 December 1952 issue; cover by Vann | |
| Editor | Gordon Landsborough, H.J. Campbell, E.C. Tubb |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science fiction magazine |
| Frequency | Fortnightly for 8 issues, then monthly |
| First issue | January 1951 |
| Final issue Number | October 1957 85 |
| Company | Hamilton & Co. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Based in | London |
| Language | English |
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. The magazine was published by Hamilton and Co. in London and began in 1951 as a series of novels appearing every two weeks; by the summer it became a monthly magazine, with readers' letters and an editorial page, though fiction content was still restricted to a single novel. In 1952 short fiction began to appear alongside the novels, and within two more years it completed the transformation into a science fiction magazine.
Authentic published little in the way of important or ground-breaking fiction, though it did print Charles L. Harness's "The Rose", which later became well-regarded. The poor rates of pay—£1 per 1,000 words—prevented the magazine from attracting the best writers. During much of its life it competed against three other moderately successful British science fiction magazines, as well as the American science fiction magazine market. Hamilton folded the magazine in October 1957, because they needed cash to finance an investment in the UK rights to an American best-selling novel.