Nick B. (Nick Boddie) Williams

Born in Onancock, Virginia, on August 23, 1906, Nick Boddie Williams — often published as Nick B. Williams — built a long career in journalism and spent decades with the Los Angeles Times. He served with the paper from 1931 to 1971 and was its editor from 1958 to 1971.

Alongside newspaper work, he wrote science fiction short stories for magazines and is especially remembered for the 1956 novel The Atom Curtain. Reference sources describe him as a newspaperman whose fiction explored post-apocalyptic ideas and other genre themes.

Williams died in South Laguna, California, on July 1, 1992. His career is notable for spanning both mainstream American journalism and mid-20th-century science fiction.