New Worlds is a British science fiction magazine that began in 1936 as a fanzine called Novae Terrae. It was first published professionally in 1946, edited by John Carnell. It was the leading British science fiction publication during the period to 1960 described by historian Mike Ashley as the magazine's "Golden Age". Early issues featured John Wyndham's "The Living Lies", under his John Beynon alias, and "Inheritance", an early story by Arthur C. Clarke. "Escapement" by J. G. Ballard appeared in the December 1956 issue; this was Ballard's first professionally published work, and he went on to become a significant figure in science fiction in the 1960s. After 1964, when Michael Moorcock became editor, the magazine featured experimental and avant-garde material, and it became the focus of the modernist New Wave of science fiction. Reaction among the science fiction community was mixed, with partisans and opponents of the New Wave debating the merits of New Worlds in the columns of fanzines, such as Speculation. Several of the regular contributors during this period, including Brian Aldiss and Thomas M. Disch, became major names in science fiction.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Worlds_(magazine)
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
885:
A fleet of Viking ships sailed up the Seine to lay siege to Paris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Paris_(885%E2%80%9386)
1759:
The second of two strong earthquakes struck the Levant and destroyed all the villages in the Beqaa Valley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_East_earthquakes_of_1759
1917:
World War I: German troops invaded Portuguese East Africa (fighting pictured) in an attempt to escape superior British forces to the north and resupply from captured Portuguese materiel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ngomano
1947:
McCarthyism: Executives from movie studios agreed to blacklist ten screenwriters and directors who were jailed for refusing to give testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_blacklist
1960:
The Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship of military strongman Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, were beaten and strangled to death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
biennium: A period of two years. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biennium
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Maybe altruism is our most primitive attribute out of reach, beyond our control. Or perhaps it is immediately at hand, waiting to be released, disguised now, in our kind of civilization as affection or friendship or attachment. I can’t see why it should be unreasonable for all human beings to have strands of DNA coiled up in chromosomes, coding out instincts for usefulness and helpfulness. Usefulness may turn out to be the hardest test of fitness for survival, more important than aggression, more effective, in the long run, than grabbiness. --Lewis Thomas https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas