Bowen, Robert Sidney
Entry updated 1 December 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1900-1977) US aviator, journalist, editor; his middle name is spelled Sydney, but is given as Sidney in his books; he also wrote nonfantastic tales as James Robert Richard. He served during World War One, in 1917 as an ambulance driver for the American Field Service, and from 1918 in active service as a pilot. After the war he worked for the London Daily News, and in his later career worked as an editor, including a stint as editor-in-chief of Aviation Magazine. As an author of tales for young men, the most famous of his series being the fifteen War Adventures set in World War Two, some of them hinting at the very Near Future, like Dave Dawson with the RAF (1941) whose action hovers around the projected Invasion of Britain.
Throughout his career, Bowen concentrated on pilots, though he also wrote a number of Westerns and other adventures, all nonfantastic. Of sf interest is the Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds Near Future adventure series, about 35 of which appeared in Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds in 1934-1935 [which see for further details]; several were later put into book form, beginning with Black Lightning (July 1934 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds; 1966) and ending with The White Death (January 1935 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds; 2018) . They are knowledgeable about aeroplanes, and otherwise vivid; unusually, the sequence follows a pre-designed story-arc, which climaxes in the last issue. [JC]
Robert Sydney Bowen
born Boston, Massachusetts: 4 October 1900
died Honolulu, Hawaii: 11 April 1977
works
series
The War Adventures Series (highly selected)
- Dave Dawson with the RAF (New York: Crown Publishers, 1941) [The War Adventures Series: hb/]
Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds
- Black Lightning (San Diego, California: Corinth Books, 1966) [first appeared July 1934 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- Crimson Doom (San Diego, California: Corinth Books, 1966) [first appeared August 1934 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- Purple Tornado (San Diego, California: Corinth Books, 1966) [first appeared September 1934 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- Dusty Ayres – Invasion of the Black Lightning (San Diego, California: Black Dog Books, 2018) [omni of the above three: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Frederick Blakeslee]
- The Telsa Raiders (San Diego, California: Corinth Books, 1966) [first appeared July 1935 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Robert Bonfils]
- Black Invaders vs. the Battle Birds (San Diego, California: Corinth Books, 1966) [coll: stories first appeared 1934-1935 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/Darrell Millsap]
- The White Death (no place given: Altus Press, 2018) [first appeared January 1935 Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: Dusty Ayres and His Battle Birds: pb/]
links
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