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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ 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
___________________________ 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