Nebula Science Fiction

Nebula Science Fiction was the first Scottish science fiction magazine. It was published from 1952 to 1959, and was edited by Peter Hamilton, a young Scot who was able to take advantage of spare capacity at his parents' printing company, Crownpoint, to launch the magazine. Because Hamilton could only print Nebula when Crownpoint had no other work, the schedule was initially erratic. In 1955 he moved the printing to a Dublin-based firm, and the schedule became a little more regular, with a steady monthly run beginning in 1958 that lasted into the following year. Nebula's circulation was international, with only a quarter of the sales in the United Kingdom (UK); this led to disaster when South Africa and Australia imposed import controls on foreign periodicals at the end of the 1950s. Excise duties imposed in the UK added to Hamilton's financial burdens, and he was rapidly forced to close the magazine. The last issue was dated June 1959.

The magazine was popular with writers, partly because Hamilton went to great lengths to encourage new writers, and partly because he paid better rates per word than much of his competition. Initially he could not compete with the American market, but he offered a bonus for the most popular story in the issue, and was eventually able to match the leading American magazines. He published the first stories of several well-known writers, including Robert Silverberg, Brian Aldiss, and Bob Shaw. Nebula was also a fan favourite: author Ken Bulmer recalled that it became "what many fans regard as the best-loved British SF magazine".

In 1952 Peter Hamilton was 18 years old and had just left school; he was looking for a job, but was not healthy enough for hard physical work. His parents ran a printing house in Glasgow, Crownpoint Publications, and occasionally had spare capacity: they were interested in using the idle time on their machinery to enter the publishing business, and Peter persuaded them to publish paperback science fiction (sf) novels. Two novels were acquired, but when Crownpoint approached a local wholesaler to handle the distribution, they were told that paperbacks would be a mistake, and that a magazine, with a regular publication schedule, would be more likely to sell well. The result was Nebula Science Fiction. The first issue was dated Autumn 1952, and sold 4,000 copies.

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