For some reason I never saw copies, used or new, of the science fiction digest IMAGINATION or its sister magazine IMAGINATIVE TALES when I was growing up. They just weren't around my part of the country. The SF digests I saw and read were GALAXY, IF, ANALOG, every now and then an issue of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION, and then later, in the late Sixties and early Seventies, AMAZING and FANTASTIC. But about ten years ago, I went on an IMAGINATION/IMAGINATIVE TALES binge, buying copies on eBay and having a great time reading them.
This is the first issue of IMAGINATION, with a cover by Hannes Bok and stories by Chester S. Geier, Kris Neville, and Rog Phillips, among others. I owned a copy of this issue and read it, and while there were other issues I probably enjoyed more, I've never forgotten it.
I got a kick out of Imagination and Imaginative Tales when I was a mere lad. They're regarded as pretty juvenile stuff, but I was a juvenile, so naturally they were right up my alley.
ReplyDeleteNicknamed Madge, remember? Great fun back then.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great Bok cover. I bought Imagination and Imaginative Tales also but they were never favorites of mine. I liked Galaxy, F&SF, and Astounding in the 1950's.
ReplyDeleteI was hooked on both Imagination and Imaginative Tales until I was about fifteen or so. I especially liked the Edmond Hamilton material and later the Robert Silverberg stuff. He was one of the truly skilled action sf writers.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the best Bok covers. Somehow, I suspect Geier never wrote anything worthy of it.
ReplyDeleteIMAGINATIVE TALES did run some pleasant Robert Bloch fantasy novellas, before it became SPACE TRAVEL and quickly thereafter folded.
ReplyDeleteMari Wolfe's "Fandora's Box" was among the first fanzine columns I read...in old back issues.
ReplyDeleteMari Wolfe's "Fandora's Box" was among the first fanzine columns I read...in old back issues.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Mari Wolf. And IMAGINATION only was MADGE...
ReplyDelete