Lester del Rey | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Judy-Lynn and Lester del Rey atMinicon in Minneapolis, 1974 | |
| Born | Leonard Knapp (1915-06-02)June 2, 1915 Saratoga Township,Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 1993(1993-05-10) (aged 77) New York City, U.S. |
| Pen name | John Alvarez, Marion Henry, Philip James, Philip St. John, Charles Satterfield, Erik van Lhin, Kenneth Wright |
| Occupation | Writer, editor |
| Period | 1938–1991 |
| Genre | Fantasy,science fiction |
| Spouses | |
Leonard Knapp (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993), best known by his primary pseudonym,Lester del Rey, was an Americanscience fiction author andeditor. He was the author of many books in the juvenileWinston Science Fiction series, and the fantasy editor atDel Rey Books, the fantasy and science fiction imprint ofBallantine Books (subsequentlyRandom House), working for his fourth wifeJudy-Lynn del Rey.
Del Rey often told people that his real name was Ramon Felipe Alvarez-del Rey (and sometimes facetiously even Ramón Felipe San Juan Mario Silvio Enrico SmithHeartcourt-Brace Sierra y Alvarez del Rey y de los Verdes[2]). However, his sister has confirmed that his name was in fact Leonard Knapp.[3] He also claimed that his family was killed in a car accident in 1935. In reality, the accident only killed his first wife.[4]
Del Rey first started publishing stories inpulp magazines in the late 1930s, at the dawn of the so-calledGolden Age of Science Fiction. He was associated with the most prestigious science fiction magazine of the era,Astounding Science Fiction, from the time its editorJohn W. Campbell published his first short story in the April 1938 issue: "The Faithful", already under the name Lester del Rey. The December 1938 issue featured his story "Helen O'Loy" which was selected for the prestigious anthologyThe Science Fiction Hall of Fame. By the end of 1939 he had also placed stories inWeird Tales (edited byFarnsworth Wright) andUnknown (Campbell),[5] which featured more horror and more fantasy respectively.
During a period when del Rey's work was not selling well, he worked as ashort order cook at the White Tower Restaurant inNew York. After he married his second wife, Helen Schlaz, in 1945, he quit that job to write full-time.
In 1952, his first three novels were published in theWinston juvenile series, one of which (Rocket Jockey) appearing in anItalian-language edition in the same year.[5] In the 1950s, del Rey was one of the main authors writing science fiction for adolescents, along withRobert A. Heinlein andAndre Norton. During this time some of his fiction was published under multiple pseudonyms, includingPhilip St. John andErik van Lhin.[2]
He continued publishing novels, as well as short fiction, both under his primary pseudonym Lester del Rey as well as a number of other pen names, at a fast pace through the 1950s and the early sixties. His novel writing slowed down toward the end of the sixties, with his last novel,Weeping May Tarry (written with Raymond F. Jones) appearing fromPinnacle Books in 1978.
After meetingScott Meredith at the 1947World Science Fiction Convention, he began working as a first reader for the new Scott Meredith Literary Agency, where he also served as office manager.[1][6][7]
He later became an editor for several pulp magazines and then for book publishers. During 1952 and 1953, del Rey edited several magazines:Space SF,Fantasy Fiction,Science Fiction Adventures (as Philip St. John),Rocket Stories (as Wade Kaempfert), andFantasy Fiction (as Cameron Hall).[8] During this period he also edited several anthologies, notably editing the "Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year" series from 1972 to 1976.
Del Rey was most successful editing with his fourth wife,Judy-Lynn del Rey, atBallantine Books (as a Random House property, post-Ballantine) where they established the fantasy and science fictionimprintDel Rey Books in 1977.[9] He retired from the publishing house in February 1992.[10]
In 1957, del Rey andDamon Knight co-edited a small amateur magazine namedScience Fiction Forum. During a debate about symbolism within the magazine, del Rey accepted Knight's challenge to write an analysis of theJames Blish story "Common Time" that showed the story was about a man eating a ham sandwich.[11] After science fiction gained respectability and began to be taught in classrooms, del Rey stated that academics interested in the genre should "get out of my ghetto".[12][13] Del Rey said that "to develop, science fiction had to remove itself from the usual critics who viewed it from the perspective of [the] mainstream, and who judged its worth largely on its mainstream values. As part of that mainstream, it would never have had the freedom to make the choices it did — many of them quite possibly wrong, but necessary for its development."[14]
Starting in September 1969, he wrote the "Reading Room" review column forIf, and following the demise ofIf in 1974, switched to writing the review column forAnalog Science Fiction and Fact titled "The Reference Library".
Del Rey was a member of a literary banqueting club, theTrap Door Spiders, which served as the basis ofIsaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers, theBlack Widowers. Del Rey was the model for "Emmanuel Rubin".[15]
Lester del Rey died on May 10, 1993, atNew York Hospital at the age of 77 after a brief illness.[10]
"There is no writer in this field who is more steadfast in practicing the rule that fiction is first of all entertainment",Algis Budrys said in 1965. Reporting that the stories in a collection of del Rey's fiction could not be dated by reading them, Budrys stated that he had remained a successful writer because "del Rey has remained his own individual ... he writes for himself, and his readers". Budrys said that[16]
The typical del Rey character is an individual who is trying to do the decent thing to the best of his ability. The typical del Rey story problem is that of a good and faithful being trying to understand a complex situation which prevents his immediately knowing the decent thing to do. When he writes a story whose problem becomes apparent only in the last paragraphs, this is frequently the nature of his "trick" ending—the mood is not shock but sorrow; the payoff is not in some irrevocable destruction of this personality but in the reader's realization that even a decent individual must pay the price of ignorance.Normally, del Rey even then leaves an opening for the protagonist to grow and go on in, and even his worst losers retrieve something—call it dignity.
Del Rey was awarded the 1972E. E. Smith Memorial Award for Imaginative Fiction (the "Skylark") by theNew England Science Fiction Association for "contributing significantly to science fiction, both through work in the field and by exemplifying the personal qualities that made the late "Doc" Smith well-loved by those who knew him". He also won a special 1985Balrog Award for his contributions to fantasy, voted by fans and organized byLocus magazine. TheScience Fiction Writers of America named him its 11thSFWA Grand Master in 1990, presented 1991.[17][18]
These seven novels were ghost-written by Fairman based on outlines by del Rey, and published as by del Rey.[19]
