Roman Frederick Starzl
Gene Ward Smith
author of
Hornets of Space, Out of the Sub-Universe, and The Radiant Enemies? A
search of both Amazon and Link+ libraries failed to turn him up. I did
the search because
Doc Smith once listed his favorite authors as Campbell, de Camp,
Heinlein, Leinster, Lovecraft, Merritt, Moore, Starzl, Taine, van Vogt,
Weinbaum, and Williamson. All of these are well-known, with the
exception of Starzl.
David Dyer-Bennet
Fascinating. No, I know nothing of Starzl either. I have read all
the others, fairly extensively even.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, <mailto:dd...@dd-b.net>, <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/>
RKBA: <http://noguns-nomoney.com/> <http://www.dd-b.net/carry/>
Pics: <http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/> <http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/>
Dragaera/Steven Brust: <http://dragaera.info/>
MJ Stoddard
<genewa...@gmail.com> wrote:
The Science Fiction Database lists him as "Rederick." The initials
are correct. None of the titles were familiar to me. He was being
anthologized as late as 1974.
List of works
http://isfdb.tamu.edu/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?R._F._Starzl
Works in anthologies
http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/isfac/s229.htm#A4268
Most of these are available at the University of Arizona library.
Place in SF history
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/birs/bir82b.htm#davin
Gene Ward Smith
MJ Stoddard wrote:
> The Science Fiction Database lists him as "Rederick." The initials
> are correct. None of the titles were familiar to me. He was being
> anthologized as late as 1974.
If he's really Roman Rederick Starzl, then the initials are not
correct.
I've located one of the anthologized stories, so I'll get to check him
out.
Anthony Nance
In case it helps turn up other works by him, in this article about
his son, Thomas,
http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/20000611starzl2.asp
the following quote appears:
"His father, Roman Frederick Starzl, owned and ran the local[1]
newspaper, the Globe Post, which he bought with earnings acquired
during a secret career as a science-fiction writer for magazines
such as Amazing Stories.
Roman Starzl occasionally used his wife's maiden name as a pseudonym
when he wrote. Anna Laura Starzl, nee Fitzgerald,...."
I don't know how you can have a "secret career" with a name like
Roman Frederick Starzl (or Roman Frederick Fitzgerald, for that
matter), so perhaps he was using other pseudonyms as well.
- Tony
[1] "Local" in this case means Le Mars, Iowa.
Gene Ward Smith
Anthony Nance wrote:
> I don't know how you can have a "secret career" with a name like
> Roman Frederick Starzl (or Roman Frederick Fitzgerald, for that
> matter), so perhaps he was using other pseudonyms as well.
Apparently he wrote under R. F. Starzl, but it still seems like a lousy
choice.
Gene Ward Smith
Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> Doc Smith once listed his favorite authors as Campbell, de Camp,
> Heinlein, Leinster, Lovecraft, Merritt, Moore, Starzl, Taine, van Vogt,
> Weinbaum, and Williamson. All of these are well-known, with the
> exception of Starzl.
Somene wrote and asked for a cite, and since it seems to me other
people might want it, I'm responding here. It's from a 1947 essay, "The
Epic of Space", in
"Of Worlds Beyond: the Science of Science Fiction Writing", and
reprinted in "The Best of E E 'Doc' Smith". This essay is pretty
interesting, for one thing in terms of the light it sheds on "hard sf",
since Smith tells us he wanted to get away from the "pseudo-science" of
Skylark, and write "scientifc fiction". Yhe result was Spacehounds.
>From my vantage point it's hard to tell the difference, and it does
seem to me that hard and soft depends a lot not only on what is known
at the time of writing, but what the writer and reader know.
I've now read Starzl's "Hornets of Space", and it is easy to see why
Doc liked him--he could almost be Doc Smith. Only some rather subtle
stylistic differences, really, at least with this story of space
pirates and interplanetary police. A volume of collected stories would
be nice.