From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.
"Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.
"Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/

Playboy would often commission SF. At one point they asked a number of
authors for stories inspired by a particular photograph, and they got
Playback by Clarke, Lovemaking by Pohl, and some story by Thomas Disch
that I can't remember. But they rejected the story that Asimov submitted
and Asimov got some mileage out of that.

Even so, my mom wouldn't believe that I only read it for the articles.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

James Nicoll wrote:

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.
"Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/

David Langford was working on a literary biography of John Sladek, and
to get access to some of his stories he had to convince library
authorities that this was indeed his task, as they were published in
British skin magazines and these were not available for just anyone.

Ellison published in lesser American "Men's Magazines", because, as he explained, they paid a decent rate and did not interfere with his work,
as some SF editors were prone to do.

On the other hand Ellison's only story in Analog, a collaboration with
Bova, could have earned much more money if published in Playboy. But
Ellison wanted to be in Analog, if only once, and Bova agreed.

Ellison and Bova did make good money from the story, though, they sued
ABC for theft and were awarded several hundred thousand dollars.


William Hyde
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Sep 22, 2026, William Hyde wrote
(in article <118uigf$147k9$1@dont-email.me>):

James Nicoll wrote:

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.
"Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/

David Langford was working on a literary biography of John Sladek, and
to get access to some of his stories he had to convince library
authorities that this was indeed his task, as they were published in
British skin magazines and these were not available for just anyone.

Ellison published in lesser American "Men's Magazines", because, as he explained, they paid a decent rate and did not interfere with his work,
as some SF editors were prone to do.

On the other hand Ellison's only story in Analog, a collaboration with
Bova, could have earned much more money if published in Playboy. But
Ellison wanted to be in Analog, if only once, and Bova agreed.

Ellison and Bova did make good money from the story, though, they sued
ABC for theft and were awarded several hundred thousand dollars.

Was that the robot detective story? Brillo, I think?

William Hyde

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

WolfFan wrote:

On Sep 22, 2026, William Hyde wrote
(in article <118uigf$147k9$1@dont-email.me>):

James Nicoll wrote:

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.
"Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/ >> David Langford was working on a literary biography of John Sladek, and

to get access to some of his stories he had to convince library
authorities that this was indeed his task, as they were published in
British skin magazines and these were not available for just anyone.

Ellison published in lesser American "Men's Magazines", because, as he
explained, they paid a decent rate and did not interfere with his work,
as some SF editors were prone to do.

On the other hand Ellison's only story in Analog, a collaboration with
Bova, could have earned much more money if published in Playboy. But
Ellison wanted to be in Analog, if only once, and Bova agreed.

Ellison and Bova did make good money from the story, though, they sued
ABC for theft and were awarded several hundred thousand dollars.

Was that the robot detective story? Brillo, I think?

I had forgotten the name, but yes, that is the story.


Hmm... Brillo is John Rebus' dog.

William Hyde


--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Sep 22, 2026, William Hyde wrote
(in article <118ur6l$17d5o$1@dont-email.me>):

WolfFan wrote:

On Sep 22, 2026, William Hyde wrote
(in article <118uigf$147k9$1@dont-email.me>):

James Nicoll wrote:

Five Classic SF Stories First Published in Playboy

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads. "Playboy" showcased some remarkable speculative writers.

https://reactormag.com/five-classic-sf-stories-first-published-in-playboy/

David Langford was working on a literary biography of John Sladek, and
to get access to some of his stories he had to convince library authorities that this was indeed his task, as they were published in British skin magazines and these were not available for just anyone.

Ellison published in lesser American "Men's Magazines", because, as he explained, they paid a decent rate and did not interfere with his work, as some SF editors were prone to do.

On the other hand Ellison's only story in Analog, a collaboration with Bova, could have earned much more money if published in Playboy. But Ellison wanted to be in Analog, if only once, and Bova agreed.

Ellison and Bova did make good money from the story, though, they sued ABC for theft and were awarded several hundred thousand dollars.

Was that the robot detective story? Brillo, I think?

I had forgotten the name, but yes, that is the story.

yet another example of Grand Theft Hollywood.

Hmm... Brillo is John Rebus' dog.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Tue, 22 Sep 2026 15:06:54 -0000 (UTC), jdnicoll@panix.com (James
Nicoll) wrote:

Playboy wasn't all stereo advice, interviews, and cigarette ads.

And one other form of content that seems to escape one's memory,
memorable and infamous though it was! But then, it's so well-known
that it hardly needs to be mentioned!

I do remember that Transit of Earth appeared there.

John Savard
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Tue, 22 Sep 2026, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Playboy would often commission SF. At one point they asked a number of authors for stories inspired by a particular photograph, and they got Playback by Clarke, Lovemaking by Pohl, and some story by Thomas Disch
that I can't remember. But they rejected the story that Asimov submitted
and Asimov got some mileage out of that.

What year did that stop?
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Chris Abraham <chris@gerriscorp.com> wrote:

On Tue, 22 Sep 2026, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Playboy would often commission SF. At one point they asked a number of
authors for stories inspired by a particular photograph, and they got
Playback by Clarke, Lovemaking by Pohl, and some story by Thomas Disch
that I can't remember. But they rejected the story that Asimov submitted
and Asimov got some mileage out of that.

What year did that stop?

I don't know, but they published an SF anthology in 1999 so I am suspecting
it went on at least until then.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On 2026-09-24, Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:

Playboy would often commission SF.

What year did that stop?

I don't know, but they published an SF anthology in 1999 so I am suspecting it went on at least until then.

In the 1980s, there were a bunch of SF ... collections? anthologies? ... published by local house Moewig in collaboration with Playboy, here
in Germany. I think I bought the collected short stories of Edmond
Hamilton from that imprint. Was that only a thing for the German
market, or an American thing that got copied wholesale?

I think the same time frame saw some other co-branding exercises
here. Heyne, then a big fixture in the German SF paperback market,
published a line of books in collaboration with Philip Morris.
--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

In article <11935nn$oit$1@panix2.panix.com>,
kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Chris Abraham <chris@gerriscorp.com> wrote:

On Tue, 22 Sep 2026, Scott Dorsey wrote:

Playboy would often commission SF. At one point they asked a number of
authors for stories inspired by a particular photograph, and they got
Playback by Clarke, Lovemaking by Pohl, and some story by Thomas Disch
that I can't remember. But they rejected the story that Asimov submitted >> and Asimov got some mileage out of that.

What year did that stop?

I don't know, but they published an SF anthology in 1999 so I am suspecting it went on at least until then.
--scott

The ISFDB has listings for Playboy up 2019 (though it appears that no SF appeared in it from 2003, 2014, and 2015).
--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. i-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

On Thu, 24 Sep 2026, Scott Dorsey wrote:

I don't know, but they published an SF anthology in 1999 so I am suspecting it went on at least until then.
--scott

Playboy published science fiction short stories continuously from 1953
through the end of its print run in 2020.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2