The 20th century is littered with the corpses of International SF magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This might seem like a strange thing to say, but look at the SF landscape and you’ll see what I mean. Let’s start with the first attempt (that I know of): Frederik Pohl’s International Science Fiction<\/em> (two issues, 1967-1968). Pohl, as I’ve been learning, was instrumental in forming the World SF organization in 1976 and was active in it as a president and a writer for their newsletter. A decade before that, though, he attempted to establish a magazine that would feature science fiction and fantasy writers from around the world. The first issue included fiction from Germany, Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, England, and more, along with the announcement that this would be “a new science fiction magazine with a new concept in publishing”- namely, that it would be international. No longer would Anglophone SF just export itself around the world and ignore what was happening in<\/em> that world. This first issue even included reports from the SF scenes in Germany, the Soviet Union, and Italy, establishing a kind of blueprint for what Locus and some other SF publications would start doing in their pages decades ago (something that has quietly disappeared in recent years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second issue of International Science Fiction<\/em> proudly announced on its cover all of the countries that were represented in its pages. In an editorial, Lester Del Rey explained that while other countries have many people who can read and translate stories from other languages and learn about what’s going on in SF around the world, American readers know very little about all of that. International Science Fiction<\/em> was an attempt to remedy that. But, alas, the second issue was the last. According to the SF Encyclopedia<\/em>, this attempt “sadly but unsurprisingly met with no success.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the World SF Newsletter began in 1976, it billed itself as a publication dedicated to building a network of world SF enthusiasts. It was not<\/em> a fiction magazine, but the hope of its contributors was that its existence would continue to inspire writers, fans, translators, editors, and publishers to continue the work of bringing world SF to Anglophone readers. The newsletter lasted until 1991, before the organization itself dissolved a few years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1978 saw one issue\/book of The International Science Fiction Yearbook, 1979<\/em> by UK editor and critic Colin Lester. The SFE<\/em> calls this an “ambitious but short-lived project,” and it included an entire section devoted to discussion translators as well as a section on the current state of Latin American SF. According to Lester, “The exchange of works of fiction between cultures is necessary for its survival and growth. Lubricating the machinery of exchange are translators, and the publishers of translated works. In science fiction the gears sometimes seem to lack oil–and the machine runs very much in one direction” (220).<\/p>\n\n\n\n A decade later, William H. Wheeler started SF International, <\/em>“intended as a bimonthly magazine presenting translations of stories from around the world” (SFE<\/em>). The first issue included stories from the German, Dutch, Japanese, Serbian, Polish, and English; while the second issue featured Italian, Dutch, Serbian, Spanish, German, and English SF. I think you can guess what happened…as Mike Ashley explains in the entry in SFE: <\/em>“as has happened every time anyone has introduced an international sf magazine, it failed to find the necessary support and folded after two issues.” This is all I know about SF International<\/em>, and I wish I could read Wheeler’s “Editor’s Note” to the first issue, so if anyone reading this has access to that…please let me know<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say it with me…a decade later<\/em>…Yes, after another ten years, along came Joe Randolph’s Different Realities<\/em>: A Collection of Fiction in Translation. <\/em>This magazine made it to four issues, with speculative fiction all translated by Randolph himself. As I said for Wheeler’s magazine, very little is known about Randolph’s, so if you do have a copy of an issue or you know where they are available, please let me know. Randolph’s magazine focused on French, Italian, and Dutch SFT. What does Ashley have to say<\/a> about this latest effort?: “As with many previous magazines attempting to create awareness of non-English sf, its efforts were not fully appreciated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making it to five issues was the ambitious International Speculative Fiction <\/em>magazine<\/a> of the early-to-mid-2010s, edited by Portuguese author and editor Roberto Mendes. With fiction, interviews, essays, and other editorials, ISF<\/em> attempted to revive and expand interest in speculative fiction around the world and in translation. Stories and nonfiction from authors writing in Romanian, Hungarian, English, Portuguese, and more filled these issues in English translation. The last issue was published in 2013 and included a section called “Around the World,” which related international SF news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2005, German author, editor, and translator Michael K. Iwoleit started InterNova<\/a>: The Magazine of International Science Fiction, <\/em>stemming from the German magazine Nova<\/em> (2002-2023). That print issue was the only one of its kind, though InterNova<\/em> was revived online in 2010 and, since then, has appeared over the years at various times, featuring stories and editorials from around the world, with such authors as Jacques Barb\u00e9ri, Kostas Charitos, Sven Kl\u00f6pping, Kristi Yakumaki, and others. The latest issue (2026) focuses on contemporary German science fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lavie Tidhar’s World SF Blog<\/a><\/em>, while not a magazine per se, featured stories, interviews, and essays about world SF, but ended in 2013 after four years. Alex Shvartsman’s Future Science Fiction Digest<\/em> <\/a>offered readers a richly diverse group of translated speculative fiction from many different languages (2018-2022) but ended because of a lack of funding. Only Strange Horizons<\/em>‘ sister magazine, Samovar<\/a><\/em>, a quarterly publication which started in 2017, continues as a magazine dedicated to speculative fiction in translation. Hopefully, it will continue its fantastic work for many years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bumpy road of international speculative fiction magazines demonstrates a couple of things: first, these attempts by individuals are often unsustainable beyond a few years because of the lack of interest\/funds in world SF; and second, the Anglophone SF scene will have to reorient itself toward the world scene if we are going to sustain a network that celebrates the speculative fiction being written (and written about) outside of our borders. The fact that editors and authors and translators keep trying to build the same thing suggests that this is something that wants<\/em> to be born. The outpouring of interest that I found a few months ago when starting Small Planet<\/a><\/em> (which focuses on writing about<\/em> the world SF scene and doesn’t include fiction) showed me that readers and fans in the Anglophone world are very<\/em> interested in making connections across borders, just like those early World SF organizers did with their counterparts in the Soviet Union. The work will continue, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 20th century is littered with the corpses of International SF magazines. This might seem like a strange thing to say, but look at the SF landscape and you’ll see what I mean. Let’s start with the first attempt (that I know of): Frederik Pohl’s International Science Fiction (two issues, 1967-1968). Pohl, as I’ve been<\/p>\n