The Black Star Passes

The Black Star Passes is a fixup of science fiction short stories by American author John W. Campbell Jr. It was first published in 1953 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 2,951 copies. The book is the first in Campbell's Arcot, Morey and Wade series, and is followed by the novels Islands of Space and Invaders from the Infinite. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Amazing Stories and Amazing Stories Quarterly, and were "extensively edited" for book publication, with Campbell's approval, by Lloyd Arthur Eshbach.

Galaxy reviewer Groff Conklin described the stories as "three creaking classics . . . fun to read, [but] rococo antiques [without] believable characters, human relations, even logical plots."[2] Boucher and McComas dismissed the book as "a hopelessly outdated set of novelets . . . of concern only to those who wish to observe the awkward larval stage of a major figure in science fiction."[3] P. Schuyler Miller described the stories as "old-fashioned fun which [Campbell] no longer takes any more seriously than you need to."

The anthology has been described as representing a more "mainline" (classic science-fiction) treatment of Venus, compared to the planetary romance genre, in which it featured prominently at that time.

In the year 2126, scientists Arcot and Morey chase a sky pirate-and invent the technology to travel through space. In the second story, the heroes travel to Venus and make first contact with an alien species. Finally, they must defend the solar system from invaders whose own star has long since gone dark.Originally published separately as "Piracy Preferred" in Amazing Stories June 1930 edition, "Solarite" in Amazing Stories November 1930, and "The Black Star Passes" in Amazing Stories Quarterly Fall 1930, these three novellas were edited and collected into this volume in 1953.This is the first book in John W. Campbell's Arcot, Morey, and Wade trilogy. Most famous for editing Astounding Science Fiction and Fact magazine and introducing Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and many other great science fiction authors to the world, Campbell's other notable works include the novella "Who Goes There?", which was adapted to film as The Thing by John Carpenter in 1982.