Nope. This is not a re-run.
That’s because there are no less than five individual magazine titled with some variation on “Future”, including one currently being published by friend of Amazing Stories, Alex Shvartsman* – Future Science Fiction Digest. (I’ve not gotten around to asking Alex if he was inspired by any of the older titles, or went with what seems like a pretty popular SF magazine title. Anyway.)
If you count “Futuristic” into the mix, include foreign editions and a handful of modifiers, you end up with well over 20 different magazines.
For some reason the word “Future” seems to be intimately associated with Science Fiction. It’s almost as popular a title word as “Science” and “Fiction”. Go figure.
Beyond sharing the name (or parts thereof) with numerous other SF magazines, this one is the only one featuring that name that was published in Australia. (Another, later title comes close – Futuristic Tales.) I refer to Future Science Fiction, from 1953 –
SF Magazines from Australia in this era were more often than not reprint magazines, drawing from US publications, and this one is no exception. Among its sources are the original US Future Fiction/Future Science Fiction, which I covered elsewhere.
The magazine was unnumbered and uncredited as to editorship. However, one source does name Graham Stone, who was a well-known Australian SF bibliographer – good choice for helping out with reprint story selection!
Future lasted for a mere six issues between 1953 and 1955. Later, in 1967, two issues were reprinted with new covers and new numbering. It also briefly had a companion magazine – Popular Science Fiction – which, if you look at the cover art for that title seems to suggest that both were from the same artist and approved by the same art director. (Apparently women on Australian SF magazines from the fifties had “issues” with space travel.)
The first issue of Future Down Under featured stories by Milton, Lesser and Kuttner, later issues had stories by Hubbard, van Vogt, Del Rey, West, Rocklynne,
The cover for the reprint edition from 1967 is not much better, although the female character has apparently managed to achieve some stability (although, given the illustration, that looks like it might be a problem).
*Last name spelled correctly here
