The breakdown into story types of everything that has been published in F&SF (for the first 50 years, 574 issues, 579 whole numbers) is as follows:
Fiction |
Number |
Comments |
ct |
915 |
(2 for whom their artists are unknown; 205 by Gahan Wilson; 204, one in each issue between 1965 APR - 1981 OCT; one more in 50th Anniversary Issue, 1999 OCT/NOV) |
fa |
12 |
|
fa/spf |
1 |
|
gp |
2 |
|
hues |
17 |
(all Plumage from Pegasus columns by Paul Di Filippo) |
na |
153 |
(includes 5 2-part novellas; 158 total pieces) |
no |
28 |
(includes 2 complete novels, 14 2-part novels, 11 3-part novels, & 1 4-part novel; 67 total pieces) |
nv |
1002 |
|
ply |
8 |
|
pm |
235 |
|
spf |
23 |
|
ss |
2979 |
|
vi |
342 |
|
Non-Fiction |
Number |
Comments |
ar |
184 |
|
aw |
9 |
|
bib |
16 |
|
bio |
13 |
(includes 1 2-part biographical article; 14 total pieces) |
br |
747 |
(by 74 different reviewers; Algis Budrys has done the most, at 157; Orson Scott Card in 2nd place, with 72 br's) |
cmp |
131 |
(66 competitions, the last did not have its results published) |
ed |
90 |
(62 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch) |
ed/br |
1 |
(by Ms. Rusch) |
ged |
2 |
(by Fredric Brown, Ray Bradbury) |
in |
54 |
(30 by Avram Davidson; 1 by Davidson & Robert F. Young) |
indx |
91 |
|
lttr |
39 |
(yes, they did have a short-lived letters column, three times, despite what the editors said to the contrary) |
misc |
15 |
|
mr |
104 |
(52 by Harlan Ellison; 37 by Kathi Maio) |
mr/tvr |
163 |
(all by Baird Searles) |
note |
58 |
|
obit |
20 |
|
plyr |
9 |
|
pz |
31 |
|
qz |
1 |
|
sces |
400 |
(399 by Isaac Asimov; one in every issue between 1958 NOV - 1992 FEB; #400 completed by Janet Asimov, in the 1994 DEC issue) |
tvr |
1 |
|
There have been a total number of 7941 entries in the first 50 years of F&SF, in 574 issues (579 whole numbers); of these 2179 have been non-fiction pieces, and 5717 have been pieces of fiction. When the individual parts of serials are counted, the totals of non-fiction & fiction are 2180 & 5761, respectively, and thus adding up to 7941 entries.
Abv. |
Fiction Types |
Comments |
vi |
vignette |
roughly under 4 pages, or under 1,000 words |
ss |
short story |
roughly 4 - 18 pages, or 1,000 - 7,499 words |
nv |
novelette |
roughly 19 - 40 pages, or 7,500 - 17,4999 words |
na |
novella |
roughly 41 - 89 pages, or 17,500 - 39,999 words |
no |
novel |
roughly over 90 pages, or over 40,000 words |
The word counts for the fiction types are those used by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA), and the magazine page equivalents are those used by William G. Contento in his online & CD-ROM databases (see the bibliography for the titles). Mr. Contento, in a letter, states:
"We estimate story lengths from the page count, which maps fairly well with the given word counts for books and digest magazines. For 8½ x 11" magazines there are about twice as many words per page, with pulp magazines being half-way between them. Of course you have to allow for type size, illustrations, etc., but we believe our length indicators are accurate for the majority of stories."
It was not until the January 1966 issue (whole number 176) of F&SF that the table of contents broke down the stories into types (the breakdown never included vignettes). However, the definitions for the fiction types at that time differed from that used by the SFWA today. Because the SFWA definitions
are used throughout the whole database, there will be discrepancies between the magazines' TOCs and the tables in the database.
Notes. Not all 'notes from the editor' made it into the Stories Tables. To be included in the database, a 'note', as labeled in the 'Type' field, had to have one or more of the following elements:
1. Have something of importance concerning the magazine; e.g., raise of cover price, change of publishing schedule, publisher, or editor, etc.
2. Announcement of a story contest, or the results of one, a request for readers' opinions, the results of a survey, or stories that get a lot of reader letters that prompt a note from the editor. Also announcements of F&SF 1sts, such as a first serial, or a new department, or a new series of cover art.
Book Reviews. An attempt was made to list all the books reviewed in the 'Comments' field. Due to lack of space, this was not always possible. When it wasn't possible, books that were omitted were those that either had the shortest reviews, or those that were already reviewed in a previous issue.
The earlier book reviews, by co-editors Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, tended to be one sentence or one paragraph reviews that basically just mentioned books that were recently published. Towards the latter half of the 1950s, true evaluations were being published, with the result that the book
review columns were longer, perhaps fewer books reviewed each issue, and I was able to list more or all the books mentioned. Reviewers also began to start the columns with a discourse on a subject related to book publishing or the genres. These, too, were mentioned, when possible, in the 'Comments' field.
Introductions. At times an editor will write an introduction, much larger than the normal story intro, for a special section in an issue or for a certain author. Avram Davidson, when he was the F&SF editor in the early 1960s, was well-known for doing this to acknowledge the special works of fiction of
a certain author. When such an introduction takes up a full page, whether or not it has a heading, it is listed in the Stories Table as a separate entry.