Everett C. Smith

Everett C. Smith supplied the prize-winning plot that became The Metal Moon, a science-fiction story written with R. F. Starzl that made its magazine debut in the Winter 1932 issue of Wonder Stories Quarterly. Project Gutenberg credits both men and explains that Smith’s proposal won fourth prize in an interplanetary plot contest. The resulting narrative looks far ahead to a time when human communities have developed separately across the solar system after travel between planets was interrupted for ages. Its explorers encounter a vast artificial satellite near Jupiter and discover societies shaped by long isolation. Smith’s contribution is therefore best understood through collaboration: the publication identifies Starzl as the writer who developed the contest premise while preserving Smith’s credit in the byline and introductory note. The Metal Moon belongs to the early magazine tradition of speculative engineering, planetary exploration, and future history. Modern records continue to list Smith beside Starzl, keeping the original division of credit visible to readers.