MERWIN, Sam Jr

   Working name of US writer W. Samuel Kimball Merwin Jr (1910-), son of the writer W.S. Merwin (1874-1936). SM's first sf story was "The Scourge Below" for THRILLING WONDER STORIES in 1939. He later went to work for theBeacon pulp chain, which published TWS and STARTLING STORIES, and was appointed to the editorship of both in 1944, succeeding Oscar J. FRIEND; although he had contributed to TWS and had done some editorial work for the magazines, he claimed never actually to have read an SF MAGAZINE before becoming editor of two of them. During his editorship he greatly raised the standard of both titles, abolishing the juvenile slant they had previously adopted, and making them the leading PULP MAGAZINES in the field behind ASTOUNDING SCIENCE-FICTION. He contributed stories to both, using his own name and the pseudonyms Matt Lee and Carter Sprague. He also edited WONDER STORY ANNUAL and FANTASTIC STORY QUARTERLY - additional companion magazines to Startling and TWS - before leaving in 1951 to freelance. Further editorial forays included editing the first issues of FANTASTIC UNIVERSE, a period as assistant editor for GalaxyPublications-working on GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, BEYOND FANTASY FICTION and GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS - and editing the auspicious first 2 issues of SATELLITE SCIENCE FICTION. He later went to work in Hollywood. Two articles by SM - reminiscences of his pulp-magazine days - appeared in The ALIEN CRITIC \#9 and \#10. Although comparatively little known, SM's recordshows him to have been one of the most capable of all sf magazine editors. SM's fiction, on the other hand, was unexceptional; his detective novels,beginning with Murder in Miniatures (1940), are perhaps better than his sf, of which the best are probably The House of Many Worlds (1951) and its sequel Three Faces of Time (1955 dos), assembled as The House of Many Worlds (omni 1983). The Feb 1957 issue of Satellite contained "Planet forPlunder", a novel written in collaboration with Hal CLEMENT; this was actually a Clement novelette expanded by SM (who added alternate chapters from another viewpoint) in order to fit Satellite's novel-oriented policy. Chauvinisto (1976) took a DYSTOPIAN attitude towards female domination.

   MJE

   Other works: Killer to Come (1953); The White Widows (1953; vt The Sex War 1960); The Time Shifters (1971).

   See also: ALTERNATE WORLDS; SPACESHIPS.