Vaughan, Richard
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(? -? ) Author, believed to have been Canadian, who wrote only two known stories, the first being"The Woman from Space" (Spring 1932 Wonder Stories Quarterly) in which Earth is under threat from an errant planet and which features an array of superscientific gadgetry. His far more ambitious second tale was seared into the memories of 1930s Magazine readers as among the best serials of the period: The Exile of the Skies (January-March 1934 Wonder Stories; 2016) was in the mould of E E Smith's Skylark series, but rather more thoughtful in its depiction of a ruthless but nevertheless philanthropic super-Scientist who had planned to take over the world for its own good but is betrayed, defeated and exiled into space. The novel follows his travels through space, until he returns to save Earth from new Alien perils. Although vastly overwritten, even by the standards of the day, it had a breathtaking scope and vision that enthralled, and imparted a powerful Sense of Wonder. It has twice been reprinted, in Fantastic Story Quarterly (Summer 1950) and Perry Rhodan (#23-#31 April-October 1973), but not separately in book form. Any trace of Vaughan was thereafter lost; attempts to find him or his estate in the late 1950s failed. The portrait accompanying his first story depicted a middle-aged man.
This author should not be confused with the pseudonym Richard Vaughan used by Nigel Dennis for his first novel. [MA]
Richard Vaughan
born
works
- The Exile of the Skies (no place given: Jerry Schneider Enterprises, 2016) [first appeared January-March 1934 Wonder Stories: pb/Howard V Brown]
links
previous versions of this entry