Today's featured article
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 If was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. After a series of editors, including Paul W. Fairman, Larry T. Shaw, and Damon Knight, Quinn sold the magazine to Robert Guinn at Galaxy Publishing and in 1961 Frederik Pohl became editor. Under Pohl, If won the Hugo Award for best professional magazine three years running from 1966 to 1968. In 1969 Guinn sold all his magazines to Universal Publishing and Distribution (UPD). The magazine was not as successful with Ejler Jakobsson as editor and circulation plummeted. In early 1974 Jim Baen took over from Jakobsson as editor, but increasing paper costs meant that UPD could no longer afford to publish both Galaxy and If. Galaxy was regarded as the senior of the two magazines, so If was merged into Galaxy after the December 1974 issue, its 175th issue overall. Over its 22 years, If published many award-winning stories, including Robert A. Heinlein's novel The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, and Harlan Ellison's short story "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream". Several well-known writers sold their first story to If; the most successful was Larry Niven, whose story "The Coldest Place" appeared in the December 1964 issue. (more...)
Recently featured: Ormulum – Murray Maxwell – The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
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Did you know...
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From Wikipedia's newest articles:
... that Robert Clotworthy (voice sample right) is the voice of Jim Raynor in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty?
... that author and wine educator Mary Ewing-Mulligan was the first female American Master of Wine?
... that Route Trident in Afghanistan was the first road to be built by the Royal Engineers during combat since the Dhofar Rebellion in the early 1970s?
... that when Gordon MacInnes won a State Senate seat in 1993 in the 25th Legislative District, he became the first Democrat from Morris County in 18 years to be elected to the New Jersey Legislature?
... that Parque México in Mexico City exists because environmental laws in the 1920s did not allow housing to be built on a former racetrack?
... that in retaliation for Nepal recognising Bangladesh in 1971, Pakistan broke off its ties with Nepal?
... that historian David J. Weber of Southern Methodist University was called "at least a generation ahead of his time in recognizing how entwined Mexico and the United States were and are"?
... that the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball teams coached by Johnny Orr featured Rudy Tomjanovich, Campy Russell, Rickey Green and Phil Hubbard and included the 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1976–77, and 1979–80 teams, and the NCAA Tournament runner-up 1975–76 team?
... that playwright A.R. Gurney promised his parents that his play The Cocktail Hour would not be produced in their hometown of Buffalo, New York, during their lifetimes?
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In the news
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On this day...
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September 18: Yom Kippur ends at nightfall (Judaism, 2010); Oktoberfest begins (2010); National Day in Chile
96 – Following the assassination of Roman Emperor Domitian, the Roman Senate appointed Nerva (bust pictured), the first of the Five Good Emperors, to succeed him.
324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeated Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire, and ultimately leading to the conversion of the whole empire to Christianity.
1809 – The second theatre of the Royal Opera House in London opened after a fire destroyed the original theatre one year earlier.
1931 – The Mukden Incident: A section of the Japanese-built South Manchuria Railway was destroyed, providing an excuse for the Japanese to blame the act on Chinese dissidents, and thus giving a pretext for the Japanese occupation of Manchuria.
1948 – The Donald Bradman-led Australian cricket team completed the unprecedented feat of going through an English summer without defeat.
1998 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that manages the assignment of domain names and IP addresses in the Internet, was established.
More anniversaries: September 17 – September 18 – September 19
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