Science fiction appeared regularly in UK magazines in the late 19th century, but it was not until 1934 that the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction was launched in the UK. This was Scoops; it was a weekly, aimed at a juvenile audience and lasted only a few months. In the late 1930s two pulp magazines, Fantasy and Tales of Wonder, were launched, but World War II brought paper shortages, and only a few issues appeared. Contributors included John Wyndham and Arthur C. Clarke. Only publisher Gerald Swan, who had stockpiled magazines before the war, issued any new science fiction titles over the next few years.

Paper rationing continued for several years after the end of the war, and as the demand for new reading material exceeded the supply publishers often produced shoddy material, paying very low rates to writers, since they knew almost anything they printed would sell well. New Worlds, edited by E. J. Carnell, was an exception to this rule: it was started in 1946 by a group of science fiction writers and fans that included Wyndham, Carnell, and Walter Gillings. The publisher, Pendulum Publications, went bankrupt in 1947, but a group of eight of the magazine's backers formed Nova Publications to continue the magazine. In 1950 a second title, Science Fantasy, was added, edited by Gillings, but after two issues Carnell took over as editor. A third Nova title, Science Fiction Adventures, was started in 1958. In the early 1960s New Worlds and Science Fantasy were taken over by Roberts & Vinter, a paperback publisher: Science Fantasy ceased publication in 1967, but New Worlds continued for several decades. New Worlds published many of the top British and American science fiction writers of its day, including J. G. Ballard, James White, Cyril Kornbluth, Theodore Sturgeon and Philip K. Dick.

John Spencer was one of the publishers that printed low quality material, and between 1950 and 1954 they published dozens of science fiction magazine issues under four different titles. The contents were "the worst science fiction ever published", according to Mike Ashley, a historian of science fiction. Of somewhat better quality was Authentic Science Fiction which appeared in 1951 from Hamilton & Co, another high-volume low-quality publisher. Its first editor, Gordon Landsborough, was able to persuade Hamilton to invest a little more money and effort in the magazine and it became more respectable over its six-year run. In 1952 Peter Hamilton, a young Scot, launched Nebula Science Fiction using his parents' printing business as the magazine's printer. He bought the first sales of Robert Silverberg, Bob Shaw, and Brian Aldiss, and gradually raised his pay rates to be competitive even with the US markets. The result was a well-liked and successful magazine, eventually brought down by business circumstances that made Nebula's overseas subscriptions unsustainable.

Several publishers, include Atlas Publications, Thorpe & Porter, and Pembertons, reprinted British versions of the US science fiction and fantasy pulps. Many only lasted for one or two issues, but some were more successful: Atlas's British edition of Astounding Science Fiction lasted for 222 issues and fourteen years, and the Thorpe & Porter edition of Galaxy Science Fiction ran for 9 years, from 1953 to 1962, with 94 issues.

Early and pre-war magazines By the end of the 19th century, British story papers such as The Boy's Own Paper and popular fiction magazines such as The Strand were flourishing.Ashley (2006), pp. 7–12. Science fiction, by authors such as H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Griffith, was becoming popular, though it shared space in the magazines with other genres such as adventure and mystery stories.Ashley (2000), pp. 9–10. During the 1910s, American pulp magazine titles that specialized in particular genres, such as Detective Story Magazine and Western Story Magazine, began to appear,Murray (2011), p. 11. but in the UK the first single-genre magazines were not launched until 1922, with Adventure-Story Magazine from Hutchinson, followed in 1923 by Mystery-Story Magazine from the same publisher.Ashley (2000), p.12. An exception was the 1919 issue of Pears' Annual, which was themed around predicting the state of the world in fifty years time, and included both articles and fiction. This has sometimes been considered an example of an early science fiction magazine.Ashley (2000), p. 13.

The first science fiction (sf) magazine, Amazing Stories, was launched in the US in 1926, and issues of this and later sf magazines were imported into the UK, drawing the attention of British writers. By the mid-1930s there were several regular British contributors to the US science fiction pulps, including John Wyndham and John Russell Fearn. Stories from the US magazines were occasionally reprinted in Britain, The Strand, Pearson's, and elsewhere, and there were two anthology series that published some science fiction: the Not at Night series, which ran from 1925 to 1936, and the Creeps series, from 1932 to the mid-1930s. These were primarily horror and included many reprints, but both also printed original work by British authors.

