SATELLITE SCIENCE FICTION

   US magazine, DIGEST-size Oct 1956-Dec 1958, BEDSHEET-size Feb-May 1959, 18 issues Oct 1956-May 1959. Bimonthly; monthly for last 4 issues (Feb-May 1959). Published by Renown Publications. Cylvia Kleinman (Mrs Leo MARGULIES) was managing ed on all issues, which were ed Sam MERWIN Jr Oct-Dec 1956, Leo Margulies Feb 1957-Dec 1958 and Frank Belknap LONG Feb-May 1959.SSF was to some degree a re-creation in digest format of STARTLING STORIES, with a similar editorial policy ("a complete science fiction novel in every issue") and an editor and publisher (Leo Margulies was both) who had worked on that magazine in the 1940s. It began promisingly, its first 2 issues featuring "The Man from Earth" (Oct 1956; rev vt Man of Earth 1958) by Algis BUDRYS and "A Glass of Darkness" (Dec 1956; vt The Cosmic Puppets 1957) by Philip K. DICK, as well as stories byIsaac ASIMOV, Arthur C. CLARKE (in each of the first 5 issues), L. Sprague DE CAMP and others. Merwin left after \#2, however, and the magazine gradually declined into mediocrity, though it did run an interesting series of articles by Sam MOSKOWITZ on the HISTORY OF SF - a partial basis for his Explorers of the Infinite (coll 1963) - and The Languages of Pao (Dec 1957; cut 1958) by Jack VANCE. The June 1959 issue was printed butnever distributed.

   MJE