Jesse Francis McComas (June 9, 1911 – April 19, 1978) was an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Webb Marlowe. He entered publishing in 1941 as a salesman and editorial representative, spending two years in New York with

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. He returned to California in 1944, working as the Pacific Coast editorial representative for Henry Holt and Company. For

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

he became their Northern California sales manager and general editorial representative. McComas was the co-editor, with Raymond J. Healy, of one of the first major American anthologies of

, ''

Adventures in Time and Space ''Adventures in Time and Space'' is an American anthology of science fiction stories edited by Raymond J. Healy and J. Francis McComas and published in 1946 by Random House. A second edition was also published in 1946 that eliminated the last f ...

'' (1946). Within a few years, he was the co-founding editor, with

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

, of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

''. He edited the magazine from its inception in 1949 as ''The Magazine of Fantasy''. In the fall of 1954 he left the magazine as an active editor but continued in the role of advisory editor until 1962. During the 1950s, McComas reviewed science fiction for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''.Maria E. Alonzo
"Jesse Francis McComas: The Traveler Returns
''

F&SF ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', May–June 2011 He left to the

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journals ...

his collection of 3,000 volumes of fiction and 92 science fiction magazines dating from the 1920s.

References

External links

* * *
McComas Collection of Fantasy and Science Fiction
at San Francisco Public Library * {{DEFAULTSORT:McComas, J. Francis 1911 births 1978 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers American magazine founders American magazine editors Science fiction editors The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction University of California, Berkeley alumni Writers from Kansas City, Missouri