 The trial issues of Science Fiction Stories in 1953 and 1954 were competent but unremarkable, with stories by some popular writers, such as Poul Anderson, Algis Budrys, and Philip K. Dick. Once Science Fiction Stories became established in 1955, Future was relegated to the junior role, and Science Fiction Stories tended to publish the better stories of the two. During the period when Science Fiction Stories was monthly, it carried serialized novels, including de Camp's The Tower of Zanid and Ward Moore and Robert Bradford's Caduceus Wild. It also published "Genius Loci", described by Ashley as one of Thomas N. Scortia's best short stories. Some well-received stories did appear in Future towards the end of the decade, including "Vulcan's Hammer", an early novella version of Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name; Clifford D. Simak's "Worlds Without End"; and Judith Merril's "Homecalling", reprinted in the 1960s in SF Impulse, whose editor, Kyril Bonfiglioli, commented "I don't believe I have ever read a more successful attempt to imagine an utterly alien way of thought." Lowndes did what he could to provide interesting non-fiction departments: a book review column was started in the early 1950s, and the end of the decade saw a series of science articles written by Isaac Asimov, and critical articles on science fiction history, written by Lowndes himself. R.A. Lafferty's first story appeared in Science Fiction Stories in the January 1960 issue, shortly before the magazine was closed down. The budget for both magazines, never very great, shrank even further towards the end, so that Lowndes had to fill space with reprints and re-use old illustrations to avoid paying for new stories and artwork.
