Mills, Robert P
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Editor.
(1920-1986) US editor and literary agent, managing editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction from its inception; he assumed the editorship proper – a month after publishing his only story, "The Last Shall be First", for the magazine – with the September 1958 issue, following Anthony Boucher's resignation, remaining editor until March 1962 and continuing thereafter as consulting editor until February 1963. He had previously been managing editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine (see Ellery Queen) from June 1948 to 1958. During his tenure, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction maintained its standing as the most sophisticated SF Magazine and won Hugos in 1959, 1960 and 1963. Mills edited several F&SF Anthologies, including The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Ninth Series (anth 1960; cut vt Flowers for Algernon and Other Stories 1960), Tenth Series (anth 1961) and Eleventh Series (anth 1962), as well as A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (anth 1960) and Twenty Years of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (anth 1970), the latter with Edward L Ferman. Mills was also editor of Venture Science Fiction during its first incarnation (1957-1958), when the magazine was renowned for its "daring" approach to sexual topics. He later edited The Worlds of Science Fiction (anth 1963), an individual title.
After leaving F&SF Mills became a literary agent, operating as Robert P Mills Ltd, and during the 1960s and early 1970s served a prestigious list of clients. He sold the agency to Richard A Curtis in 1984. [MJE]
Robert Park Mills
born Missoula, Montana: 10 February 1920
died San Diego, California: 7 February 1986
works as editor
series
Fantasy and Science Fiction
- The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Ninth Series (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1960) [anth: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/Herb Mott]
- Flowers for Algernon and Other Stories (New York: Ace Books, 1960) [anth: cut vt of the above: pb/]
- The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction: Ninth Series (London: Victor Gollancz, 1963) [anth: differently cut: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Tenth Series (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1961) [anth: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/Mel Hunter]
- The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, Eleventh Series (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1962) [anth: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/Roger Zimmerman]
- A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1960) [anth: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/Mel Hunter]
- A Decade of Fantasy and Science Fiction (London: Corgi, 1964) [anth: cut of the above: one story omitted: Fantasy and Science Fiction: pb/uncredited]
- Twenty Years of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (New York: G P Putnam's Sons, 1970) with Edward L Ferman [anth: Fantasy and Science Fiction: hb/Mel Hunter]
individual titles
- The Worlds of Science Fiction (New York: The Dial Press, 1963) [anth: hb/Ronald Clyne]
links
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