(1933- ) US author, born in California, where he lived until the late 1960s and which he has made the effective setting (whatever the venue or planet might be called) for much of his sf. After graduation he worked in an advertising agency; he has put on record the influence of this experience on the forming of his concise, polished style. He published his first sf, "Letters to the Editor", for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1952, and wrote many stories before the appearance of his first sf novel, The Sword Swallower (1968), which features the Chameleon Corps of Shapeshifting agents; the book – like much of his ensuing work – is set in a Space-Opera venue called the Barnum System which much resembles Southern California: urbanized, helter-skelter, crazed and balkanized, the planets of this system, where the Corps originates and operates, are populated in large part by traditional comic stereotypes or humours, deftly drawn. Again like many of its successors, this pattern-setting tale features a gangly detective on the trail of a complex crime (see Crime and Punishment); his need to search out clues and suspects takes him (conveniently) through a wide spectrum of scenes and characters. Similarities of plot and setting (and numerous cross-references) dog any anatomizer of series in the Goulart universe, but other books specifically set within the Barnum System – which Goulart added to throughout the most active years of his sf career – are numerous and enjoyable, from The Fire-Eater (1970) through to Everybody Comes to Cosmo's (1988). Other subseries [see Checklist] include the Jack Conger books and the late Exchameleon set; the Star Hawk sequence of Barnum System novels, Empire 99 (1980) and The Cyborg King (1981), are based on the Comic strip illustrated by Gil Kane. A second loose sequence, the Fragmented America series – beginning with the remarkable After Things Fell Apart (1970) and ending with Brinkman (1981) – intriguingly examines, in terms of light-handed Satire, our own world in terms of the moral and cultural disintegration of a civilization modelled upon California; but as usual the aperçus tend to be sharper than the stories they punctuate.
Much of Goulart's other work is, in fact, journeyman, though even in the most desultory tale his smooth dialogue-driven style is always recognizable. In the mid-1970s and 1980s he wrote under various pseudonyms, including the House Names Kenneth Robeson and Con Steffanson, as well as personal pseudonyms like Chad Calhoun, R T Edwards, Ian R Jamieson, Josephine Kains, Jillian Kearny, Howard Lee, Zeke Masters, Frank S Shawn and Joseph Silva; interspersed amongst this work are a substantial array of novelizations and other routine work [see Checklist for relevant titles]. As Goulart, the Vampirella series – Bloodstalk (1975), On Alien Wings (1975), Deadwalk (1976), Blood Wedding (1976), Deathgame (1976) and Snakegod (1976) – featured a sexy Vampire character derived from stories published in Vampirella, a Warren Publishing Comic book which ran from 1969 to 1983; his versions are thinly humorous. The Wild Talents sequence, beginning with A Talent for the Invisible (1973); the Odd Jobs sequence – beginning with Odd Job #101 and Other Future Crimes and Intrigues (coll 1974) and ending with Brainz, Inc. (1985) – is decreasingly gripping as stories segue into novels; the Gypsy sequence about an identity-quest, beginning with Quest of the Gypsy (1976), similarly lacked their author's full attention.
In both the series which occupied him, and in the various titles which clearly did not, a darker, sharper, more attentive aspect of the Goulart vision of California-as-Barnum surfaces in those of his novels – Wildsmith (1972), among others – which focus on the highly humanized, eccentric, wilful Robots which are perhaps his most enduring creation. It is certainly the case that – whether or not Goulart actually wrote every word of them – the Tek sequence signed by William Shatner very precisely revisits this thematic stamping ground. Quite remarkably comic in their deadpan obsessiveness and pernickety sang-froid, Goulart's robots (they are often detectives, perhaps spoofing Isaac Asimov's far more ponderous Olivaw) serve also as genuinely effective icons of a time – the Near Future – and a place – either Southern California itself or the world which it portends – caught in the throes of convulsive change.
The slightness of Goulart's plotting does at times make his satirical intent difficult to perceive, certainly in novels fuelled by jokes; an underlying saliency can be detected more clearly, perhaps, in the shorter work assembled in What's Become of Screwloose? and Other Inquiries (coll 1971), Broke Down Engine and Other Troubles with Machines (coll 1971), Nutzenbolts and More Troubles with Machines (coll 1975) and Skyrocket Steele Conquers the Universe and Other Media Tales (coll 1990) – the last being connected with the novel Skyrocket Steele (1980).
Though he was prolific – until his production in the fields of the fantastic began to taper off in the 1990s – and always acute, it can still be said of Goulart that his dark wit and adroit handling of plot and theme have never been directed to a project of a scope sufficient to give those talents full play. After about 1990, he has focused his energies on fairly extravagant but non-fantastic crime novels, of which the series starring Groucho Marx are perhaps the most enjoyable; this series is listed below. [JC]
see also: Humour; Media Landscape; Robert Hale Limited; Time Travel.
Ronald Joseph Goulart
born Berkeley, California: 13 January 1933
died
works
series
Barnum System
- The Sword Swallower (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1968) [Barnum System: Chameleon Corps: hb/Seymour Chwast]
- The Fire-Eater (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [Barnum System: pb/Robert LoGrippo]
- Death Cell (New York: Beagle Books, 1971) [Barnum System: Jack Conger: pb/Vincent Di Fate]
- The Chameleon Corps and Other Shape Changers (New York: Macmillan, 1968) [coll: Barnum System: Chameleon Corps: hb/Richard Jones]
- Plunder (New York: Beagle Books, 1972) [Barnum System: pb/Vincent Di Fate]
- Shaggy Planet (New York: Lancer Books, 1973) [Barnum System: pb/Mike Hinge]
- Flux
(New York: DAW Books, 1974) [Barnum System: Chameleon Corps: pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Spacehawk, Inc. (New York: DAW Books, 1974) [Barnum System: pb/Hans Arnold]
- A Whiff of Madness (New York: DAW Books, 1976) [Barnum System: Jack Conger: pb/Josh Kirby]
- The Wicked Cyborg (New York: DAW Books, 1978) [Barnum System: pb/Josh Kirby]
- Dr Scofflaw (New York: DAW Books, 1978) [dos: Barnum System: pb/George Tsui]
- Star Hawks: Empire 99 (New York: Playboy Press Paperbacks, 1980) [tie to the Comic: Barnum System: Star Hawks: pb/Gil Kane]
- The Cyborg King (New York: Playboy Press Paperbacks, 1981) [tie to the Comic: Barnum System: Star Hawks: illus/Gil Kane: pb/Ken Barr]
- Galaxy Jane (New York: Berkley Books, 1986) [Barnum System: Jack Conger: pb/Boris Vallejo]
- Daredevils, Ltd (New York: St Martin's Press, 1987) [Barnum System: Exchameleon: pb/Greg Theakston]
- Starpirate's Brain (New York: St Martin's Press, 1987) [Barnum System: Exchameleon: pb/Greg Theakston]
- Everybody Comes to Cosmo's (New York: St Martin's Press, 1988) [Barnum System: Exchameleon: pb/Greg Theakston]
Fragmented America
- After Things Fell Apart (New York: Ace Books, 1970) [Fragmented America: in the publisher's first Science Fiction Special series: pb/Diane and Leo Dillon]
- Gadget Man (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1971) [Fragmented America: hb/Peter Rauch]
- Hawkshaw (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1972) [Fragmented America: hb/Emanuel Schongut]
- Crackpot (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1977) [Fragmented America: hb/David Wilhelmsen]
- Brinkman (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981) [Fragmented America: hb/Bruce Schluter]
Wild Talents
Odd Jobs
Vampirella
Weird Heroes: Gypsy
Skyrocket Steele
Harry Challenge
Battlestar Galactica
Groucho Marx
- Groucho Marx, Master Detective (New York: St Martin's Press/Dunne, 1998) [Groucho Marx: hb/Hal Just]
- Groucho Marx, Private Eyes (New York: St Martin's Press, 1999) [Groucho Marx: hb/Hal Just]
- Elementary, My Dear Groucho (New York: St Martin's Press, 1999) [Groucho Marx: hb/Hal Just]
- Groucho Marx and the Broadway Murders (New York: St Martin's Press, 2001) [Groucho Marx: hb/Hal Just]
- Groucho Marx, Secret Agent (New York: St Martin's Press, 2002) [Groucho Marx: hb/Hal Just]
- Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle (New York: St Martin's Griffin, 2005) [Groucho Marx: hb/Mona Mark]
individual titles
- Clockwork's Pirates (New York: Ace Books, 1971) [dos: pb/Karel Thole]
- Wildsmith (New York: Ace Books, 1972) [pb/uncredited]
- The Tin Angel (New York: DAW Books, 1973) [pb/Jack Gaughan]
- Flux
(New York: DAW Books, 1974) [pb/Jack Gaughan]
- The Tremendous Adventures of Bernie Wine (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) [pb/]
- Nutzenbolts and More Troubles with Machines (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1975) [coll: hb/Sean Harrison]
- When the Waker Sleeps (New York: DAW Books, 1975) [pb/Michael Whelan]
- The Hellhound Project (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1975) [hb/Anita Seigel]
- The Enormous Hourglass (New York: Award Books, 1976) [pb/]
- Challengers of the Unknown (New York: Dell Books, 1977) [pb/Enrich]
- The Emperor of the Last Days (New York: Popular Library, 1977) [pb/]
- Nemo (New York: Berkley Medallion, 1977) [pb/]
- Capricorn One (New York: Fawcett Gold Medal, 1978) [tie to the film Capricorn One: pb/]
- Cowboy Heaven (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1979) [hb/One Plus One Studio]
- The Robot in the Closet (New York: DAW Books, 1981) [pb/Josh Kirby]
- Upside Downside (New York: DAW Books, 1981) [pb/Josh Kirby]
- Hellquad (New York: DAW Books, 1984) [pb/Kelly Freas]
- Suicide, Inc. (New York: Berkley Books, 1985) [pb/James Warhola]
- The Tijuana Bible (New York: St Martin's Press, 1989) [hb/]
nonfiction (selected)
- The Assault on Childhood (Los Angeles, California: Sherborne Press, 1969) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Cheap Thrills: An Informal History of the Pulp Magazines (New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1972) [nonfiction: hb/]
- An American Family (New York: Warner Books, 1973) [nonfiction: pb/]
- The Adventurous Decade: Comic Strips in the Thirties (New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1975) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Focus on Jack Cole (Agoura, California: Fantagraphics Books, 1986) [nonfiction: chap: pb/]
- The Great Comic Book Artists (New York: St Martin's Press, 1986) [nonfiction: Great Comic Book Artists: hb/]
- Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books (Chicago, Illinois: Contemporary Books, 1986) [nonfiction: hb/]
- The Great Comic Book Artists Volume 2 (New York: St Martin's Press, 1989) [nonfiction: Great Comic Book Artists: hb/]
- The Dime Detectives (New York: Mysterious Press, 1988) [nonfiction: hb/Will Williams]
- The Encyclopedia of American Comics (New York: Facts On File, 1990) [nonfiction: Goulart is credited as editor, but also wrote at least 50% of the entries: hb/]
- Comic Book Encyclopedia (New York: HarperCollins, 2004) [rev vt of the above: the revisions are very extensive: hb/J Scott Campbell]
- Comic Book Culture: An Illustrated History (Portland, Oregon: Collector's Press, 2000) [nonfiction: hb/Alex Kotszky]
pseudonymous works (by name)
as by Howard Lee
as by Frank S Shawn
The Phantom
as by Kenneth Robeson
This is a House Name.
- The Avenger: The Man from Atlantis (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Red Moon (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Purple Zombie (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Dr Time (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Nightwitch Devil (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Black Chariots (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Cartoon Crimes (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Death Machine (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Blood Countess (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Glass Man (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Iron Skull (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Demon Island (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1975) as by Kenneth Robeson [tie: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
as by Con Steffanson
This is a House Name.
as by Josephine Kains
as by Joseph Silva
This pseudonym plays on the name of one of Goulart's detective heroes, Jose Silvera.
as by William Shatner (attributed)
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