Philip Francis Nowlan

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Philip Francis Nowlan (born November 13, 1888 in Philadelphia ; died February 1, 1940 there ) was an American science fiction writer. Nowlan was best known as the inventor of the character of Buck Rogers from his story Armageddon 2419 AD , published in 1928, and as the author of the texts for the Buck Rogers comic series.

Life

Nowlan studied at the University of Pennsylvania , where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1910 . He then went on to be a journalist, working for magazines such as Public Retail Ledger and the North American . At the same time he began - also under the pseudonym Frank Phillips - to write for the Pulp magazine . In 1928 Armageddon 2419 AD appeared in the August issue of Amazing Stories , in which a 20th century American and World War I soldier named Anthony Rogers woke up from a 500-year slumber and heroically entered the liberation struggles of the 25th-century Chinese-occupied United States intervenes. The story was so successful that Nowlan soon had a sequel to follow and in March 1929 The Airlords of the Han appeared . Before that, however, a newspaper comic strip entitled Buck Rogers in the 25th Century had already been started in January - the relatively pale first name “Anthony” had to give way to the more catchy “Buck”. The comic was initially drawn by Dick Calkin, who wrote the lyrics - practically until his death - Nowlan himself. The success was huge: The Pulp Magazine Stories had perhaps 100,000 readers, the strip that appeared in 400 newspapers reached over 50 million and ran uninterrupted until 1967. In addition, there were radio and cinema series and already merchandise, which made "Buck Rogers" and "science fiction" temporarily synonymous for the general public.

In addition to his Buck-Rogers stories, Nowlan wrote a few other SF stories, including Onslaught from Venus (1929) and his last, Space Guards , published posthumously in 1940, but these were far from being successful and popular with Buck-Rogers, who is a well-known figure in the USA and who, with his successors Flash Gordon and Luke Skywalker, has had a lasting influence on science fiction and popular culture.

Nowlan was married to Teresa Marie Junker, with whom he had four daughters and six sons. He died of a heart attack in Philadelphia in 1940 at the age of 51.

bibliography

Buck Rogers
  • Armageddon 2419 AD (1928, short story)
  • The Airlords of Han (1929, short story)
  • Capturing the Mongol Emperor (1929, short story)
  • Meeting the Mongols (1929, short story)
  • Pact of Perpetual Peace (1929, short story)
  • Sunken City of Atlantis (1930, short story)
  • Tiger Men of Mars (1930, short story)
  • Mystery of Atlantian Gold Ships (1931, short story)
  • Buck Rogers: An Autobiography (1932, essay, with Dick Calkins)
  • Buck Rogers on the Moons of Saturn (1934)
  • The Story of Buck Rogers on the Planetoid Eros (1934, short story)
  • Buck Rogers 25th Century AD and the Doom Comet (1935)
  • Buck Rogers 25th Century AD and the Planetoid Plot (1936)
  • Buck Rogers 25th Century AD and the Interplanetary War (1938)
  • Martian War Threat (1938, short story)
  • Martians Invade Earth (1939, short story)
  • Buck Rogers 25th Century AD and the Overturned World (1941)
  • Armageddon 2419 AD (1962)
  • Armageddon 2419 AD (1978, with Spider Robinson)
  • Armageddon 2419 AD and The Airlords of Han (2017, collection)
collection
  • Wings Over Tomorrow: The Collected Science Fiction of Philip Francis Nowlan (2005)
Short stories
  • Onslaught from Venus (1929)
  • The Time Jumpers (1934)
  • The Prince of Mars Returns (1940)
  • Space Guards (1940)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nowlan, Philip Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nowlan, Phil (alternative spelling); Phillips, Frank (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American science fiction writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 1940
Place of death Philadelphia