if, subtitled Worlds of Science Fiction, was a science fiction magazine launched in March 1952. It was the creation of James L. Quinn of the Quinn Publishing Company, not to be confused with Robert Guin, who later published both if and its sister magazines, including Galaxy Science Fiction. The title If had previously been used by Con Pederson in 1948 for a science fiction fanzine. The original cover bore a distinctive if in oversized lower-case letters, with a line across the top of the logo reading "Worlds of Science Fiction" with a rectangle that enclosed most of the large "if" letters and the words "Worlds of," which from the beginning suggested the title could be read as "Worlds of if", recalling the 1935 science fiction story "The Worlds of If" by Stanley G. Weinbaum. In 1972 Worlds of if was made the official name of the magazine, so that issues after 1972 are sometimes indexed separately.
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Editors
The editorial succession at if seems to have been as follows:
- Paul W. Fairman: March 1952–September 1952.
- James L. Quinn: November 1952–August 1958. For a significant portion of this period, Larry T. Shaw served as Associate Editor, wrote the editorials and generally did most of the editorial duties. He also briefly employed writer Lee Hoffman as his assistant. They later wed.
- Damon Knight: October 1958–February 1959.
- H.L. Gold: July 1959–November 1961. Gold was ill for part of this period, and some issues listing him as editor were actually edited by Frederik Pohl.
- Frederik Pohl, January 1962–May 1969.
- Ejler Jakobsson: October 1969–January/February 1974
- Jim Baen: March/April 1974–December 1974. If ceased publication and was incorporated into Galaxy.
- Clifford R. Hong: Fall (September/November) 1986. This attempt to revive if as a quarterly lasted only around four issues.
Writers
Writers for if included J. G. Ballard, Charles Beaumont, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Jim Harmon, Robert A. Heinlein, Evan Hunter, Damon Knight, Richard Matheson, Larry Niven, Robert Silverberg, William Tenn and Jack Williamson.
Awards
- Hugo Award, Best Professional Magazine: 1966, 1967, 1968
- Hugo Award, Best Short Story, 1967: "Neutron Star" by Larry Niven
- Hugo Award, Best Short Story, 1968: "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison
