''Death Ray'' was a British

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

devoted to

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

in all its forms, especially media-related topics and novels. It was published every two months, with the first issue going on sale in May 2007. Typical issues were 132 pages, perfect bound, on glossy paper.

History

''Death Ray'' was created by Matt Bielby, the ex-

Future Publishing Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson a ...

staff member who was editor on some of that company's significant titles, including ''

Total Film ''Total Film'' was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and of ...

'' magazine and '' SFX'' magazine, the dominant SF title. ''Death Ray'' is published by Blackfish Publishing, Bielby's magazine company, based in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, UK. At their launches in 2007 ''Death Ray'' and '' SciFiNow'', launched April 2007, were the first magazines in recent years to challenge ''SFX'' dominance of the science fiction magazine market in the UK but neither has yet to approach ''SFX'' in terms of popularity or sales. (A UK version of the American science fiction magazine ''

Starlog ''Starlog'' was an American monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on ''Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in Aug ...

'' was published for a couple years beginning in May 2000.) However, the magazine has been described by one source as wordier and offering greater depth than its two main competitors. In August 2008, Blackfish Publishing announced it had been bought by

Rebellion Developments Rebellion Developments Limited is a British video game developer based in Oxford. Founded by Jason Kingsley (businessman), Jason and Chris Kingsley in December 1992, the company is best known for ''Sniper Elite'' and multiple games in the ''Lis ...

, the video game producer who already publish '' 2000 AD'' and Abaddon Books. At that point, ''Death Ray'' changed to a new format (longer but quarterly) to allow Blackfish to launch other monthly special-interest titles such as '' Filmstar'', though the title is now bimonthly. In October 2009, it was announced that ''Death Ray'' was to cease production, with issue 21 being the last in its run.

Structure

Regular sections of the magazine include: Heat Ray, a news section; New Gods, featuring interviews with current 'hot properties' in science fiction; Deep Thought, with opinion and 'think piece' columns; and Dark Stars, the name of the reviews section, particularly notable for its extensive coverage of books.

Name

Bielby has said that the magazine's name is influenced by a combination of a) the name of the influential 1990s Californian music magazine ''

Ray Gun A raygun is a science-fiction directed-energy weapon usually with destructive effect.Jeff Prucher, '' Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction,'' Oxford University Press, 2007, page 162 They have various names: ray gun, de ...

'', b) the name of the Martian ' heat-ray' weapon from

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

' ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'' (1898), c) the single issue story 'The Death Ray' from

Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in ''Eightball (comic book), Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''E ...

' '' Eightball'' comic book, d) an Australian comic book from WW2 called ''The Death Ray'', and e) issue 64 of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

' '' The Mighty Avengers'', '...Like a Death Ray From the Sky!' (May 1969).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Death Ray (Magazine) 2007 establishments in the United Kingdom 2009 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Speculative fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 2007 Magazines disestablished in 2009 Rebellion Developments titles