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(1897-1988) US author of Pulp adventures, including lead novels for all three issues of the magazine Dr Yen Sin. He is of most sf interest perhaps for his Captain Philip Strange tales about a nascent Superhero – his mental acuity is equivalent to most Psi Powers – whose exploits as an ace fighter pilot in World War One involve encounters with prehistoric Monsters and various unnatural phenomena; Keyhoe himself was a pilot in the US Marine Corps 1919-1923. The series appeared between 1931 and 1939 in Flying Aces; the first six tales have been assembled as Captain Philip Strange: Strange War (coll of linked stories 2011), with further volumes projected. Of his non-series stories, several are of interest, especially "Through the Vortex" (July 1926 Weird Tales), where a plane flies through a vortex into what seems to be a Parallel World, where the course of Evolution differs from our own.
Keyhoe's "nonfiction" books on flying saucers later helped foment the UFO craze of the early 1950s; Flying Saucers from Outer Space (1953) was the germ of the film Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956; vt Invasion of the Flying Saucers). Keyhoe himself appears in the brief early documentary The Flying Saucer Mystery (1952). [JC/DRL]
born Ottumwa, Iowa: 20 June 1897
died New Market, Virginia: 29 November 1988
works
series
Captain Philip Strange
individual titles
nonfiction (highly selected)
links
Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 21:42 pm on 18 April 2024.
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