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| Editor | Andrew I. Porter for most of its run |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly / bimonthly |
| Publisher | Algol Press (until 2000) DNA Publications |
| Founded | October 1979 |
| First issue | October 1979 |
| Final issue Number | June 2006 267 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Radford, Virginia |
| Language | English |
| ISSN | 0195-5365 (print) 1930-3858 (web) |
| OCLC | 5509898 |
Science Fiction Chronicle (later, just Chronicle) was an American science fiction magazine (also called semiprozine) published from 1979 to 2006. It was named Science Fiction Chronicle until 2002 and from then until 2006, just Chronicle.
It had a subtitles such as the Monthly SF and Fantasy News Magazine and SF, Fantasy and Horror's Monthly Trade Journal.[1][2][3]
Science Fiction Chronicle was founded, and initially owned and published, by Andrew I. Porter. Science Fiction Chronicle began as a section of Porter's older magazine (fanzine), Algol, appearing there first in 1978. It became an independent publication with its issue #1 in October 1979.[4] The magazine was first published monthly, then bimonthly, then monthly again, though its publication became irregular for its final few issues. The magazine's circulation reached its highest point around 2001, with over 10,000 copies per issue.[4] Porter sold Science Fiction Chronicle to DNA Publications in May 2000[1] and was fired from it in 2002 (which led to "swirling rumors" in the science fiction circles[5]);[4] his final issue was #226, July 2002.[6]
From around the same time (issue #228, September 2002), until its final few issues (issue #265, December 2005/January 2006), the magazine was renamed as simply Chronicle, ostensibly to avoid confusion with the San Francisco Chronicle.[4] Its last issue was #267 in June 2006.[4]
Porter was also the initial editor of the magazine for about two decades, until 2002.[4][1] According to ISFDb, from 2001 to 2006 the editor of Chronicle was Warren Lapine;[1] SFE instead lists later editors as (from #229, October 2002) John R. Douglas and (from #257, April 2005) Ian Randal Strock.[4]
Among its articles, Science Fiction Chronicle published literary criticism, news, information related to fandom, interviews related to the genre, information on the science fiction literary market and fiction.[4][7] Its content included, among others, interviews with Michael Kandel, Michael Swanwick and George Zebrowski.[8]
Its contributors included Vincent Di Fate, Jo Fletcher, Harris Lentz III, Frederik Pohl,Jeff Rovin and Robert Silverberg.[9]
From 1982 to 1998 the Science Fiction Chronicle presented an award for achievements in the field of science fiction, in a number of categories.[10][11][12] It was based on a reader's poll, and as such, similar to the Locus Award[11]. Sources discussing the award refer to it variously as: the SF Chronicle Award[10][13], the Science Fiction Chronicle Readers Poll[11] or the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award.[12][14]
Some of the categories and awards given included:[11]
Porter received a Special Award at the Worldcon in 1991 for his "years of continuing excellence" in editing Science Fiction Chronicle.[4] The magazine was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine numerous times, winning the award twice (consecutively in 1993 and 1994).[15][16]
Gardner Dozois described it as "not quite as vital as Locus" but "also full of interesting information".[17] Peter Nicholls and David Langford also remarked that its "coverage was not as broad" as that of Locus; although it also covered some other topics. They noted that it was "something of an East Coast institution" and that it "offered an alternative voice for the sf community".[4]