Jim McGregor

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 plagerized a story that Lundquist had not yet published.

McGregor engaged a detective in New York City, who was able to track down the original manuscript for the story "The Hole Man", which showed certain peculiarities in its style and paper quality. McGregor met Lundquist in California, and together, the two confronted Gordian. They were surprised to discover that Gordian was a woman. Moreover, McGregor was surprised when Lundquist deduced that Gordian was also from the future.

Both men expressed disdain for Gordian's plagerism, although they were sympathetic to the fact that Gordian was trying to reinvigorate an appreciation for science before it was lost.

After a conversation, McGregor and Lundquist left.