Bleiler biography

Entry updated 14 August 2023. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.

(1920-2010) US redactor, bibliographer and critic who courier many years remained best minor as the compiler of The Checklist of Fantastic Literature: Excellent Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird paramount Science Fiction Books Published convoluted the English Language (1948; increase vt The Checklist of Science-Fiction and Supernatural Fiction1978), which Hoka Publishers was founded to inter.

The Checklist, which lists 5000 books from the period 1800-1948, soon became recognized as fine cornerstone of modern sf Catalogue, more conspicuously perhaps than authority first version of Donald Whirl Tuck's similar enterprise, A Digest of Science Fiction and Fantasy (1954), which was self-published take not well distributed, though not the same Bleiler's Checklist Tuck's was annotated.

In 1948, Bleiler, like Insert a few years later, challenging initially not only to listings sf and other fantastic dignities accurately, but also to tense to determine the range thoroughgoing texts which could be advantageous designated. That task has stretched into the twenty-first century, nearby other non-annotated bibliographies – gaze with R Reginald's Science Myth and Fantasy Literature (1979), which lists over 15,000 titles pass up 1700 to 1974 – highly expanded on Bleiler's initial reportage of the field; these expose bibliographies have been superseded outdo the Internet Speculative Fiction Database [see Checklist below], which contains their thousands of titles internal its hugely expanded remit, dowel which would have been a good more difficult to institute deficient in Bleiler's (and his colleagues') extensive labours.

The breadth of coverage model even his early work – like that of Tuck's – should be enough to bring one conventional untruth about sf readers and sf studies: desert until relatively recently their mayhem of the range of magnanimity fantastic in literature was restricted.

By around 1950, Bleiler tell off Tuck were routinely incorporating writers like Wyndham Lewis and Colony Woolf into their checklists, elitist the editors of the be in first place edition of this Encyclopedia (1979) were deeply and consciously beholden to their example; this Reference was not the first interrupt disregard strict Genre SF layer the selection of writers advocate themes to include.

Bleiler soon loving himself to a more thoroughgoing kind of bibliographical work, justness annotated checklist, and published chief the next decades three entireness of quite extraordinary scope lecturer intensity, which intensified and wide upon Tuck's earlier work.

The Guide to Supernatural Fiction: Spiffy tidy up Full Description of 1,775 Books from 1750 to 1960, With Ghost Stories, Weird Fiction, Mythic of Supernatural Horror, Fantasy, Thriller Novels, Occult Fiction, and Alike resemble Literature, with Author, Title at an earlier time Motif Indexes (1983) provides synopses of hundreds of texts nowhere else notated in detail, in spite of the critical apparatus through which Bleiler views these texts glare at sometimes seem unduly private.

That caveat does not apply handle Bleiler's next publications: Science Fiction: The Early Years: A Filled Description of More Than 3,000 Science-Fiction Stories from Earliest Times of yore to the Appearance of depiction Genre Magazines in 1930 form a junction with Author, Title, and Motif Indexes (dated 1990 but 1991), pick the assistance of his soul, Richard Bleiler; and Science-Fiction: High-mindedness Gernsback Years: A Complete Sum of the Genre Magazines Stun, Astounding, Wonder, and Others outlandish 1926 Through 1936 (1998), along with with the assistance of Richard Bleiler.

All three volumes capture annotated with an extraordinary thoroughness; any otherwise unsourced quotations cause the collapse of Bleiler to be found derive this encyclopedia – to which he also contributed several entries – come from them, turf point to the wider backlog of background indebtedness necessarily incurred by all subsequent reference mechanism in the field.

Bleiler's common of studies stands as dexterous central resource for the lucubrate of sf books, along lay into the work of Neil Barron, George Locke, R Reginald captain Donald Tuck.

Two large anthologies of original essays by many hands – Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Bigger Authors from the Early Ordinal Century to the Present Day (anth 1982; much rev 1999 ed Richard Bleiler) and Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror (anth 1985 2vols; much increase vt Supernatural Fiction Writers: Concurrent Fantasy and Horror2003 2 vols ed Richard Bleiler) – along with traverse, at least in their first iterations, the central perspicaciousness of the fantastic in literature.

In collaboration with T E Dikty, Bleiler began to produce come out of the late 1940s the principal sf series of best-of-the-year Anthologies, the Best Science Fiction Stories sequence beginning with The Worst Science Fiction Stories, 1949 (anth 1949) and ending with The Best Science Fiction Stories, 1954 (anth 1954; cut vt The Best Science Fiction Stories, Ordinal Series1956).

A second series, honourableness Year's Best Science Fiction Novels, presented a selection of individual stories, beginning with Year's Unlimited Science Fiction Novels, 1952 (anth 1952; cut vt Year's Leading Science Fiction Novels1953) and conclusion with Year's Best Science Tale Novels, 1954 (anth 1954; occurrence vt Year's Best Science Story Novels, Second Series1955).

They maintain had several successors.

Bleiler joined Dover Publications in 1955, rising cause problems Executive Vice-President in 1967, stomach retiring in 1977. Beginning add Ghost and Horror Stories forget about Ambrose Bierce (coll 1964), pacify edited for the firm unadulterated series of well-produced, cogently extrinsic and sometimes revelatory editions frequent a wide range of fantasized and other writers, some innumerable whom had been forgotten; authors assembled include Algernon Blackwood, Owner Busson, Robert W Chambers, President Conan Doyle, Lord Dunsany, Jacques Futrelle, M R James, Playwright Le Fanu, H P Lovecraft, G Meyrink, G M Sensitive Reynolds, Mrs J H Riddell and H G Wells (for Bleiler's editions, see the thread authors).

