Between 1952 and 1954, John Raymond published three science fiction
magazines and a fantasy magazine. Raymond, an American publisher of
men's magazines who knew little about science fiction, hired Lester del
Rey to edit the digest-size magazines. Space Science Fiction and
Science Fiction Adventures appeared in 1952, followed by Rocket Stories,
which targeted a younger audience, and Fantasy Magazine (pictured),
which published fantasy rather than science fiction. All four were
profitable, but Raymond did not reinvest the profits into the magazines,
and paid contributors late. When del Rey discovered that Raymond was
planning to cut rates, he resigned. Two of the magazines continued
briefly with Harry Harrison as editor, but all ceased publication by the
end of 1954. The magazines are well-regarded by science fiction
historians, and carried fiction by many writers well known in the field,
or who would later become famous, including Isaac Asimov, Philip K.
Dick, Robert E. Howard, and John Jakes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Raymond_science_fiction_magazines>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: George Washington led a Continental
Army column across the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack
against Hessian forces at the Battle of Trenton (painting shown).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trenton>
1898:
At the French Academy of Sciences, physicists Pierre and Marie
Curie announced the discovery of a new element, naming it radium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium>
1919:
American baseball player Babe Ruth was sold by the Boston Red
Sox to their rivals, the New York Yankees, beginning the 84-year-long
"Curse of the Bambino".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth>
1943:
Second World War: The German battleship Scharnhorst was sunk at
the Battle of the North Cape during an attempt to attack Arctic convoys.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_North_Cape>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tower of silence:
(Zoroastrianism) A low, cylindrical, open-topped tower where
Zoroastrians place the bodies of deceased people to disintegrate from
exposure and consumption by carrion birds such as vultures, the
remaining bones being kept in an ossuary; a dakhma.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tower_of_silence>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men are more or less reconciled to the thought of death, but they
also know that it is not necessary to kill one another. They know it
intermittently, just as they know other things which they conveniently
proceed to forget where there is danger of having their sleep disturbed.
To live without killing is a thought which could electrify the world, if
men were only capable of staying awake long enough to let the idea soak
in. But man refuses to stay awake because if he did, he would be obliged
to become something other than he now is, and the thought of that is
apparently too painful for him to endure.
--Henry Miller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Miller>
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