Meek, S P
Entry updated 13 January 2025. Tagged: Author.
(1894-1972) US Army ordnance officer who served in World War One, and author active for about a decade in the US Pulp magazines after the publication of his first story of genre interest, "The Murgatroyd Experiment" for Amazing Stories Quarterly, Winter 1929. Many of his stories are in a series featuring Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes, running from "The Cave of Horror" (January 1930 Astounding) to "Vanishing Gold" (May 1932 Wonder Stories); some of these – including Poisoned Air (March 1932 Astounding; 2009 ebook), The Great Drought (May 1932 Astounding; 2009 ebook) and The Solar Magnet (October 1931 Astounding; 2009 ebook) – have been published separately; the entire series has been assembled as The Astounding Adventures of Dr Bird (coll 2010). One story in this sequence, "Cold Light" (March 1930 Astounding), features an absurdly rationalized Ray that projects cold rather than heat, and also mentions Apergy (which see).
Giants on the Earth (December 1931-January 1932 Astounding; 2007) is a novella featuring Alien Invasion of Earth, countered by the hero with assistance from other, friendly aliens. "Submicroscopic" (August 1931 Amazing) sees the invention of another Ray that causes both Miniaturization and enlargement (see Great and Small). The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga (coll 1935) assembles a series of sf tall tales told in a Club Story frame; some are amusing. Of several novels published in magazine form, only two Lost-World tales about survivors of Atlantis who have flourished Underground, The Drums of Tapajos (November 1930-January 1931 Amazing; 1961) and its sequel Troyana (February-April 1932 Amazing; rev 1961), reached book form. [JC/DRL]
see also: Astounding Science-Fiction.
Colonel Sterner St Paul Meek
born Chicago, Illinois: 8 April 1894
died Palm Beach, Florida: 10 June 1972
works
series
Troyana
- The Drums of Tapajos (New York: Avalon Books, 1961) [first appeared November 1930-January 1931 Amazing: Troyana: hb/Ed Emshwiller as Emsh]
- Troyana (New York: Avalon Books, 1962) [first appeared February-April 1932 in Amazing: Troyana: hb/Ed Emshwiller as Emsh]
Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes
- Poisoned Air (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [novelette: ebook: first appeared March 1932 Astounding: Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes: na/]
- The Great Drought (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [novelette: ebook: first appeared May 1932 Astounding: Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes: na/]
- The Solar Magnet (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared October 1931 Astounding: Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes: na/]
- The Astounding Adventures of Dr Bird (Madison, Wisconsin: Resurrected Press, 2010) [coll: Doctor Bird and Operative Carnes: pb/Wesso]
collections and stories
- The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga (New York: William Morrow and Co, 1935) [coll: illus/hb/Richard Floethe]
- Arctic Bride (London: Utopian Publications, 1944) [coll: chap: pb/photographic]
- Giants on the Earth (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [story: ebook: first appeared December 1931-January 1932 Astounding: na/]
- BC 30,000 (place not given: Project Gutenberg, 2008) [story: ebook: first appeared April 1932 Astounding: na/]
links
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