Futurian, The
Entry updated 14 July 2025. Tagged: Fan, Publication.
UK Fanzine (1938-1940), edited from Leeds, Yorkshire, by J Michael Rosenblum as "A Green Jester Publication". Eight typeset issues on an approximately quarterly schedule from June 1938 to Spring 1940.
A continuation of the Leeds Science Fiction League's Bulletin (2 issues, January and March 1938), The Futurian was a small printed publication featuring fiction, Poetry and articles by leading sf fans of the day, including Arthur C Clarke, Ralph Milne Farley, John Russell Fearn, David H Keller, Frederik Pohl and William F Temple. Selected contributions are assembled as Extracts from The Futurian (anth 1939 chap).
Other important pre-World War Two UK fanzines were John Christopher's The Fantast, Jonathan Burke's and Charles Eric Maine's The Satellite, Douglas W F Mayer's Tomorrow (official quarterly journal of the Science Fiction Association, incorporating Walter Gillings's Scientifiction) and Maurice K Hanson's Novae Terrae (later New Worlds).
Reincarnated in slim 2pp format, first as the bimonthly The Pseudo-Futurian! (four issues, June-September 1940) and then as the Newszine Futurian War Digest (which see), Rosenblum's fanzine became a focal point for UK fandom during the World War Two years when sf and amateur publishing faced considerable difficulties. It was revived as The New Futurian (eight issues, Spring 1954 to Summer 1958), to which Walter Gillings contributed seven instalments of his column The Clamorous Dreamers, relating memories of early UK sf, Fandom and SF Magazines. [PR/DRL]
further reading
- J Michael Rosenblum, editor. Extracts from The Futurian (Leeds, Yorkshire: Green Jester Press, 1939) [anth: chap: pb/nonpictorial]
links
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