Mammoth Book series of short story anthologies, each arranged around a particular theme in mystery, fantasy, or science fiction...

 regards the stories Hamilton selected as demonstrating a “wide range of material by excellent writers” that was "seldom predictable", but adds that the stories have become dated, with the result that few are now well-known. Among a short list of exceptions Ashley includes Brian Aldiss’s "Legends of Smith’s Burst" and "Dumb Show". Because of the erratic schedule, Hamilton only serialised one novel: Wisdom of the Gods, by Ken Bulmer, which appeared in four parts, starting in the July 1958 issue. Hamilton was planning to serialise a novel by Robert Heinlein when the magazine ceased publication.

Cover art came from artists such as Gerard Quinn, and included some of Eddie Jones
Eddie Jones (artist)
Eddie Jones , born Edward John Jones, was a British science fiction illustrator, who started as a fan artist. He illustrated numerous science fiction book covers, some under the pseudonym S. Fantoni, and provided interior illustrations for books and magazines. Jones was active in the field from...

' earliest work. According to sf historian Philip Harbottle, the best of the Scottish artists that Hamilton worked with was James Stark, who painted nine covers for Nebula between 1956 and 1958; sf artist and art historian David Hardy
David A. Hardy
David A. Hardy , is the longest-established living space artist, having illustrated his first book in 1954....

 describes Stark's work as "severe portrayals of technology against which men were mere ants". Interior artists included Harry Turner, whose work is described by Harbottle as "visually striking" and "semi-impressionistic". From the October 1954 issue the back cover was given over to black and white artwork, often drawn by Arthur Thomson
Arthur Thomson (fanzines)
Arthur Thomson was a British artist and writer, a highly regarded member of British science fiction fandom from the 1950s onwards, both as a fanzine writer/editor and prolific artist...

. Author Ken Bulmer regards these back covers as having given the magazine a “tremendously individual flavor”.

Nebula became an established part of the British science fiction scene in the 1950s. The magazine was well-liked by writers, and Bulmer recalls that, overall, Nebula "created a special kind of charisma that, in the view of many writers and readers, no other magazine ever had", and adds that it became "what many fans regard as the best-loved British SF magazine". Tubb, who sold many popular stories to Hamilton, comments that "Authors wrote for Nebula with financial reward taking secondary place; the desire of submitting a good story being of primary importance ... the writers and the contributors felt as if Nebula was 'their' magazine, and all that became a happy, well-integrated family."

Bibliographic details

The publisher was Crownpoint Publications for the first twelve issues, though the name was dropped from the indicia
Indicia (publishing)
Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks.In magazine publishing, indicia refers to a piece of text traditionally appearing on the first recto page after the cover, which usually contains the official name of the publication, its publication date, information...

 starting with the December 1953 issue. From September 1955 the publisher was Peter Hamilton, who was editor throughout. The price was 2/-
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...

(10p) for all but the last two issues, which were priced at 2/6 (12.5p).

Nebula was printed in large digest format, 8.5 by 5.5 in (215.9 by 139.7 mm). The first three issues were 120 pages; this increased to 128 pages for the next three issues, to 130 pages for issue 7, and to 136 pages for issue 8. Issues 9 through 12 were 128 pages, and the remaining issues were 112 pages. The issues were numbered consecutively throughout; the first eight issues were given volume numberings as well, with two volumes of four numbers each.

Issues 30 through 39 of Nebula were distributed in the US; they were stamped at 35 cents and post-dated four months, thus the American copies ran from September 1958 to June 1959.

External links

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