Altair: Alternative Airings of Speculative Fiction was established in 1998 by Robert N. Stephenson. Contributors to the first issue were Joe Haldeman, Robert J. Sawyer, David Bischoff, Charles de Lint, Sean Williams, and Simon Brown.
During its three years of publication, Altair featured both Australian and international speculative-fiction writers, several of whom were either nominated for or won prestigious awards for science-fiction writing. The magazine also provided some authors with their first published works; for Indian writer Ashok Banker, Altair was the first English-language publication of one of his stories.
Stephenson closed down Altair Magazine in 2000 in order to concentrate on his writing. In 2004, Altair Publishing became Altair Australia Books, a publishing venture that releases novels, anthologies, and poetry collections.
Further Reference
'Altair: Alternative Airings in Speculative Fiction: Issues 1 and 2.' Eidolon Reviews, 1998. Online. (Sighted: 16/06/2011)
http://www.eidolon.net/reviews/shortfiction1a.html
