Joseph Wolfe Ferman (June 8, 1906 – December 29, 1974) was a Russian–born American

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 ...

publisher.

Biography

Ferman moved to the United States and began working on the magazine ''

American Mercury ''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wr ...

'', the primary publication of the Mercury Press, which added ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...

'' in 1941. He was involved with the founding of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Bouche ...

'' in 1949, and became the magazine's publisher in 1954, after Lawrence Spivak resigned to pursue his interest in the television series ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

''. Ferman became the magazine's official editor in 1964 although his son Edward L. Ferman did the actual editing. Edward succeeded him as publisher in 1970, with Joseph taking the title "Chairman of the Board" of what had become a family business. In 1957, he founded '' Venture Science Fiction Magazine'' with Robert P. Mills as its editor. When the Fermans relaunched the magazine again more than a decade later, Edward Ferman served as editor. Other notable projects included the anthologies ''No Limits'' (1964), with stories taken from the pages of the first run of ''Venture'', and ''Once and Future Tales'' (1964) with stories from ''F&SF'', but not part of the ''Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction'' series. Both of these anthologies may have been ghost-edited by Edward Ferman. Joseph Ferman also published such magazines as ''Mercury Mystery Book-Magazine'', ''Bestseller Mystery Magazine'', the nostalgia magazine ''P. S.'' and the proto-

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

magazine ''Inner Space''. Ferman lived in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated Village (New York), village located in the Hempstead, New York, Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long ...

, and he died at

South Nassau Communities Hospital Mount Sinai South Nassau, formerly South Nassau Communities Hospital is a 455 bed hospital located in Oceanside, New York. The facility was opened in 1928 and is the Long Island flagship hospital for the Mount Sinai Health System. It is also th ...

Oceanside, New York Oceanside is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the southern part of the town of Hempstead (town), New York, Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 32,109 at the 2010 census. ...

, in 1974.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferman, Joseph 1906 births 1974 deaths Science fiction editors American speculative fiction editors American speculative fiction publishers (people) Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States