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Gateway S-F Magazine

Entry updated 2 April 2015. Tagged: Publication.

A low- (and eventually non-) paying magazine which existed in both print and online editions, published by B Joseph Fekete Jr, North Hollywood, California; edited initially by Lawrence Green on the print edition and subsequently with an overall Editor-in-Chief (from 2003) John A M Darnell. The print issue ran for six issues, Winter 2000 to Summer 2003, all Digest size, saddle-stapled except for the last issue which was perfect bound, 144 pages. The online issue started as promotion for the print issue but eventually developed a separate existence and continued beyond the print issue. It saw fifteen issues, Winter 2000 to Winter 2006. The online issue incorporated some stories not in the equivalent print edition, and vice versa, but some of these stories appeared in later issues. The third online issue, Summer 2001, had no equivalent print issue and only one of is stories, "Angels Dancing" by Frederick Rustam, appeared in a later print issue (Fall 2001 #3 print). Only three of the print issues were the equivalent of online issues: #1 Winter 2000 both print and online; #3 print Summer/Fall 2001 equals #4 online Fall 2001; #4 print Spring 2002 equals #5 online Winter 2001. All other issues have variants.

The magazine was intended to feature Hard SF plots which explored Christian themes. Whilst the fiction promoted strong Christian values and ethics it was not a religious magazine per se (see Religion) but wanted to depict human spirituality when faced with Alien dangers and explore conflicts between faith and science. Fekete was especially interested in stories involving space exploration or Time Travel. Authors approached the Christian theme in diverse ways with some stories seeming more overtly mystical with an sf rationale. Jean Goldstrom wrote a short series Heaven's Realm that began with "Monday Morning" (Spring 2001 #2) which considered a scientific basis for Heaven. "Beneath the Empty Sky" (Fall 2004 #11 online) develops Arthur C Clarke's idea in "The Nine Billion Names of God" (in Star Science Fiction Stories 1, anth 1953, ed Frederik Pohl) and considers how humans would react if the stars started disappearing. The majority of stories were new but GateWay used the occasional reprint, notably "Epiphany" (September 1987 Analog) by Arlan Andrews in the online issue #8 (Fall 2003), as a fine example of the blend of hard sf and faith. Fekete had high hopes for GateWay, but failing health caused him to drop the print issue – for which sales had never exceeded 250 copies – and concentrate on the online edition; this failed to develop and the magazine was reluctantly shelved. [MA]

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