Rotsler, William
Entry updated 22 March 2023. Tagged: Artist, Author, Fan.
(1926-1997) US author and artist who received four Hugos as Best Fan Artist, in 1975, 1979, 1996 and 1997, plus a 1996 Retro Hugo for his 1945 fan art; his huge output of cartoons, many still unpublished, may be remembered as much as his fiction. (An original Rotsler cartoon was tipped into each copy of the final issue of Science-Fiction Five-Yearly.) He began publishing sf with "Ship Me Tomorrow" in Galaxy for June 1970 and, although he initially kept his own name for autonomous work – using the pseudonym John Ryder Hall and the Ballantine House Name William Arrow for novelizations – all his novels since about 1980 were Ties of one sort or another. His first novel, Patron of the Arts (1974), remains his best received; incorporating his best known and most praised short story, "Patron of the Arts" (in Universe 2, anth 1972, ed Terry Carr), it describes in Wagnerian terms an all-encompassing artform, using holograms and other sf devices (see Arts), but vitiates some of its speculative interest through a contrived action plot. Rotsler's second novel, To the Land of the Electric Angel (1976), his last untied book-length tale, shares a similar setting – what seems to be an extrapolation of modern southern California – in a tale involving Cryonics, the reawakening of the hero in a Dystopian future, gladiatorial contests and much more. The Zandra series – Zandra (1978), The Far Frontier (1980) and The Hidden Worlds of Zandra (1983) – again shares this general background; access to Zandra is via a Stargate located in the Bermuda Triangle. This sequence is written with significantly less conviction than its predecessors, and the large casts of routinely differentiated characters generates the impression that Rotsler was attempting to work in a bestseller idiom dangerous to the creative mind. With Gregory Benford (whom see for details) he contributed Shiva Descending (1980) to the asteroid-Disaster subgenre.
His copious, often deceptively simple Fanzine cartoon work is commemorated by the Rotsler Award sponsored by the Southern California Institute for Fan Interests (SCIFI), presented annually since 1998 and honouring an individual artist's long-time contributions to Fandom. [JC/DRL]
see also: FAAn Awards.
William Rotsler
born Los Angeles, California: 3 July 1926
died California: 18 October 1997
works
series
Return to the Planet of the Apes
These ties are based not on the films but on the later animated Television series.
- Return to the Planet of the Apes 1: Visions from Nowhere (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) as William Arrow [tie to the Planet of the Apes universe: Return to the Planet of the Apes: pb/]
- Return to the Planet of the Apes 3: Man, the Hunted Animal (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) as William Arrow [tie to the Planet of the Apes universe: Return to the Planet of the Apes: pb/]
Zandra
- Zandra (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) [Zandra: hb/Joan Hall]
- The Far Frontier (New York: Playboy Press, 1980) [Zandra: pb/Gino D'Achille]
- The Hidden Worlds of Zandra (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1978) [Zandra: hb/Peter P Kruzan]
Mr Merlin
- Mr Merlin, Episode 1: Novelisation (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1981) [tie to the Television series: Mr Merlin: pb/]
- Mr Merlin, Episode 2: An Original Novel (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1981) [tie to the Television series: Mr Merlin: pb/]
Tom Swift
- Tom Swift: The City in the Stars (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Mark Sullivan]
- Tom Swift: Terror on the Moons of Jupiter (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Mark Sullivan]
- Tom Swift: The Alien Probe (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Alex Machin]
- Tom Swift: The War in Outer Space (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Alex Machin]
- Tom Swift: The Astral Fortress (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Alex Machin]
- Tom Swift: The Rescue Mission (New York: Simon and Schuster/Wanderer Books, 1981) with Sharman DiVono, writing together as Victor Appleton [tie to the Tom Swift universe: hb/Alex Machin]
Star Trek
- Star Trek II: Short Stories (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1982) [coll: tie to the Star Trek universe: pb/]
- Star Trek II: Biographies (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1983) [coll: tie to the Star Trek universe: pb/]
- Star Trek II: Distress Call (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1983) [tie to the Star Trek universe: pb/]
- Star Trek III: The Vulcan Treasure (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1984) [tie to the Star Trek universe: pb/]
- Star Trek III Short Stories (New York: Pocket Books/Wanderer, 1984) [coll: tie to the Star Trek universe: pb/]
individual titles
- Patron of the Arts (New York: Ballantine Books, 1974) [pb/Tom Adams]
- To the Land of the Electric Angel (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) [pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- Futureworld (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) as by John Ryder Hall [tie to the film: Futureworld: pb/]
- Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (New York: Pocket Books, 1977) as by John Ryder Hall [tie to the film: Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977): pb/Birney Lettick]
- Iron Man: And Call My Killer ... Modok (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) [tie to the Marvel Comics universe: Iron Man: pb/Bob Larkin]
- Dr Strange: Nightmare (New York: Pocket Books, 1979) [tie to the Marvel Comics universe: Dr Strange: pb/Bob Larkin]
- Shiva Descending (New York: Avon Books, 1980) with Gregory Benford [pb/]
- Blackhawk (New York: Warner Books, 1982) [tie to the DC Comics universe: Blackhawk: pb/Romas Kukalis]
- Goonies #2: Cavern of Horror (London: Corgi Books, 1985) [tie to the film: The Goonies (1985): Plot-it-yourself Adventures Stories: pb/]
nonfiction
- Contemporary Erotic Cinema: A Guide to the Revolution in Movie Making (New York: Penthouse/Ballantine Books, 1973) [nonfiction: pb/]
- The Golden Age of Erotic Cinema (no place given: Digital Parchment (Strange Particle Press), 2015) [rev vt of the above: pb/Paul Turner]
works as editor
- Science Fictionisms (Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs-Smith, 1995) [anth: pb/Bob Eggleton]
links
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