Talk:Lester del Rey

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[edit] Birth name and background

I note that 209.163.43.41 claims (in the edit summary, not in the article itself) that "Lester Del Ray was born Leonard Knapp. He had 1 sister, Sally and a brother named Leon. They all grew up in the St. Charles, MN. area. Leonard left and the siblings never knew of him till his death." That doesn't jibe with LDR's claimed background and is unsourced, so I, for one, would be wary about incorporating it into the body of the article. Anyone know the facts here? Thanks, BPK 16:18, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

  • And I just read a Usenet post by Lawrence Watt-Evans, saying that del Rey's real name was Leonard Stamm. DS 16:40, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
  • I've heard a story via Harlan Ellison, you can hear him recount it on an audio.com conversation between Robin Williams and Ellison, that it was Lester del Ray who suggested to L. Ron Hubbard he create his own religion after he overheard at a party Hubbard complaining about perpetual financial problems no matter how much he worked and no matter how much material he sold - of course there have been other stories floating around that it was Robert A. Heinlein or Issac Asimov who bet/dared him to do it - so has anybody heard or read any other sources for this story? LamontCranston 15:10, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
  • Suggesting to Ron Hubbard that he start dianetics was probably not suggested by Asimov, else I would expect to see the event written up in Asimov's biographies. Almost no mention of dianetics in those biographies.
  • del Rey also wrote a book called Pstalemate in the 70's about hyperlight travel being somehow connected with special individuals with psi capability. Not a bad book, but don't remember much else about it. I see it was republished in 1986.


re: LEONARD KNAPP

the 1920 Census for Utica, Winona, Minnesota has Wright Knapp 56 Jenny Knapp 36 Leonard Knapp 4 7/12 [this would match Lester's dob] Leon Knapp 1 7/12

and the 1930 Census for St Charles, Winona, Minnesota has Wright Knapp 67 Jennie Knapp 46 Leonard Knapp 14 Leon Knapp 11 Sarah Alice Knapp 9

[this would match 209.163.43.41 claims about siblings names] I suspect Jennie Knapp was born Jennie Sidway daughter of Thomas W. (born NY) and Hannah B. Sidway (born ME or maybe MA) Wright Knapp is likely the son of Leonard and Sarah Knapp (both born in NY) Louisfallert 21:54, 25 August 2007 (UTC)louisfallert

[edit] Leonard Stamm/Knapp

As the apparent root source of the "Leonard Stamm" report, I'd like to hedge a little.

My own source isn't anything Lester told me; in the one letter I have from him where he mentioned his original name (in the context of trying to talk me out of using a pen name) he said it was Ramon Alvarez, and the subject never came up in conversation. After his death, however, I got a call from the lawyer handling his estate, who was trying to track down possible heirs and who had gotten my phone number from Lester's address book. He told me that the Alvarez name was hooey, that Lester had been born Leonard [somebody].

I remembered the surname as something like "Stamm," and have reported that, but seeing someone else mention the name Knapp, I suddenly find myself thinking that that sounds right, moreso than Stamm does. I think I may have misremembered the last name and gotten Stamm from seeing a Leonard Stamm mentioned in a completely different context. I hadn't written the name down or anything; I had assumed at the time that this was, or would become, common knowledge. I certainly never expected to be the sole source in fandom for the name.

For that matter, I didn't do anything to verify that the guy on the phone was really the lawyer for Lester's estate; why would I? I took him at his word.

So please, don't consider me an authoritative source on this. All I have is one half-remembered phone call. Whoever gave the Leonard Knapp account sounds like they know more than I do. -- Lawrence Watt Evans

I removed the footnote citing Watt Evans, since he notes he is not authoritative. I also removed the Prucher citation because it does not confirm or deny the statement regarding del Rey's lawyer's, which needs a citation. Shsilver 21:42, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] novels ghost-written by Paul W. Fairman

The Paul W. Fairman article already stated that he ghost-wrote some novels that appeared under del Rey's byline, based on del Rey's outlines. Patrick Nielsen Hayden told me that this was the case with The Runaway Robot. I've added this fact to both the del Rey article and the Fairman article.--74.95.125.166 22:14, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Moon of Mutiny

I'm pretty sure the copyright date on this book is 1961, not 1982... I'll check my copy when I get home. FusionKnight 19:30, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Just checked. Definitely 1961. Changing now. FusionKnight 22:57, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pseudonyms Section

I'd like to propose adding a section on Pseudonyms. It might make the article a little cleaner/clearer to have it broken out and added to the table of contents. Thoughts? If there's no objection in a few days, I'll go ahead and do it. FusionKnight 16:21, 3 November 2007 (UTC)