Venture Science Fiction

In late 1949, publisher Lawrence E. Spivak launched The Magazine of Fantasy, one of many new titles in a crowded field of genre magazines. The title was changed to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (usually abbreviated to F&SF) with the second issue, and the new magazine rapidly became successful and influential within the science fiction field. The editors were Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, and the managing editor was Robert P. Mills. In 1954, Joseph Ferman, a partner of Spivak's, bought the magazine from him. Ferman subsequently decided to launch a companion magazine, and gave it to Mills to edit. The new magazine was titled Venture Science Fiction, and the first issue was dated January 1957. Mills was managing editor of F&SF throughout Venture's first run; he became editor of F&SF shortly after Venture ceased publishing in July 1958. Ferman hoped to take advantage of a gap in the science fiction magazine market opened up by the demise of Planet Stories, one of the last sf pulps, which had ceased publication in late 1955. and Ferman hoped to combine the virtues of the melodramatic pulp fiction style with the literary values that were key to F&SF's success. Ed Emshwiller supplied eight of the ten covers; he had sold several covers to F&SF by this time, so his work reinforced the sense of connection between the two magazines. An editorial, "Venturings," appeared in each issue of the first series; after Ferman used the first one as a platform for editorial policy, it was usually written by Mills, who occasionally turned the column over to letters from SF figures. The last editorial, in July 1958, featured a eulogy of C. M. Kornbluth by Frederik Pohl, and one of Henry Kuttner by Sturgeon. Kornbluth and Kuttner had died within two months of each other earlier that year. Venture kept to a steady bimonthly schedule for ten issues, but its circulation never reached a sustainable level, and it was canceled in mid-1958. The large number of competing magazines probably hurt sales, though since many of the competitors lasted for only one or two issues, Venture can be thought of as at least a partial success. An anthology drawn from the magazine's fiction, No Limits, was published in 1964 by Ballantine Books, attributed to Joseph Ferman as editor. ==British and Australian editions==

In December 1959, a British edition of F&SF appeared from Atlas Publishing and Distributing Limited, a London-based publisher. Atlas had published a British edition of Analog (formerly Astounding Science Fiction) since 1939. In 1963 the abolition of import restrictions meant that Analog could be directly imported, and since there was no longer a need for a British edition, Atlas decided to start a new sf magazine to replace it. The new Venture Science Fiction drew many of its stories from the US version, but it also reprinted from the late 1950s F&SF, since there had been no British edition of that magazine until the end of 1959. Within a year Atlas decided to abandon their edition of F&SF as well; the last issue appeared in June 1964. The British version of Venture began in September 1963, and ran for 28 numbered issues, through December 1965; the editor was Ronald R. Wickers. The stories selected from F&SF for the UK edition of Venture did not overlap with material already reprinted in the UK edition of F&SF. The first five issues had pictorial covers, but thereafter the cover simply listed the names of the contributing authors. This unattractive presentation, and the lack of much in the way of interior artwork, probably hurt sales. Atlas's stated reason for ending the magazine was that it was "due to the expiration of available material", but there were in fact many stories available to reprint. It is more likely that the real reason was that the US edition of F&SF was by then easily available in the UK, and that circulation was falling. Atlas also published an Australian edition, which was identical to the British edition except that it was dated two months later; the issues ran from November 1963 to February 1966. ==Second US run==

Feghoot story in each issue: these were a series of very short stories, based on bad puns, that had begun in F&SF the previous year. Ron Goulart contributed a book review column to each issue of the second incarnation, and there was an occasional film review. This version of Venture did not credit the artists, but most of the covers were signed by Bert Tanner, who was listed on the masthead as the art director. According to Nicholas De Larber, a historian of science fiction, Tanner's cover art was much less distinguished than Emshwiller's work for the first run of the magazine, and it is likely that this had a negative effect on sales: De Larbert likened Tanner's work to "pencil sketches overlaid by a single color". Tanner also contributed much, but not all, of the interior art; other artists who can by identified by their signatures include Emshwiller, Derek Carter, and Bhob Stewart, who illustrated Tiptree's story in the November 1969 issue. ==Bibliographic details==

For the first incarnation, Venture was priced at 35 cents throughout, and maintained a 128-page count along with a regular bimonthly schedule, starting with January 1957 and ending with the July 1958 issue. The first volume had six numbers, and the second had four. The British edition was numbered consecutively from 1 to 28 without any volume numbers, and was priced at 2/6 (£0.) until the July 1964 issue, after which the price was 3/- (£0.15). The second US version began in May 1969 with volume 3 number 1, and maintained a regular quarterly schedule until the last issue in August 1970. Each issue was priced at 60 cents, and like its predecessor had a page count of 128. After the first US edition ceased publication, F&SF added the line "including Venture Science Fiction" to the masthead, in order to ensure that the publisher retained the rights to the title. The line reappeared in February 1971, several months after the failure of the second US edition, and was finally dropped in February 1990. == References ==