First number of Romanzi di Urania

Urania is an Italian science fiction magazine published by Mondadori since October 10, 1952. Image File history File links Urania_1. ... Image File history File links Urania_1. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles. ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

History

First number featured the novel The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke. The original name of the series was I Romanzi di Urania (Urania's novels), to differentiate it with another magazine with the same name (but popularly known as Urania Rivista), which featured only short stories. The latter, however, lasted only 14 numbers, and Romanzi di Urania soon took the simplest name which still hold today. Short story collections were thenceforth published in the main series, which at his climax had a weekly periodicity with a circulation of 160,000 copies a month. Since the very beginning Urania has been indeed the best solding sf magazine of Italy, also introducing to Italian readers some famed sf authors like Isaac Asimov, Alfred Elton van Vogt, Robert Heinlein, J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick and many others. First editor was Giorgio Monicelli (brother of movie director Mario Monicelli): Monicelli is credited with the invention of the word fantascienza, meaning science-fiction in Italian. Since 1961 to 1985 novels and short stories were selected by the renowned Italian writers and intellectuals Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini, who also appeared on the magazine with a few short stories written under pseudonyms. Their successor was Gianni Montanari, a well-known sf editor and writer, who worked for the magazine until 1990. The Sands of Mars is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke which was published in 1951, before Humans had achieved space flight. ... Image:Arthur833. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... Alfred Elton van Vogt (April 26, 1912 _ January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born science fiction author. ... Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential authors in the science fiction genre. ... James Graham Ballard (born November 15, 1930 in Shanghai) is a British novelist. ... Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (16 December 1928 — 2 March 1982), often known by his initials PKD, and sometimes by the pen name Richard Phillips, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. ... Mario Monicelli is an Italian director, one of the masters of the Commedia allItaliana (Comedy Italian style). ... 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... SF may be: San Francisco, California Speculative fiction Science fiction the retired US Navy hull classification symbol for Fleet Submarine SourceForge Street Fighter Super Fitness (the logo also used these two letters) Special Forces. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A cover from 1976 by Karel Thole: notice the curious resemblance with true Pope Benedict XVI

Most of the novels and short stories were from US and British authors (with some French novels in the 1950s). Italian authors appeared uncredited, only under pseudonym. In recent times Italian sf writers are a more frequent presence. The competition of Premio Urania (Urania Award) was launched in 1990 and it is opened to all previously unpublished italian novels coming either from famous or unknown authors: the winner is awarded with publishing in the series. First winner was Vittorio Catani with his Gli universi di Moras (Urania n. 1120). In 1994 Urania published the first novel by now-world-famed Valerio Evangelisti, who had won the Premio Urania (Urania Award) for that year with Nicholas Eymerich, inquisitore. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (433x630, 55 KB) Licensing Template:Patent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (433x630, 55 KB) Licensing Template:Patent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Karel Thole, pseudonym of Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 1920 1914 - Cannobio, Italy, March 26, 2000), Dutch painter and illustrator. ... Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: ; born April 16, 1927 as Joseph Alois Ratzinger in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany) is the 265th reigning pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City. ... The word Usa has more than one meaning: U.S.A. - The United States of America The United States Army Usa, Oita - A city in Japan The USA cable network USA Today national daily newspaper The University of Southern Alabama goes by the initials U.S.A. The patriotic cheer... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the height of the baby-boom from returning... A pseudonym (Greek: false name) is a fictitious name used by an individual as an alternative to their legal name (whereas an allonym is the name of another actual person assumed by one person in authorship of a work of art; e. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vittorio Catani is an Italian science fiction writer (b. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Valerio Evangelisti (born in Bologna in 1952) is one of the most popular Italian writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. ...

Cover artists

First covers were by Carlo Jacono and Kurt Caesar, but the «golden era» of the magazine was marked by the cover of the renowned Dutch painter Karel Thole, who introduced his unparalleled, bizarre medley of surrealism, horror, classical citations and sense of humour. Another outstanding cover artist who worked for Urania in 1990s is Oscar Chichoni from Argentina. Current cover artist is Franco Brambilla. Karel Thole, pseudonym of Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 1920 1914 - Cannobio, Italy, March 26, 2000), Dutch painter and illustrator. ... // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ...

