New Worlds was a British science fiction magazine that began in 1936 as a fanzine called Novae Terrae. John Carnell, who became Novae Terraes editor in 1939, renamed it New Worlds that year. He was instrumental in turning it into a professional publication in 1946 and was the first editor of the new incarnation. It became the leading UK science fiction magazine; the period to 1960 has been described by science fiction historian Mike Ashley as the magazine's "Golden Age". It was soon followed by other US titles also specialising in sf, such as Astounding Stories and Wonder Stories. These were distributed in the UK, and British fan organisations began to appear. In 1936, Maurice K. Hanson, a science fiction fan living in Nuneaton, founded a fanzine called Novae Terrae (Latin for "new lands" or "new worlds") for the local branch of the Science Fiction League. Hanson moved to London and his fanzine became the official publication of the Science Fiction Association, founded in 1937. After his return to civilian life in January 1946 he met writer Frank Edward Arnold, who had been working with Pendulum Publications on a new science fiction line. Arnold introduced Carnell to Stephen D. Frances, Pendulum's director.
Nova Publications
In May 1948 Carnell announced at a science fiction convention in London that plans were well underway to form a new company, to be called Nova Publications Ltd. and partly because of "fundamental differences of opinion". The issue was shoddily produced, which dismayed Nova's board, and printers' strikes caused further delays.
The financial support that Maclaren provided meant that once issue 22 appeared in April 1954, it was the start of a regular monthly schedule that lasted until 1964 with just one hiccup: a printing dispute in 1959 delayed the August issue and it was combined with the September issue. In September of that year Nova's board decided to close down both New Worlds and Science Fantasy,
When Michael Moorcock, who by this time had begun selling stories to Carnell, heard of the plans to cease publication of New Worlds and Science Fantasy, he wrote a letter that appeared in issue 141 lamenting the loss to the British science fiction field of both the magazines and Carnell himself. Carnell did not want to continue to edit the magazines in addition to New Writings in SF, and recommended Moorcock to Warburton. Kyril Bonfiglioli, an Oxford art dealer who was a friend of Brian Aldiss, also expressed an interest. Warburton gave Moorcock the choice of which magazine to edit; Moorcock chose New Worlds, and Bonfiglioli became the new editor of Science Fantasy. The first issue under Moorcock's control was number 142, dated May/June 1964. The schedule was initially bimonthly, but at the start of 1965 it returned to a stable monthly schedule.
Bibliographic details
The following table shows the editorial succession at New Worlds, indicates which issues appeared from which publisher, Dates in [square brackets] indicate the approximate date that an issue was released in cases where a month did not appear on the magazine.
{|class="wikitable"
! Issues !! Dates !! Editor !! Publisher !! Format !! Page count !! Price
|-
|1–2 || [July] 1946 – [October] 1946
| rowspan="10" | John Carnell
| rowspan="2" | Pendulum Publications, London
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Pulp
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | 64
| style="text-align: center;" | 2/-
|-
|3 || [October] 1947
| rowspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | 1/6
|-
|4 ||[April] 1949 – [April] 1949
| rowspan="8" | Nova Publications, London
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | Large digest
| style="text-align: center;" | 88
|-
|5–20 || [September] 1949 – March 1953
| style="text-align: center;" | 96
|-
|21–31 || June 1953 – January 1955
| rowspan="6" style="text-align: center;" | Digest
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | 128
|-
|32–85 || February 1955 – July 1959
| rowspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | 2/-
|-
|86 || August/September 1959
| style="text-align: center;" | 112
|-
|87–88 || October 1959 – November 1959
| rowspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | 128
|-
|89–133 || August 1963 – April 1964
| style="text-align: center;" | 2/6
|-
|134–141 || September 1963 – April 1964
| style="text-align: center;" | 3/-
|-
|142–159 || May/June 1964 – February 1966
| rowspan="7" | Michael Moorcock
| rowspan="2" | Roberts & Vinter, Ltd, London
| rowspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | Paperback
| style="text-align: center;" | 2/6
|-
