CARTMILL, Cleve

(1908-1964)

   US author and journalist; co-inventor of the Blackmill system of high-speed typography. His early work appeared in Unknown, including his first story, "Oscar" (1941), and several short FANTASY novels; one of these, "Hell Hath Fury" (1943), was featured in the George HAY anthology of the same title (1963). During the 1940s he was also active in US sf magazines, publishing in all about 40 stories, including the Space Salvage series in TWS, later collected as The Space Scavengers (coll of linked stories 1975). He is remembered for a famous story in ASF, "Deadline" (1944), which described the atomic bomb a year before it was dropped. US Security subsequently descended on ASF but was persuaded (truthfully) by John W. CAMPBELL Jr that CC had used for his research only material available in public libraries. CC's prediction made sf fans enormously proud, and the story was made a prime exhibit in the arguments about PREDICTION in sf. In this NEAR FUTURE fable the evil Sixa (i.e., Axis) forces are prevented from dropping the Bomb, and the Seilla (Allies) decline to do so, justly fearing its dread potential.

   JC

   About the author: "The Manhattan Project's Confrontation with Science Fiction" (1984 ASF) by Albert Berger.

   See also: NUCLEAR POWER; RELIGION.