Galaxy Online bloats up over Christmas.

Will GalaxyOnline's mad thrust for glory and web domination never cease?

While the 'Nest crew were stuffing their face with Xmas turkey, GalaxyOnline were dining at the table of the corporate takeover.

GalaxyOnline.com, the would-be player for the title of King of the Streaming Media Science-Fiction Entertainment, announced that they have purchased that stalwart soundalike to themselves, Galaxy magazine.

Galaxy magazine was founded in 1950 and, under the editorial direction of H.L. Gold and Frederik Pohl, for a large period of the 60s and 70s, was a large 200 pound hairy animal in the science fiction literary genre.

"Joining Galaxy with GalaxyOnline.com makes perfect sense," gloated GalaxyOnline.com president and CEO Doug Conway. "There are obviously synergies between that classic publication and our company."

"And it's especially enriching, both for me personally and for the entire science fiction community, that we will soon be reintroducing one of the most revered magazines from the Golden Age of science fiction to a contemporary audience."

"Galaxy is part of a 50-year tradition of fine science fiction, and it has been the launching pad for many of our great SF writers," added Galaxy magazine's CFO David Franco (that's Chief Financial Officer to you and me - ed).

"Now the baton is being handed to the fine crew at GalaxyOnline.com. This new home is the proper home for Galaxy at this time, and I'm confident the next fifty years will be as exciting as the first fifty."

Conway acknowledged that negotiations had been ongoing for a number of months and, although the terms remain hush hush and on the QT, the deal had now officially been concluded.

Galaxy magazine sadly ceased publication as a print periodical in the mid-1990s, although in recent years a web site (www.galaxysciencefiction.com) had been introduced.

As part of their purchase of Galaxy, the suits at GalaxyOnline.com also obtain the rights to this domain and two others (www.galaxyezine.com and www.galaxyezine.org).

The stuff contained on the magazine site will ultimately be integrated into GalaxyOnline.com.

At this time, GalaxyOnline.com is also toying with the idea of relaunching the print edition of the title.

"We certainly won't be introducing anything immediately," laughed the victorious Conway, who is currently pulling together the editorial team that will oversee the 'new' Galaxy magazine.

"However, when we do debut, fans can expect a ground-breaking integration of old-fashioned science fiction and up-to-date technology. We intend to combine the material available at GalaxyOnline.com with traditional science fiction storytelling in a genuinely unique manner."

Well, it would be nice to think that someone out there could rise to challenge the hegemony of Sci-Fi Channel. Having been in the web game since the start, we at the 'Nest wish them luck.

With pure-play dot coms crash and burning like drunk drivers in Death Race 2000, we just hope their venture capital money doesn't do a sudden impression of a watering hole in the Sahara and go 'gloop gloop silence'.

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Angus Manville. 01/01/2001
I sure hope Galaxy magazine does re-launch in print. I'd love to see it going again as I was one of the original readers in the 1950s.

Andrew Bolger. 01/01/2001
It's a very different market now, though. In the UK, it's only SFX magazine that seems to have survived. In the US, even SF-Age has gone the way of the dodo after they couldn't make ends meet. Young'ens don't want to read SF any more. Star Wars & TV has led them down a literary blind alley.

Sheila Jones. 01/01/2001
Of course they read - they read books, NOT short stories. SFX prospers because it looks at all of science fiction, not just short stories.

Andrew Bolger. 01/01/2001
What they read - if you check the best-seller charts - is largely books on the X-Files, Star Wars and Trek, not proper books.

Judy Eastman. 02/01/2001
I think Andrew is probably pretty close to right. Books based on TV and movies and the Harry Potter fantasies.