Vargo Statten
John Pendry
Hello,
I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
anywhere I can get his books??
Robert A. Woodward
He didn't exist.
Oh, I will explain. This was a pseudonym of John Russell Fearn (unless
other authors shared it - that period of English SF publishing was a bit
"sloppy").
John Boston
In article <321B4A...@wildnet.co.uk>, John Pendry <quil...@wildnet.co.uk>
writes: > Hello,
> I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
> Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
> got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
> named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
> anywhere I can get his books??
Vargo Statten was one of numerous pseudonyms of the notorious
hack John Russell Fearn. He eventually became the editor of VARGO STATTEN'S
SF MAGAZINE. I once had a copy of this magazine but was not improved by the
experience. There were 19 issues published from 1954 through 1956, with
Fearn producing much of the material, some of which was his own stuff
reprinted from earlier pulp magazines. There were also 52 Vargo Statten
novels, all published by the same publisher, Scion, that published the
magazine.
Have no idea where you could find this stuff--second-hand book
dealers in the UK are probably the best bet. Fearn also used the pseudonym
Volsted Gridban, which had initially been used by E.C. Tubb but Fearn then
inherited from the publishing house, Scion. Among "Statten's" more notable
accomplishments was one of the earliest novelizations of SF movies, THE
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON.
Maybe you should consider sticking with your memories.
John Boston
Roberta Rivett
>Hello,
>I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
>Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
>got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
>named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
>anywhere I can get his books??
Boy, have you bitten off a chunk! Happens I have been researching
"Vargo Statten" for another purpose, and can tell you a great deal
about him and his books. He wrote under a great many names, including
the delightfully phony one of Volsted Gridban, and one of the issues
of the British magazine Vargo Statten was ENTIRELY filled with stories
he wrote under different names. One of his better-known pseudonyms
was John Russel Fearn; under this name he wrote the Golden Amazon
stories. We're talking about the thirties and forties now, and there
have not been a lot of reprints. I have only one Fearn in PB form,
and a couple in fan-pub format, but a great many in early issues of
the pulps. I have not yet researched what all I have on the shelf
under ALL of his pseudonyms - that's a job for long winter evenings
when Babylon Five isn't on.
Why don't you write me E-Mail if you want more?
Roberta Rivett
John Boston
In article <321b3997.11874559@News>, Rob...@Islandnet.com (Roberta Rivett)
writes: >
> Boy, have you bitten off a chunk! Happens I have been researching
> "Vargo Statten" for another purpose, and can tell you a great deal
> about him and his books. He wrote under a great many names, including
> the delightfully phony one of Volsted Gridban, and one of the issues
> of the British magazine Vargo Statten was ENTIRELY filled with stories
> he wrote under different names. One of his better-known pseudonyms
> was John Russel Fearn; under this name he wrote the Golden Amazon
> stories. We're talking about the thirties and forties now, and there
> have not been a lot of reprints. I have only one Fearn in PB form,
> and a couple in fan-pub format, but a great many in early issues of
> the pulps. I have not yet researched what all I have on the shelf
> under ALL of his pseudonyms - that's a job for long winter evenings
> when Babylon Five isn't on.
You've got it backwards. Statten was a pseudonym of Fearn. So was
Gridban, eventually; the name was first used by E.C. Tubb.
John Boston
Ellen Herzfeld
Roberta,
If you are researching Vargo Statten, I suppose you are aware of _The
Multi-Man A biographic and bibliographic study of John Russell Fearn_ by
Philip James Harbottle. Published in England in 1968. Was available
directly from the author at the time. Last address I know of: 32 Tynedale
Avenue, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
xl...@xlii.org | Ellen C. Herzfeld
http://www.integra.fr/XLII/SF42.html | Dominique O. Martel
Quelques pages sur la Science-Fiction | Quarante-Deux
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert A. Woodward
In article <321b3997.11874559@News>, Rob...@Islandnet.com (Roberta
> On Wed, 21 Aug 1996 10:40:24 -0700, John Pendry
> <quil...@wildnet.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
> >Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
> >got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
> >named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
> >anywhere I can get his books??