A cover by Karel Thole for Millemondi, a spin-off series of reprints or short stories collection

Image File history File links Mme80. ... Image File history File links Mme80. ... Karel Thole, pseudonym of Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 1920 1914 - Cannobio, Italy, March 26, 2000), Dutch painter and illustrator. ...

Spin-offs

The magazine sprung a great deal of spin-off series, most of them short-lived and ceased today:

• Notable exception of this rule is Millemondi, which started in 1970s with 3/4 monthly periodicity. It reprints famous novels by greatest sf authors which have been already published in the main series. Sometimes it houses previously unpublished collections of short stories.
• Urania Argento (Silver Urania) was a monthly series started in 1995 with impressive covers by Oscar Chichoni and more lengthy, previously unpublished novels: it lasted 14 numbers.
• Urania Blu of 1984 was intended to reprint major short-stories collections and other works (notably a collection of articles about science fiction by Isaac Asimov), but had a unlucky run of only 4 numbers.
• Urania Biblioteca was another series of reprints with irregular periodicity.
• Classici Urania (now ceased) was a monthly reprint of the best novels and anthologies of the main series.
• Urania Fantasy was a monthly series dedicated to fantasy titles: it had little success and was stopped after some 70 numbers.
• Urania Collezione started in 2003 and is still monthly outgoing: it is similar to Classici Urania but has revised translations and a different, better packaging.

For many years Urania included a comic strip section: main titles were B.C. by Johnny Hart, The Wizard of Id, by the same Hart and Brant Parker and Catfish by Bollen & Peterman. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... SF may be: San Francisco, California Speculative fiction Science fiction the retired US Navy hull classification symbol for Fleet Submarine SourceForge Street Fighter Super Fitness (the logo also used these two letters) Special Forces. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Dr. Isaac Asimov enthroned with symbols of his lifes work (Rowena Morrill) Dr. Isaac Asimov (c. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... B.C. is an American newspaper comic strip written and drawn by Johnny Hart. ... Johnny Hart (born February 18, 1931 in Endicott, New York) is an American cartoonist noted for having created and drawn the comic strip B.C. which has appeared daily in newspapers since February 17, 1958. ... The Wizard of Id is a daily newspaper comic strip by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. ... Brant Parker (born August 26, 1920) is a cartoonist who draws The Wizard of Id comic strip which is written by fellow cartoonist Johnny Hart. ...

Today

Currently Urania is published every month, but with a slightly decreasing success. Urania Collezione sells a little more copies. Last number of Urania is 1503, which makes it by far the longest life science fiction series published in Italy. Both series share editor-in-chief Giuseppe Lippi and cover artist Franco Brambilla. Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Cover by Kurt Caesar (1952) for the first number of the short-lived Urania Rivista twin-series, which featured only short stories Image File history File links Urania_R1. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...	Cover by Kurt Caesar (1954) for More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon Image File history File links Download high resolution version (462x660, 49 KB) Licensing Template:Patent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... More Than Human is a novel by Theodore Sturgeon. ... Theodore Sturgeon (February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American science fiction author. ...	Cover by Karel Thole for The Cosmic Puppets by Philip K. Dick Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Karel Thole, pseudonym of Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 1920 1914 - Cannobio, Italy, March 26, 2000), Dutch painter and illustrator. ... Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (16 December 1928 — 2 March 1982), often known by his initials PKD, and sometimes by the pen name Richard Phillips, was an American science fiction writer and novelist who changed the genre profoundly. ...	Cover by Oscar Chichoni for Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick Image File history File links Download high resolution version (427x626, 48 KB) Licensing Template:Patent File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Science fiction novel by Michael Swanwick, published in 1991. ... Michael Swanwick (born November 18, 1950) is a science fiction author based in Philadelphia who began publishing in the early 1980s. ...
A recent cover by Franco Brambilla Image File history File links Urania_1501. ...	First number of Urania Blu. Cover by Karel Thole Image File history File links Download high resolution version (435x637, 54 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Karel Thole, pseudonym of Carolus Adrianus Maria Thole (Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 1920 1914 - Cannobio, Italy, March 26, 2000), Dutch painter and illustrator. ...	A cover for Urania Argento by Oscar Chichoni Image File history File links Download high resolution version (435x711, 55 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...	Cover of the second number of Urania Collezione by Franco Brambilla Image File history File links Uc2. ...

External links

• www.mondourania.com Site with all the covers of Urania and sister series
• www.uraniamania.com Site of Italian collectors of Urania