Alan Cogan

Alan Cogan was a science fiction short-story writer active in the 1950s. Public information about his life and nationality is limited, so his educational background and the full scope of his work cannot be established with certainty. His confirmed works include "The Amateurs" (1955), "In the Cards" (1956), and "Nothing But the Best" (1956), all published in Galaxy Science Fiction; three of his works are held in this collection. Judging from the titles and the venue, he wrote mainly short science fiction for the popular science fiction magazine readership of the time, often telling light, brisk stories about ordinary people drawn into unusual situations, with the wit and irony typical of 1950s science fiction magazines. Although his output was small and his circulation limited, these stories remain useful reference material for studying the magazine culture of that period.