Galaxy and Beyond
H. L. Gold is perhaps best known as a leading magazine editor during the post-WWII science fiction boom. In 1949 he began in that direction, and launched Galaxy Science Fiction in 1950, which was soon followed by its companion fantasy magazine, Beyond Fantasy Fiction (1953–55).
With Galaxy Gold created a different kind of science fiction magazine by focusing less on technology, hardware and pulp adventures. Instead, he introduced themes leaning toward sociology, psychology and satire. He paid more than was common at the time and had the advantage that several talented authors had become alienated from John W. Campbell due to his enthusiasm for Dianetics.
Gold also edited several anthologies (1952–62) related to the magazine, but health concerns began to overwhelm him. Gold suffered from increasing agoraphobia (originating from war trauma), and as a result, retired from Galaxy in 1961 due to his health problems. He lived the rest of his life more or less in seclusion, though he published occasional short stories and guest editorials through the early 1980s. He died in 1996.
H. L. Gold was Jewish, and there are claims that he at first had to write under pseudonyms because publishers feared the readers' potential antisemitism. His marriage to Evelyn Stein ended in divorce in 1957, and his second marriage was to Muriel "Nicky" (Nicholson) Conley.
His son, E. J. Gold, is an artist, writer, musician and one of the oldest online gamers.
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