James "Jim" McGregor was the editor of the pulp magazine Astonishing. Mark Gordian had become one of his most profitable authors by 1953. However, after publishing Gordian's story "Reactions", McGregor was contacted by another of his regular contributors, Pete Lundquist, who claimed that Gordian had somehow plagiarized a story that Lundquist had not yet published. Both men expressed disdain for Gordian's plagiarism, although they were sympathetic to the fact that Gordian was trying to reinvigorate an appreciation for science before it was lost.