Gillings, Walter
Entry updated 28 July 2025. Tagged: Author, Editor, Fan.
(1912-1979) UK journalist and editor, active in Fandom (where he was usually known as Wally Gillings) from the early 1930s, though he also signed as Walter H Gillings; he was a founder in October 1930 of the Ilford Science Literary Circle, the first UK sf club; he attended the 1937 Leeds Convention; and in 1937-1938 he published seven issues of an historic Fanzine, Scientifiction. This activity led to his editing the first true UK SF Magazine, Tales of Wonder (1937-1942); his use of the term "science fiction" on the cover of issue number one for June 1937 may mark the first appearance of that term to designate as a whole the contents of a UK professional magazine or book. Immediately after his active service in World War Two he joined the author Benson Herbert to create the Utopian Publications imprint, which issued sf, fantasy and some soft-core pornography in cheap paperback format; this included the American Fiction and Strange Tales series. Gillings then edited the three issues of Fantasy (1946-1947). After its demise he produced the professional-looking fanzine Fantasy Review (1947-1950); when, in 1950, he was given the editorship of the new professional magazine Science Fantasy, the fanzine was incorporated as a section of the first two issues. John Carnell took over editorship of Science Fantasy with #3 (Winter 1951/1952), and Gillings dropped out of sf activities for some years.
After this hiatus, Gillings produced another fanzine, Cosmos, for three issues in 1969, and also appeared regularly in Vision of Tomorrow (1969-1970) with "The Impatient Dreamers", a nonfiction series about the History of SF and of Fandom in the UK. (This was in part a reworking of his 1950s series "The Clamorous Dreamers" for The New Futurian [see The Futurian].) He was also a columnist in Science Fiction Monthly (1974-1976), where he also had an additional column as by Thomas Sheridan – the pseudonym under which he had years earlier published the first of his two sf stories, "The Midget from Mars" in Tales of Wonder for Summer 1938. His other sf tale, under his own name, was "Too Good to Be True" (March 1963 New Worlds).
Some nonfiction appeared as by Geoffrey Giles, including the "About Books" department in Fantasy Review 1947-1949 and the non-series essay "Lost Planet" (December 1946 Fantasy). Magazines aside, his only standalone publication was the pamphlet E.E. "Doc" Smith: Father of Star Wars (1977 chap) as by Thomas Sheridan, reprinting his interview with E E Smith first published as "Galactic Roamer" (April-May 1948 Fantasy Review). [PN/DRL]
see also: British Science Fiction Association; First Fandom Hall of Fame; SF Magazines.
Walter Herbert Gillings
born London: 19 February 1912
died Ilford, Essex: 17 July 1979
works
nonfiction
- E.E. "Doc" Smith: Father of Star Wars (West Warwick, Rhode Island: Necronomicon Press, 1977) as by Thomas Sheridan [chap: interview with E E Smith: first appeared as "Galactic Roamer" (April-May 1948 Fantasy Review): in the publisher's F&SF Self-Portraits series: pb/nonpictorial]
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