the black star passes is a collection of science fiction short stories by american author john w. campbell jr.. it was first published in 1953 by fantasy press in an edition of 2,951 copies. the book is the first in campbell's arcot, morey and wade series, and is followed by the novels islands of space and invaders from the infinite. the stories originally appeared in the magazines "amazing stories" and "amazing stories quarterly", and were "extensively edited" for book publication, with campbell's approval, by lloyd arthur eshbach.