Startling Stories - Bibliographic Details

Bibliographic Details

The editorial succession at Startling was as follows:

• Mort Weisinger: January 1939 – May 1941.
• Oscar J. Friend: July 1941 – Fall 1944.
• Sam Merwin, Jr.: Winter 1945 – September 1951.
• Samuel Mines: November 1951 – Fall 1954.
• Theron Raines: Winter 1955 – Spring 1955.
• Herbert D. Kastle: Summer 1955 – Fall 1955.

Startling was a pulp-sized magazine for all of its 99 issues. It initially was 132 pages, and was priced at 15 cents. The page count was reduced to 116 pages with the Summer 1944 issue and then increased to 148 pages with the March 1948 issue, at which time the price went up to 20 cents. The price increased again, to 25 cents, in November 1948, and the page count increased again to 180 pages. This higher page count did not last; it was reduced to 164 in March 1949 and then again to 148 pages in July 1951. The October 1953 issue saw the page count drop again, to 132, and a year later the Fall 1954 issue cut the page count to 116. The magazine remained at 116 pages and a price of 25 cents for the rest of its existence.

The original bimonthly schedule continued until the March 1943 issue, which was followed by June 1943 and then Fall 1943. This inaugurated a quarterly schedule that ran until Fall 1946, except that an additional issue, dated March, was inserted between the Winter 1946 and Spring 1946 issues. The next issue, January 1947, began another bimonthly sequence, which ran without interruption until November 1951. With the following issue, January 1952, Startling switched to a monthly schedule, which lasted until the June 1953 issue which was followed by August and October 1953 and then January 1954. The next issue was Spring 1954, and the magazine stayed on a quarterly schedule from then until the last issue, Fall 1955.

There was a British reprint edition from Pembertons between 1949 and 1954. These were heavily cut, with sometimes only one or two stories and usually only 64 pages, though the October and December 1952 issues both had 80 pages. It was published irregularly; initially once or twice a year, and then more or less bimonthly beginning in mid-1952. The issues were numbered from 1 to 18. Three different Canadian reprint editions also appeared for a total of 21 or 22 issues (sources differ on the correct number). Six quarterly issues appeared from Summer 1945 through Fall 1946 from Publication Enterprises, Ltd.; then another three bimonthly issues appeared, from May to September 1948, from Pines Publications. Finally 12 more bimonthly issues appeared from March 1949 to January 1951, from Better Publications of Canada. All these issues were almost identical to the American versions, although they are half an inch taller. A Mexican magazine, Enigmas, ran for 16 issues from August 1955 to May 1958; it included many reprints, primarily from Startling and from Fantastic Story Magazine.