John W. Campbell

John Wood Campbell, Jr. (8 June 1910 – 11 July 1971) was an influential American science fiction editor and writer, known for his challenges to writers.

Sourced

• History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.
  • Statement in Analog Science Fiction/Fact magazine (1965)

• Immunity corrupts; absolute immunity corrupts absolutely.
  • Editorial in Analog Science Fiction/Fact magazine (1970)

• Of course, I never wrote the 'important' story, the sequel about the first amplified human. Once I tried something similar. John Campbell's letter of rejection began: 'Sorry - you can't write this story. Neither can anyone else.'"
  • to Vernor Vinge, after Vinge proposed writing a story about the first human with hyper-amplified intelligence. (From Vinge's comments on "Bookworm, Run!" in The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge.)

External links

• John W. Campbell at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• John W. Campbell at the Open Directory Project