Daniel Lewis James (1911-1988) was the son of a wealthy Kansas City businessman. He attended Andover Academy then Yale, graduating in Greek Classics in 1933. Like Roger Sherman Hoar (who wrote as Ralph Milne Farley), armed with these powerful credentials, James chose to, of course, write Science Fiction in a Pulp ghetto. To be fair, James was able to transition from F. Orlin Tremaine’s Astounding to John W. Campbell’s more rigorous version of the magazine, something many early SF writers could not do.
At twenty-five years of age, James got his first taste of publishing with “The Cosmic Trap” (Astounding Stories, April 1936) for Tremaine. If you could create a door to a distant world, would you step through? Voorland does.
“Crystals of Madness” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, October 1936) appeared at the more juvenile Thrilling Wonder under Mort Weisinger. James would sell him two stories. Madness and arachnids awaits on a moon of Mars.
“Alchemy of Outer Space” (Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1938) Robots from other dimensions!
“Philosophers of Stone” (Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1938) saw James back at Astounding, now under Tremaine’s assistant, Campbell. He would sell to JWC until 1940. Voorland from “The Cosmic Trap” returns with what lies on the other side of that spacial gateway.
“Beyond the Sun” (Astounding Science-Fiction, March 1939) Man-eating plants and ESP!
“Moon of Delirium” (as Daniel Lewis James) (Astounding Science-Fiction, January 1940) Are parasites so bad if they make you telepathic?
“The Maker of Immortality” (Thrilling Mystery, March 1940) was a shift away from Astounding to other types of Pulp. The Shudder Pulps like Thrilling Mystery paid well but were the lowest form of SF. Mad doctors love pretty test subjects.
“Exit From Asteroid 60” (Planet Stories, Winter 1940) was a small step up, with space opera for juvenile readers. Martians and magnets and daring-do!
“Tickets to Paradise” (Comet Stories, December 1940) was James’ last appearance, once again for F. Orlin Tremaine, who first published him. Tremaine tried to start his own Pulp but it only lasted for five issues. James was in that inaugural issue, the only time he received cover credit. A time warp shoots you 500,000 years into the future, to face the spelling horrors of Eyoaoc Eiioiei!
In 1940, now twenty-nine, James became Assistant Director on Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. This was the beginning of a successful but controversial career in film and publishing. He was blacklisted after appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. As Daniel Hyatt he worked on The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. He wrote Famous All Over Town as Danny Santiago, a novel about the Hispanic community in Los Angeles in 1983, which was well received but also controversial.
With the exception of working on Beast, James never returned to his early SF roots. With so many film and literary credits, his early Science Fiction has been forgotten. Like many famous writers from the Pulps, like Conrad Richter, Robert S. Carr and Tennessee Williams, their early appearances have been obscured by other literary feats. We can remember their space rockets and tentacled alien monsters…
