Norman L. Knight
Norman L. Knight was born in 1895 and served as a pesticide chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture until his retirement in 1963. While not a prolific author, he contributed to the science fiction genre with eleven published stories before his death in 1972. His debut work, a novella titled "Frontier of the Unknown," appeared in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1937, during a time when the magazine was pivotal in shaping what is known as the genre's "golden age." Knight wrote several additional stories for Astounding, including "Crisis in Utopia" and "Short-Circuited Probability," and also published in other notable science fiction magazines.
His most recognized works are collaborations with fellow writer James Blish, including the novel "A Torrent of Faces," which explores themes of genetically engineered humans and overpopulation. Their partnership brought together ideas from Knight's earlier writings, culminating in a narrative that reflects both their imaginations. Knight's contributions to science fiction, while limited in volume, are notable for their imaginative concepts and collaboration with influential figures in the genre. He passed away in 1972, leaving behind a modest yet significant legacy in science fiction literature.
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Norman L. Knight
Writer
- Born: September 21, 1895
- Birthplace: St. Joseph, Missouri
- Died: April 19, 1972
Biography
Norman Louis Knight was born in 1895. He worked as a pesticide chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1963.
Knight was not a prolific writer. He published only eleven stories before his death in 1972. His first one was a novella, “Frontier of the Unknown,” published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction in 1937, a few years before John W. Campbell became its editor and began recruiting many of the authors who created what has been called the genre’s “golden age.”
Knight published a few more stories in what was then the genre’s leading magazine after Campbell began to reshape science fiction (SF), including “Crisis in Utopia” (1940) and “Short-Circuited Probability” (1941). He also published an occasional story in other SF magazines such as Future and Galaxy, and in several anthologies, including Best of Science Fiction (1946), edited by arguably the field’s top anthologist of the time, Groff Conklin.
Knight’s best-known work came in collaboration with James Blish (1921-1975), a U.S. writer who became much better known even though his first published story came three years after Knight’s. On his own, Blish came up with such concepts as space-faring cities (his Okie series), a scientific rationale for mental telepathy (Jack of Eagles in 1952, based on an earlier magazine story) and an attempt to blend religion and science fiction (A Case of Conscience, which won the field’s 1959 Hugo Award as best novel). Toward the end of his career, Blish found a whole new following when he adapted the scripts from the popular Star Trek television series into short stories, collected in a series of paperbacks, and wrote one original Trek novel, Spock Must Die! (1970). His collaborations were less successful than his solo work. His only other collaboration, besides those with Knight, was with Robert A. W. Lowndes in The Duplicated Man (1953).
Blish and Knight collaborated on the novel A Torrent of Faces (1967), which featured genetically engineered humans who were able to live under the sea. The concept came from two of Knight’s earlier stories, his first novella back in 1937 and his other Astounding magazine story, “Crisis in Utopia,” three years later. The novel also depicted a future overpopulated Earth where the inhabitants must deal with a large meteor set to collide with their planet.
Knight also collaborated with Blish on shorter works, such as “The Shipwrecked Hotel” (1965) and “The Piper of Dis” (1966), both of which appeared in Galaxy and also depicted the genetically engineered Tritons who appeared in their joint novel. In fact, A Torrent of Faces represented the melding of their earlier stories into a single novel.Another story, “The Shipwrecked Hotel,” made the 1965 Nebula ballot, voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America, but did not win in its category.
Knight died in 1972.