Fantastic Adventures was an American pulp fantasy and science fiction
magazine, edited by Ray Palmer and published from 1939 to 1953 by Ziff-
Davis. It was almost cancelled at the end of 1940, but the October 1940
issue had unexpectedly good sales, helped by a strong cover (pictured)
by J. Allen St. John for Robert Moore Williams' Jongor of Lost Land.
Fantastic Adventures soon developed a reputation for light-hearted and
whimsical stories. The cover art usually focused on melodramatic action
scenes; H.W. McCauley's covers, featuring glamorous, alluring women,
were among the most popular. In 1949 Palmer was replaced by Howard
Browne, who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about fantasy fiction.
Browne briefly managed to improve the quality of the fiction in
Fantastic Adventures, and the period around 1951 has been described as
the magazine's heyday. Browne lost interest when his plan to take
Amazing Stories more upmarket collapsed, however, and the magazine fell
back into predictability. In 1952, Ziff-Davis launched another fantasy
magazine, titled Fantastic, in a digest format; it was successful, and
in March 1953 they ended Fantastic Adventures in favor of Fantastic.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Adventures>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
France became the first country to adopt the metric system as
its system for weights and measures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system>
1898:
The Spanish–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Paris, with Spain recognizing the independence of Cuba; and ceding
Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1898)>
1936:
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, desiring to marry American
socialite Wallis Simpson against widespread opposition, abdicated the
throne, the only British monarch to have voluntarily done so since the
Anglo-Saxon period.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_abdication_crisis>
1941:
Second World War: Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers sank
the Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales (53) and
HMS Repulse (1916) east of Malaya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_Prince_of_Wales_and_Repulse>
1989:
At the first open pro-democracy demonstration in Mongolia,
journalist Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announced the formation of the
Mongolian Democratic Union, which would be instrumental in ending
Communist rule four months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsakhiagiin_Elbegdorj>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
clomp:
1. (transitive) To make a clomping sound (with some object).
2. (intransitive) To move in a way that makes loud noises with one's feet.
3. (intransitive, rare) To walk with wooden shoes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clomp>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I firmly believe people have hitherto been a great deal too much
taken up about doctrine and far too little about practice. The word
doctrine, as used in the Bible, means teaching of duty, not theory. I
preached a sermon about this. We are far too anxious to be definite and
to have finished, well-polished, sharp-edged systems — forgetting that
the more perfect a theory about the infinite, the surer it is to be
wrong, the more impossible it is to be right.
--George MacDonald
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_MacDonald>