>
> Boy, have you bitten off a chunk! Happens I have been researching
> "Vargo Statten" for another purpose, and can tell you a great deal
> about him and his books. He wrote under a great many names, including
> the delightfully phony one of Volsted Gridban, and one of the issues
> of the British magazine Vargo Statten was ENTIRELY filled with stories
> he wrote under different names. One of his better-known pseudonyms
> was John Russel Fearn; under this name he wrote the Golden Amazon
> stories. We're talking about the thirties and forties now, and there
> have not been a lot of reprints. I have only one Fearn in PB form,
> and a couple in fan-pub format, but a great many in early issues of
> the pulps. I have not yet researched what all I have on the shelf
> under ALL of his pseudonyms - that's a job for long winter evenings
> when Babylon Five isn't on.
>
John Russell Fearn is not quite a pseudonym. If you add "Francis" between
John and Russell, you have his full name.
Don D'Ammassa
John Pendry <quil...@wildnet.co.uk> wrote:
>Hello,
>I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
>Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
>got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
>named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
>anywhere I can get his books??
Also known as Volsted Gridban, Astron Del Martia, and a host of others.
The author's real name - usually - was John Russell Fearn and I don't
think any of his stuff is in print.
Roberta Rivett
On 24 Aug 1996 02:52:06 GMT, jbo...@delphi.com (John Boston) wrote:
> You've got it backwards. Statten was a pseudonym of Fearn. So was
>Gridban, eventually; the name was first used by E.C. Tubb.
I was perhaps unclear. Vargo Statten, Volsted Gridban and John
Russell Fearn were among the many pseudonyms of an individual whose
real name was something else again. I am in the process of tracking
them all down - not an easy task and my reference material is far from
complete.
AHA! just read-ahead on this thread, and found that John Russell
Fearn is ALMOST his right name - and the citation - Harbottle - is
also the source of my semi-pro publications of a number of Fearn
stories, so I am inclined to accept this.
The fact remains that anything by this writer under whatever name is
virtually unreadable today. His work is more of a curiosity,
representing, perhaps, the early pulp days when almost anything was
acceptable to that voracious and uncritical group of early
speculative fiction fans.
Roberta Rivett.
John Pendry
Robert A. Woodward wrote:
>
> In article <321b3997.11874559@News>, Rob...@Islandnet.com (Roberta
> Rivett) wrote:
>
> > <quil...@wildnet.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > >Hello,
> > >I'm new at this. Does anyone out there remember an author called Vargo
> > >Statten (I think that's the spelling) When I was a boy (in the 50's) I
> > >got hooked on SF though reading a lot of his books and also a magazine
> > >named after him. Does anyone else out there remember him or know of
> > >anywhere I can get his books??
> >
> > "Vargo Statten" for another purpose, and can tell you a great deal
> > about him and his books. He wrote under a great many names, including
> > the delightfully phony one of Volsted Gridban, and one of the issues
> > of the British magazine Vargo Statten was ENTIRELY filled with stories
> > he wrote under different names. One of his better-known pseudonyms
> > was John Russel Fearn; under this name he wrote the Golden Amazon
> > stories. We're talking about the thirties and forties now, and there
> > have not been a lot of reprints. I have only one Fearn in PB form,
> > and a couple in fan-pub format, but a great many in early issues of
> > the pulps. I have not yet researched what all I have on the shelf
> > under ALL of his pseudonyms - that's a job for long winter evenings
> > when Babylon Five isn't on.
> >
>
> John Russell Fearn is not quite a pseudonym. If you add "Francis" between
> John and Russell, you have his full name.
>
> --
> rawoo...@aol.com
> robe...@halcyon.com
> cjp...@prodigy.com
similar to Vargo.
Do you think there is any chance of finding anywhere that might have any
of his stories in stock??
John Pendry
Don D'Ammassa
>I was perhaps unclear. Vargo Statten, Volsted Gridban and John
>Russell Fearn were among the many pseudonyms of an individual whose
>real name was something else again. I am in the process of tracking
>them all down - not an easy task and my reference material is far from
>complete.
>
>AHA! just read-ahead on this thread, and found that John Russell
>Fearn is ALMOST his right name - and the citation - Harbottle - is
>also the source of my semi-pro publications of a number of Fearn
>stories, so I am inclined to accept this.
>
Nope. I have Harbottle's BRITISH SF PAPERBACKS AND MAGAZINES in my hand.
His full name was John Francis Russell Fearn. It's not a pseudonym.
John Boston
In article <322463...@wildnet.co.uk>, John Pendry <quil...@wildnet.co.uk>
Pandora's Books advertises a number of Statten and Gridban titles and at least
one issue of Vargo Statten Magazine in their on-line catalog as of some months
ago when I downloaded it. The bad news: these books are now collector's
items
and the cheapest is $16.00. http://www.pandora.ca/pandora/.
John Boston