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Post by deuce on Dec 3, 2017 15:14:42 GMT -5
In my opinion, Don Wollheim was the most important editor and publisher in the SFF field. Nobody else has even come close. Starting in the '30s with fanzines like The Phantagraph, Wollheim went on to further the legacies of writers like REH and ERB. He nurtured the careers of too many SFF authors and artists to list here. His run at Ace Books is legendary and his own DAW Books publishing house was the place to find pulpy fantasy/sci-fi in the '70s. So, this thread is about the man's life and his crowning achievement: DAW Books. Kevyn Winkless has a great post on Wollheim's early days as an SF editor here: intellectdevourer.blogspot.com/2017/10/be-wollheim.htmlWollheim.    |
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Post by bobbyderie on Dec 3, 2017 15:36:14 GMT -5
He was also the first to publish The Lord of the Rings in paperback - granted, that turned out to bite him in the ass, but it also got an official paperback version published in the US, which really helped spark contemporary fantasy fiction. Hugely influential editor and publisher.
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Post by deuce on Dec 3, 2017 17:23:18 GMT -5
He was also the first to publish The Lord of the Rings in paperback - granted, that turned out to bite him in the ass, but it also got an official paperback version published in the US, which really helped spark contemporary fantasy fiction. Hugely influential editor and publisher. I'm going to get to that. I didn't feel like bogging down the first post too much. Wollheim also sparked the "Burroughs Boom" before he set off the "Tolkien Boom". Early Frazetta cover. As the editor at Ace, Wollheim gave Frazetta his first job as a paperback cover artist.  |
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Post by jmbroberts on Dec 3, 2017 21:23:08 GMT -5
And then, of course, there were all of those John Norman "Gor" books.
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Post by deuce on Dec 4, 2017 12:29:15 GMT -5
A big ol' stack of the iconic "yellow spine" DAWs. Gordon Dickson, CJ Cherryh, Tanith Lee, EC Tubb, Andre Norton, John Brunner...all authors who were either discovered or strongly nurtured by Wollheim.  |
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Dec 4, 2017 13:31:01 GMT -5
I owe a great debt to Wollheim. It was due to the discovery in my youth of The Macabre Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim, that I was introduced to REH, HPL, CAS, etc. Many HPL fans may recognize the name of Zealia Bishop, and Wandrei's The Red Brain (it's not the story in Macabre Reader but is worth seeking out) is a favorite of mine - a real classic pulp story if there ever was one. So thanks, Mr. Wollheim - wherever you are.
Contents:
1936 The Crawling Horror Thorp McClusky
1936 The Opener of the Way Robert Bloch
1927 In Amundsen's Tent John Martin Leahy
1936 The Thing on the Doorstep H. P. Lovecraft
1936 The Hollow Man Thomas Burke
1942 It Will Grow on You Donald Wandrei
1932 The Hunters From Beyond Clark Ashton Smith
1929 The Curse of Yig Zealia Brown Bishop
1932 The Cairn on the Headland Robert E. Howard
1932 The Trap Henry S. Whitehead |
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Post by deuce on Dec 8, 2017 5:42:34 GMT -5
I owe a great debt to Wollheim. It was due to the discovery in my youth of The Macabre Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim, that I was introduced to REH, HPL, CAS, etc. Many HPL fans may recognize the name of Zealia Bishop, and Wandrei's The Red Brain (it's not the story in Macabre Reader but is worth seeking out) is a favorite of mine - a real classic pulp story if there ever was one. So thanks, Mr. Wollheim - wherever you are.
