Ace Books is an American specialty publisher of science fiction and fantasy books. The company was founded in New York City in 1952 by Aaron A. Wyn and began as a genre publisher of mysteries and westerns, it soon branched out into other genres, publishing its first science fiction title in 1953. This was successful, science fiction titles outnumbered both mysteries and westerns within a few years. Other genres made an appearance, including nonfiction, gothic novels, media tie-in novelizations, romances. Ace became known for the tête-bêche binding format used for many of its early books, although it did not originate the format. Most of the early titles were published in this "Ace Double" format, Ace continued to issue books in varied genres, bound tête-bêche, until 1973. Ace, along with Ballantine Books, was one of the leading science fiction publishers for its first ten years of operation; the death of owner A. A. Wyn in 1967 set the stage for a decline in the publisher's fortunes; that was delayed several years by the Ace Science Fiction Specials series, prominent in science fiction awards and nominations for novels published from 1968 to 1970.

Two leading editors, Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr, left in 1971, in 1972 Ace was sold to Grosset & Dunlap. Despite financial troubles, there were further successes with the third Ace Science Fiction Specials series, for which Carr came back as editor. Further mergers and acquisitions resulted in the company becoming absorbed by Berkley Books. Ace became an imprint of Penguin Group. Editor Donald A. Wollheim disliked his job. While looking for other work, he tried to persuade A. A. Wyn to begin a new paperback publishing company. Wyn was a well-established publisher of books and pulp magazines under the name A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers, his magazines included Ace Mystery and Ace Sports, it is from these titles that Ace Books got its name. Wyn delayed for several months. Pyramid mistakenly called Wyn's wife Rose for a reference; when Rose told her husband that Wollheim was applying for another job, Wyn made up his mind: he hired Wollheim as an editor. The first book published by Ace was a pair of mysteries bound tête-bêche: Keith Vining's Too Hot for Hell, backed with Samuel W. Taylor's The Grinning Gismo, priced at 35 cents, with serial number D-01.

A tête-bêche book has the two titles bound upside-down with respect to each other, so that there are two front covers and the two texts meet in the middle. This format is regarded as an innovation of Ace's. Books by established authors were bound with those by lesser-known writers, on the premise that this would help new writers gain readers; the main drawback of the "Ace Double" format was. Despite the tag "Complete and Unabridged" on the cover, books so labeled were sometimes still abridged; some important titles in the early D-series novels are D-15, which features William S. Burroughs's first novel and many novels by Philip K. Dick, Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, Harry Whittington, Louis L'Amour, including those written under his pseudonym "Jim Mayo"; the last Ace Double in the first series was John T. Phillifent's Life with Lancelot, backed with William Barton's Hunting on Kunderer, issued August 1973. Although Ace resumed using the "Ace Double" name in 1974, the books were arranged conventionally rather than tête-bêche.

Ace's second title was a western: William Colt MacDonald's Bad Man's Return, bound with J. Edward Leithead's Bloody Hoofs. Mysteries and westerns alternated for the first thirty titles, with a few books not in either genre, such as P. G. Wodehouse's Quick Service, bound with his The Code of the Woosters. In 1953, A. E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A, bound with his The Universe Maker, appeared. Another SF double followed in 1953, SF established itself, alongside westerns and mysteries, as an important part of Ace's business. By 1955, the company released more SF titles each year than in either of the other two genres, from 1961 onward, SF titles outnumbered mysteries and westerns combined. Ace published a number of lurid juvenile delinquent novels in the 1950s that are now collectible, such as D-343, The Young Wolves by Edward De Roo and D-378, Out for Kicks by Wilene Shaw. By the late 1950s, Ace's output was approaching one hundred titles a year, still dominated by the primary genres. All the books were 35 cents, though some slim single volumes were 25 cents, a handful were half a dollar.

