The Avalonian

The Avalonian was a short-lived science fiction zine edited and published by Lilith Lorraine out of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.

The first and only issue, dated 1952, was a 56-page octavo periodical with a cover price of $1.50. It was a semi-professional publication, or a "little" magazine.

It included fiction by Steve Benedict, Helen Reid Chase ("Night of Fire"), Lilith Lorraine (Different, Challenge, Flame), James McKimmey Jr., "Where Alph, the Sacred River, ran..." by Robert Silverberg (Spaceship), Evelyn Thorne (Epos), and Michael Wolf.

In her introduction to Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women's Science Fiction, (The Ohio State University, 2008), Lisa Yaszek writes about The Avalonian: "A new science fiction (SF) magazine called The Avalonian hit the newsstands in 1952. The debut issue featured an anchor story by Lilith Lorraine...and half a dozen more pieces by writers largely unknown to the genre's growing readership. Among the latter was a very short story by Helen Reid Chase entitled "Night of Fire". In less than four pages Chase rallies a galactic civilization, recapitulates cold war nuclear fears, ridicules religious zealots, razes planet Earth, and finally saves a select fraction of humanity for a destiny among the stars. "Night of Fire" is both utterly typical and truly remarkable for its time...Because Chase valorizes empirical science over fundamentalist religion and reasoned intelligence over rote faith, her story is very much a recognizable part of the SF tradition. But in a historical moment when science and technology (not to mention stories about them) were considered primarily the province of make scientists, politicians and artists, Chase's story departs from tradition by focusing on the fate of women in the high-tech world of tomorrow."