Joseph Samachson

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Joseph Samachson (born October 13, 1906 in Trenton , Mercer County , New Jersey , United States ; died June 2, 1980 in Chicago , Illinois , United States) was an American biochemist , writer, and comic book author . He was best known as the author of science fiction stories that appeared under the pseudonym William Morrison . He also wrote comic book scenarios for DC Comics .

Life

Samachson was the son of David Louis Samachson and Anna, née Roshansky. He studied chemistry at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he made his bachelor's degree in 1926 , and at Yale University , where he received his doctorate in 1930 at the age of 23. After completing his studies, he worked as a research chemist for the Atlantic Refining Co. until 1933 and for American Molasses Co. from 1937 to 1938. From 1938 to 1953 he was a full-time writer. In 1937 he married the pianist Dorothy Mirkin, with whom he had a son and a daughter. Together with his wife he also wrote several books for young people on theater, music, ballet and other subjects.

From 1953 he worked again as a biochemist, first until 1955 at the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital in New York, then until 1961 as chief chemist at the Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and then at the Hines Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines , Illinois . From 1961 to 1969 he was a lecturer in biochemistry at the Medical School of the University of Illinois in Chicago and from 1969 until his retirement in 1973 at the Stritch College of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago in Maywood , Illinois.

In 1941 Samachson had published his first science fiction short story Bad Medicine in the magazine Thrilling Wonder Stories under the pseudonym William Morrison, which he subsequently used for all of his SF short stories and novels, with the exception of two Captain Future stories which are under published by the publishing pseudonym Brett Sterling and most of which come from Edmond Hamilton . In the following years Samachson wrote about 80 short stories, two novels, which only appeared in magazines, as well as the youth SF novel Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars (1954). He made a significant break as an SF author in the years from 1944 to 1950, which can be attributed to the fact that during this time he mainly wrote comic scripts, including for Batman and Superman . Here he was the inventor of several characters, including J'onn J'onzz , the Martian Manhunter , a Martian shapeshifter stranded on earth .

Samachson stopped writing SF in the late 1950s. His short stories were never published collectively in book form; a collection of his stories was only published as an e-book in 2017 . John Clute suspects this is the reason why Samachsons, despite his originality, talent and dry, often black humor, was largely forgotten. When Frederik Pohl , Martin H. Greenberg and Joseph D. Olander published a best-of-anthology of innovative science fiction in 1980, they found that Samachson was one of the "most shamefully neglected authors in the history of science fiction" .

In 1980 Samachson died of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 73 .

bibliography

SF Novels (as William Morrison)
  • Two Worlds to Save (1942)
  • The Gears of Time (1953)
  • Mel Oliver and Space Rover on Mars (1954)
SF Short Stories (as William Morrison)
  • Bad Medicine (1941)
  • Plastic Pigskin Daze (1941)
  • Crossroads of the Universe (1941)
  • Masters of Chance (1941)
  • The Barbarians (1941)
  • Undersea Snatch (1941)
  • Christmas on Mars (1941)
  • The Lion-Hearted (1942)
  • The Man in the Moon (1942)
  • The Treasure (1942)
  • Forgotten Past (1943)
  • Garments of Doom (1943)
  • The Great Invasion (1943)
  • The Invincible Wrestler (1943)
  • The Wheezers (1943)
  • The Monkey and the Typewriter (1943)
  • Light in Darkness (1943)
  • The Companions of Sirius (1943)
  • They Picked a Sucker (1944)
  • Get Your Extra Here! (1944)
  • Free Land (1949)
  • Skin Dupe (1949)
  • Stars Over Santa Claus (1950)
  • Hop O 'My Thumb (1950)
  • The Strangest Bedfellows (1950)
  • Disappointment (1950)
  • The Sack (1950)
  • The Ancient (1950)
  • Star Slave (1951, with Harry Nix)
  • Monster (1951)
  • Vermin (1951)
  • The Cupids of Venus (1951)
  • The Dark Dimension (1951)
  • The Joker (1951)
  • The Addicts (1952)
  • Asylum (1952)
  • The Luckiest Man Alive! (1952)
  • Shipping Clerk (1952)
  • New Universe (1952)
  • Temptation (1952)
  • Dragon Army (1952)
  • Runaway (1952)
    • German: The refugee , in: Walter Ernsting (Ed.): Galaxy 3 , translated by Walter Ernsting, Heyne SF&F # 3052, 1965
  • Scent of Danger (1952, with Harry Nix)
  • Revenge (1952)
  • Country Doctor (1953)
  • Forgotten Danger (1953)
  • The Hunters (1953)
  • Divinity (1953)
  • The Haters (1953)
  • Long Life to You, Albert! (1953)
  • Task of Kayin (1953)
  • The Weather on Mercury (1953)
  • Date of Publication, 2083 AD 1953
  • The Model of a Judge (1953)
  • G'rilla (1954)
  • Split Personality (1954)
  • Playground (1954)
  • The Inner Worlds (1954)
  • Bedside Manner (1954)
  • Heads You Lose (1954)
  • Messenger (1954)
  • No Star's Land (1954)
  • There Ought to Be a Lore (1954)
  • Music of the Sphere (1954)
  • Unwelcomed Visitor (1954)
  • Battleground (1954)
  • The Ardent Soul (1954)
  • Dead Man's Planet (1955)
  • Dark Destiny (1955)
  • The Hollywood Habit (1955)
  • Hiding Place (1955)
  • Picture Bride (1955)
  • Spoken For (1955)
  • The Head Hunters (1956, with Frederik Pohl)
  • Star Slugger (1956)
  • The Sly Bungerhop (1957)
  • Stepping Stone (1957, with Frederik Pohl)
  • A Feast of Demons (1958)
  • Tooth Fairy (1994)
  • The Sly Bungerhop (2017, collection)
Captain Future (as Brett Sterling)
  • Worlds to Come (1943, short story)
    • German: Raid from a foreign dimension , translated by Heinz Zwack, Pabel Utopia Großband 155, 1961
      Also as: Invasion of the Sverd , translated by Ralph Tegtmeier. Bastei Lübbe TB # 25014, 1983, ISBN 3-404-25014-1
  • Days of Creation (1944, also as The Tenth Planet , 1969)
    • German: Captain Future's Last Adventure , translated by Heinz Zwack, Pabel Utopia Zukunftsroman 369, 1963
Youth non-fiction books (with Dorothy Samachson)
  • Let's Meet the Theater (1954)
  • The Dramatic Story of the Theater (1955)
  • Gold Digging (1960)
  • The Fabulous World of Opera (1962)
  • Rome (1964)
  • Masters of Music (1967)
  • The First Artists (1970)
  • The Russian Ballet and Three of Its Masterpieces (1971)
Detective novel
  • Murder of a Professor (1937, as John Miller)
Non-fiction
  • The Armor Within Us: The Story of Bone (1966)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mike Ashley , John Clute : Samachson, Joseph. In: John Clute, Peter Nicholls : The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . 3. Edition. (Online edition), version dated February 21, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Samachson, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Samachson, Joe; Morrison, William (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American biochemist and comic book writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Trenton , Mercer County , New Jersey , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1980
Place of death Chicago , Illinois , United States