Aaron's Magazine of the Week :: Infinity Science Fiction November 1955

Continuing our tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, the Magazine of the Week is the very first issue of digest magazine Infinity Science Fiction, dated November 1955, cover art by Robert Engle. This magazine contains the first appearance of my personal favorite Arthur C. Clarke story, "The Star." It follows a Jesuit priest having a crisis of faith after studying the artifacts of an entire race of aliens wiped out when their sun went nova. "The Star" won Arthur C. Clarke the first of his three Hugo Awards (although he may have won more if the Hugos had been created a few years earlier).

Infinity, edited by Larry T. Shaw, was one of a bumper crop of digest science fiction magazines that appeared in the mid-1950's. This inaugural issue contains stories by some of the best writers of the day, including Robert Bloch, James Blish, and William Tenn. At the same time, publishers were beginning to print collections of short stories all by a single popular author. Next week's Book of the Week will be an early collection of Arthur C. Clarke short fiction, notable for the unusual orientation of the book's cover.