Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 41 — page 3: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

As I promised you last month, this editorial is being written in England. I have come back from my most interesting 15,000 mile tour of the United States and Canada ready to settle down to the task of making our magazine the best ever. It was gratifying to find that it had so large a following in the New World; there is no doubt that American fandom relishes the difference in style and approach that is typical of the best British science fiction. And Authentic was the only British science fiction magazine I saw on sale in the States and Canada. I’m not suggesting that this is necessarily a good thing, except from the selfish point of view. It would please me considerably to see quite a few more British maga- zines selling in America—and over here! Authentic is now the only British magazine that comes out regularly enough and in large enough numbers to reach the masses; our closest rival has a circulation less than half of ours. So, it would seem, we are more or less alone in spreading wide the gospel of British science fiction. And doing anything alone makes it a lot harder. From this standpoint, I’m rather pleased to see the recent introduc- tion of British editions of some American science fiction magazines. This is a thorny point, and many people think the effect of these magazines will be disadvantageous to British science fiction. I strongly disagree. True, their introduction into the country will make us British editors look to our laurels— but we should have been doing that anyway. And if the competition from American magazines kills off some of the British products—it will be their fault, not that of the importations. British magazines have got to be good enough to withstand the pressure of foreign competition—indeed, they should utilise it rather than try to prevent it or bemoan it. One thing is sure. Authentic will not die. We have, no fear that American magazines will entice away our readers—because we give them what they want, what they ask for. And I feel that the influx of this foreign science fiction in large quantities will do a great deal to interest thousands of people who have never before tried the genre. Now, let’s plug the trumpets, mute the strings, and give some indication of our plans for the future. To begin with, I can’t help mentioning the support we are getting from the publishers of this magazine. They have the cause connicloooks.comn