Arthur G. Hill

Arthur G. Hill is an elusive figure in science fiction history, and only a small amount of reliable biographical information is easy to confirm online. What is clear is that he wrote "The Terrible Answer," a speculative story that appeared in If: Worlds of Science Fiction in July 1952 and was later preserved by Project Gutenberg.

That story has remained his best-known work. It imagines a human expedition to Mars driven by dreams of empire and wealth, then flips that premise into something darker and more ironic. The setup is classic mid-century science fiction, but the story’s real strength is its skepticism about conquest and human ambition.

Because so little firm background information is readily documented, Hill stands out less as a public literary personality than as one of those intriguing magazine-era authors who survive through a single memorable piece. For listeners drawn to vintage sci-fi, his work offers a compact glimpse of the genre’s pulp roots and its moral edge.