The Futuristic Covers of Future Science Fiction


January, 1954. Artwork by Alex Schomburg

Future Science Fiction was a magazine that started in 1939 and was initially published until 1943.  The World War II paper shortage brought the magazine to a temporary end but, in 1950, the magazine was relaunched and ran for another ten years.  Future featured stories about aliens, different worlds, and future wars.  Writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, and Philip K. Dick appeared in the magazine.  Today, though, the magazine is best remembered for covers that brought a distinct pulp sensibility to the science fiction genre.

Here are just a few of the covers of Future Science Fiction.

March, 1939. Artwork by Frank R. Paul

August, 1942. Artwork by John Forte, Jr.

October, 1942. Cover by Hannes Bok

August, 1950. Artwork by Earle Bergey

October, 1950. Artwork by Leo Morey

March, 1951. Artwork by Milton Luros

1952, September. Artwork by Peter Poulton

1954, March. Artwork by Alex Schomburg

Summer, 1957. Artwork by Frank Kelly Freas

February, 1959. Artwork by Edmund Emshwiller

June, 1959. Artwork by Virgil Finlay

February, 1960. Artwork by Paul Orban

Welcome to the Future!


by Raymond L. Jones

Happy New Year and welcome to the future!  Whenever we start a new year, I always like to go back and see what people thought the future would be like.  While a visitor from the 1950s would be astounded by much of what we take for granted in 2020, they might still wonder why we don’t have a single lunar colony.

Here are just a few examples of what the pulp era expected from the future:

by Stanley Meltzoff

Artist Unknown

by Earle Bergey

by Earle Bergey

by Earle Bergey

by Earle Bergey

by Rudolph Belarski

by Ed Valigursky

Artist Unknown

by Elliott Dold

by Milton Luros

by John Forte Jr.

by Milton Luros