Donald A. Wollheim Part 1: 1934-1945

When you say the name “Donald A. Wollheim” you have to say which one you are referring to. Is it the force behind ACE Books or the creator and publisher of DAW Books? Or the Avon editor who tried to combine comics and Pulps? Or the editor of The Avon Fantasy Reader?  Is it the editor who published the unauthorized edition of The Lord of the Rings and created the modern fantasy boom? Is it the fanzine editor who published H. P. Lovecraft, C. L. Moore, Robert E. Howard, A. Merritt and Frank Belknap Long? Is it the editor without any budget who cobbled together Pulps with the help of the Futurians? Or is it the writer who so often appeared under a pseudonym like Martin Pearson, Millard Verne Gordon or Lawrence Woods? Donald A. Wollheim was all of them in his career spanning over fifty years.

Here we are going to focus on the last of these DAWs: the writer. Often writing for his own magazines, he chose to hide behind a nom de plu, though it should be pointed out his very first stories for Hugo Gernsback bore his real name and that his “Martin Pearson”

1934

“The Man From Ariel” (Wonder Stories, January 1934)

1935

“The Space Lens” (Wonder Stories, September 1935) as Millard Verne Gordon

1936

“Umbriel” (Fanciful Tales of Time and Space, Fall 1936)

1937

“Picture of a Young Man With Vision” (The Phantagraph, 1937)

1940

“Castaway” (Super Science Stories, May 1940)

“The Planet That Time Forgot” (Planet Stories, Fall 1940)

“The Haters” (Unknown, October 1940)

“The Outpost at Altark” (Super Science Stories, November 1940) as Robert W. Lowdnes

1941

“Bones” (Stirring Science Stories, February 1941)

“Strange Return” (Stirring Science Stories, February 1941) as Lawrence Woods

“Cosmos Eye” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Spring 1941)

“The Man From the Future” (Cosmic Stories, March 1941)

“Purple Dandelions” (Cosmic Stories, March 1941) as Millard Verne Gordon

“The Planet of Illusion” (Comet Stories, March 1941) as Millard V. Gordon

“The Martians Are Coming” (Cosmic Stories, March 1941) with C. M. Kornbluth and Robert A. W. Lowdnes as Robert W. Lowdnes

Lowdnes provided the idea, Kornbluth wrote most the text with Wollheim supplying the ending.

 

“!!!” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941) as X

“Black Flames” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941) with Robert A. W. Lowdnes as Lawrence Woods

“Blueprint” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941)

“Cosmophobia” (Stirring Science Stories, April 1941) as Millard Verne Gordon

“The World on the Edge of the Galaxy” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Summer 1941)

“Earth Does Not Reply” (Stirring Science Stories, Summer 1941) with John B. Michel as Lawrence Woods

“The Colossus of Maia” (Cosmic Stories, July 1941) with Robert A. W. Lowdnes as Lawrence Woods

“A Million Years and a Day” (Future Fiction, August 1941) as Lawrence Woods

“Revolving World” (Science Fiction, September 1941) as Millard Verne Gordon

“Pogo Planet” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, October 1941) as Martin Pearson

“The Hat” (Uncanny Tales, November 1941)

“Destiny World” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, December 1941) as Martin Pearson

“Baby Dreams” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Winter 1941-1942) as Allen Warland

1942

“All Out” (The Phantagraph, 1942) as Karl Valons

“The Growing Terror” (Uncanny Tales, January 1942)

“The Drums of Reig Rawan” (Uncanny Tales, February 1942)

“Bomb” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Winter 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

“Blind Flight” (Stirring Science Stories, March 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

“The Unfinished City” (Stirring Science Stories, March 1942) as Martin Pearson (reprinted in Uncanny Tales, December 1942 as “The God of Oo” by Allen Warlard)

“The Embassy” (Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Mye Dye” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, April 1942) as Martin Pearson

“The World in Balance” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, June 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

“Up There” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Summer 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Ajax of Ajax” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, August 1942)

“Planet Passage” (Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Saknarth” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Spring 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

“The Hidden Conflict” (Science Fiction Quarterly, Fall 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Nothing” (Astonishing Stories, October 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Storm Warning” (Future Combined with Science Fiction, October 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

“The Planet Called Aquella” (Super Science Stories, November 1942) as Martin Pearson

“Mimic” (Astonishing Stories, December 1942) as Martin Pearson

“The Coming of the Comet” (Uncanny Tales, December 1942)

“The Key to the Black Planet” (Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1942) as Martin Pearson

“The Oomph Beasts” (Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 1942) as Millard Verne Gordon

1943

“The Booklings” (The Phantagraph, 1943)

“The Second Satellite” (Future Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 1943) as Martin Pearson

“The Millionth Year” (Science Fiction Stories, April 1943) as Martin Pearson

“The Unholy Glass” (Uncanny Tales, September-October 1943)

1945

“Still Life”

Next time…the 1950s!