George Oliver Smith was an American science fiction author. He was born on April 9, 1911, and died on May 27, 1981. He was also known by the pen name Wesley Long. He is not to be confused with American science fiction writer George H. Smith. During the Golden Age of Science Fiction in the 1940s, Smith wrote for the magazine Astounding Science Fiction. John W. Campbell, Jr., the editor of the magazine, stopped working with him when Campbell's first wife, Doa, left him and married Smith in 1949. Smith kept putting out science fiction books and stories on a regular basis until 1960. During the 1960s and 1970s, when he had a job that needed his full attention, he didn't get as much done. In 1980, he got the first award from the Fandom Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Trap Door Spiders, an all-male literary club. Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers, a fictional group of people who solve crimes, were based on the Trap Door Spiders. Smith mostly wrote about space, like in Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957).
