Futuria Fantasia, Summer 1939

In Short

Futuria Fantasia (Summer 1939) is an early science fiction fanzine edited and published by a nineteen-year-old Ray Bradbury. Born from the energetic Los Angeles fan community, the issue blends passionate political manifestos, satirical fiction, apocalyptic short stories, and cosmic poetry. It captures a pivotal moment when young writers were grappling with the Great Depression, the rise of technology, and their own dreams of attending the first World Science Fiction Convention in New York. The zine survives as a raw, fascinating artifact showing how speculative fiction fans transformed their subculture into serious social commentary.

The Story

The magazine opens with an exuberant, informal greeting from its editor, Ray Bradbury. He candidly explains the publication's long delay, blaming a lack of funds, stacks of unread manuscripts, and a lazy spring. Reanimated by a sudden interest in Technocracy, Bradbury calls upon his fellow members of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society to put together a magazine that is both serious and playful. He promises that the issue contains no humorous writing by himself, offering only a single serious poem, and begs readers to send in a dime to keep future issues alive while the local fans prepare for a thrilling trip to New York.

The first major entry is a manifesto titled "The Revolt of the Scientists" by Technocrat Bruce Yerke. Writing as an ardent advocate, Yerke introduces the audience to Technocracy, a movement proposing that technical experts manage society once the traditional Price System inevitably collapses. He warns that American industry is so tightly linked that a single break will cause total ruin, predicting a economic crash before 1945. Under the proposed Technate, money is replaced by energy certificates, work weeks are slashed to sixteen hours for adults, and resources are tracked using a system derived from library cataloging. Yerke presents this non-political, scientific restructuring as the only alternative to absolute societal destruction.

This heavy theory is immediately followed by Ron Reynolds's lighthearted satirical story, "Don't Get Technatal." Set in the year 1975, the narrative follows Samuel Stern, a former pulp writer who finds himself utterly miserable in the crime-free, perfectly ordered Technate. With no gang massacres, slums, or messy divorces left to write about, Stern despairs until his wife suggests he try writing a science fiction romance about two robots falling in love. Realizing he cannot thrive in a quiet utopia, Stern silently reaches for his atomic gun to create his own drama. Bradbury steps in with a brief editorial note, explaining that he deliberately paired the serious article with the satire so readers could weigh both sides of the future.

Next comes "The Record," an apocalyptic short story written by a sixteen-year-old Forrest J. Ackerman. The narrative describes a devastating twenty-year global war in the mid-twenty-second century that has wiped out almost all of humanity. Having reached absolute perfection in machine-made art and science, mankind grew bored with total luxury and turned to mindless slaughter. As the last one hundred survivors engage in hand-to-hand combat among the ruins of Los Angeles, a soldier named Hedrik Hunson stumbles upon a preserved portable phonograph. When he plays Al Jolson's "Sonny Boy," the forgotten gift of music shocks the combatants out of their bloodlust, saving the human race from extinction.

The issue closes with Bradbury's poem "Thought and Space," which declares that human imagination can cross any boundary in the cosmos, outlasting dying suns and time itself.

How It Unfolds

The editor wakes up Bradbury greets his readers, explaining how money troubles and dusty piles of manuscripts delayed the zine's release. He introduces a lineup of local fan writers, announces his own interest in Technocracy, and rallies support for the upcoming convention in Manhattan.

The call for technical order Bruce Yerke presents the core principles of Technocracy, arguing that the modern economy is headed for an inevitable, catastrophic collapse. He outlines a system where energy certificates replace cash, industrial sequences organize labor, and scientific efficiency prevents total societal chaos.

The writer's utopian nightmare Ron Reynolds takes a humorous look at Yerke's ideal future through the eyes of Samuel Stern, a pulp fiction author in 1975. Frustrated because the peaceful Technate has eliminated all crime, vice, and tragedy, Stern decides to take matters into his own hands with a ray gun.

