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(1956), The Triumph of Time (1958), and A Life for the Stars (1962). This series reveals the profound influence of Oswald Spengler and his theories on the successive rise and fall of civilizations. A Case of Conscience (1958), a novel combining science fiction and religion, won for Blish the Hugo Award.
Blish worked for Charles Pfizer & Co. (a drug company), Hill & Knowlton (a public relations firm), and the Tobacco Institute between 1955 and 1968 while continuing to write. Aside from fiction, Blish became one of the pioneering critics in the science fiction field, and he collected his essays and reviews in two volumes, The Issue at Hand (1964) and More Issues at Hand (1970), under the pseudonym William Atheling, Jr. Blish chafed at what he perceived to be the limited range of science fiction, and in 1964 he published Doctor Mirabilis (1964), a scintillating historical novel about Roger Bacon.
In 1964 Blish's wife obtained a divorce, and later that year he married Judith Ann Lawrence. In 1965 Blish took his first trip to England, and he moved there permanently in 1967. In order to support himself as a fulltime writer, Blish published twelve adaptations of "Star Trek" episodes between 1967 and 1977, although the last several were written solely by Judith Blish and her mother, Muriel Lawrence. Blish's later novels, Black Easter (1968), Anywhen (1970), and The Day After Judgment (1971), are challenging and cerebral works that are as much philosophy as science fiction; while being admired by critics, they were not well received by fans. Although Blish had earlier declared himself an atheist or agnostic, he had by now developed an interest in the theological work of C. S. Lewis.
Blish's last years were marred by illnesscancer, ulcers, arthritis, and other ailments. A heavy smoker and drinker, Blish was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died on July 30, 1975, at his home outside Oxford. The Best of James Blish was edited by his longtime friend Robert A. W. Lowndes in 1979, and a final volume of his critical work, The Tale That Wags the God, appeared in 1987.
Critical Extracts
Damon Knight
One of Blish's most engaging traits is the habit he has of examining the most moth-eaten and idiotic kind of plot, with an

 
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