Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr.

Earth’s most powerful leader discovers that the counsel he trusted most may soon be gone—just as the stakes become irreversible. When guidance disappears, the final responsibility cannot be delegated, delayed, or avoided. Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

When you’re diving into the early days of sci-fi, one name you keep bumping into — even if you don’t always recognize it — is Sam Merwin Jr., who makes his debut on the podcast today. Born Samuel Kimball Merwin Jr. on April 28, 1910, in Plainfield, New Jersey, he came into the world with storytelling in his blood: his father, Samuel Merwin Sr., was an established novelist and playwright. 

After finishing his BA at Princeton University in 1931, he also studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, and then spent the early 1930s in journalism — reporting for the Boston Evening American and later serving as New York bureau chief for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

His first published science fiction story arrived in 1939, a tale called “The Scourge Below” in Thrilling Wonder Stories. In 1940 wrote a mystery novel, Murder in Miniatures, and over the years he continued to write both mysteries and science fiction, often under his own name and occasionally under pseudonyms like Matt Lee, Jacques Jean Ferrat, Carter Sprague, and others. 

Like many of his peers he even wrote a few comic book stories for DC's Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space.

What really makes Merwin’s impact in the genre interesting isn’t just the fiction he wrote, but the work he did behind the scenes. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he became a key editor at some of the era’s most influential science fiction magazines — Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Fantastic Story Quarterly, and Wonder Stories Annual.

Our story comes near the end of his career as a science fiction author, published in Fantastic Universe in November 1955 on page 61, Final Exam by Sam Merwin Jr…

Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A factory worker wakes up far from Earth after a routine job triggers something no one warned him about. What he learns there forces a choice between keeping quiet—and deciding who gets to live longer back home. Welcome to Paradise by Allyn Donnelson.

☕ Buy Me a Coffee - https://lostscifi.com/coffee

Newsletter - https://lostscifi.com/free/

Facebook - https://lostscifi.com/facebook

YouTube - https://lostscifi.com/youtube

X - http://Lostscifi.com/x

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lostscifiguy

Merch - https://lostscifi.creator-spring.com/

❤️ ❤️ Thanks to Our Listeners Who Bought Us a Coffee

$200 Someone

$100 Tony from the Future

$75 James Van Maanenberg

$50 MizzBassie, Anonymous Listener

$25 Someone, Someone, Eaten by a Grue, Jeff Lussenden, Fred Sieber, Anne, Craig Hamilton, Dave Wiseman, Bromite Thrip, Marwin de Haan, Future Space Engineer, Fressie, Kevin Eckert, Stephen Kagan, James Van Maanenberg, Irma Stolfo, Josh Jennings, Leber8tr, Conrad Chaffee, Anonymous Listener

$15 Every Month Someone

$15 SueTheLibrarian, Joannie West, Amy Özkan, Someone, Carolyn Guthleben, Patrick McLendon, Curious Jon, Buz C., Fressie, Anonymous Listener

$10 Anonymous Listener

$5 Every Month Eaten by a Grue

$5 TLD, David, Denis Kalinin, Timothy Buckley, Andre'a, Martin Brown, Ron McFarlan, Tif Love, Chrystene, Richard Hoffman, Anonymous Listener

https://lostscifi.com/podcast/final-exam-by-sam-merwin-jr/

Please participate in our podcast survey https://podcastsurvey.typeform.com/to/gNLcxQlk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.