User:Carolinedickey/sandbox

Fantastic (1952–1980) was an American digest-size fantasy and science fiction magazine, founded by Ziff Davis as a fantasy companion to Amazing Stories. Within a few years sales fell, and Howard Browne, the first editor, was forced to switch the focus to science fiction rather than fantasy. At the end of the 1950s Cele Goldsmith took over from Paul W. Fairman as editor of both Fantasticand Amazing, bringing in many new writers and making the magazines, in the words of one science fiction historian, the "best-looking and brightest" in the field. She helped to nurture the early careers of writers such as Roger Zelazny and Ursula K. Le Guin, but was unable to increase circulation. In 1965 the magazines were sold to Sol Cohen, who hired Joseph Wrzos as editor and switched to a reprint-only policy. This was financially successful, but brought Cohen into conflict with the newly formed Science Fiction Writers of America. After Ted White became editor in 1968, the reprints were phased out. White worked hard to make the magazine successful; his budget for fiction was low, but he was occasionally able to find good stories from well-known writers.