Kornbluth, Mary
Entry updated 10 July 2026. Tagged: Author, Editor.
(1920-2007) US author and editor born Mary G Byers, active in 1940s Fandom and associated in particular with the Futurians; married to C M Kornbluth from 1943 until his death in 1958. She began to publish work of genre interest with "The Great Battle of S-F" in the fanzine Cosmic Tales #8 for December 1938; her one professional fiction sale was "Chicken Soup" with Katherine MacLean in Weird Tales for Winter 1973. Her sole book-length genre publication is Science Fiction Showcase (anth 1959), a anthology in memory of her husband, with a new introduction "For C. M. Kornbluth" by Frederik Pohl (who had suggested the book). This consisted mostly of reprinted stories, though with one exception: contributors were Poul Anderson, James Blish, Robert Bloch (a poem), Ray Bradbury, Avram Davidson, Philip K Dick, Damon Knight, Murray Leinster, Richard Matheson – the first appearance of his tale "Mantage" – Pohl, Theodore Sturgeon and Jack Williamson.
Mary Kornbluth published no more sf but in 1973 was interviewed via telephone by Charles Platt, the result appearing as "C.M. Kornbluth: Interview with His Widow" (September 1979 Foundation #17) and in Platt's Dream Makers: The Uncommon People Who Write Science Fiction (coll 1980; vt Who Writes Science Fiction? coll 1980). [DRL]
Mary G Byers Kornbluth
born Clark City, Ohio: 23 September 1920
died Babson Park, Florida: 1 June 2007
works as editor
- Science Fiction Showcase (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1959) [anth: memorial volume in memory of C M Kornbluth; introduction "For C. M. Kornbluth" by Frederik Pohl: hb/Richard Powers]
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