Uncanny Tales (Canadian pulp magazine)
Uncanny Tales was a Canadian
Publication history and contents
By the end of the 1930s the science fiction magazine field was booming, with multiple new magazines launched in a short period.[1] Most of the publishers also printed versions of their magazines for the Canadian market, but with the outbreak of World War II, paper shortages and import restrictions reduced the availability of these magazines in Canada. Uncanny Tales was begun in response to these conditions; the editor was Melvin R. Colby, and the first issue was dated November 1940.[2]
The first issue was
The sixth issue saw a story by Wollheim appear, and in the seventh issue there were three by Wollheim and one by
Paper shortages caused by the war forced the magazine to a bimonthly schedule in 1942, and only four more issues appeared. The last issue was dated September–October 1943. Over the lifetime of the magazine its focus shifted from weird fiction to include both science fiction and fantasy.[3] The magazine is now hard to find and complete runs are very rare.[6]
Bibliographic details
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1940 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
1941 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
1942 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ||||
1943 | 21 | |||||||||||
All issues of Uncanny Tales, showing issue number. The editor was Melvin R. Colby throughout.[7] |
Uncanny Tales was published by Adam Publishing Co. of Toronto for the first 17 issues, and by Norman Book Co. of Toronto for the last four issues.[3] The publisher may have been owned by Valentine, of the Toronto publishers Valentine, Koniac and Chamberlain.[4] The editor, who was not credited in the magazine, was Melvin R. Colby. The first four issues were digest-sized and 64 pages long; the format then switched to a large pulp size with 96 pages for all the remaining issues except the last, which had 128 pages. The price was 15 cents throughout except for the last issue, which was 25 cents. There was no volume numbering.[3] A complete index by Dennis Lien of the contents of all issues can be found in issue 9 of Megavore, a science fiction and fantasy bibliography magazine.[8]
In the early 1950s an anthology titled Brief Fantastic Tales appeared from Studio Publications in Toronto; it consisted mostly of reprints from Uncanny Tales, and despite the difference in the name of the publisher it is likely it came from the same editor and publishers as Uncanny Tales.[2]
References
- ^ Edwards & Nicholls (1993), pp. 1066–1068.
- ^ a b c Ashley (2000), pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Ashley & Thiessen (1985), pp. 685–688.
- ^ a b c d e Moskowitz (1990), pp. 87–90.
- ^ Bleiler (1998), p. 429.
- ^ Ashley, Mike (21 August 2012). "Uncanny Tales". SF Encyclopedia. Gollancz. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
- ^ Ashley (2000), p. 252−253.
- ^ Crawford, Frank, et al. (1983), p. 1.
Sources
- Ashley, Mike (2000). The Time Machines:The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the beginning to 1950. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-865-0.
- Ashley, Mike; Thiessen, Grant (1985). "Uncanny Tales (1940–1943)". In Tymn, Marshall B.; Ashley, Mike (eds.). Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Weird Fiction Magazines. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 685–688. ISBN 0-313-21221-X.
- Bleiler, Everett F. (1998). Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years. Kent OH: The Kent State University Press. ISBN 0-87338-604-3.
- Crawford, Gary William; Frank, Frederick S.; Fisher, Benjamin Franklin; Ljungquist, Kent (1983). The 1980 Bibliography of Gothic Studies. Baton Rouge LA: Gothic Press. ISBN 0-913045-00-4.
- Edwards, Malcolm; Nicholls, Peter (1993). "SF magazines". In Clute, John; Nicholls, Peter (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc. pp. 1066–1071. ISBN 0-312-09618-6.
- Moskowitz, Sam (March 1990). "Canada's Pioneer Science-Fantasy Magazine (La première revue canadienne de science fantaisie)". JSTOR 4239976.
Further reading
- Lien, Dennis (June 1980). "Uncanny Tales (Canadian)". Megavore (9): 25–37.