|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kenneth Bulmer |
Henry Kenneth Bulmer, (January 14, 1921 – December 16, 2005), born in London, England, was a British author, primarily of science fiction. He married Pamela Buckmaster March 7, 1953. They had one son and two daughters, and were divorced in 1981. Bulmer lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.
An extraordinarily prolific writer, Bulmer penned over 160 novels and innumerable short stories, both under his real name and numerous pseudonyms. For instance, his long-running Dray Prescot series of planetary romances was initially published as by Alan Burt Akers, and later as by the first-person protagonist of the series, Prescot himself.
Bulmer's works are popular in translation in some non-English-speaking countries, particularly Germany, to the extent that in some cases they have been published only in German editions, with the original English language versions remaining unpublished.
He also helped create the British comics antihero The Steel Claw. Paul Grist's comics series Jack Staff acknowledges this in the real name of its character The Claw, Ben Kulmer.
Bulmer was also active in science fiction fandom, including travelling to the United States in 1955 as the TransAtlantic Fan Fund (TAFF) delegate.
In the 1970s he edited nine issues of the New Writings in Science Fiction anthology series in succession to John Carnell, who originated the series.
Bulmer's pseudonyms include Alan Burt Akers, Frank Brandon, Rupert Clinton, Ernest Corley, Peter Green, Adam Hardy, Philip Kent, Bruno Krauss, Karl Maras, Manning Norvil, Chesman Scot, Nelson Sherwood, Richard Silver, H. Philip Stratford, and Tully Zetford. Kenneth Johns was a collective pseudonym used for a collaboration with author John Newman. Some of Bulmer's works were published along with the works of other authors under "house names" (collective pseudonyms) Ken Blake (for a series of tie-ins with the 1970s television programme The Professionals), Arthur Frazier, Neil Langholm, Charles R. Pike, and Andrew Quiller. He also ghost-wrote a couple books for Barry Sadler.
In some cases, Bulmer used not only a different name but also included in the books a detailed imaginary biography giving specific personal details substantially different from the true ones. For example, the Viking series published under the name "Neil Langholm" included biographical details intended to create the impression that the series - as appropriate to its subject - was written by a Dane:
"Neil Langholm was born in Copenhagen in 1931, but was educated in England at Eton and Oxford. He started his career as a veterinary surgeon but gave up in 1960 to begin writing full time. He is the author of several bestselling western and science fiction series, which he writes under a pseudonym. Mr. Langholm now lives with his wife and five children in Ruislip. His hobbies are breeding dogs and archery." (From the introduction page to "Blood Sacrifice", 1975).
Consists of eleven cycles (the last is unfinished) and four stand-alone novels. There are also three stand-alone short stories as noted below. The ninth-eleventh cycles and last stand-alone novel were originally published only in German; English ebook editions of the ninth cycle were later issued; the first four volumes by the now defunct electronic publisher Savanti, and the remaining two by the series' current e-publisher, Mushroom eBooks; the remainder of the series remains unpublished in English. Mushroom eBooks has plans to issue the remaining volumes by the end of 2008; as of July 29, 2008 the first forty-five books of the series are available from this source.
The last six books in the series were published only in German, under Bulmer's real name. The first four books have also been published under his real name, collected in a single volume.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |