Oolite Bulletins

Is it Rotwang, from the 1927 movie Metropolis?

Diziet Sma wrote:

Is it Rotwang, from the 1927 movie Metropolis?

And the winner of the 4th Obscure German Science Fiction contest is ... Diziet Sma! Congratulations and I am happy that I can just lean back now and wait for you to come up with a challenge.

Thanks, Commander. Funnily enough, it was pretty much the first thing that popped into my mind when I read your post.

So, here we go:

Considered to be one of the most enigmatic American sci-fi authors of the mid-20th century, he was highly regarded, but not well known. He once informed his editor that he was not born into our world, but had arrived here from a parallel timeline.

Name the author.

R A Lafferty? His work is highly regarded, but not tremendously well-known ... I don't know if he ever claimed to be from a parallel timeline, though!

Nope.. R A Lafferty was nowhere near as enigmatic as the person in question..

I guess I need to wait for the healthcare discussion to die down before anyone takes a crack at my challenge..

Or is the hint (yes, there is one buried in my challenge) too obscure?

Um ... it's too obscure for me. The only possible name that comes to mind is "Kilgore Trout". Although, maybe: Theodore Sturgeon?

Okay.. some more..

Even the circumstances of his tragic death in the early '60s are clouded by confusion and mystery, as was his life. In fact, nobody even knows the exact date of his death.

He began his sci-fi career writing for Astounding Science Fiction in the late '40s, under the legendary John W. Campbell. He was friends with Lester del Rey. Fletcher Pratt. Robert Heinlein and L. Sprague de Camp. Jerry Pournelle believes that had he lived another decade he would have been ranked among the top echelon of SF writers, along with Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and Bradbury.

Diziet Sma wrote:

Considered to be one of the most enigmatic American sci-fi authors of the mid-20th century, he was highly regarded, but not well known. He once informed his editor that he was not born into our world, but had arrived here from a parallel timeline.

Name the author.

Sounds like something Philip K. Dick would say... Unfortunately he's had more film adaptations than just about any other SF author, which kind of disqualifies him on 'not well known' grounds... Not to mention that his death is pretty well documented & 2 decades later!

And Dick died in 1982, which definitely doesn't qualify for "early '60s".

details, just details! Any self-respecting dimension hopper knows how to skip decades anyway!

Kaks wrote:

details, just details! Any self-respecting dimension hopper knows how to skip decades anyway!

Well, I don't know if Philip K. Dick could/can time/dimension jump, but it's not him, anyway...

I think I might have got him: is it H Beam Piper?

Rats!!

Disembodied wrote:

I think I might have got him: is it H Beam Piper?

Yes!! We have a winner! Congratulations, Disembodied!

Sounds as if you got pipped at the post, El Viejo..

Link to online excerpts from John F. Carr's biography on H. Beam Piper