George O. Smith

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George Oliver Smith (born April 9, 1911 in Chicago , Illinois ; died May 27, 1981 in Rumson , Monmouth County , New Jersey ) was an American science fiction writer.

Life

Smith was the son of Henry Robert Smith and Mary Jane, née Twigg. He studied from 1929 to 1930 at the University of Chicago and worked in the following years as a radio technician and radio engineer. From 1944 to 1945, he was a technical writer on a team that wrote much-needed sonar documentation and manuals for the National Defense Research Council . After the war he worked again as an engineer until his retirement in 1974, most recently for ITT Defense Communications , interrupted in 1958/1959 by a convalescence phase after a heart attack.

Smith said he began writing science fiction because he came into possession of a typewriter and, as a technician, was reluctant to let it rust away unused. He published his first science fiction story QRM - Interplanetary in Astounding in 1942 , which was also the first short story in the Venus Equilateral series, his most famous work. Venus Equilateral is a space and radio relay station in the L4 position of Venus - orbits , that is, it forms with Venus and the sun an equilateral triangle , hence the name (English equilateral "equilateral"). In each of the stories, the technicians on board are confronted with a problem that is solved in a more or less ingenious and surprising way. The stories about Venus Equilateral were published collectively and translated into German several times. According to John Clute , Smiths shows himself to be the author of technical science fiction at its best. As is often the case with authors of this kind, the character drawing falls behind.

In addition to the Venus Equilateral series, Smith wrote 10 novels, mostly space operas , and over 50 short stories. His productive phase as an SF writer ended in the early 1960s. In 1980 he received the First Fandom Hall of Fame Award .

Smith had married Helen Kunzler in 1936. The marriage ended in divorce in 1948. The following year he married Dona Louise Stebbins, previously married to John W. Campbell and who died in 1974 shortly after Smith's retirement. He had a daughter (* 1939) and a son (* 1943) from his first marriage and a son from his second marriage (* 1952). In 1981 Smith died at the age of 70.

bibliography

If two years of publication are given for the original editions, the first is that of the first edition and the second that of the first edition (as a book). If only the title and year are given as the source for short stories, the complete information can be found in the corresponding collective edition.

