Philip M. Fisher, Jr. (1891-1973) was an American teacher, naval officer, author, and financial auditor, according to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and in that specific order. His first published work was an articles in Youth magazine in 1916, but he quickly turned his attention to fiction writing and published a small but distinguished body of fantasy stories in the mainstream pulps. This was before science fiction and fantasy became their own separate genres, when ghost stories and science fiction were viewed as legitimate literary fare rather than “kid stuff,” as popularized in the pulp magazines starting in 1926, with the founding of Amazing Stories magazine.
The Encyclopedia of Science FictionYouthAmazing StoriesArgosy billed such tales as “a different story” (which readers lo