Scoops The boy's papers, such as Chums, did print some science fiction, but this reinforced an impression that sf was a genre more suited to younger readers than to adults, and so it was not surprising that the first British magazine to focus on science fiction was also targeted at boys.Ashley (2000), pp. 125–127. This was Scoops, published weekly by C. A. Pearson and edited by Haydn Dimmock. The first issue was dated 10 February 1934. The fiction was of poor quality, mostly contributed anonymously by writers of boys' adventure fiction. Dimmock was initially unaware that there was a market for adult science fiction, but soon began receiving story submissions from sf writers such as Fearn and Maurice Hugi. The magazine began to include advertisements for men's items such as shaving mirrors and cigarette holders, as well as more sophisticated stories, as Dimmock tried to address this new audience, but sf magazine historian Mike Ashley suggests the result was a mixture that could not please either the younger readers or science fiction aficionados. Sales were poor, and Pearson's closed the magazine down in June, after 20 issues. There was enough British interest in American science fiction for the August 1935 issue of Wonder Stories to devote its letter column to letters from British readers,Ashley (2004), p. 235. but when one of those letters suggested that the time was right for a British publisher to start a science fiction title, the editor, Charles Hornig, replied that Scoops' failure "proved to us and other British publishers that [the UK] is not yet prepared to support a professional science-fiction magazine enough to make it pay for itself".Ashley (2000), p. 127.

The World's Work and Newnes Although no magazines specializing in science fiction or fantasy were launched over the next three years, one publisher, The World's Work, did produce several issues of sf and fantasy interest. The World's Work had begun publishing "The Master Thriller Series" in 1933, with Tales of the Foreign Legion. These were single pulp magazine issues, each focused on a different genre, such as sea stories or adventure stories. The fourth and sixth in the series, titled Tales of Mystery and Detection and Tales of the Uncanny, included several stories with supernatural themes; they appeared in June and December 1934, respectively.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "The Master Thriller Series", pp. 404–406. The former led to a spinoff, titled just Mystery and Detection, which produced two issues in 1934, followed by seven more on a monthly schedule from April to October 1935. Mystery and Detection reprinted supernatural stories by authors such as Dorothy Sayers, G. K. Chesterton, and Edgar Wallace. This was followed by a second Tales of the Uncanny in the Master Thriller series, appearing as #20 in 1937, and a third issue, outside the Master Thriller series, not long afterwards. It contained a mixture of new and reprint stories about ghosts and other supernatural themes.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Tales of the Uncanny", pp. 650–651. The World's Work also published a single issue of Fireside Ghost Stories in 1937, reprinting ghost stories such as Charles Dickens' "The Signalman", and including some original fiction by R. Thurston Hopkins;Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Fireside Ghost Stories", p. 273. and a single issue of Ghosts and Goblins in 1938, with contributions from Hopkins and Garnett Radcliffe, among others.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Ghosts and Goblins", pp. 317–318.

Meanwhile, Newnes, the publisher of The Strand, had decided by 1935 to launch a group of four genre pulp magazines, and to include a science fiction title in the group. T. Stanhope Sprigg was to be the editor of all four titles, but after the first three appeared, in 1935 and 1936, the sf title was delayed.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Fantasy (1938–1939)", pp. 254–256.Harbottle & Holland (1992), p. 15–17. Then in 1937 a British fan, Walter Gillings, who had been working with Sprigg to find stories for the proposed Newnes magazine, persuaded The World's Work to test the market with a single issue of a science fiction magazine, titled Tales of Wonder.Harbottle & Holland (1992), p. 15. Sales were good enough for a second issue to appear in early 1938.Ashley (2000), pp. 127–131.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Tales of Wonder", pp. 652–654. This convinced Newnes to finally take the plunge with their own magazine, and the first issue of Fantasy appeared in 1938, with Sprigg as editor. Both these ventures were cut short by the Second World War: Sprigg went into the RAF after only three issues of Fantasy, the last one dated June 1939; and although Gillings edited Tales of Wonder from his army camp after he signed up, eventually he was unable to continue, and the last issue appeared in early 1942. Newnes paid good rates for fiction, and consequently Fantasy attracted good material, by John Wyndham and Eric Frank Russell among others. Gillings bought some stories from British writers for Tales of Wonder, including Wyndham, Russell, and William F. Temple, but he could not find as much domestic material as he needed. To fill out the magazine he reprinted stories from the American magazines, including work by Murray Leinster and Jack Williamson. He also published two science articles by Arthur C. Clarke; these were Clarke's first professional sales.

British reprint editions Pulp magazines from the US had been imported since before the first issue of Amazing Stories, but it was not until the end of the 1930s that British reprints of the US magazines began to appear. Atlas Publishing began several reprint titles of science fiction or fantasy interest in 1939: Thrills, which reprinted stories from William Clayton's US pulps, only lasted one issue, and there were two reprint issues of the US pulp Science Fiction,Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Science Fiction", p. 518. but the reprint versions of Astounding Science Fiction and Unknown were more durable.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact", pp. 100–101.Tymn & Ashley (ed.) (1985), s.v. "Unknown", p. 698. The Atlas Astounding lasted until 1953, with a total of 222 issues, and the Atlas Unknown produced 41 issues—more than the US original, since the British reprints used fewer stories per issue—and lasted until 1949.

War years and after

Gerald Swan