Richard A. Lupoff facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Richard A. Lupoff
|
|
|---|---|
Lupoff in 2013
|
|
| Born | Richard Allen Lupoff February 21, 1935 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 22, 2020 (aged 85) Berkeley, California |
| Pen name | Ova Hamlet Robert A. Mainline Ray Razzberry Addison Steele II Addison E. Steele A. E. Van Hocked |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | University of Miami |
| Genre | Science fiction, mystery, horror |
| Notable works |
|
| Spouse | Pat Lupoff |
Richard Allen Lupoff (February 21, 1935 – October 22, 2020) was an American author. He wrote many books in the science fiction and mystery genres. He also wrote humor, satire, and non-fiction.
Lupoff edited collections of science-fantasy stories. He was an expert on the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. He also had a strong interest in H. P. Lovecraft's writings. Richard Lupoff helped edit All in Color For a Dime, which was one of the first books to look closely at comic books. He also worked on its follow-up, The Comic-Book Book.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Richard Lupoff was born on February 21, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York. He started working as a freelance journalist when he was just 14 years old. Later, he studied at the University of Miami.
Technology Career
After finishing college and serving in the military, Lupoff worked in technology. He was a technical writer at Sperry Univac for five years. Then, he worked at IBM for seven years. At IBM, he helped direct informational films. He returned to tech work for a short time in the late 1970s.
Writing Career
Richard Lupoff started his writing journey in the early 1950s. He was part of the science-fiction fandom community. He created his own fanzine (a fan-made magazine) called SF52. He also wrote for other fanzines, like Algol.
In the early 1960s, he edited Xero with his wife, Pat Lupoff, and Bhob Stewart. Xero won a Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1963. Many famous writers contributed to Xero, including Roger Ebert and Harlan Ellison. In 2004, a book called The Best of Xero was published. It was also nominated for a Hugo Award.
Lupoff also edited books by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In 1965, he wrote a biography about Burroughs called Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure. This was his first book.
Science Fiction Stories
Richard Lupoff began publishing his own fiction in 1967. His first novel was One Million Centuries. By 1970, he became a full-time writer. He wrote more than 50 books, plus many short stories and non-fiction works.
He sometimes used different names, called pseudonyms. For example, he used Addison E. Steele for Buck Rogers novels. He used Ova Hamlet for funny stories that made fun of other works. These were collected in The Ova Hamlet Papers. Lupoff often wrote stories that copied the style of other authors. He also used other writers as characters in his books.
Some of his well-known novels include Circumpolar! (1984) and Countersolar! (1987). His novel Sword of the Demon was nominated for the Nebula Award in 1977.
His short stories have been collected in many books. One famous short story is "12:01 PM" from 1973. This story was made into a short film in 1990 and a TV movie in 1993. Both films featured a main character stuck in a time loop. Lupoff even appeared as an extra in both movies. The story's idea was similar to the movie Groundhog Day.
His short stories "After the Dreamtime" and "Sail the Tide of Mourning" were nominated for Hugo Awards. Lupoff also worked on the graphic novel The Adventures of Professor Thintwhistle and his Incredible Aether Flyer. This book is seen as an early example of steampunk stories.
Mystery Stories
After a time, Lupoff started writing mystery novels. His book The Comic Book Killer was published in 1988. This book had several follow-up stories. His first collection of short mystery stories was Quintet: The Cases of Chase and Delacroix (2008).
Radio Program: Probabilities
In 1977, Richard Lupoff started co-hosting a radio show. It was on Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM in Berkeley, California. The show was called Probabilities. It featured book reviews and interviews with authors, especially those who wrote science fiction and mystery.
The show aired weekly until 1995. It was then renamed Cover to Cover. Lupoff left the show in 2001 to focus more on his writing. The program was later renamed Bookwaves. Many famous authors were interviewed on the show, including Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Personal Life
Richard Lupoff was married to Pat Lupoff from 1958 until she passed away in 2018. They had three children together. They lived in different places, including Westchester County, Manhattan, and later Northern California. Richard Lupoff died in Oakland, California, on October 22, 2020.
Nonfiction Books
- Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs (1965)
- All in Color for a Dime (co-edited with Don Thompson) (1970)
- The Comic-Book Book (co-edited with Don Thompson) (1973)
- Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and Martian Vision (1976)
- Writer at Large (1998)
- The Great American Paperback (2001)
- The Best of Xero (with Pat Lupoff) (2005)
- WRITER: Volume 1 (2010)
- WRITER: Volume 2 (2010)
- WRITER: Volume 3 (2016)
- Where Memory Hides: A Writer's Life (2016)
See also
In Spanish: Richard A. Lupoff para niños
