Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is the successor title to the Golden Age magazine Astounding Science Fiction, an influential science-fiction magazine first published in 1930. In 1960 the editor of Astounding, John W. Campbell, Jr., changed the title in order to target a more adult audience. After Campbell's death in 1971, Ben Bova served as editor, followed by the present editor, Stanley Schmidt. From the late 1930s until about 1950, when Galaxy and the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction first appeared, Astounding was unquestionably the most widely read, influential, and important magazine in the field.
The first issue of what was then known as Astounding Tales of Super-Science appeared in January 1930, published by William Clayton and edited by Harry Bates. The magazine underwent a number of changes of name, ownership and editorship, eventually coming under the ownership of the major pulp publisher, Street and Smith, and the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr.. Under Campbell Astounding would publish the major authors of the Golden Age such as Isaac Asimov, A.E. van Vogt, Theodore Sturgeon , Robert A. Heinlein, and, to a much lesser degree, Arthur C. Clarke.[1] Over a period of months around 1959 and 1960 Campbell gradually changed the name to Analog Science Fiction and Fact, under which title it continues to this day. It is still (2010) the most widely sold magazine in the field, but its monthly sales have fallen from a high of about 120,000 20 years ago to barely 20,000 today, figures typical of other science-fiction publications.
Footnotes
- ↑ Although Clarke's first two American publications were in Astounding in 1946, including the memorable Rescue Party, he wrote only a bare handful stories for them thereafter.