Fantasy Fan

The Fantasy Fan

The Fantasy Fan Vol 1 No 10, cover dated June 1934
Editor	Charles D. Hornig
Categories	Fiction, Literature
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	60
Publisher	Charles D. Hornig
First issue	September 1933
Final issue — Number	February 1935 Vol 2 No 6
Country	United States
Language	English

The Fantasy Fan was the first fan magazine in the weird fiction field and therefore holds an important place in the history of the American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine. Issued monthly, it was first published in September 1933, and discontinued 18 issues later in February 1935. The magazine was edited by Charles D. Hornig (25 May 1916 - 11 October 1999).

Charles D. Hornig of Elizabeth, NJ, at the age of seventeen, founded the magazine, from the beginning seeking to secure the most prestigious weird and science fiction authors he could. Hornig had been buying and reading science fiction regulalry since the Sept 1930 issues of Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories. In Jan 1933 he decided to publish a fanzine and contacted Conrad H. Ruppert, who was then producing on letterpress with handset type the fan magazine The Science Fic-Digest. The first issue of Hornig's magazine The Fantasy Fan appeared July 29, 1933. Horning sent a complimentary copy to Hugo Gernsback, publisher of Wonder Stories. Gernsback had just fired his editor David Lasser for spending more time promoting The Workers Alliance and organizing the unemployed than on his editorial work. Gernsback felt a much better job could be done assisting the unemployed if Lasser himself was unemployed and could therefore devote full-time to it. Gernsback was impressed by the professional look and content of Hornig's first issue of The Fantasy Fan; he telegraphed Hornig to come and see him. He had been paying Lasser $75 a week. Due to Hornig's youth, Gernsback hired him at $20 a week and Hornig reported for work Aug 7, 1933. The first issue of Gernsback's Wonder Stories pulp magazine that he produced was Nov 1933, with the help of veteran associate editor C.P. Mason. This gave Hornig the resources to continue The Fantasy Fan which would have been economically difficult otherwise. Hornig stayed with Wonder Stories until 1936.