The Science-Fantasy Megapack: 25 Classic Tales from Fantasy Adventures

INTRODUCTION, by Philip Harbottle

When I was given a free hand to create a new paperback fantasy magazine for Wildside Press in 2002, the only restriction I was given was that I had to purchase all its contents myself!

With a free editorial hand, my initial policy was to commission new stories from the older British science fiction authors, whose work I had read and enjoyed over many years. But, unaccountably, all of them had fallen silent in recent years because successive British magazine editors had chosen to ignore their talent. Not one editor had thought to commission new work from them in years!

I was angry that these talented veteran authors — who had helped to pioneer magazine science fiction in Britain — had been denied the opportunity to prove that they still had worthwhile stories to tell, and new things to say. And I also felt that many of their excellent early stories had been too long out of print, and been unjustly forgotten.

I wrote to all of these writers, offering them a firm commission for new work, and at a reasonable rate of pay. Selected reprints could also be used, at half this rate.

Most of the writers I contacted no longer had agents, and I was gratified when they asked me to represent them. As their new agent, I was then able to sell many of their backlist novels to my publisher, Wildside — and to other publishers, too.

And so Fantasy Adventures was launched. Print-on-demand paperbacks were still relatively new in 2002, and there was considerable dealer resistance to carrying them. It soon became evident that circulation would never be great, so budget considerations meant that only one-third of the 60,000 words contents were new stories, but I still managed to obtain some fine material, most notably some brilliant new stories by Sydney J. Bounds, Philip E. High, and E. C. Tubb. Much of each issue was made up with a reprint of one of John Russell Fearn’s better novels from the 1950s, and featuring specially commissioned illustrative covers by famed ex-Scion artist Ron Turner.

My editorial policy throughout consisted of three main strands: to bring to light fine stories that had been accepted for other markets, but for one reason or another had never appeared at the time; to reprise classic stories too long out-of-print; and to actively solicit brand new stories that might otherwise never have been written. This latter strand eventually became the most important.

Gradually, as the series became established, in addition to works by Bounds, Fearn, High, and Tubb, new stories by other veteran UK writers, including Brian Ball, John Glasby, and Tony Glynn, were added, all of whom wrote excellent new stories for Fantasy Adventures. One highlight was the posthumous first publication of “Something in the Air” by Gordon Landsborough, a novelette I had actually commissioned from Gordon for my earlier SF magazine, Vision of Tomorrow, in 1970. It was a beautifully written and subtle satire, its central character being a science fiction editor working for an uncaring publisher (based on Gordon himself and his days at Hamilton’s editing Authentic!) I was also proud to have been favoured with new stories by rising star Eric Brown, and the noted Italian author and editor Antonio Bellomi.

As with most early POD ventures, sales were disappointing — but I was able to resell the Fearn novels appearing in it to UK publishers, which more than recouped my editorial outlay. I had hoped to continue in this vein, soliciting more new stories from Eric Brown and other emerging younger British writers, but it was not to be.

In 2006, first Philip E. High, and then Sydney J. Bounds, died. Both men were born storytellers who loved to write, and although they knew they were dying from cancer, they continued to write for me as long as they were able. Their final stories were truly inspirational, remarkably good, and completely free from any trace of bitterness or self-pity.

After their deaths I decided to discontinue the magazine, and to instead concentrate all my energies on selling their backlists to other publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, and throughout Europe. My still living clients continued to write new stories, but—now that their names were known again—I was now able to sell them to wider and better markets, including original story anthologies.

Fantasy Adventures had achieved its objective when I ended it after thirteen issues. Quite a number of its stories have since been anthologized or included in single author collections.

Now my current publisher has suggested that I might edit a generous selection of its best stories for the latest fast-developing new market — that of the e-book. In this way it is hoped that these fine stories and their writers might be brought to the attention to a new generation of readers who are unaware of their existence.

I hope that these new readers might enjoy work by authors who may not be familiar to them — and to want to seek out their many other works which are now available both as paperbacks and e-books!

— Philip Harbottle, 27 August 2013