The Man from Mars
Ray Palmer's Amazing Pulp Journey
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Now in paperback, the rollicking, critically acclaimed true story of the legendary writer and editor who ruled over America's sci-fi, fantasy, and supernatural pulp journals in the mid-twentieth century: Ray Palmer.
“Palmer could not have asked for a more sympathetic chronicler, or a better one, than Fred Nadis. His prose and his pronouncements are everything Palmer’s practically never were: restrained, nuanced, intelligently considered. Nadis has a great story, and he relates it exquisitely.” —Jerome Clark, Fortean Times
“Fred Nadis’s insightful biography demonstrates that Palmer is significant as well as intriguing.” —The Washington Post
“One of science fiction’s greatest gadflies gets his due in this lively and entertaining biography.” —Publishers Weekly
“Lucidly written and unfailingly lively, The Man from Mars is a biography worthy of its subject.” —Fate magazine
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
One of science fiction's greatest gadflies gets his due in this lively and entertaining biography. Raymond A. Palmer who signed himself "Rap" was one of science fiction's earliest fans and launched the genre's first fanzine, The Comet, in 1930. Eight years later, he was offered the plum job of editing Amazing Stories, which had debuted in 1926 as the first science fiction magazine. As Nadis recounts, Rap boosted the magazine's flagging circulation by publishing space operas that appealed to younger readers. In 1945, he published a story by Richard Shaver, a psychologically troubled writer who believed that humanity was being controlled by an evil ancient subterranean race. For the next four years, "Shaver mysteries" dominated the magazine, and Rap's insistence that they were true increased sales, but brought howls of outrage from fans who felt he was encouraging crackpots from the lunatic fringe. Eventually, Rap left science fiction to found Fate, Mystic, and a string of "true" paranormal and UFO magazines. Nadis quotes liberally from Rap's editorials and reader letters to paint a vivid portrait of the postwar science fiction scene and fan culture. Rather than try to solve the mystery of how much Rap truly believed of what he published, Nadis presents his subject as an energetic provocateur who "offered unorthodox ideas to shake things up, overturn preconceptions, and create mystique."
