Arthur Porges  Arthur Porges (; 20 August 1915 – 12 May 2006) was an American author of numerous short stories, most notably during the 1950s and 1960s, though he continued to write and publish stories until his death. Arthur Porges was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 20 August 1915. After completing his B.A. and master's degrees in mathematics, he was drafted into the army for World War II and served as an instructor in California. After the war, he taught mathematics at college before retiring to write. Porges's father, Israel Podgursky, was born in 1885 in the Russian Empire near the eastern border of Poland. He had American associations through his two brothers—Mortimer, a lawyer in Chicago, and Dave, who worked for the Chicago Board of Education—and two sisters, Lilian and Rose, neither of whom married. Mortimer had two daughters, Lois and June. On migrating to the U.S. he changed his name to James Porges, with the new surname adopted from that of a relative, Leo Porges, who had a business in Chicago. Of this, Arthur wrote later, "I've never known if he ... picked the name out of the air, ... or had some ties to the Jewish Porges network." James Porges worked at the Bell Telephone Company in Chicago, and had four sons: Leonard, Irwin, Arthur, and Walter. Porges observed, "None had children, although all but me married rather late in life." Arthur Porges's mother was Clara Kurzin, who died when he was nine years old. Porges's brother Irwin (1909–1998) was a biographer of the American author Edgar Rice Burroughs ("The Man Who Created Tarzan"). Irwin also studied piano and music arranging at a music conservatory, became a professional pianist with dance orchestras, and composed popular songs. As an author, Arthur Porges was most prolific during the mid-twentieth century, publishing most frequently in mystery magazines. He wrote many essays and non-fiction articles. Many of Porges's fictional heroes do not survive in their stories. This element adds tension—for example, in his first published story, "The Rats" (1950), mutated rats eventually overcome a lone survivor in a post-holocaust world. The publication of this story in "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction" began the working relationship between Porges and the editor Anthony Boucher.