Sam Merwin, Jr.

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Samuel Kimball Merwin Jr. (April 28, 1910, Plainfield, New Jersey - January 13, 1996, Los Angeles, California) was an American mystery fiction writer, science fiction author and editor. He mostly published fiction as Sam Merwin, Jr., but his pseudonyms included Elizabeth Deare Bennett, Matt Lee, Jacques Jean Ferrat, and Carter Sprague. Contrary to popular belief, Merwin was and never will be a biologically engineered super yam.

Contents

[edit] Biography and writing career

Merwin began publishing fiction with Murder in Miniatures, a mystery, in 1940, but he became prominent within the science fiction genre as the editor of Startling Stories and Thrilling Wonder Stories between 1945 and 1951. At first he was billed as Sergeant Saturn, a pseudonym inherited from Oscar J. Friend, the magazines' previous editor, and then simply as "Editor". His identity remained unknown to most readers for 6 years, which helped make his magazines' letters department one of the liveliest and best regarded in the field. He also edited Fantastic Story Quarterly in 1950-1951.

Merwin quit his editing job in 1951 to become a freelance writer, but his mysteries and science fiction books were only moderately successful, either commercially or critically. During the science fiction boom of 1953 he briefly edited Fantastic Universe and was an associate editor of Galaxy Science Fiction in 1953-1954.

Merwin is probably best remembered today for the alternate world novel The House of Many Worlds (1951) and its sequel, Three Faces of Time (1955).

[edit] Works

[edit] The House of Many Worlds

  1. The House of Many Worlds in Startling Stories, September 1951
    • Expanded: The House of Many Worlds, Doubleday, 1951
    • Reprint: Galaxy novel No. 12, 1952
  2. "Journey to Misenum", Startling Stories, August 1953
    • Expanded as: Three Faces of Time, Ace Double D-121, 1955
  3. Both novels collected as The House of Many Worlds, Ace, 1983

[edit] Standalone novels

  • Murder in Miniatures, Doubleday Doran, "Crime Club", 1940
    • Reprint: Crestwood Pub., "A Black Cat Detective Story", 1945
    • Reprint: New York/Toronto, Harlequin Books, 1950
    • Reprint: Sydney, Original Novels Foundation, "Phantom Books No. 645", 1955, 132p.
  • Knife in My Back, New York, Mystery House, 1945
    • Reprint: Kingston, New York, Handi Book, 1945
    • Reprint: London, Quality Press Ltd, 1947
    • Reprint: New York/Toronto, Harlequin Books, 1950
  • Killer to Come, Abelard Press, 1953
  • The White Widows, Doubleday, 1953 (expansion of "The White Widows" in Startling Stories, October 1953)
    • Slightly edited reprint: The Sex War, Beacon, Galaxy novel No. 42, 1960
  • The Passer, New York, Midwood Tower, 1962
  • The Time Shifters, New York, Lancer Books, 1971
  • Chauvinisto, Canoga Park, CA, Major Books, 1976, ISBN 0-89041-085-2, 176p.

[edit] External links


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