Two complete science adventure books 1950win n1

The early 1950s saw dramatic changes in the history of US science fiction publishing. At the beginning of 1949, all but one of the major magazines in the field were in pulp format; by the end of 1955, nearly all had either ceased publication or switched to digest format. Despite the rapid decline of the pulp market, several new pulp science fiction magazines were launched during these years. Planet Stories, a pulp science fiction magazine focusing on interplanetary adventure, was successful enough to switch from quarterly to bimonthly publication in late 1950. The publisher, Fiction House, also decided to launch a companion magazine aimed more specifically at the growing paperback readership. This was Two Complete Science-Adventure Books; the first issue was dated Winter 1950 and it was published three times a year on a regular schedule. Malcolm Reiss, who oversaw several of Fiction House's magazines and comics, was the editor of Two Complete Science-Adventure Stories throughout its life, but for the first three issues Jerome Bixby, then editor of Planet Stories, also took over the new magazine. Bixby left in 1951 to work for Standard Publications. Reiss then had sole control of the magazine until 1953, when Katherine Daffron was appointed editor. Daffron edited the last two issues. Fiction House tried another companion magazine that year, Tops in Science Fiction, but it lasted only two issues. Two Complete Science-Adventure Books outlasted Tops in Science Fiction by only a few months; it was discontinued in 1954, amid the collapse of the entire pulp market. The last issue was dated Spring 1954, and Planet Stories itself only lasted until the following year.