SFX (magazine)

Last updated
SFX
SFX January 2019 cover.jpg
Cover of issue 308, January 2019
EditorDarren Scott
Former editors Matt Bielby
Dave Golder
David Bradley
Richard Edwards
CategoriesScience fiction magazine
FrequencyEvery four weeks
Circulation 25,835 (January 2013 – January 2014, including digital) [1]
Founded1995
Company Future plc
Country United Kingdom
Based in Bath, Somerset
Language English
Website sfx.co.uk
ISSN 1749-6969
OCLC 813632043

SFX is a British magazine covering the topics of science fiction and fantasy. Its name is a reference to the abbreviated form of "special effects". [2]

Contents

Description

SFX magazine is published every four weeks by Future plc [3] [4] and was founded in 1995. [3] The magazine covers topics in the genres of popular science fiction, fantasy, and horror, within the media of films, [5] television, [6] video games, comics, and literature. [7] According to the magazine's website, the SF stands for "science fiction", but the X doesn't stand for anything in particular. [3] Given the magazine's cinematic content, SFX may stand for 'Special Effects'.

Matt Bielby was the editor for the first 11 issues. He was followed by Dave Golder [8] who left the magazine in 2005 but later returned as its online editor. Golder was replaced by David Bradley, who edited for over nine years before being promoted to Group Editor-in-Chief, handing over the issue editor role to Richard Edwards, who had been deputy editor. In 2019, Edwards left and was replaced by Darren Scott. Other members of staff include deputy editor Ian Berriman who ran the reviews section for many years, and, until January 2019, features editor Nick Setchfield.

The magazine featured a column written by David Langford from issue one to issue 274. Additional contributors have included Simon Pegg, Mark Millar, Paul Cornell, Jayne Nelson, and Bonnie Burton. SFX also publishes regular special editions.

In April 2013, the 35th European Science Fiction Convention in Kiev named SFX Best Magazine in its Hall Of Fame award category. [9]

The magazine's website sfx.co.uk used to feature news, reviews, competitions, reader blogs, and a reader forum. In November 2014, the website was closed and the URL redirected to the website GamesRadar which is now the online home of Future's sci-fi content, featuring TV and film features alongside videogames. [10]

SFX Awards

The SFX Awards celebrate the previous year's achievements in science fiction and are voted on by the readers of the SFX magazine. [11] The first SFX Awards took place in 1997.

The winners were announced at the SFX Weekender (a sci-fi Festival in North Wales) and in the magazine. [12] [13] In 2013, the event continued under the name SciFi Weekender, without SFX's sponsorship. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science fiction</span> Genre of speculative fiction

Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction, which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Clute</span> Canadian sci-fi and fantasy literature critic (born 1940)

John Frederick Clute is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part of science fiction's history" and "perhaps the foremost reader-critic of sf in our time, and one of the best the genre has ever known." He was one of eight people who founded the English magazine Interzone in 1982.

Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field, founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres. The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. Locus Online was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of Locus Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Edelman</span> American writer and editor (born 1955)

Scott Edelman is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer and editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FutureQuake</span> British small press comic book

FutureQuake was a British small press comic book founded by Arthur Wyatt, and later edited by Richmond Clements, David Evans and Owen Watts. Dedicated to showcasing work by new writers and artists, they published mostly self-contained comic stories, generally of 5 pages or less and usually of a sci-fi/fantasy/horror bent.

<i>Mir Fantastiki</i> Russian science fiction and fantasy magazine and website

Mir Fantastiki, officially abbreviated as MirF, is a Russian monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine. The name also refers to the website run by the magazine, Mirf.ru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Bielby</span> British magazine editor (born 1965)

Matt Bielby is a magazine editor based in the UK. He is best known for launching and editing many successful titles in assorted markets during the 1990s, mostly on the subjects of computer and video games, and film and television. These include .net, Amiga Power, Super Play and PC Gamer.

<i>Blackfish Publishing</i>

Blackfish Publishing was a magazine publishing company based in Bath, UK. Its first title was Death Ray, a science fiction and fantasy title.

Death Ray was a British magazine devoted to science fiction and fantasy in all its forms, especially media-related topics and novels. It was published every two months, with the first issue going on sale in May 2007. Typical issues were 132 pages, perfect bound, on glossy paper.

