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September 1948 edition

Fantastic Novels was an American science-fiction and fantasy pulp magazine published by the Munsey Company of New York from 1940 to 1941, and by Popular Publications from 1948 to 1951. It was launched as a bimonthly companion magazine to Famous Fantastic Mysteries in response to heavy demand for book-length reprints of stories from pulp magazines such as Amazing Stories and Argosy. It ran science-fiction and fantasy classics from earlier decades, including novels by A. Merritt, George Allan England, Victor Rousseau and others, and occasionally published reprints of more recent work, such as Earth's Last Citadel by Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore. There were five issues in the magazine's first incarnation and another twenty in the revived version from Popular Publications, along with seventeen Canadian and two British reprints. Mary Gnaedinger edited both series; her interest in reprinting Merritt's work helped make him one of the better-known fantasy writers of the era. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

James Joseph, known as the Jesus Guy

... that the Jesus Guy (pictured) does not portray Jesus, nor does he claim to be Jesus?
... that the Sasradilaga rebellion in 1827–1828 devastated the Javanese town of Rajekwesi, causing it to be rebuilt under the new name of Bojonegoro?
... that ROLM's first product was a military computer, even though Robert Maxfield was the only one of its four co-founders with computer experience?
... that up to forty greater bamboo bats will roost in a single bamboo shoot?
... that a former street musician's villa was used for high-society gatherings in Chișinău before the Russian Revolution?
... that the Union Navy, despite being embroiled in the American Civil War, built the Wampanoag-class frigates for a planned war against Great Britain?
... that eight horses ridden by rebel commander Sentot Prawirodirdjo were killed during the Java War?
... that Pope Sixtus IV gave the Montalto Reliquary to his home town in 1586?
... that during a Game Developers Conference showcase of #IDARB, people were "blown away by how stupid it was"?

In the news

Daniel Noboa

Daniel Noboa (pictured) is re-elected president of Ecuador.
Peruvian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa dies at the age of 89.
A nightclub roof collapse in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, kills 231 people.
In basketball, the UConn Huskies win the NCAA Division I women's championship and the Florida Gators win the men's championship.

On this day

Vädersolstavlan

April 20: Easter (Christianity, 2025); first day of Ridván (Baháʼí Faith, 2025); 420 (cannabis culture)

1535 – Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring Vädersolstavlan (pictured), the oldest coloured depiction of the city.
1657 – Anglo-Spanish War: The English navy sank much of a Spanish treasure fleet at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife off the Canary Islands, but was unable to capture the treasure.
1968 – Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada, succeeding Lester B. Pearson.
2004 – An incomplete tunnel leading to the Nicoll Highway MRT station in Singapore collapsed, resulting in four deaths and the station's relocation.
2010 – An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history.

William Bedloe (b. 1650)
David Brainerd (b. 1718)
Frances Ames (b. 1920)
Kojo Laing (d. 2017)

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Today's featured picture

Trou au Natron is a volcanic caldera in the Tibesti Massif in northern Chad. The volcano is extinct, and it is unknown when it last erupted. Trou au Natron is located just south-east of Toussidé, the westernmost volcano of the Tibesti Mountains. The caldera has an irregular diameter of approximately 6 to 8 kilometres (4 to 5 miles) and is up to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) deep. Because of its irregular shape, it has been theorized that the caldera was formed as a result of multiple massive explosions, each of which deepened the enormous pit. Its exact period of formation is unconfirmed, although a Pleistocene formation has been suggested. Much of the surface of the caldera is lined with a white crust of carbonate salts such as sodium carbonate and natrolite, known as natron, leading to the caldera's name, literally 'hole of natron' in French. This crust is sometimes known as the Tibesti Soda Lake. Both the slopes and the floor of the caldera contain thick layers of fossilized aquatic gastropods and diatoms, indicating that it was once home to a deep lake. This satellite image of Trou au Natron was taken in 2008 from the International Space Station, at an altitude of around 352 kilometres (219 miles). The white crust can be seen at the bottom of the caldera.

Photograph credit: NASA

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