Editing James Blish (section)

== Life ==
Blish was born on May 23, 1921, at [[East Orange, New Jersey]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bloom|first=Harold|title=Science Fiction Writers of the Golden Age|date=Jun 1995|publisher=Chelsea House|isbn=9780791021996|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sciencefictwrotg00haro/page/63 63]|chapter=James Blish|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/sciencefictwrotg00haro/page/63}}</ref> While in high school, Blish self-published a [[fanzine]], called ''The Planeteer'', using a [[hectograph]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2020}} The fanzine ran for six issues. 

Blish was a member of the [[Futurians]].<ref>Knight, Damon. The Futurians. New York: John Day, 1977.</ref>

Blish attended meetings of the Futurian Science Fiction Society in New York City during this period.
Futurian members [[Damon Knight]] and [[Cyril M. Kornbluth]] became close friends. However, Blish's relationships with other members were often bitter.<ref name="Kirkus Big Ideas">{{Cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/big-ideas-james-blish/|title=The Big Ideas of James Blish|last=Litpak|first=Andrew|date=2014-02-13|website=Kirkus|access-date=2017-12-30}}</ref> A personal target was fellow member [[Judith Merril]], with whom he would debate politics. Merril would frequently dismiss Blish's self-description of being a "paper fascist". She wrote in ''Better to Have Loved'' (2002), "Of course [Blish] was not fascist, antisemitic, or any of those terrible things, but every time he used the phrase, I saw red."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Merril|first1=Judith|title=Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril|last2=Pohl-Weary|first2=Emily|date=2002-04-19|publisher=Between the Lines|isbn=9781896357577|location=Toronto|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bettertohavelove0000merr/page/58 58]|chapter=Virginia Kidd and the Futurian Motherhood|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/bettertohavelove0000merr/page/58}}</ref>

[[File:BlishGrave.jpg|thumb|James Blish's grave marker.]]
Blish studied [[microbiology]] at [[Rutgers University]], graduating in 1942. He was [[Conscription in the United States|drafted into Army service]], and he served briefly as a [[medical laboratory]] [[Laboratory technician|technician]]. The [[United States Army]] [[Military discharge|discharged]] him for refusing orders to clean a [[grease trap]] in 1944. Following discharge, Blish entered [[Columbia University]] as a masters student of [[zoology]]. He did not complete the program, opting to write fiction full-time.<ref name="Kirkus Big Ideas" />

In 1947, he married [[Virginia Kidd]], a fellow Futurian.<ref name=":0" /> They divorced in 1963. Blish then married artist [[J. A. Lawrence]] in 1964,<ref name=":0" /> moving to England that same year.

From 1962 to 1968, Blish worked for the [[Tobacco Institute]] as a writer and critic. Much of his work for the institute went uncredited.

Blish died on July 30, 1975, from complications related to [[lung cancer]]. He was buried in [[Holywell Cemetery]], [[Oxford]]. The [[Bodleian Library]] at Oxford is the custodian of Blish's papers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/modern/blish/blish.html|title=Collection: Books and papers of James Blish (1921-75)|website=[[Bodleian Library]]|access-date=2017-12-30}}</ref> The library also has a complete catalog of Blish's published works.