|160–170 || March 1966 – January 1967
| style="text-align: center;" | 160
| rowspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | 3/6
|-
|171–172 || March 1967 – April 1967 || Gold Star Publications, London
| style="text-align: center;" | 128
|-
|173–176 || July 1967 – October 1967
| rowspan="2"| Moorcock/Magnelist Publications, London
| rowspan="10" style="text-align: center;" |Slick
| rowspan="5" style="text-align: center;" | 64
|-
|177 || November 1967
| rowspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | 5/-
|-
|178–182 || December 1967/January 1968 – July 1968 || Moorcock/Stonehart Publications, London
|-
|183–188 || October 1968 – March 1969
|rowspan="8" | Moorcock privately as<br/>New Worlds Publishing, London
|-
|189–192 || April 1969 – July 1969 || Langdon Jones
|-
|193 || August 1969 || Charles Platt
| rowspan="5" style="text-align: center;" | 32
| rowspan="5" style="text-align: center;" | 3/6
|-
|194 || September/October 1969 || Michael Moorcock
|-
|195 || November 1969 || Charles Platt & R. Glyn Jones
|-
|196 || December 1969 || Graham Hall & Graham Charnock
|-
|197–200 || January 1970 – April 1970 || Charles Platt
|-
|201 || March 1971
| rowspan="7" | Michael Moorcock
| style="text-align: center;" | A4
| style="text-align: center;" | 20
| style="text-align: center;" | 25p
|-
|202 || [September] 1971
| rowspan="8" | Sphere Books, London
| rowspan="10" style="text-align: center;" | Paperback
| style="text-align: center;" | 176
| rowspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | 30p
|-
|203 || [December] 1971
| style="text-align: center;" | 192
|-
|204 || [March] 1972
| style="text-align: center;" | 208
|-
|205 || [June] 1972
| style="text-align: center;" | 224
| style="text-align: center;" | 35p
|-
|206 || [January] 1973
| style="text-align: center;" | 280
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | 40p
|-
|207 || [September] 1973
| style="text-align: center;" | 272
|-
|208 || [December] 1974 || Hilary Bailey & Charles Platt
| style="text-align: center;" | 216
| rowspan="3" style="text-align: center;" | 50p
|-
|209 || [March] 1975
| rowspan="3" | Hilary Bailey
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | 224
|-
|210 || [November] 1975
| rowspan="2"| Corgi Books, London
|-
|211 || [August] 1976
| style="text-align: center;" | 240
| style="text-align: center;" | 60p
|-
|212 || Spring 1978
| rowspan="3" | Michael Moorcock
| rowspan="3" | Michael Moorcock
| rowspan="5" style="text-align: center;" | A4
| style="text-align: center;" | 8
| style="text-align: center;" | Free
|-
|213 || Summer 1978
| style="text-align: center;" | 32
| style="text-align: center;" | 40p
|-
|214 || Winter 1978
| style="text-align: center;" | 56
| style="text-align: center;" | 75p
|-
|215 || Spring 1979 || David Britton & Michael Butterworth|| David Britton & Michael Butterworth
| style="text-align: center;" | 48
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | £1.00
|-
|216 || September 1979 || Charles Platt || Charles Platt
| style="text-align: center;" | 44
|-
|217 || 1991
| rowspan="4" | David Garnett
| rowspan="4" | Gollancz, London
| rowspan="4" style="text-align: center;" | Paperback
| style="text-align: center;" | 267
| style="text-align: center;" | £4.99
|-
|218 || 1992
| style="text-align: center;" | 293
| style="text-align: center;"| £5.99
|-
|219 || 1993
| style="text-align: center;"| 219
| rowspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | £6.99
|-
|220 || 1994
| style="text-align: center;" | 224
|-
|221 || Winter 1996|| Michael Moorcock || Michael Moorcock
| style="text-align: center;" | A4
| style="text-align: center;" | 64
| style="text-align: center;" | £10.00
|-
|222 || 1997 || David Garnett || White Wolf, Stone Mountain GA
| style="text-align: center;" | Paperback
| style="text-align: center;" | 357
| style="text-align: center;" | $12.99
|-
|223 || 2021 || Nick Gevers & Peter Crowther || PS Publishing
| style="text-align: center;" | Paperback and signed, limited hardback
| style="text-align: center;" | 360
| style="text-align: center;" | £15.99 / £59.99
|}
There were US reprints of six of the New Worlds Quarterly anthology series. The first four were published by Berkley Books; Avon Books picked up two more of the series after Berkley dropped it, but since the fifth volume had been missed by that time, Avon retitled volumes 6 and 7 as New Worlds Quarterly 5 and New Worlds Quarterly 6. Carnell was unhappy with the results of this attempt to break into the US market, but in the event Great American collapsed later that year and only five issues appeared, on a monthly schedule from March to July.