Festus Pragnell

Festus Pragnell (born January 16, 1905 in Stourport , Worcestershire ; died in Romsey or Southampton in late 1977 ) was a British science fiction writer.

Life

Pragnell came from a poor background. At times he worked in the London Metropolitan Police Service . In 1932, together with RF Starzl, he published his first SF story The Venus Germ in the pulp magazine Wonder Stories , making him one of the first British authors to publish in the US pulps. From 1938 to 1943, the nine-part Don Hargreaves short story series appeared in Amazing Stories . His most famous book was the novel The Green Man of Graypec , which was translated twice into German (as Kampf im Atom and Die Grüne Männer von Graypec ). The novel is about a person whose consciousness is transferred into the body of an alien being in a subatomic world inhabited by different races. The novel was recognized by HG Wells . The sequel appeared only in German translation as Kastrove der Mächtige (1966).

bibliography

The Green Man of Graypec (series of novels)

• 1 The Green Man of Graypec (1935, 1936, also as The Green Man of Kilsona )
  • German: Kampf im Atom. Helios-Verlag, Bayreuth 1951. Also as: The green men of Graypec. Pabel (Utopia Grossband # 102), 1959.
• 2 Kastrove the Mighty (not released)
  • German: Kastrove the Mighty. Pabel (Utopia Science Fiction # 471), 1966.

Don Hargreaves (short story series)

• 1 Ghost of Mars (1938)
• 2 Warlords of Mars (1940)
• 3 Kidnaped in Mars (1941)
• 4 Outlaw of Mars (1942)
• 5 Devil-Birds of Deimos (1942)
• 6 Into the Caves of Mars (1942)
• 7 Twisted Giant of Mars (1943)
• 8 Conspirators of Phobos (1943)
• 9 Madcap of Mars (1943)
• Warlords of Mars (2012, collection)
• Twisted Giant of Mars (2012, collection)

Single novel

• The Terror from Timorkal (1946)

Short stories

• The Venus Germ (1932, with RF Starzl)
• Men of the Dark Comet (1933)
• The Essence of Life (1933)
• The Isotope Men (1933)
• A Visit to Venus (1934)
• Man of the Future (1937)
• Monsters of the Moon (1937, also as Francis Parnell)
• War of Human Cats (1940)
• Collision in Space (1943)
• Thieves of the Air (ca.1943, with Benson Herbert)
• The Machine-God Laughs (1948)

literature

• Hans Joachim Alpers , Werner Fuchs , Ronald M. Hahn : Reclam's science fiction guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-15-010312-6 , p. 332.
• Hans Joachim Alpers, Werner Fuchs, Ronald M. Hahn, Wolfgang Jeschke : Lexicon of Science Fiction Literature. Heyne, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-02453-2 , p. 799 f.
• Everett Franklin Bleiler , Richard Bleiler: Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years. Kent State University Press, Kent, OH 1998, ISBN 0-585-23982-7 , pp. 327-330, 411.
• John Clute : Pragnell, Festus. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3rd edition (online edition), version dated April 13, 2017.
• Donald H. Tuck : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1968. Advent, Chicago 1974, ISBN 0-911682-20-1 , p. 353.

Web links

• Festus Pragnell in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (English)
• Works by and about Festus Pragnell at Open Library
• A Visit to Festus Pragnell , article in the Stromata blog (accessed on June 26, 2018)