Post by MacNimon on Jan 8, 2012 10:25:08 GMT
A little bit of background information on these novels. The artwork on the majority of the covers was by an artist called Ron Turner, who is better remembered for his later 1960s comic work, he was the artist who drew the Dalek strip in TV21 which has been reprinted numerous times over the years. I didn't recognise the names of any of the writers, though, so I've been doing a bit of research on one of them whose name has cropped up on many of the covers...Vargo Statten. It turns out that this was a pseudonym for a writer called John Russell Fearn (a name which was vaguely familiar), but it was only one pseudonym out of around 40 that he used! 
He was a very prolific writer who has a cult following, writing sci-fi, crime, etc under different names.
Here what Fantastic Fiction says about him:
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/john-russell-fearn/
He was a very prolific writer who has a cult following, writing sci-fi, crime, etc under different names.Here what Fantastic Fiction says about him:
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/john-russell-fearn/
John Russell Fearn was an extremely prolific and popular British writer, who began in the American pulps, then almost single-handedly drove the post-World War II boom in British publishing with a flood of science fiction, detective stories, westerns, and adventure fiction. He employed numerous pseudonyms, such as Vargo Statten, Volstead Gridban, Hugo Blayn, Thorton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, Dennis Clive, John Cotton, Ephriam Winiki, Spike Gordon, and many others. He is noted for such grandly extravagant science fiction as "The Intelligence Gigantic" and "The Liners of Time", "Mathematica", and the Golden Amazon series. He was so popular that one of his pseudonyms became the editor of VARGO STATEN'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE in the 1950's. His work is noted for its vigor amd wild imagination. He has always had a substantial cult following and has been popular in translation around the world.
John Russell Fearn
(John Francis Russell Fearn)
UK (1908 - 1960)
aka
Geoffrey Armstrong, Thornton Ayre, Hugo Blayn, Morton Boyce, Hank Carson, Dennis Clive, Hank Cole, Polton Cross, Mark Denholm, Douglas Dodd, Sheridan Drew, Max Elton, Matt Francis, Spike Gordon, Volsted Gridban (with E C Tubb), Griff, Malcolm Hartley, Conrad G Holt, Preston James, Frank Jones, Nat Karta (with Victor Norwood), Marvin Kayne, Clem Larson, Herbert Lloyd, Paul Lorraine, Astron del Martia, Jed McCloud, Mick McCoy, Jed McNab, Dom Passante, Francis Rose, Laurence F Rose, Ward Ross, Frank Russell, John Russell, Arnold Ryden, Brian Shaw (with Brian Holloway and David O'Brien and E C Tubb), Bryan Shaw, John Slate, Vargo Statten, Earl Titan, John Werheim, Ephraim Winiki
John Russell Fearn
(John Francis Russell Fearn)
UK (1908 - 1960)
aka
Geoffrey Armstrong, Thornton Ayre, Hugo Blayn, Morton Boyce, Hank Carson, Dennis Clive, Hank Cole, Polton Cross, Mark Denholm, Douglas Dodd, Sheridan Drew, Max Elton, Matt Francis, Spike Gordon, Volsted Gridban (with E C Tubb), Griff, Malcolm Hartley, Conrad G Holt, Preston James, Frank Jones, Nat Karta (with Victor Norwood), Marvin Kayne, Clem Larson, Herbert Lloyd, Paul Lorraine, Astron del Martia, Jed McCloud, Mick McCoy, Jed McNab, Dom Passante, Francis Rose, Laurence F Rose, Ward Ross, Frank Russell, John Russell, Arnold Ryden, Brian Shaw (with Brian Holloway and David O'Brien and E C Tubb), Bryan Shaw, John Slate, Vargo Statten, Earl Titan, John Werheim, Ephraim Winiki
