NEBULA SCIENCE FICTION

1952-1959

 

In the Autumn of 1952, when Britain exploded its first atomic weapon at the Monte Bello Islands, a new science fiction magazine appeared on British bookstalls. Nebula Science Fiction was edited in Glasgow (and published from #6) by the 18 year-old Peter Hamilton and ran for 41 issues before it ceased publication in June 1959. Hamilton left school in 1952 and originally intended to produce paperbacks using his family's printing firm during idle moments but was advised that magazines were more profitable. The large-digest-size magazine retained its distinctive logo and size (215x135mm) throughout its publication and joined New Worlds, Science Fantasy and Authentic as part of the 50s UK sf magazine revival and remained the only professional sf magazine published in Scotland until Spectrum Science Fiction in 2000. Its contributors included  prolific British writers of the time such as  Syd Bounds, Ken Bulmer, John Christopher, E.R.James, J.T.M’Intosh, Charles Eric Maine, F.G.RayerEric Frank Russell, Arthur Sellings, Bill Temple and E.C.(Ted) Tubb. Nebula was the first professional magazine to publish stories by  Robert Silverberg (#7) and Bob Shaw (#9) and the early work of Brian Aldiss, Barrington Bayley (as John Diamond), John Brunner, Harlan Ellison and James White. In addition to  fiction, Nebula ran a Special Features section that included book reviews by Ken Slater, "scientifilm" previews by Forry Ackerman, scientific articles by John Newman and, most significantly, a column (The Electric Fan/Fanorama) by the gifted Irish fan writer, Walt Willis, which introduced and recruited many readers to sf fandom. The letter column, Guided Missives, featured letters from several prominent figures in 50s sf fandom such as Ron Bennett, Eric Bentcliffe, Robert Bloch, Joan W. Carr (a hoax perpetrated by Sandy Sanderson), Joy Clarke, Alan Dodd, Terry Jeeves, Ivor Mayne, Archie Mercer, Ken Potter, Alan Rispin and Bryan Welham. The distinctive covers (which are reproduced on this website) by artists including Bob Clothier, Alan Hunter, Eddie Jones, Ken McIntyre and Gerard Quinn frequently reflected the anxiety of the times arising from the Cold War and possible use of nuclear weapons ( #10, #14, #21, #28) as did Hamilton’s editorials and choice of contents. James Stark’s cover for #22 was a remarkable prediction of the Luis Alvarez asteroid impact theory proposed in 1980. From #13 onwards the London artist Arthur Thomson (ATom) provided 23 outstanding often humorous b/w back covers, mostly dealing with the theme of human-alien co-operation. Nebula was never profitable and its final demise was brought about by a combination of the editor's ill health, a printing dispute,  import restrictions by the US, South Africa and Australia, British excise duties  and, in Hamilton’s opinion, a change in public reading habits caused by the spread of television in the UK.

-Jim Linwood 2002-

 

Covers and Contents

Please click on the issue number to view the contents and cover.

Nebula 1 Nebula 2 Nebula 3 Nebula 4
Nebula 5 Nebula 6 Nebula 7 Nebula 8
Nebula 9 Nebula 10 Nebula 11 Nebula 12
Nebula 13 Nebula 14 Nebula 15 Nebula 16
Nebula 17 Nebula 18 Nebula 19 Nebula 20
Nebula 21 Nebula 22 Nebula 23 Nebula 24
Nebula 25 Nebula 26 Nebula 27 Nebula 28
Nebula 29 Nebula 30 Nebula 31 Nebula 32
Nebula 33 Nebula 34 Nebula 35 Nebula 36
Nebula 37 Nebula 38 Nebula 39 Nebula 40
Nebula 41 ( Scans for issues 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8  & 9  kindly provided by Robert Lichtman )  

 

Special Features

References

The Association for Scottish Literary Studies  Genres in Scottish Writing: Science Fiction.

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1999)  John Clute and Peter Nicholls (eds.)

Then  Rob Hansen's history-in-progress of British Science Fiction Fandom.

Transformations. (2005) Mike Ashley

Links

Fanorama - Walt Willis's Nebula column

The Enchanted Duplicator by Walt Willis and Bob Shaw

The Fanac Fan History Project

Ken Bulmer's TAFF Report

The Willis Papers

 Science Fiction fanzines on-line

The Origins of the British Science Fiction Association

Nebula Science Fiction - Wikipedia

'Nebula': Far from Nebulous by Andrew Darlington.

Jacques Hamon's Collectors Showcase.

Last update 18 January 2015

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