Friend of the Gutter Jared Shurin shares an editorial from the 1953 Journal of Science Fiction at Pornokitsch. “I can’t vouch for the tone of the first three, as I’ve not found them yet, but the fourth is a corker. Whether the JSF was established with this particular tone, or if the editors took to the final issue with nihilistic zeal, the content – especially the editorials – is passionate and, er, rather blistering.

The editorial begins with a succinct explanation of the Journal’s demise – ‘malnutrition, both of material and of readers’. The editors also note that ‘if a publication fails to satisfy the needs and desires of its time; it deserves to die’. Thus they sail, with stoic aplumb, into the darkness. But not without burning some bridges behind them with this – timeless, and ever-relevant – rant…”