The Magazine of Horror
In the early seventies one of my favorite fantasy magazines was titled The Magazine of Horror. It was edited by Robert "Bob" A. W. "Doc" Lowndes (1916-1998), who had long been one of my favorite editors. Probably Lowndes' most important influence on baby boomer readers like myself was as editor of the Avalon science fiction books for young readers. Many of the Avalon SF books had gorgeous cover paintings by Ed Emshwiller. Avalon was a pioneering publisher of science fiction in hardcover, with many well remembered classics, especially early on before larger publishers, with bigger budgets, started to issue titles in the science fiction field. Avalon science fiction was standard in many public libraries.
When I was a teenager in the sixties, I started collecting old science fiction magazines, and the many titles that Lowndes edited were always among my favorites. Lowndes never managed to work for a publisher who provided a large budget, quite the opposite. His magazines always had the appearance of marginal, bargain basement operations. But he always brought considerable charm, innovation and intelligence to his projects, and I always enjoyed reading his magazines.
Robert Lowndes was one of the earliest members of the science fiction fan community in this country, one of the original members of New York's Futurian Society. The Magazine of Horror reprinted older stories, some legendary but virtually unknown to modern readers. Lowndes was occasionally able to use his long standing contacts in the fantasy and science fiction field to snag a new story by a veteran writer, even though the pay scale was low, and gave a real boost to many young writers by publishing their earliest work. I'm pretty sure, for instance, that he published Stephen King's first story.
The Magazine of Horror was published by a small New York business. I'm not sure I recall what it was called, perhaps Health Knowledge. The flag ship publication seemed to be a rather serious sounding guide to sexuality, also edited by Lowndes -- I'm not sure I remember that title either, maybe Sexology. The Magazine of Horror soon had several sister publications, reprint magazines which collected older science fiction and fantasy stories, and I was also an avid reader of those magazines. I was living in the small university town Columbia, Missouri at the time, and was unable to find the Lowndes magazines anywhere. I think I was only able to buy them at larger St. Louis area newsstands, which was not convenient.
At this time in my life I was just starting down a long road to becoming a bookseller. I was buying books, magazines and comics from a local newsstand distributor, and selling new and used publications to friends who visited my apartment and at science fiction conventions around the Midwest. I made a set-breaking decision and wrote a letter to Lowndes' publisher, asking if they would be willing to give me wholesale terms on some of their publications. It turned out the publisher was able to take care of my request easily, because they were also something of a distributor. They distributed a long list of magazines, most of them rather salacious in nature, mostly to New York area newsstands. They were only too happy to extend their services to me.
I placed orders for all of the Lowndes fiction titles. I don't remember how many I ordered, but it clearly wasn't enough, because I was able to quickly sell them at the science fiction conventions I attended. I should have ordered more copies, but I also remember having trouble paying the bills. Some things never change.
Then something extraordinary happened. The new but fast growing Rolling Stone, the youth oriented rock and roll newspaper/magazine, made the business which owned The Magazine of Horror one of their distributors. This was a huge opportunity for the small firm! They bought an expensive computer system to handle the new business, and the invoices I received from them were no longer crudely typed, but modern looking, machine processed. Rolling Stone wasn't available on Columbia newsstands either, so I ordered 100 copies and consigned them at the local head shop. Well, in Columbia the proprietor called it a poster store, but we all knew what it was. They sold out.
What seemed like a golden opportunity for Lowndes' publisher soon turned to dust. Rolling Stone pulled out of the new arrangement, and signed a contract with another, larger distributor. The small firm was left with an expensive computer system, higher operating costs that it couldn't pay for, and soon went out of business. I was disappointed that I no longer had an exclusive distribution deal for Rolling Stone in Columbia, but the most significant part of the events for me was the loss of some of my favorite magazines. It was a disaster for Robert Lowndes that had nothing to do with the quality of his work, as all of his science fiction and fantasy magazines were pulled down in the business failure.
I was very frustrated with all of this at the time. Over the years, I've found myself telling this story often. I've seen numerous small publishers make distribution pacts that were going to be wonderful, exciting opportunities for expansion and growth, only to cause huge problems and expense. There must be a lesson here some place.