Cirrus@Austlit

Fantastic Novels Magazine was a pulp magazine published from 1940 to 1941, and again from 1948 to 1951. It was a companion to Famous Fantastic Mysteries, and like that magazine mostly reprinted science-fiction and fantasy classics from earlier decades. It printed a total of 25 issues.

Edited by Mary Gnaedinger, the eighty-one issues of Famous Fantastic Mysteries offered reprints of science-fiction, fantasy, and scientific romances from earlier decades. So extensive were reader requests for specific reprints, Gnaedinger launched a companion magazine, Fantastic Novels, in June 1940.

According to Mike Ashley:

'The first issue was an immediate success and the magazine was placed on a monthly schedule. At the urging of Merritt himself, Mary Gnaedinger commissioned Virgil Finlay to illustrate 'The Conquest of the Moon Pool', which started in the second issue, and thus began the long partnership of Finlay and FFM (as it is often known). Finlay was able to bring just the right feeling of otherworldliness to Merritt's work, combining the exotic and the erotic. It was a combination that has made FFM one of the most attractive of all pulp magazines'. (The Time Machines: The Story of the Science-Fiction Pulp Magazines from the Beginning to 1950, Liverpool University Press, 2000, p.150).

All-American Fiction ran for eight issues before being absorbed into another Munsey magazine, Argosy.

Launched in 1908 as an all-fiction offshoot of the general-interest magazine, The Scrap Book (1906-1911), The Cavalier ran for just 163 issues but nevertheless played a significant part the development of the pulp magazine industry. Originally published on fine book paper with refined, 'classy' covers, the Munsey company changed its format to pulp paper in 1909, and from 1911 onwards included in-text illustrations. The magazine also traded in its sophisticated covers for more exciting, colorful images of adventure.

In January 1912, The Cavalier absorbed its predecessor, The Scrap Book, and became the first weekly pulp. It also temporarily adopted the name The Cavalier and The Scrap Book. Although the magazine effectively folded in May 1914 when Munsey's merged it with The All-Story, the new venture was known for aaabout a year as All-Story Cavalier Weekly.

[Source: The Pulp Magazine Project]

The Railroad Man's Magazine was a pulp magazine published by Frank Munsey from 1906. At the time there was no organized railroad enthusiast movement, and initially the magazine was targeted towards railroaders and retirees. The title was briefly changed to Railroad and Current Mechanics in 1913 (July-December). In 1919 it was merged with The Argosy and during the 1930s underwent two title changes - Railroad Stories (1932-1937) and Railroad Magazine (1937-1979). The magazine continued publication after the Frank A. Munsey Company was acquired by Popular Publications in 1943, and in turn following the acquisition of that firm by Carstens Publishing in 1976. Under Carstsens the magazine was combined with Railfan in 1979 to form Railfan and Railroad.

As with many pulp magazines of the early to mid-twentieth century, the publication history of The Scrap Book is convoluted. In the early 1900's, Frank Munsey launched three new monthly pulp magazines in consecutive years - All-Story Magazine in 1905, The Scrap Book in 1906, which split into two sections in July 1907 (of which the second was devoted primarily to fiction) and The Ocean in 1907.

The Ocean was renamed The Live Wire in February 1908) and absorbed into The Scrap Book which, at the same time, spun off its second section as a separate magazine called The Cavalier. The first section continued under the name of The Scrap Book for another four years until it was absorbed into The Cavalier, which then went weekly as Cavalier Weekly. This lasted until May 1914 when it merged with All-Story Weekly to form All-Story-Cavalier Weekly.

[Source: Galactic Central]

All-Story Magazine was one of the great Munsey pulps which started as a monthly in January 1905 and ran as such for 11 years before switching to a weekly schedule with a name change to All-Story Weekly. After it absorbed The Cavalier the magazine ran for a year under the combined name All-Story Cavalier Weekly before reverting to All-Story Weekly for a further five years. Finally, in 1920, it was absorbed into The Argosy (http://www.philsp.com/mags/all_story_weekly.html).

Credited with being the first mass-market magazine, Munsey's Weekly, later Munsey's Magazine, was a 36-page American magazine founded by Frank A. Munsey. His idea was to produce a periodical 'of the people and for the people, with pictures and art and good cheer and human interest throughout. The magazine was soon selling 40,000 a week. In 1891 Munsey changed its publication to a monthly and subsequently renamed it Munsey's Mazagine. One of its first hits was Hall Caine’s 'The Christian' (1896-97). It also published stories by F. Marion Crawford, H. Rider Haggard, Anthony Hope during the in early years.

Munsey's circulation began to fall during the early 1900s and by the 1920s was down to 60,000. A decision was made in 1921 to convert the magazine to an all-fiction publication and phase out the illustrations. The demand for fiction led to a marked increase in science fiction stories.

In October 1929 Munsey's merged with Argosy All-Story to form All-Story. This magazine continued on a monthly schedule under various titles until May 1955.

Generally regarded as the first pulp magazine, The Argosy was started in 1882 by Frank A. Munsey as a weekly magazine (in newspaper format) called The Golden Argosy. As with many other magazines publoished during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries its publication history became convoluted through name changes, mergers and publication restructuring.

The first significant change to the magazine came about in 1888 when its name was changed to The Argosy. When it became a monthly in 1894 Munsey developed a production style and format that effectively started the pulp revolution and in doing so cemented The Argosy as one of the most important magazines in American publishing history. In 1917 the magazine returned to being a weekly and two years later merged with Railroad Man's Magazine to become, briefly, Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine,. Another change came about in 1920 when it was merged with another Munsey's title, All-Story Weekly, to become Argosy All-Story Weekly.

During a strange rationalisation of titles by Munsey's in 1929, Argosy All-Story Weekly was merged with Munsey's Magazine. They were separated soon afterwards, however, with Argosy All-Story Weekly continuing as a weekly. Re-titled Argosy on the masthead but with Argosy Weekly on the cover, the magazine concentrated on general/adventure fiction. Munsey's Magazine on the otherhand went fortnightly as All-Story and concentrated on love stories (it was subsequently renamed All-Story Love Stories, All-Story Love Tales and just All-Story Love).

Argosy continued as a weekly until November 1941 (absorbing All-American Fiction) along the way, when the frequency slipped to bi-monthly, and then, in July 1942, to monthly. The biggest change, however, came in September 1943 when the magazine stopped being an "all fiction" pulp magazine and shifted to a slick magazine with mixed content. Gradually over the following 35 years, the percentage of fiction decreased further and further and the magazine concentrated on becoming a 'men's magazine'.

Since the magazine was discontinued in 1978 there have been two further incarnations. A semi-professional version containing a considerable amount of science fiction ran for 5 issues in the 1990s, while another version, Argus Quarterly, was published intermittently between 2004 and 2006.

[Source: Galactic Central]