Contents:
1936 The Crawling Horror Thorp McClusky
1936 The Opener of the Way Robert Bloch
1927 In Amundsen's Tent John Martin Leahy
1936 The Thing on the Doorstep H. P. Lovecraft
1936 The Hollow Man Thomas Burke
1942 It Will Grow on You Donald Wandrei
1932 The Hunters From Beyond Clark Ashton Smith
1929 The Curse of Yig Zealia Brown Bishop
1932 The Cairn on the Headland Robert E. Howard
1932 The Trap Henry S. WhiteheadAbsolutely.  That's a fine roster of authors and all the stories are solid. You get two Lovecrafts--counting the Zealia Bishop-- and Cairn on the Headland. That's the first time it was in paperback, if you don't count The Avon Fantasy Reader -- which was also edited by Wollheim. howardworks.com/storyc.htm#cair |
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Post by Ningauble on Dec 8, 2017 7:24:05 GMT -5
There is one more Lovecraft in there: Whitehead's "The Trap" was revised by Lovecraft.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Dec 8, 2017 8:08:28 GMT -5
I owe a great debt to Wollheim. It was due to the discovery in my youth of The Macabre Reader, edited by Donald A. Wollheim, that I was introduced to REH, HPL, CAS, etc. Many HPL fans may recognize the name of Zealia Bishop, and Wandrei's The Red Brain (it's not the story in Macabre Reader but is worth seeking out) is a favorite of mine - a real classic pulp story if there ever was one. So thanks, Mr. Wollheim - wherever you are.
Contents:
1936 The Crawling Horror Thorp McClusky
1936 The Opener of the Way Robert Bloch
1927 In Amundsen's Tent John Martin Leahy
1936 The Thing on the Doorstep H. P. Lovecraft
1936 The Hollow Man Thomas Burke
1942 It Will Grow on You Donald Wandrei
1932 The Hunters From Beyond Clark Ashton Smith
1929 The Curse of Yig Zealia Brown Bishop
1932 The Cairn on the Headland Robert E. Howard
1932 The Trap Henry S. WhiteheadAbsolutely. That's a fine roster of authors and all the stories are solid. You get two Lovecrafts counting the Zealia Bishop and Cairn on the Headland. That's the first time it was in paperback, if you don't count The Avon Fantasy Reader -- which was also edited by Wollheim. howardworks.com/storyc.htm#cairI've yet to assemble a complete collection of the Avon Fantasy Readers - I have four or five of them. They're awesome mini-pulps IMO with amazing cover art.
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Post by deuce on Dec 21, 2017 14:51:16 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Dec 24, 2017 1:09:14 GMT -5
Wollheim published Fred Saberhagen's first novel, The Golden People, while an editor at Ace. He then published the first two novels in Saberhagen's "Empire of the East" series. Saberhagen followed Wollheim to DAW, where the third "Empire" novel, Changeling Earth was one of the first books published at the new company. The "Empire" novels later served as backstory for Saberhagen's wildly popular "Books of Swords" series. www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?7220Tim Kirk cover.  |
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Post by deuce on Jan 19, 2018 11:09:19 GMT -5
Wollheim carried on an occasional correspondence with Lovecraft, as well as other Weird Tales luminaries, remaining a fantasy aficionado--despite his reputation as a "scifi guy"--his entire life.
"Of all the prolific pulpists, Two-Gun easily leads in vitality & genuineness. His prehistoric world is a consistent reality to him—& some of his poems have amazing power."
-- H. P. Lovecraft to Donald A. Wollheim,
13 November 1935As I've noted, Wollheim was the only fanzine editor--that I know of--to publish HPL, REH and Clark Ashton Smith in a single issue while they were all alive. Other than Wright at Weird Tales, I can't think of another editor who pulled that off period. Here's the first issue of Wollheim's Phantagraph. Keep in mind that he was just 22 when he put this out, and yet its roster beats some of the issues Wright published in Weird Tales. www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?410029 |
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Post by deuce on Apr 4, 2018 11:05:38 GMT -5
Wollheim was the editor of the Avon Fantasy Reader: howardworks.com/avon.htmlThese "pulp digests" put REH out on the newsstands when basically nothing else did. The late '40s and early '50s were a wasteland when it comes to fantasy. Wollheim was crucial in keeping Howard out in front of the reading public during a very dark period.  |
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Post by deuce on Nov 4, 2018 2:49:55 GMT -5
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That's a fine roster of authors and all the stories are solid. You get two Lovecrafts--counting the Zealia Bishop--and Cairn on the Headland. That's the first time it was in paperback, if you don't count The Avon Fantasy Reader -- which was also edited by Wollheim.
