Albert dePina was a name blazoned across the covers of Planet Stories in 1944. He was never a prolific writer, not a professional in terms of volume. But dePina was a fan.Writing with Henry Hasse, he produced ten stories over ten years, 1943 to 1953. (Robert) Albert dePina died in 1957. (He is not to be confused with the comics creator, Alberto dePina 1907-2002). Sadly, there is little solid information on him.
NB. Just an aside here, but the artwork you are about see for dePina’s stories were largely provided by artists from the comics. Fiction House owned a successful line of comic books including Jumbo Comics, Jungle Comics and Planet Comics. It shouldn’t be a surprise that these artists would do Pulp illos too. These include Bob Lubbers, Murphy Anderson, Lee Elias and cover artist, Harry Lemon Parkhurst.
“Star of Panadur” (Planet Stories, March 1943) with Henry Hasse
“Cosmic Paradox” (Letter) (Thrilling Wonder Stories, April 1943) as Sgt. Albert dePina is a tongue-in-cheek but still pretty negative review of the previous issue, taking issue with Manly Wade Wellman, Ray Cummings and N. J. Westwood. He liked “The Piper” by Ray Bradbury though. He admits he has only read one other Bradbury story, that one a collab with Henry Hasse.
“Alcatraz of the Starways” (Planet Stories, May 1943) with Henry Hasse
“DePina’s At Bat!” (Letter) (Planet Stories, Fall 1943) has DePina’s picks for the last issue (excluding his own.) He thanks the editor for the title of “Alcatraz of the Starways”…”Orchids to you for that title”. He rates fellow writers Larry Shaw, Chad Oliver, Ross Rocklynne, Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, etc. He criticizes both Brackett and Hamilton. Something hard to imagine today. He admits he usually doesn’t go for Pulp cover art but likes George Rozen’s work. He has nothing nice to say about the interior illos. (Including one of my favs, Alexander Leyenfrost’s “Blue Behemoth”.)
“The Star Guardsman” (Planet Stories, Winter 1943)
“Minions of the Crystal Sphere” (Planet Stories, Summer 1944)
“Priestess of Pakmari” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, Summer 1944)
“Keeper of the Deathless Sleep” (Planet Stories, Winter 1944)
“The Silver Plague” (Planet Stories, Spring 1945)
“Moon of Danger” (Planet Stories, Summer 1947)
“Ultimate Life” (Science Fiction Plus, August 1953) with Henry Hasse
“Via Paradox” (Spaceway, December 1954) with Henry Hasse
Conclusion
Albert dePina’s hobby writing for Planet Stories isn’t that unusual. It was a labor of love, rather than material for a professional story mill. Many of the writers for the magazine wrote only occasionally. Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury were the stars of the magazine later on, writing when other work wasn’t available. Vaseleos Garson was another fan-writer. Holden B. Fox was exclusive to Planet Stories. Another star, who came-and-went, was Gardner F. Fox, who became a serious comic book writer. Planet Stories was an unusual Pulp in the age of Astounding Science-Fiction and John W. Campbell. It was intentionally action-oriented and fun. These writers all responded to that mission statement and wrote some great adventure SF.
