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''Nebula Science Fiction'' was the first Scottish science fiction magazine. It was published from 1952 to 1959, and was edited by Peter Hamilton, a young Scot who was able to take advantage of spare capacity at his parents' printing company, Crownpoint, to launch the magazine. Because Hamilton could only print ''Nebula'' when Crownpoint had no other work, the schedule was initially erratic. In 1955 he moved the printing to a Dublin-based firm, and the schedule became a little more regular, with a steady monthly run beginning in 1958 that lasted into the following year. ''Nebula''s circulation was international, with only a quarter of the sales in the United Kingdom (UK); this led to disaster when South Africa and Australia imposed import controls on foreign periodicals at the end of the 1950s. Excise duties imposed in the UK added to Hamilton's financial burdens, and he was rapidly forced to close the magazine. The last issue was dated June 1959. The magazine was popular with writers, partly because Hamilton went to great lengths to encourage new writers, and partly because he paid better rates per word than much of his competition. Initially he could not compete with the American market, but he offered a bonus for the most popular story in the issue, and was eventually able to match the leading American magazines. He published the first stories of several well-known writers, including Robert Silverberg, Brian Aldiss, and Bob Shaw. ''Nebula'' was also a fan favourite: author Ken Bulmer recalled that it became "what many fans regard as the best-loved British SF magazine".〔 ==Publishing history== In 1952 Peter Hamilton was 18 years old and had just left school; he was looking for a job, but was not healthy enough for hard physical work.〔Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp. 86–89.〕 His parents ran a printing house in Glasgow, Crownpoint Publications, and occasionally had spare capacity: they were interested in using the idle time on their machinery to enter the publishing business, and Peter persuaded them to publish paperback science fiction (sf) novels. Two novels were acquired, but when Crownpoint approached a local wholesaler to handle the distribution, they were told that paperbacks would be a mistake, and that a magazine, with a regular publication schedule, would be more likely to sell well. The result was ''Nebula Science Fiction''. The first issue was dated Autumn 1952, and sold 4,000 copies.〔 Advertisements stated that ''Nebula'' was "Scotland's first S.F. magazine!!" Several British science fiction fans helped Hamilton with the production of the magazine, including Ken Slater, Vin¢ Clarke, and John Brunner.〔 William F. Temple was involved as an editorial consultant and also assisted with editing the manuscripts.〔Philip Harbottle, "Introduction", in Bounds, ''Best of Sydney J. Bounds, Vol. 1'', p. 12.〕 Hamilton provided all the financing, but he had to wait for the money to come in from each issue before he could afford to produce the next.〔 In addition, Crownpoint only intermittently had enough spare capacity to print ''Nebula'', so the first few issues appeared on an erratic schedule. After a dozen issues, the conflicts led to Hamilton moving ''Nebula'' to a printing firm based in Dublin, and breaking the connection with Crownpoint. He was then able to publish on a slightly more regular schedule, although the planned bi-monthly issues were still sometimes delayed.〔 Hamilton paid 21 shillings (£1.05) per thousand words,〔 the equivalent of three tenths of a cent per word;〔(【引用サイトリンク】Measuring Worth )〕 this was a low rate compared to the American market, but was marginally better than the contemporary British magazine ''Authentic Science Fiction'', which paid £1 per thousand words.〔〔Ashley, ''History of the Science Fiction Magazine Vol. 3'', pp. 68–71〕 Hamilton offered a bonus of £2 or £5 to the story that turned out to be the readers' favourite in each issue, which helped attract writers;〔 and he later increased the rates, paying as much as 2d (0.8p, or 2.3 cents) per word for well-known authors.〔〔 This was higher than the best UK markets, such as ''New Worlds'', and was close to the rates paid by the top magazines in the US at that time.〔 Both the high rates of pay and Hamilton's willingness to work with new authors were designed to encourage writers to submit their work to ''Nebula'' before trying the other magazines.〔Philip Harbottle, "Remembering Phil High", in ''Fantasy Adventures 13'', p. 122.〕 Hamilton's editorial in the September 1957 issue reported a circulation of 40,000, and starting in January 1958 ''Nebula'' went on a regular monthly schedule that was maintained until early 1959.〔 Although ''Nebula''s circulation was strong, only about a quarter of its sales were in the UK. A further quarter of the sales were in Australia, another third in the US, and nearly a tenth in South Africa. At the end of the 1950s, first South Africa and then Australia began to limit foreign magazine imports, for economic reasons, and when this was followed by UK excise duties the magazine was quickly in debt. Hamilton was forced to cease publication with issue 41, dated June 1959.〔〔Ashley, ''Transformations'', p. 230.〕 Hamilton had also had health problems which contributed to his decision to stop publication.〔Ashley, ''History of the Science Fiction Magazine Part 4'', p. 42.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nebula Science Fiction」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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