John Russell Fearn (5 June 1908 — 18 September 1960) was a British writer, one of the first to appear in American pulpscience fiction magazines. A prolific author, he published his novels also as Vargo Statten and with various pseudonyms including Thornton Ayre, Polton Cross, Geoffrey Armstrong, John Cotton, Dennis Clive, Ephriam Winiki, Astron Del Martia.
Career
Fearn was a prolific writer who wrote Westerns and crime fiction as well as science fiction. His writing appeared under numerous pseudonyms. He wrote series such as Adam Quirke, Clayton Drew, Golden Amazon, and Herbert. At times these drew on the pulp traditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs. His work received praise for its vividness, but criticism, being deemed "unpolished"[according to whom?], with Arthur C. Clarke commenting in 1939 that "we must admire the magnificent, if undisciplined, fertility of his mind".[1]
Personal life
Child of a cotton salesman and a secretary, Fearn worked initially for his father's firm, followed by work as a solicitor's clerk, fairground assistant, at a munitions factory, and as a cinema projectionist. He married writer Camilla Fegan in 1957.
As well as writing he was involved in writing/acting in local plays and active in writers' groups. In 1938, he told Amazing Stories that he "likes broiling sunlight and heated rooms [and] smokes incessantly while he writes".[2] During the Second World War, Fearn was chief projectionist at the Empire Cinema in Blackpool.[3]
Bibliography
The first instalment of Fearn's novel Liners of Time took the cover of the May 1935 issue of Amazing Stories, illustrated by Leo Morey.Fearn's novel Secret of the Buried City was the cover story of the May 1939 issue of Amazing Stories, illustrated by Robert Fuqua (real name Joseph Wirt Tillotson[4]).Vargo Statten's novella Survivor of Mars was originally published in Two Complete Science-Adventure Books in 1953.
As himself
The Intelligence Gigantic (1933 Amazing Stories; 1943)
Liners of Time (1935 Amazing Stories; 1947) and its sequel
Zagribud (1937 Amazing Stories; cut variant title Science Metropolis as by Vargo Statten 1952)
He Never Slept (1934 Astounding Stories; 1934)
Nebula X (1946 as "The Multillionth Chance"; revised 1950)
The Sun Makers (1937 as "Metamorphosis"; revised 1950)
The Avenging Martian (1938 as "Red Heritage"; revised 1950)
The Renegade Star (1938 as "The Blue Infinity"; revised 1951)
The Inner Cosmos (1937 as "Worlds Within"; revised 1952)
To the Ultimate (1936 as "Mathematica"; revised 1952)
The Dust Destroyer (1934 as "The Man who Stopped the Dust"; revised 1953)
Whispering Satellite (1938) as by Thornton Ayre (in Astounding Stories, Jan 1938)
What Happened to Hammond? (1951) as by Hugo Blayn
Valley of Pretenders (circa 1942 chap US) as by Dennis Clive
The Voice Commands (circa 1942 chap US) as by Dennis Clive
Other Eyes Watching (1946) as by Polton Cross
The Trembling World (1949) as by Astron Del Martia. There is another novel One Against Time as by Astron Del Martia stated to have been written by JRF. This is incorrect. It was in fact written by Stephen D. Frances.
Don't Touch Me (1953) as by Spike Gordon
The Dyno-Depressent (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Magnetic Brain (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Moons for Sale (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
Scourge of the Atom (1953 as "After the Atom" by JRF; revised 1953) as by Volsted Gridban
A Thing of the Past (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Genial Dinosaur (1954)
Exit Life (1941 as "The World in Wilderness" as by Thornton Ayre; revised 1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Master Must Die (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Lonely Astronomer (partly based on "Death at the Observatory" as by JRF; 1954) as by Volsted Gridban
The Purple Wizard (1953) as by Volsted Gridban
The Frozen Limit (1954) as by Volsted Gridban
I Came - I Saw - I Wondered (1954) as by Volsted Gridban
Liquid Death (1954) as by "Griff"
Cosmic Exodus (1953 chap) as by Conrad G. Holt
Dark Boundaries (1953) as by Paul Lorraine
The Hell-Fruit (1953 chap) as by Lawrence F. Rose[5]
Account Settled (1949) as by John Russell
Z-Formations (1953) as by Brian Shaw
Work written under the name Vargo Statten
Operation Venus (1950)
Annihilation (1950)
The Micro-Men (1950)
Wanderer of Space (1950)
2000 Years On (1950)
Inferno! (1950)
The Cosmic Flame (1950)
Cataclysm (Statten)|Cataclysm (1944 as "The Devouring Tide" as by Polton Cross; revised 1951)
The Red Insects (1951)
The New Satellite (1951)
Deadline to Pluto (1951)
The Petrified Planet (1951)
Born of Luna (1951)
The Devouring Fire (1951)
The Catalyst (1951)
The Space Warp (1952)
The Eclipse Express (1952)
The Time Bridge (1942 as "Prisoner of Time" by Polton Cross; revised 1952)
The Man from Tomorrow (1950 as "Stranger in our Midst" by JRF; revised 1952)
The G-Bomb (1941 as "The Last Secret Weapon" by Polton Cross; revised 1952)
Laughter in Space (1939 as "Laughter out of Space" by Dennis Clive; revised 1952)
Across the Ages (1952 as "Glimpse" by JRF; 1952 chap)
The Last Martian (1952 chap)
Worlds to Conquer (1952 chap)
De-Creation (1952 chap)
The Time Trap (1952 chap)
Ultra Spectrum (1953)
Black-Wing of Mars (1953 as "Winged Pestilence" by JRF; 1953)
Man in Duplicate (1953)
Zero Hour (1952 as "Deadline" by JRF; 1953)
The Black Avengers (1953)
Odyssey of Nine (1953)
Pioneer 1990 (1940 as "He Conquered Venus" by JRF; revised 1953)
The Interloper (1953)
Man of Two Worlds (1953)
The Lie Destroyer (1953)
Black Bargain (1953)
The Grand Illusion (1953)
Wealth of the Void (1954)
A Time Appointed (1954)
I Spy (1954)
The Multi-Man (1954)
1,000 Year Voyage (1954)
Earth 2 (1955)
Writing about Fearn
The Multi-Man (1968 chap) by Philip Harbottle
Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Volume 2 by R. Reginald
See also
Ron Turner – an illustrator closely associated with the Vargo Statten pseudonym
