In "Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus", Asimov returned to a recurring theme of his work — the use of mental powers to influence or control the actions of others. As far back as "Half-Breeds on Venus" in 1940, Asimov was writing about telepathic Venusians mentally controlling a native sauropod. The character of the Mule from the 1945 Foundation story of the same name, and Joseph Schwartz from the 1950 novel "Pebble in the Sky" could also use their mental powers to control others. Later, Asimov would introduce the mind-reading robot R. Giskard Reventlov in the 1983 novel "The Robots of Dawn", and the telepathic world-entity Erythro in the 1989 novel "Nemesis". Asimov's science-fictional mentor, John W. Campbell, was fascinated by the idea of telepathy, and as the editor of "Astounding Science Fiction", he was able to ensure that his fascination was reflected in the stories his writers wrote and his magazine printed.