Swain, Dwight V
Entry updated 8 May 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1915-1992) US author, very variously employed in jobs ranging from migrant labourer to university lecturer to scriptwriter. His first sf story, "Henry Horn's Super-Solvent" for Fantastic Adventures in November 1941, initiated the Henry Horn series of tales about a bumblingly incompetent would-be Scientist; the others are "Henry Horn's Blitz Bomb" (June 1942 Amazing), "Henry Horn's Racing Ray" (February 1942 Fantastic Adventures) and Henry Horn's X-Ray Eye Glasses (December 1942 Amazing; 2010 ebook). He also wrote three stories in 1942 as Clark South, including The Time Mirror (December 1942 Amazing; 2010 ebook), released in book form under his own name. Swain published several sf novels up to the end of the 1950s which did not reach book form in his lifetime, the exception being The Transposed Man (November 1953 Thrilling Wonder; 1955 chap dos) [the 1957 printing is an anth with an added story by E C Tubb], in which a human rebel wins through to the stars. Two full-length tales from this period were eventually assembled as a single volume comprising The Weapon from Eternity (September 1952 Imagination; 2011 dos) and Terror Station (September 1955 Imaginative Tales; 2011 dos).
In his later career, he concentrated on his work in educational film-making, also publishing several nonfiction books on the art of successful writing, including Tricks & Techniques of the Selling Writer (1965; vt Techniques of the Selling Writer 1974) and Creating Characters: How to Build Story People (1990). Occasionally, however, he returned to adventure tales of the sort he clearly preferred, writing one Nick Carter novel, The Pemex Chart (1979), and two further tales, The Planet Murderer (1984) as John Cleve (in collaboration with Andrew J Offutt), and Monster (1991).
In 1991, the Oklahoma Professional Writers' Hall of Fame named him a "grand master", along with C J Cherryh. [JC]
Dwight Vreeland Swain
born Rochester, Michigan: 17 November 1915
died Norman, Oklahoma: 24 February 1992
works
- The Transposed Man (New York: Ace Books, 1955) [chap: dos: first appeared November 1953 Thrilling Wonder Stories: pb/Ed Valigursky]
- The Transposed Man (London: Panther Books, 1957) [exp of the above as coll: adding one story: pb/]
- The Pemex Chart (New York: Charter Books, 1979) as by Nick Carter [tie to the series: Nick Carter: pb/George Gross]
- The Planet Murderer (New York: Berkley Books, 1984) with Andrew J Offutt, writing together as John Cleve [#16 in series: Spaceways: pb/Ken Barr]
- Monster (New York: Pinnacle Books, 1991) [pb/]
- The Terror Out of Space (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2011) [dos: first appeared July 1954 Imagination: pb/H W McCauley]
- Crusade Across the Void (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2011) [dos: first appeared October 1942 Amazing Stories: pb/Malcolm Smith]
- Terror Station (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2011) [dos: with The Weapon from Eternity below: first appeared September 1955 Imaginative Tales: pb/Harold W McCauley]
- The Weapon from Eternity (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2011) [dos: with Terror Station above: first appeared September 1952 Imagination: pb/Harold W McCauley]
- Planet of Dread (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2012) [dos: first appeared February 1954 Imagination: pb/H W McCauley]
- The Terror out of Space & Planet of Dread (Rialto, California: Fiction House, 2014) [omni of the indicated titles above: pb/Harold W McCauley]
- The Horde from Infinity (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2012) [dos: first appeared May 1957 Imaginative Tales: pb/Lloyd Rognan]
- Bring Back My Brain! (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2013) [dos: first appeared April 1957 Imagination: pb/Lloyd Rognan]
- Stay Out of Space! (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2013) [dos: first appeared January 1958 Imaginative Tales: pb/Lloyd Rognan]
- Cry Chaos (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2014) [dos: first appeared September 1951 Imagination: pb/W H Hinton]
- Battle Out of Time (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2015) [dos: first appeared August 1957 Imagination: pb/Malcolm Smith]
- Dark Destiny (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2016) [dos: first appeared March 1952 Imagination: pb/Malcolm Smith]
- Giant Killer (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2016) [dos: first appeared May 1958 Imaginative Tales: pb/D Bruce Berry]
- You Can't Buy Eternity! (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2017) [dos: first appeared October 1957 Imagination: pb/Lloyd Rognan]
- Enemy of the Qua (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2018) [dos: first appeared March 1956 Imaginative Tales: pb/Malcolm Smith]
- Drummers of Daugavo (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2019) [dos: first appeared March 1943 Fantastic Adventures: pb/R G Jones]
collections and stories
- The Time Mirror (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared December 1942 Amazing as by Clark South: na/]
- Terror Station/The Weapon from Eternity (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction Double Novel, 2011) [coll of two book-length tales: "The Weapon from Eternity" first appeared September 1952 Imagination; "Terror Station" first appeared September 1955 Imaginative Tales: pb/Harold W McCauley]
- The Terror out of Space & Planet of Dread (Rialto, California: Fiction House, 2014) [coll: first appeared in July 1954 and February 1954 Imagination: pb/Harold W McCauley]
nonfiction (selected)
- Tricks & Techniques of the Selling Writer (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1965) [nonfiction: hb/]
- Techniques of the Selling Writer (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974) [nonfiction: vt of the above: hb/]
- Creating Characters: How to Build Story People (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writers Digest, 1990) [nonfiction: hb/]
links
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