Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 15, 2016

April 1941 issue of Stirring Science Stories
April 1941 issue of Stirring Science Stories

Cosmic Stories and Stirring Science Stories were two pulp science fiction magazines that published a total of seven issues in 1941 and 1942. Both were edited by Donald A. Wollheim and launched by Albing Publications, appearing in alternate months. Wollheim had no budget at all for fiction, so he solicited stories from his friends among the Futurians, a group of young science fiction fans including James Blish and C. M. Kornbluth. Isaac Asimov contributed a story, but later insisted on payment after hearing that F. Orlin Tremaine, the editor of Comet—a competing science fiction magazine—was irate at the idea of a magazine that might "siphon readership from magazines that paid", and thought that authors who contributed should be blacklisted. Kornbluth was the most prolific contributor, under several pseudonyms; one of his stories, "Thirteen O'Clock", was very successful, and helped to make his reputation in the field. The magazines ceased publication in late 1941, but Wollheim was able to find a publisher for one further issue of Stirring Science Stories in March 1942 before war restrictions forced it to close again. (Full article...)

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