In the early'60s, rising costs forced an increase in the price of the books, more books appeared at 40 cents, 45 cents and higher. A few thick volumes, such as the 1967 paperback of Frank Herbert's Dune, were priced at 95 cents. With Ballantine Books, Ace was the dominant American science fiction paperback publisher in the 1950s and 1960s. Other publishers followed their lead, catering to the increasing audience for SF, but none matched the influence of either company. Market dominance was not only r

Bolshevik Island is an island in Severnaya Zemlya, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Arctic. The island, together with the eastern coast of what was named Emperor Nicholas II Land, was discovered by Boris Vilkitsky at the time of the 1913 Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition, its insularity, wasn’t proven until 1931, when Georgy Ushakov and Nikolay Urvantsev charted the archipelago during their 1930–32 expedition. Prima Polar Station the only Polar station operating in Severnaya Zemlya, is located in this island near Cape Baranov, it is the second largest island in the group. The area of this island has been estimated at 11,270 km2; the island is mountainous reaching a height of 935 m. About 31% of Bolshevik Island, totaling over 3,300 km2, is covered by glaciers, the largest are Leningrad Glacier, Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky Glacier, Kropotkin Glacier, Mushketov Glacier and Aerosyomki Glacier. Most of these ice formations do not reach the sea, ending in moraines in valleys or coastal plains having a sparse vegetation of moss and lichen.

Parts of the shore of the island are indented, with Mikoyan Bay in the northopening to the Shokalsky Strait, as well as fjords such as Akhmatov Fjord, Thaelmann Fjord, Spartak Fjord and Partizan Fjord. Cape Unslicht is the northernmost point of Bolshevik Island and Cape Neupokoyev at the SW end the southernmost. Ostrov Tash is a small island located on Bolshevik's southern shore. Lavrov Island and Blizky Island are located off the NE shore and Ostrov Lishniy off its northern tip; the group formed by the larger Maly Taymyr and Starokadomsky islands is located further offshore off the southeastern end. The weather on the island is cold. List of islands of Russia List of research stations in the Arctic Media related to Bolshevik Island at Wikimedia Commons

Robert Albert Kurland was a 7 feet American basketball center, who played for the two-time NCAA champion Oklahoma A&M Aggies basketball team. He led the U. S. basketball team to gold medals in two Summer Olympics, led his AAU team to three national titles. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Kurland was born in Missouri to Albert and Adele Kurland, he graduated from Jennings High School in Jennings, where he participated in basketball and track. Kurland, a Missouri native, considered attending the University of Missouri, but when Oklahoma A&M played a game at Saint Louis University, A&M coach Henry Iba invited Kurland to dinner and offered him a scholarship. Missouri could only offer Kurland a job. Many of Kurland's family members had not finished high school, Kurland was the first in his family to attend college at any level. Kurland was an integral part of the team's consecutive NCAA titles in 1945 and 1946, was named the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player both times.

In the 1945–46 season, he scored a then-season record 643 points, including 58 in a game against Saint Louis University, which featured 6 ft 8 in freshman Ed Macauley. Kurland was voted Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year. Kurland was known to leap above the rim to grab opponents' shots; this led to the NCAA banning defensive goaltending in 1945. Kurland was the first person to dunk during games; the rivalry between him and De Paul's George Mikan would foreshadow similar matchups those of basketball's "big men." In college, Kurland was active in many campus activities, including the student council, for which he served as president in 1945 and 1946. He graduated with a bachelor of science in education. Kurland never played professional basketball, passing up the newly formed Basketball Association of America and National Basketball League, to play for Phillips Petroleum's A. A. U. team, the Oilers. Kurland played for six years with Phillips. Since Kurland never played professionally, he was eligible as an amateur for the Olympic Games.

In the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England, he led the U. S. basketball team to the gold medal. He was second on the team in scoring as the U. S. defeated France in the gold medal game, 65–21. In the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Kurland carried the U. S. flag in the opening ceremony. He was again a dominant force at center as the U. S. defeated the Soviet Union in the gold medal game, 36–25. Kurland received post-graduate management training at Stanford University, he became a salesman for Phillips Petroleum Company, where he played AAU basketball, served as a senior marketing executive. He held a variety of positions, including ones responsible for the development of the self-service gas station concept, growth of the agricultural and plastics divisions, management of marketing initiatives, his corporate responsibilities took his family to Denver, Memphis and Atlanta. The family returned to the home of Phillips Petroleum, Oklahoma, where Kurland served as vice mayor and as a member of the city commission for several years.

He retired from Phillips in 1985. Kurland was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961. In 1996, he was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. After retirement and his wife, divided time between their homes in Bartlesville and Sanibel Island, Florida. Kurland died at his Florida home on September 29, 2013, at age 88, he was survived by his wife of 62 years, their four children Alex, Ross and Barbara, seven grandchildren. List of Oklahoma State University Olympians National Polish-American Sports HOF profile Voices of Oklahoma interview with Bob Kurland. First person interview conducted on January 2011, with Bob Kurland. Original audio and transcript archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral history project