Fantastic Universe was an American science fiction magazine which became part of the explosion of science fiction magazine publishing in that country during the 1950s. Although running for only eight years (69 issues) it was nevertheless outlasted most of its competitors.
First published by King Size Publications in June 1953, it was eventually sold in 1959 to Great American Publications. There were also two main editors, the first being Leo Margulies (1954-1956) and the second being Hans Stefan Santesson (1956-1960). In the
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and
Fantasy: Volume 3 (1982), Donald H. Tuck has suggested that the quality of the magazine declined somewhat during Santesson's tenure, with the main complaint being that the magazine became known for printing much UFO-related material.
In 1960 Santesson edited an anthology of stories from the magazine for Prentice-Hall, called
The Fantastic Universe Omnibus. One Australian-based author to have his works published in
the magazine was
A. Bertram Chandler.
