 Harris published her first short story , " The Runaway World , " in the July 1926 issue of Weird Tales . In December of that year , she submitted a story for a contest being run by Amazing Stories editor Hugo Gernsback . Harris 's story , " The Fate of the Poseidonia " ( a space opera about Martians who steal earth 's water , placed third . Harris soon became one of <unk> 's most popular writers . 
