BORN ISAAK YUDOVICH OSIMOV in Petrograd, the young Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) grew up in Brooklyn and retained his New York accent for his entire life. A precocious genius, he began writing for pulp magazines at the age of nineteen, the same age at which he received his master’s degree from Columbia University. He had an academic career at Boston University as associate professor in the field of biochemistry, but his quick and profound success as an author of science fiction (he is regarded as one of the three greatest science fiction writers of the twentieth century, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein) curtailed his teaching activities. Prolific in both fictional works and nonfiction, with more than three hundred books to his credit, he is remembered for such enduring, groundbreaking classics as I, Robot (1950), Foundation (1951), and the short story “Nightfall” (1941), selected by the Science Fiction Writers of America as the best science fiction story ever written.
James MacCreigh is the pseudonym of Frederik (George) Pohl, Jr. (1919–), who, under his own name and at least a dozen pseudonyms, has written steadily and successfully for more than seventy years. He also has been an influential editor, holding that position at Super Science Stories and Astonishing Stories (1939–1943) and at Galaxy and if for more than a decade (1959–1969), winning three Nebula Awards for Best Editor. His writing has also earned him numerous Hugo and Nebula awards, including Grand Master. His 1980 novel, Jem, received the National Book Award.
“Legal Rites” was originally published in the September 1950 issue of Weird Tales.