In the late 1930s to the early 1940s, Blish was a member of the Futurians. He broke into science fiction print with two stories published by Frederik Pohl Super Science Stories, "Emergency Refueling" in March and "Bequest of the Angel" in May 1940. ISFDB catalogs ten more stories published during 1941 and 1942, but only two in the next five years.