H. L. Gold

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H.L. Gold

Pseudonym:	Clyde Crane Campbell, Dudley Dell, Leigh Keith, Richard Storey
Born:	April 26, 1914 Canada
Died:	February 21, 1996 Laguna Hills, California
Occupation:	Editor, novelist, short story author
Genres:	Science fiction, Fantasy
Debut works:	"Inflexure" (1934)

Horace Leonard Gold (April 26, 1914, Canada - February 21, 1996, Laguna Hills, California) was a science fiction writer and editor. Born in Canada, Gold moved to the United States at the age of two. He was most noted for bringing an innovative and fresh approach to science fiction while he was the editor of Galaxy Science Fiction.

1 Author and editor
2 Galaxy and Beyond
3 Collected stories
4 Awards
5 Listen to
6 Reference
7 External links

[edit] Author and editor

During the 1930s, Gold wrote stories for pulp magazines, beginning with "Inflexure" (as Clyde Crane Campbell) in Astounding Science Fiction (October 1934). His most noted stories tended more toward fantasy, like his "Trouble with Water" (1939). In 1939-41 he was an assistant editor on a trio of science fiction magazines -- Captain Future, Thrilling Wonder Stories and Startling Stories. His 1939 novel, None But Lucifer in Unknown (September 1939) was a collaboration with L. Sprague de Camp.

During the early 1940s, he teamed with Kendell Foster Crossen on comic book scripts. World War II interrupted his career, and he enlisted March 31, 1944. After serving, he returned to New York where he scripted for comic books and radio programs. Gold's story "The Old Die Rich" (Galaxy Science Fiction, March 1953), written at the same time as Marcia Davenport's My Brother's Keeper, may have been inspired by the New York Times articles about the Collyer brothers as was Davenport's novel. Gold often found story ideas in newspaper clippings.

[edit] Galaxy and Beyond

H. L. Gold is best known as a leading magazine editor during the post-WWII science fiction boom. In 1949 he began in that direction, and he launched Galaxy Science Fiction in 1950, soon followed by its companion fantasy magazine, Beyond Fantasy Fiction (1953-55).

With Galaxy Gold created a different kind of science fiction magazine by focusing less on technology, hardware and pulp adventures. Instead, he introduced themes leaning toward sociology, psychology and satire. He paid more than was common at the time and had the advantage that several authors had become alienated from John W. Campbell due to his enthusiasm for Dianetics.

Gold also edited several anthologies (1952-62) related to the magazine, but health concerns began to overwhelm him. Gold suffered from increasing agoraphobia (originating from war trauma), and as a result, he left Galaxy in 1961. He lived the rest of his life more or less in seclusion and died in 1996.

H. L. Gold was Jewish, and there are claims that he at first had to write under pseudonyms because publishers feared the readers' potential anti-semitism. His marriage to Evelyn Stein ended in divorce in 1939, and his second marriage was to Muriel "Nicky" (Nicholson) Conley.

[edit] Collected stories

His collection, The Old Die Rich (Crown, 1955), includes "And Three to Get Ready," "At the Post," "The Biography Project" (as Dudley Dell), "Don't Take It to Heart," "Hero," "Love in the Dark" (aka "Love Ethereal"), "Man of Parts," "The Man with English," "No Charge for Alterations," "The Old Die Rich," "Problem in Murder" and "Trouble with Water."