Flash Gordon is a short-lived science fiction television series that debuted on Sci-Fi in the United States on August 10, 2007 and continued airing new episodes through February 8, 2008. It has also appeared on the British/Ireland variant of Sci-Fi and Space in Canada. The series was developed by Peter Hume, who served as executive producer/show runner and wrote the first and last episodes, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Abercrombie</span> British fantasy writer and film editor

Joseph Edward Abercrombie is a British fantasy writer and film editor. He is the author of The First Law trilogy, as well as other fantasy books in the same setting and a trilogy of young adult novels. His novel Half a King won the 2015 Locus Award for best young adult book.

<i>Clarkesworld Magazine</i> American online fantasy and science fiction magazine

Clarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It released its first issue October 1, 2006, and has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Kij Johnson, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Sarah Monette, Catherynne Valente, Jeff VanderMeer and Peter Watts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Anders</span> American journalist

Lou Anders is the author of the Thrones & Bones series of middle grade fantasy novels. Anders is a Hugo Award-winning American editor, a Chesley Award-winning art director, an author and a journalist.

Angry Robot is a British-based publishing house dedicated to producing modern adult science fiction and fantasy, or as they call it “SF, F and WTF?!?”. The Nottingham-based company first released books in the UK in 2009, and since September 2010 has simultaneously been publishing its titles in the US as well, as a distributed client of Random House. All titles are released as paperbacks and eBooks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliette de Bodard</span> French-American speculative fiction writer

Aliette de Bodard is a French-American speculative fiction writer.

Neville Buchanan is a stop motion animator and director based in England. His style is informed by his mentor Ray Harryhausen His work has been likened to Harryhausen's predecessor Willis O'Brien with its emphasis on meticulously detailed puppets sculpted onto armatures forwarding the narrative.

<i>Uncanny Magazine</i> American sci-fi and fantasy online magazine

Uncanny Magazine is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois. Its mascot is a space unicorn.

<i>Primeval</i> (series 5) Season of television series

The fifth and final series of the British science fiction programme Primeval began on 24 May 2011 and concluded on 28 June 2011 after airing six episodes. Primeval follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across the United Kingdom through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present. The fifth series kept most of the cast intact from the fourth series, the two series having been produced and filmed back-to-back in 2010.

References

  1. ↑ "Future claims success as T3 tops digital ABCs with more than 22,000 monthly downloads". Press Gazette. 14 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "The Best Film Magazines, Journals, and Filmmaking Trade Publications". Art Departmental. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
  3. 1 2 3 "the leading science fiction, fantasy and horror magazine". SFX. 2006-09-22. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
  4. ↑ John Plunkett (5 January 2010). "Future to launch 'coffee table' superhero magazine". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-02-06. Quarterly title to capitalise on popularity of comics, videogames and movies such as Iron Man and Batman: the Dark Knight
  5. ↑ "Serenity named top sci-fi movie". BBC News. 2 April 2007. Retrieved 2011-02-06. Space thriller Serenity has beaten Star Wars to the title of best sci-fi movie in an SFX magazine poll of 3,000 fans.
  6. ↑ "Doctor Who is sci-fi favourite". BBC News. 27 December 2002. Retrieved 2011-02-06. Time-travelling hero Doctor Who has been named as the greatest science fiction character of all time.
  7. ↑ "Fantasy writer Gemmell dies at 57". BBC News. 28 July 2006. Retrieved 2011-02-06. Fantasy novelist David Gemmell, best known for stories such as Legend and Waylander, has died at the age of 57. ... He had a real sense of how excitement builds in a story - his books were real page-turners, Dave Bradley, SFX magazine
  8. ↑ "Buffy fans slay Sky One". BBC News. 16 January 2002. Retrieved 2011-02-06. We've seen the series and in some scenes we thought, how are they going to show that? -- SFX magazine editor Dave Golder
  9. ↑ "Eurocon 2013 Post Release". European Science Fiction Convention. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-07. Best Magazine: SFX (UK)
  10. ↑ "Games Radar Ping From The Editor". Future plc.
  11. ↑ Dave Golder (2010-09-22). "SFX Awards Vote Now". Sfx.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  12. ↑ "SFX Weekender Charity Auction Announced". Sfx.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  13. ↑ "SFX Sci-Fi Awards 2012". Sfx.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  14. ↑ Freeman, Matt (19 March 2013). "The Sci-Fi Weekender 2013: Judges, Jokers and Jedi Or There and Back Again: A Geek's Journey By Peter Ray Allison". BSFA .
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