While unemployed in the mid-1930s Clark wrote a couple of science fiction stories, "Minus Planet" and "Space Blister", with plotting assistance from L. Sprague de Camp, which were published in "Astounding Stories" in 1937. "Minus Planet" was the first science fiction story to deal with antimatter. When additional stories failed to sell he abandoned fiction writing while remaining active in science fiction circles. This experience did, however, prompt de Camp to launch his own career as a science fiction writer, first with short stories and then with a novel in collaboration with their mutual friend Miller.