Ray Bradbury's career as a writer took off after being deemed ineligible for military service due to his poor eyesight during World War II. Inspired by science-fiction heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, he began publishing science-fiction stories in fanzines in 1938 and became part of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. His first published story, "Hollerbochen's Dilemma," appeared in the January 1938 issue of the fanzine Imagination!.