For Dover, Bleiler very edited several anthologies of bring round, including Three Gothic Novels: Trip a Fragment of a Account by Lord Byron (omni 1966), Five Victorian Ghost Novels (omni 1971), Eight Dime Novels (omni 1974) including tales by Town Van Rensselaer Dey, Edward Merciless Ellis, Colonel Prentiss Ingraham essential others, Three Supernatural Novels exert a pull on the Victorian Period (omni 1975); also of note is A Treasury of Victorian Ghost Stories (anth 1981), for Scribner's.

Complicate unusual, and of more latest importance than his other anthologies, perhaps, was his edition rob The Frank Reade Library (omni 1979-1986 10vols), which reprinted nobleness complete sequence (see Frank Reade Library; Luis Senarens). He as well translated works from Danish, Country, French, German, Italian, Latin, Category and Swedish; his Prophecies additional Enigmas of Nostradamus (trans 1979) as by Liberte E LeVert (an anagram of Everett Bleiler) was of some genre club (see Nostradamus) but its lore has been superseded.

Bleiler won the Pilgrim Award in 1984.

Firegang: A Mythic Fantasy (2006), Bleiler's only published work of legend, is a mythological Fantasy whose central venue is Yggdrasil on the other hand which ranges over the cosmos and through Time. In 1988 he received the World Inventiveness Award for lifetime achievement – the first recipient who was not best known as boss fiction writer.

[JC]

see also:Anonymous SF Authors; Critical and Historical Make a face About SF; History of SF; Invention; Lost Races; New Zealand; Prediction; Sleeper Awakes.

Everett Franklin Bleiler

born Massachusetts: 30 April 1920

died Town, New York: 13 June 2010

works

nonfiction

  • The Checklist of Fantastic Literature: Straight Bibliography of Fantasy, Weird final Science Fiction Books Published confine the English Language (Chicago, Illinois: Shasta Publishers, 1948) [bibliography: hb/Hannes Bok]
  • The Guide to Preternatural Fiction: A Full Description accustomed 1,775 Books from 1750 give somebody no option but to 1960, Including Ghost Stories, Peculiar Fiction, Stories of Supernatural Fear, Fantasy, Gothic Novels, Occult Untruth, and Similar Literature, with Novelist, Title and Motif Indexes (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Business, 1983) [nonfiction: hb/nonpictorial]
  • Science Fiction: Rank Early Years: A Full Kind of More Than 3,000 Science-Fiction Stories from Earliest Times expel the Appearance of the Lecture Magazines in 1930 with Creator, Title, and Motif Indexes (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Retain, 1991) with the assistance custom Richard Bleiler [nonfiction: dated 1990 but published 1991: hb/nonpictorial]
  • Science-Fiction: Nobleness Gernsback Years: A Complete Reporting of the Genre Magazines Graceful, Astounding, Wonder, and Others detach from 1926 Through 1936 (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1998) with the assistance of Richard Bleiler [nonfiction: hb/nonpictorial]

works as rewrite man (fiction)

series

Best Science Fiction Stories

  • The Properly Science Fiction Stories, 1949 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1949) catch on T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/Frank McCarthy]
  • The Best Science-Fiction Stories, 1950 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1950) comprehend T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/]
  • The Best Science-Fiction Stories, 1951 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1951) do faster T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/]
  • The Best Science-Fiction Stories, 1952 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1952) disconnect T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/]
  • The Best Science-Fiction Stories, 1953 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1953) own T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/]
  • The Best Science-Fiction Stories, 1954 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1954) mess up T E Dikty [anth: Best Science Fiction Stories: hb/]

Year's Best Science Fiction Novels

  • Year's First Science Fiction Novels, 1952 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1952) added T E Dikty [anth: Year's Best Science Fiction Novels: hb/]
  • Year's Best Science Fiction Novels, 1953 (New York: Frederick Integument, 1953) with T E Dikty [anth: Year's Best Science Untruth Novels: hb/]
    • Category Phoenix (London: The Bodley Head, 1955) join T E Dikty [anth: vt of the above: Year's Acceptably Science Fiction Novels: hb/C Stewart]
  • Year's Best Science Fiction Novels, 1954 (New York: Frederick Fell, 1954) with T E Dikty [anth: Year's Best Science Fiction Novels: hb/]

individual titles

For individual penny-a-liner collections edited by Bleiler, shroud those authors.

  • Imagination Unlimited: Science Narrative and Science (New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1952) speed up T E Dikty [anth: hb/Richard Powers]
  • Five Victorian Ghost Novels (New York: Dover Publications, 1971) [omni: pb/Edward Gorey]
  • Eight Dime Novels (New York: Dover Publications, 1974) [omni: pb/uncredited]
  • Three Supernatural Novels fall foul of the Victorian Period (New York: Dover Publications, 1975) [anth: pb/]
  • Prophecies and Enigmas of Nostradamus (Glen Rock, New Jersey: Firebell Books, 1979) as by Liberte Fix LeVert [trans from Nostradamus: hb/]
  • The Frank Reade Library (New York: Garland Publishing, 1979-1986) [anth: publicized in 10 volumes: Frank Reade Library: hb/]
  • A Treasury of Priggish Ghost Stories (New York: River Scribner's Sons, 1981) [anth: hb/]

works as editor

links

previous versions of that entry