Introduction
Confusingly, two of the early attempts at British SF magazines were both called
"Fantasy" and I have grouped them together on this page so that you
can be clear about which was which. They were by two different publishers and
had two different editors and I am not aware of any connection between them other
than their name, though I have seen the 1946 magazine described as an "attempted
revival" of the pre-war one. They had some authors in common but, given the
limited home markets available to British SF authors at that time, that is hardly
surprising. In both cases, most of the stories were original, with never more
than one reprinted story per issue.
FAYA - Fantasy (1938-9)
(also carried the subtitle "Thrilling Science Fiction")
This title appeared for three issues in 1938-39. It was pulp-sized
and reputedly of high quality, both as to the contents and the production. All
the covers were by Drigin, who had also done a couple of covers for "Scoops".
The publisher was George Newnes of London.
FAYB - Fantasy (1946-7)
(also carried the subtitle "the Magazine of Science Fiction")
This title also appeared for three issues, in 1946-7, and was published by
Temple Bar Publishing Co of London. It was approximately digest-sized. Renowned
British fan Walter Gillings was the editor. The magazine ran into paper shortages,
which were still severe in this period shortly after the war, hence its early
demise. According to the Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction, Gillings carried
some of his unused stories forward to the early issues of Science Fantasy, of
which he edited the first two issues in 1950.
None of the covers are credited, which is a pity as I think they are quite
striking and a good deal better crafted than most British cover art of the period.
No 2 is a particularly nice composition.
Source of Images
Most of these covers have been borrowed with kind permission from Morgan Wallace's
web-site
here