The ruin of the civilized world Forrest J. Ackerman presents a dark future where humanity, bored by machine-driven artistic perfection, spends two decades destroying itself with poison gas, heat rays, and military bombs. The remaining handful of survivors fight to the death in the ruins of Los Angeles.

The melody that saves mankind Amid the fighting, a soldier named Hedrik discovers an old phonograph and accidentally plays a vinyl record. Hearing music for the first time in years, the combatants drop their weapons, restored to sanity by a simple song.

The mind conquers the universe Bradbury closes the issue with a poem about the power of the human mind. He insists that while physical rockets cannot cross infinity, pure thought can fly past dying stars and outlive the universe.

The People

• Ray Bradbury (Ye Editor): The enthusiastic creator and curator of the zine. He wants to inspire his fellow fans, promote Technocracy, and raise enough money to keep the magazine publishing while dreaming of a trip to New York.
• Bruce Yerke: An outspoken fan advocate for Technocracy. He wants to educate science fiction readers about economic collapse and convince them to join a planned, expert-led reorganization of American industry to avoid societal chaos.
• Samuel Stern: A bitter pulp writer living in the year 1975. He wants the raw, messy drama of the old world back—complete with gangsters, murder, and political corruptions—so he can find inspiration for his stories.
• Bella Stern: Samuel's practical, forward-looking wife. She wants her husband to adapt to their peaceful, highly educated society by writing clean romance or science fiction instead of longing for historical violence.
• Hedrik Hunson: A desperate soldier fighting in the ruined streets of Los Angeles during the twenty-second century. Wounded by chemical weapons, he wants only to survive the final battle, but his accidental discovery of a phonograph turns him from a killer into a pioneer for peace.
• Forrest J. Ackerman: A young, prolific fan writer whose early work provides the issue's main narrative piece, exploring how human boredom can lead to total destruction.

In Its Own Voice

"And so--into an inforced hibernation went FuFa. The manuscripts became intimate acquaintances with all of the spiders in the family vaults..."

Ray Bradbury describes the financial struggles and delays behind getting his fan publication into the hands of readers.

"The end of the Price System is inevitable, and when it comes you are not faced with the choice of taking Technocracy or Socialism, Communism or any other 'ism'. You are faced with a choice of Tech. or chaos..."

Bruce Yerke issues a stern warning about what he views as the inescapable collapse of the modern economic framework.

"No wall of force yet have ye firmly wrought, / That chains the supreme strength of purest thought."

Ray Bradbury reflects on the limitless reach of human imagination in his closing poem.

What It's Really About

At its core, Futuria Fantasia is about the tension between technological promise and human flaw. The contributors, writing in the shadow of the Great Depression, reflect a generation obsessed with how machines will shape tomorrow. Bruce Yerke envisions technology as a stabilizing savior that can eliminate poverty, crime, and overwork through strict engineering. Conversely, Ron Reynolds and Forrest J. Ackerman warn that perfect automation might rob life of its meaning, driving people to profound boredom, frustration, or total self-destruction. The issue asks whether human nature can survive inside a completely planned utopia, ultimately suggesting through Bradbury's verse and Ackerman's prose that logic alone is insufficient: humanity requires art, emotion, and free imagination to stay sane.

Why Read It Today

This issue is an essential find for readers fascinated by the origins of modern speculative fiction and the early life of Ray Bradbury. Rather than a polished professional work, it offers an energetic, unvarnished window into 1930s fan culture. Readers can see a nineteen-year-old Bradbury finding his voice as an editor, promoter, and poet, long before he wrote Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles.

The text carries the unmistakable period attitudes of its era—including heavy-handed political theories, enthusiastic technocratic jargon, and dramatic pulp melodrama. Modern readers will easily notice the naive optimism regarding central planning alongside the melodramatic tone of the short stories. Yet, the writing carries a genuine, infectious passion. It captures the exact moment when young readers realized that science fiction was no longer just cheap magazine entertainment, but a way to debate the real-world future of human society.