James Blish

James Benjamin Blish was an American author, best known for his works in the science fiction and fantasy genres. He was born on May 23, 1921, in East Orange, New Jersey and passed away in 1975. Blish was a member of the Futurian Science Fiction Society in New York City and self-published a fanzine called The Planeteer during his early years.

After serving as a medical technician in the U.S. Army during the 1940s, Blish became the science editor for the Pfizer pharmaceutical company. He began his writing career in the late 1930s, and by the early 1960s, he had become a professional writer, giving up his job to focus solely on his craft. Blish is credited with coining the term "gas giant" in his story "Solar Plexus," which appeared in the anthology Beyond Human Ken. He was married to the literary agent Virginia Kidd from 1947 to 1963 and worked for the Tobacco Institute from 1962 to 1968.

Blish is perhaps best known for his Cities in Flight series and the After Such Knowledge series. He also wrote literary criticism of science fiction using the pen-name William Atheling Jr. In the late 1960s, Blish emigrated to England and settled in Oxford, where he lived until his death in 1975. He is buried in Holywell Cemetery, Oxford, near the grave of Kenneth Grahame. Blish's name in Greek is Τζέημς Μπλις.

In the early 1970s, Blish became the first author to write short story collections based upon the classic TV series Star Trek. He wrote 11 volumes of short stories adapted from episodes of the 1960s TV series, as well as an original novel, Spock Must Die! in 1970. Blish's work on Star Trek was significant, as it paved the way for hundreds of other novels and adaptations based on the series. Despite his passing in 1975, Blish's contributions to the science fiction genre continue to be celebrated and studied by fans and scholars alike.