Blish, James

   (1921–1975)

   Pioneering American science fiction writer who corresponded briefly with HPL (1936). Blish and his friend William Miller planned to issue a fanzine, The Planeteer,and in the spring of 1936 asked HPL for contributions. HPL sent them the poem “The Wood,” which was to appear in September 1936; although the pages containing the poem were printed, the issue was never completed. HPL continued to correspond with Blish and Miller (apparently writing to them jointly) until the summer. Three of his letters to them were published in the fanzine Phantastique/Science Fiction Critic (March 1938); rpt. HPL’s Uncollected Letters (Necronomicon Press, 1986). Blish went on to become a distinguished science fiction writer, with such landmark novels as A Case of Conscience (1958), Black Easter (1968), and Doctor Mirabilis (1964; rev. 1971).

   See David Ketterer, Imprisoned in a Tesseract: The Life and Work of James Blish (1987).