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Brian Aldiss, author of a story featured in the first issue

Science Fiction Monthly was a British science fiction magazine published from 1974 to 1976 by New English Library (NEL). It was launched in response to demand from readers for posters of the cover art of NEL's science fiction paperbacks. The magazine was published in tabloid format, with high-quality colour reproduction; it was not stapled, so that it could be disassembled and the artwork used as posters. It was initially very successful, its circulation reportedly reaching 150,000 by the third issue. It reprinted artwork by Chris Foss, Jim Burns, Bruce Pennington, Roger Dean, and many others. Well-known writers whose work appeared in its pages included Brian Aldiss (pictured), Bob Shaw, Christopher Priest, and Harlan Ellison. The high production costs meant that a high circulation was necessary to sustain profitability, and when circulation fell to about 20,000 after two years NEL ceased publication. A new magazine, S.F. Digest, was launched in its stead, but lasted only one issue. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

BRAAAM

... that the loud low horn sound (featured) that often appears in action film trailers is known as BRAAAM?
... that 100 beerhouses were licensed in Brighton (population 40,000) in the first week after the Beerhouse Act 1830 was enacted?
... that beekeeper Erika Thompson uses her bare hands to scoop up bees?
... that when recording what became "Suze (The Cough Song)", Bob Dylan started coughing, then said that the song ended before his coughing started, and asked the producer to fade it out?
... that during the time of the Church Fathers, the velatio nuptialis was used by the church to validate the sacrament of marriage and emphasize its importance?
... that Estonian minister of war Paul Lill resigned in 1939, citing the unacceptable conditions of the Bases Treaty with the Soviet Union?
... that in 1979, Vermont ETV received more donations from viewers in Quebec than it did from Vermonters?
... that a local councillor complained that the R319 road in County Mayo had more humps and hollows than a camel's back?

In the news

Jon Rahm

In golf, Jon Rahm (pictured) wins the Masters Tournament.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is arraigned on 34 charges of falsifying business records.
Finland joins NATO as its 31st member.
In the Andorran parliamentary election, the liberal coalition, led by Prime Minister Xavier Espot, wins an absolute majority of seats in the General Council.
In NCAA Division I basketball, the LSU Tigers win the women's championship and the UConn Huskies win the men's championship.

On this day

April 11

Mary II (left) and William III

1689 – William III and Mary II (both pictured) were crowned joint sovereigns of England in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
1809 – Napoleonic Wars: A hastily assembled Royal Navy fleet launched an assault against the main strength of the French Atlantic Fleet; an incomplete victory led to political turmoil in Britain.
1951 – U.S. president Harry S. Truman relieved General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of his commands for making public statements about the Korean War that contradicted the administration's policies.
1973 – Future Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il's treatise On the Art of the Cinema, a justification for film propaganda in support of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, was published.
2001 – In a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, Australia defeated American Samoa by a score of 31–0, the largest margin of victory ever in an international football match.

Romanos III Argyros (d. 1034)
Ewelina Hańska (d. 1882)
Kurt Vonnegut (d. 2007)

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Today's featured picture

An oriental rug is a heavy textile made for a variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and originating from a region known as the Rug Belt, which stretches from Morocco across North Africa, the Middle East, and into Central Asia and northern India. The rugs can be pile-woven or flat-woven without pile, using various materials such as silk, wool, cotton, jute and animal hair. The origin of the oriental rug is unknown, although it is likely to have developed from earlier floor coverings made of felt. This French poster, titled "A La Place Clichy" and produced around 1891 to advertise oriental rugs, features a lithograph by the Swiss artist Eugène Grasset.

Illustration credit: Eugène Grasset; restored by Adam Cuerden

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