S P A C E L I G H T
INDEX
Name: LOWNDES, Robert Augustine Ward
Aged: 81
Born: September 4, 1916
Where: Bridgeport, Connecticut
Died: July 14, 1998
Where: Newport, Rhode Island
Interred: _ _ _
Married: Dorothy Barbara Sedor (Mrs. Rogalin)
When: August 14, 1948 (div 1974)
Awarded: 1991 First Fandom Hall of Fame
Robert A. W. "Doc" Lowndes
"There is not, and never will be, any
one right way to write science fiction."
Science Fiction seems to have four types of editors; those fans who become editors, those editors who become fans, those editors who never were and never will become fans, and the Bob Lowndes's type . . . a fan who becomes an editor but stays a fan.
It will be difficult to find Lowndes's total short fiction contributions due to his constant and continual use of house pen names. Bob's track in novels is a bit clearer and include a major collaboration with James Blish, The Duplicated Man. Collaborations in his shorter fiction was a holdover from fannish times, and then carried over into his novels, following the Blish work with another collaboration with Lloyd Biggle, The Angry Espers. Solo novels (or novellas) were The Puzzle Planet and Believer's World.
His editorial efforts are fairly clear cut. Three long term pulp magazines stand out: Future Science Fiction, Science Fiction, and Science Fiction Quarterly, all in the 17 to 19 year period of existence. Lowndes had shorter stints as editor for Dynamic Science Fiction, Original Science Stories, Magazine of Horror, Famous Science Fiction, Weird Terror Tales, Bizarre Fantasy Tales, and Startling Mystery Stories. In the last decade of his career, Lowndes was an editor for the magazines of Hugo Gernsback's publishing concerns.
But Science Fiction was a way of life for Lowndes. The following quote is condensed but is in context and sum up Bob's attitude,"During most of my editorial career, science fiction meant magazines . . . books had taken over when that part of my career ended in 1971. I still enjoy a little contemporary science fiction, that little which bears some relationship to the kinds of stories I loved in the past. I'm still interested in writing about old-time science fiction and authors, and cheerfully do so . . . and in that sense, I'm still something of a fan."
Pen Names: More than 50, but among them...Carol Grey, Carl Groener, Mallory Kent, Wilfred Owen Morley, Richard Morrison, Michael Sherman, and Peter Michael Sherman.
HOUSE or GROUP NAMES: Arthur Cooke, S. D. Gottesman (widely shared, mostly Futurians), Paul Dennis Lavond, John MacDougal, and Lawrence Woods.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Partial...
OBITUARY: Newport (RI) Daily News, July 16, 1998.
