The Thrill Book was an American pulp magazine published by Street & Smith in 1919. The first eight issues, edited by Harold Hersey, were a mixture of adventure and weird stories. Contributors included Greye La Spina, Charles Fulton Oursler, J. H. Coryell, and Seabury Quinn. Ronald Oliphant, Hersey's replacement, printed more science fiction and fantasy, though this included two stories Hersey had purchased from Murray Leinster. The best-known story from The Thrill Book is The Heads of Cerberus, a very early example of a novel about alternate time tracks, by Francis Stevens. Oliphant's larger budget attracted popular writers such as H. Bedford-Jones, but the magazine ran for only eight more issues, the last dated October 15, 1919. Historians regard The Thrill Book as a forerunner of Weird Tales and Amazing Stories, the first true specialized magazines in the fields of weird fiction and science fiction, respectively.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thrill_Book

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1910:

The United States Congress passed the Mann Act, which prohibited the interstate transport of females for "immoral purposes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act

1940:

Second World War: Operation Aerial, an evacuation of nearly 200,000 Allied soldiers from French ports, was completed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Aerial

1960:

Two cryptographers working for the U.S. National Security Agency left on vacation to Mexico, and proceeded to defect to the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection

2006:

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured in a cross-border raid near the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Gaza Strip, and held hostage by Hamas until 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

a mite: (informal) To a small extent; in a small amount; rather. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_mite

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Certainly we ought to be discontented, we ought not simply to find out ways of making the best of a bad job, and yet if we kill all pleasure in the actual process of life, what sort of future are we preparing for ourselves? If a man cannot enjoy the return of spring, why should he be happy in a labour-saving Utopia? What will he do with the leisure that the machine will give him?   --George Orwell https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell