Space and Time
Entry updated 4 September 2023. Tagged: Publication.
US low-paying Semiprozine that began as an Amateur Magazine and is now the longest continuously published non-professional SF Magazine. Published and edited by Gordon Linzner, New York, from Spring 1966, with the assistance of Nestor Jaremko and others for the first few issues, and with Jani Anderson as co-editor from #75 (Winter 1989) to #80 (Summer 1992). Linzner passed it on to Hildy Silverman who edited it from issue #100 (Spring 2007) to #132 (Fall 2018), when it passed to Angela Yuriko Smith from #133 (Spring/Summer 2019). It began as a slim, mimeographed letter-size magazine produced while Linzner was still at high school, switching to the octavo format from issue #5 (Spring 1969) and steadily maturing over the years, turning semi-professional, in that it paid for contributions, from issue #23 (March 1974). It remained octavo size, saddle-stapled until issue #81 (Spring 1993) when it became perfect bound, but the big change came with issue #87 (Summer 1997) when it switched to letter-size with full colour covers. Linzner announced that the magazine would cease with issue #100; the title was bought by Hildy Silverman who ran it from Somerset, New Jersey and announced that it would cease with issue #133; again a new publisher and editor-in-chief, Angela Yuriko Smith stepped in to continue publication from Independence, Missouri.
The early issues of Space and Time were fairly juvenile full of either rip-roaring Space Opera or heroic Sword and Sorcery with most contributions from Linzner's circle of friends. More significant external contributors began to appear from issue #11 (April 1971) with Darrell Schweitzer, Janet Fox and Robert Weinberg, and art by Ed Romero, Clyde Caldwell, Gene Day and Jim Garrison. The magazine started to take on a clear identity, though the emphasis was still on fantasy and horror. Linzner compiled three special Sword and Sorcery issues, #18 (May 1973), #21 (November 1973) and #27 (November 1974) as well as three all-horror issues, #13 (September 1971), #20 (September 1973) and #33 (November 1975), and there's much of the Lovecraftian about issue #44 (September 1977), but he did also compile a special Space Opera issue, #26 (September 1974). The magazine received a boost in 1978 when Andrew J Offutt selected three stories from back issues of Space and Time to include in his otherwise all-new heroic fantasy anthology Swords Against Darkness III (anth 1978).
Even so, these early issues were still Space and Time working through its juvenile phase but a change began to manifest from issue #45 (November 1977) onwards. The change from quarterly publication to twice-yearly from issue #62 (Summer 1982) allowed for a more rigorous editorial process. The magazine increased in pagination and it included material by bigger names within the semi-pro field and from those clearly aiming at professional status. Kevin J Anderson, who had been dabbling with the small press for a while, made his first sale here in issue #63 (Winter 1982/1983). Andrew Offutt also sent the magazine material and there were stories and verse by John Betancourt, Charles de Lint, Charles R Saunders, John Alfred Taylor, Richard L Tierney and Eric Vinicoff with Marcia Martin. Jeffrey Ford's first short story appeared in issue #76 – "The Alchemist, Becalmed at Sea, Weeps" (Summer 1989) – and he became one of the magazine's most creative contributors.
Production quality continued to rise as the magazine developed, to a large extent exemplifying the history of what home publishing facilities were available. Issue #77 (Winter 1990) marked the shift to desktop publishing, helped by Chet Gottfried, with a further improvement to perfect binding from #81 (Spring 1993). This saw a further maturing in Space and Time, dropping the adolescent horror and fantasy attitude and it is from #81 that it really entered its adult phase. Up until then the print run had only been around 500 copies, but thereafter this increased so that by issue #85 (Spring 1995) it had become 2,200 copies. It now had a stronger emphasis on science fiction and the wider speculative fiction field. It had some interesting experiments. Jonathan V Post showed the true poetry of The Martian Chronicles by drawing phrases from Ray Bradbury's book to reinterpret it as a series of quatrains. The change to full letter size was the final metamorphosis and now saw a magazine confident in itself and consistent in its quality. P D Cacek, Don D'Ammassa, C J Henderson, Jack Ketchum, Mario Milosevic, Stephen Dedman, A R Morlan, Darrell Schweitzer and Don Webb were all contributors, as was Norman Spinrad. Under art editor Diane Weinstein (appointed by Silverman when she acquired the magazine), the artwork improved substantially with some quite stunning covers and effective interior work. In this period of its existence the magazine was arguably at its best, having matured without growing old, still somehow with a small hint of its youth. Rising costs and falling subscriptions – owing to the usual competition from free and cheap online outlets – led Silverman to announce the magazine's demise with issue #133 (Spring/Summer 2019) but i was rescued by Angela Yuriko Smith who has continued to keep the magazine on an even keel through the pandemic.
It is fair to say that though Space and Time has never been regarded as one of the leading sf magazines, its reliability and regularity has given many writers a dependable market to help them develop during the early part of their careers. It is a shame that it has not been more widely appreciated. [MA]
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