Orbit
Contents
(1) A 50s Prozine[edit]
Orbit Science Fiction was a digest-sized magazine that ran for a total of only five issues during 1953-1954. The editor credited on the masthead was Jules Saltman, but Donald A. Wollheim bought all the stories published. At the time Wollheim was working at Ace Books and this accounts for his anonymity.
Authors who appeared in the five issues included August Derleth (whose Tex Harrigan appeared in every issue), Charles Beaumont, Mack Reynolds, Richard Matheson, Philip K. Dick, Chad Oliver, Alfred Coppel, Gordon R. Dickson, Michael Shaara, Jack Vance, and Wollheim himself (under his Martin Pearson and David Grinnell bylines).
Frank H. Parnell, writing in Peter Nicholls' The Science Fiction Encyclopedia, wrote that Orbit fell victim to the inundation of the SF magazine market of the early 1950s.
An Australian edition, one issue, appeared in 1954, a reprint of the first American issue.
Fixme
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/orbit_science_fiction SF Encyclopedia entry
(2) A Semiprozine by Kees van Toorn[edit]
Orbit was a semi-prozine published from 1977 - 1989 by Kees van Toorn. It received a Eurocon Award.
(3) An Original Anthology Series[edit]
Orbit was a series of original anthologies edited by Damon Knight starting in 1966. The stories ranged from great to too experimental for most fans and was more than a bit controversial for that reason. At its best it marked a major turning point in SF.
Fixme
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/orbit SF Encyclopedia entry
(4) A Clubzine[edit]
George Gibson published Orbit for the Leeds Science Fiction Association.
| Issue | Date | Pages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 1953 | 14 | |
| 2 | December 1953 | 18 | |
| 3 | February 1954 | 24 | |
| 4 | June 1954 | 30 | |
| 5 | September 1954 | 30 | |
| 6 | December 1954 | 32 | |
| 7 | January 1956 | 22 | Final issue |
| Publication | ???? |
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