(The story was originally published in 1941, but that version did not contain the term Blish apparently added it in a rewrite done for the anthology, which was first published in 1952.)īlish was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963.įrom 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Tobacco Institute.īetween 1967 and his death from lung cancer in 1975, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. He is credited with coining the term gas giant, in the story "Solar Plexus" as it appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken, edited by Judith Merril. His first published story appeared in 1940, and his writing career progressed until he gave up his job to become a professional writer. After the war he became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. In the late 1930's to the early 1940's, Blish was a member of the Futurians.īlish trained as a biologist at Rutgers and Columbia University, and spent 1942–1944 as a medical technician in the U.S. Blish also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr. James Benjamin Blish was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. Policy makers in Poul Anderson's Terran Empire would agree because they sell Jupiter to the hydrogen-breathing Ymirites whereas the title character of Anderson's "Call Me Joe" would disagree because he is a human psyche beginning a second life in an artificially grown quadrupedal body on the Jovian surface. "'You cannot totally change the form without totally changing the thought processes.such worlds are the potential property of other races.'" (p. This is the "watershed." The basic type can no longer claim any superiority, either in numbers or in ownership of the original planet.Īn Adapted pantropist comments that gas giants are not seeded because: So much time has elapsed that Earth, now a desert planet, is to be seeded with Adapted Men. 185)Īny other imperialistic race will be outnumbered - as by now is the original human form. It's enormously increased our chances to become masters of the galaxy." (p. "Using pantropy, man has seized thousands of worlds that would have been inaccessible to him otherwise.
The story's point, about the nature of humanity, has been made in the conversations. ".what was its name again? Oh yes, Earth." (p. It is a "spaceship story" as I defined these in a recent post although it ends with the ship still approaching the planet: Book Four of The Seedling Stars (London, 1972) by James Blish, "Watershed," is an eleven page short story recounting three conversations on a spaceship bridge, yet it is a fitting culmination for this series about seeding the galaxy with Adapted Men.
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