Venus Equilateral (short story series)
  • QRM - Interplanetary (1942)
    • German: QRM. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: QRM-Interplanetary. In: Isaac Asimov , Martin H. Greenberg (ed.): The best stories from 1942. Moewig (Playboy Science Fiction # 6717), 1981, ISBN 3-8118-6717-2 . Also as: interplanetary disturbances. In: Venus relay station. 1982.
  • Calling the Empress (1943)
    • German: To the Empreß of Kolain. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also called: Spaceship EMPRESS OF KOLAIN. In: Venus relay station. 1982.
  • Recoil (1943)
    • German: The electron gun. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: recoil. In: Venus relay station. 1982.
  • Lost Art (1943)
    • German: Lost Knowledge. In: Venus relay station. 1982.
  • Off the Beam (1944)
    • German: The random walk. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: The random walk. In: Venus relay station. 1982.
  • The Long Way (1944)
    • German: Die Marsröhre. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: In a roundabout way. In: The radiation pirate. 1982.
  • Beam Pirate (1944)
    • German: Piratenstückchen. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also called: The Radiation Pirate. In: The radiation pirate. 1982.
  • The Firing Line (1944)
    • German: Another pirate piece. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: On the front line. In: The radiation pirate. 1982.
  • Special Delivery (1945)
    • German: Sonderpost. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: express shipment. In: The radiation pirate. 1982.
  • Pandora's Millions (1945)
    • English: Pandoras Millions. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also as: Pandora's Millions. In: The End of the Space City. 1982.
  • Identity (1945)
    • German: Murdochs Hort. In: The End of the Space City. 1982.
  • Mad Holiday (1947)
    • German: honeymoon. In: Venus relay station. 1968. Also called: Crazy Holidays. In: The End of the Space City. 1982.
  • Venus Equilateral (1947, collection)
    • German: Relaisstation Venus. Moewig (Terra Nova # 29/30), 1968.
  • Interlude (1973, also as The External Triangle )
    • English: The outer triangle. In: The End of the Space City. 1982.
  • The Complete Venus Equilateral (1976, collection)
    • German: Relaisstation Venus. Pabel (Terra Taschenbuch # 347), 1982. Also called: The Radiation Pirate. Moewig (Terra Taschenbuch # 349), 1982. Also called: The end of the space city. Moewig (Terra Taschenbuch # 352), 1982.
Novels
  • Pattern for Conquest (1946, 1949)
  • Nomad (1944, 1950, also as Wesley Long)
    • German: The great war. Pabel (Utopia Grossband # 88), 1958. Also as Moewig (Terra Extra # 127), 1967.
  • Operation Interstellar (1950)
  • Hellflower (1953)
    • German: poison from space. Pabel (Utopia Grossband # 91), 1959. Also as Moewig (Terra Extra # 117), 1966.
  • Highways in Hiding (1955, 1956, also called The Space Plague , 1957)
    • German: Weltraumpest. Moewig (Terra special volume # 19), 1959. Also as Moewig (Terra Extra # 76), 1965.
  • Troubled Star (1957)
    • German: The Sun Engineers. Moewig (Terra Sonderband # 42), 1961. Also as Moewig (Terra Extra # 181), 1968.
  • Fire in the Heavens (1958)
    • German: Burning Heaven. Semrau (Adventure in Space # 17), 1959.
  • The Path of Unreason (1958)
  • Lost in Space (1959, also as Spacemen Lost )
    • German: shipwreck in space. Pabel (Utopia Grossband # 136), 1960. Also as Moewig (Terra Extra # 148), 1967.
  • The Fourth "R" (1959, also as The Brain Machine , 1968)
    • English: The secret of the child prodigies. Heyne Science Fiction & Fantasy # 3053, 1965.
collection
  • The Worlds of George O. (1982)
Short stories
  • The Fuehrer's Base (1943)
  • Circle of Confusion (1944, as Wesley Long)
  • Latent Image (1944, also as Wesley Long)
  • Redevelopment (1944, as Wesley Long)
  • Vocation (1945)
  • The Fixer (1945, as Wesley Long)
  • Trouble Times Two (1945)
  • Fine Feathers (1946)
  • Trouble (1946)
  • Blind Time (1946)
  • Alien (1946)
  • The Impossible Pirate (1946)
  • The Undamned (1947)
  • The Answer (1947)
  • Quest to Centaurus (1947)
  • The Kingdom of the Blind (1947)
  • In the Cards (1947)
  • Rat Race (1947)
  • Meddler's Moon (1947, 1982 as a radio play)
  • Problem in Solid (1947)
  • Quarantine (1947)
  • One of Three (1948, as Wesley Long)
  • The Incredible Invasion (1948)
  • A Dog's Life (1948)
  • Journey (1948)
  • The Trans-Galactic Twins (1948)
  • Climate - Incorporated (1948, as Wesley Long)
  • The Catspaw (1948)
  • The Cosmic Jackpot (1948)
  • The Mobius Trail (1948)
  • Minus Danger! (1949)
  • Dynasty of the Lost (1950)
  • The Death Crystal (1950)
  • Two Worlds for One (1950)
  • The World-Mover (1950)
  • Atomic Bonanza (1951)
  • Dark Recess (1951)
  • The Black Alarm (1951)
  • The Planet Mender (1952)
  • Bombs Awry (1952)
  • Spaceman's Luck (1953)
  • Stop, Look and Dig (1953)
  • Home is the Spaceman (1953)
  • Booby Prize (1953)
  • Instinct (1959)
  • History Repeats (1959)
  • The Big Fix (1959)
  • The Undetected (1959)
    • German: So very perfect. In: Helmuth W. Mommers , Arnulf D. Kraus (eds.): 10 Science Fiction Kriminal-Stories. Heyne (Heyne Anthologies # 11), 1965.
  • Time for Survival (1960)
  • The Troublemakers (1960)
  • Amateur in Chancery (1961)
  • Counter Foil (1964)
    • German: The breakdown. In: Robert Silverberg (Ed.): People and machines. Moewig (Terra Taschenbuch # 181), 1970.
  • Fire, 2016! (1964)
  • Understanding (1967)
  • Speculation (1976)
  • Scholar's Cluster (1980)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Joachim Alpers, Werner Fuchs, Ronald M. Hahn: Reclam's science fiction guide. Reclam, Stuttgart 1982, p. 386.
personal data
SURNAME Smith, George O.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, George Oliver (full name); Long, Wes (pseudonym); Long, Wesley (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1981
Place of death Rumson , Monmouth County , New Jersey