Famous Fantastic Mysteries
(1) A Prozine[edit]
Famous Fantastic Mysteries (known as FFM) began publication with a September-October, 1939, issue and lasted until June, 1953, for a total run of 81 issues.
Published by The Frank A. Munsey Co., then by Popular Publications (beginning in 1943), the pulp magazine was edited by Mary Gnaedinger for the entire run.
The magazine was monthly until the creation in July, 1940, of a companion magazine, Fantastic Novels.
Initially, Famous Fantastic Mysteries reprinted stories that had originally been published in Munsey magazines, such as A. Merritt's "The Moon Pool" and Ray Cummings' "The Girl in the Golden Atom" as serials. With the creation of Fantastic Novels, however, reprinting long, classic SF novels in many installments was dropped.
When Fantastic Novels ceased publication in April, 1941, Famous Fantastic Mysteries again began reprinting classic SF novels, but all in one issue instead of as serials. Frank R. Paul, Virgil Finlay, and Lawrence Stern Stevens did many of the magazine's cover illustrations.
When the magazine was sold to Popular Publications the editorial policy changed, although Gnaedinger remained as editor. The new policy stated that in the future the magazine would publish only new stories or stories that had previously appeared only in book form.
Critics have written that Famous Fantastic Mysteries was historically important because of its wide selection of stories, some by obscure American and British writers, and because it kept in print many stories that might otherwise have been lost.
There was also a Canadian edition, published from February, 1948, until August, 1952 (27 issues).
(2) A Fanzine by Pierre Versins[edit]
ffm -- Fake Fantastic Mystery -- was a fanzine published by Pierre Versins in Switzerland. The expanded form of the name may be random -- it is also listed as Functional Female Muster. See also ffm ending.
| Issue | Date | Pages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | April 1957 | 12 | |
| 1 | September 1957 | 20 | |
| 2 | October 1957 | 8 | |
| 3 | February 1958 | 28 | Single-sided |
| Publication | ???? |
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