 November 1954 issue; cover by Alex Schomburg | |
| Categories | Science fiction magazine |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Leo Margulies, H.L. Herbert |
| First issue | June–July 1953 |
| Final issue | March 1960 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Fantastic Universe was a U.S. science fiction magazine which began publishing in the 1950s. It ran for 69 issues, from June 1953 to March 1960, under two different publishers. It was part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishing in the 1950s in the United States, and was moderately successful, outlasting almost all of its competitors. The main editors were Leo Margulies (1954–1956) and Hans Stefan Santesson (1956–1960).
The magazine is not highly regarded by science fiction historians, but some well-received stories appeared, including "Who?", by Algis Budrys, which formed the basis for Budrys's novel of that name, and several stories of Robert E. Howard's, rewritten by L. Sprague de Camp to feature Howard's character Conan the Barbarian. Under Santesson's tenure the quality declined somewhat, and the magazine became known for printing much UFO-related material. A collection of stories from the magazine, edited by Santesson, appeared in 1960 from Prentice-Hall, titled The Fantastic Universe Omnibus.