Pratt, Fletcher

Entry updated 31 July 2023. Tagged: Author.

(1897-1956) US author and historian who began his career as an author and translator for Hugo Gernsback's Wonder Stories and its companions in the early 1930s; his first published story was "The Octopus Cycle" for Amazing in 1928 as with Irvin Lester (a Pratt pseudonym). While doing translations of German sf novels Pratt evolved what became a renowned method of extracting payment from the notoriously slow Gernsback organization: he would submit the first part of a novel, wait until it was set in type, then refuse to deliver the conclusion until paid. He undertook many collaborations, notably "The City of the Living Dead" (May 1930 Wonder Stories) with Laurence Manning, and contributed regularly to the sf magazines; early solo novels included two Space Operas, Invaders from Rigel (Winter 1932 Wonder Stories Quarterly as "The Onslaught From Rigel"; 1960) and Alien Planet (Winter 1932 Amazing Stories Quarterly as "A Voice Across the Years"; 1962).

Pratt is now best remembered, however, for his fantasy, especially for the Harold Shea sequence with L Sprague de Camp [who see for fuller details, and for later solo titles]; the three collaborative novels [see Checklist below for omnis] are The Incomplete Enchanter (portions first appeared May 1940 Unknown as "The Roaring Trumpet" and August 1940 Unknown as "The Mathematics of Magic"; coll of linked stories 1941), The Castle of Iron (April 1941 Unknown; 1950) and Wall of Serpents (portions first appeared June 1953 Fantasy Fiction as "The Wall of Serpents" and 1954 Beyond #9 as "The Green Magician"; coll of linked stories 1960; vt The Enchanter Compleated 1980). A second series with De Camp, the Gavagan's Bar Club Stories assembled in Tales from Gavagan's Bar (coll 1953; exp 1978), are mostly high-spirited Tall Tales [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below], some of them sf. On their collaborations De Camp, as junior partner, would write a first draft after he and Pratt had jointly outlined the story; Pratt would then compose the final draft, to which De Camp would put the finishing editorial touches. This routine was varied in only a very few later short stories.

Pratt's own fantasy novels are The Well of the Unicorn (1948) as by George U Fletcher, a Bildungsroman set in a world subtly irradiated by magic, and The Blue Star (in Witches Three, anth/omni 1952, ed anon Pratt; 1969); Witches Three was one of the Twayne Triplets series – Twayne being the publisher – each volume assembling three original novellas or novels by different authors with a common theme or setting. The series idea was Pratt's, and he edited (also anonymously) one later volume, The Petrified Planet (anth 1952). In the end the project proved abortive, but the second and last title is now noted for being the first Shared-World Anthology to appear in the genre. Pratt also wrote several volumes of popular history and three books on rockets and space travel including Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Space Ships (1951). [MJE/JC]

Murray Fletcher Pratt

born Buffalo, New York: 25 April 1897

died Long Branch, New Jersey: 10 June 1956

works

series

Incomplete Enchanter

The Incomplete Enchanter (New York: Henry Holt, 1941) with L Sprague de Camp [coll of linked stories: portions first appeared May 1940 Unknown as "The Roaring Trumpet" and August 1940 Unknown as "The Mathematics of Magic": Incomplete Enchanter: hb/Boris Artzybasheff]
- The Incompleat Enchanter (London: Sphere, 1979) with L Sprague de Camp [coll of linked stories: vt of the above: Incomplete Enchanter: pb/Peter Jones]
The Castle of Iron (New York: Gnome Press, 1950) with L Sprague de Camp [first appeared April 1941 Unknown: Incomplete Enchanter: hb/Hannes Bok]
- The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1975) with L Sprague de Camp [omni of the above two: Incomplete Enchanter: hb/D K Stone]
The Wall of Serpents (New York: Avalon Books, 1960) with L Sprague de Camp [coll of linked stories: portions first appeared June 1953 Fantasy Fiction as "The Wall of Serpents" and 1954 Beyond #9 as "The Green Magician"; Incomplete Enchanter: hb/]
- The Enchanter Compleated (London: Sphere Books, 1980) with L Sprague de Camp [coll of linked stories: vt of the above: Incomplete Enchanter: pb/Peter A Jones]
- The Intrepid Enchanter: The Complete Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea (London: Sphere Books, 1988) with L Sprague de Camp [omni of the above three: Incomplete Enchanter: pb/Ian Miller]
  - The Complete Compleat Enchanter (New York: Baen Books, 1989) with L Sprague de Camp [omni: vt of the above: Incomplete Enchanter: pb/Tom Kidd]
    - The Compleat Enchanter (London: Orion/Millennium, 2000) with L Sprague de Camp [omni: vt of the above: contents differ from The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea above: Incomplete Enchanter: pb/Edd Cartier]

individual titles

The Land of Unreason (New York: Henry Holt, 1942) with L Sprague de Camp [first appeared October 1941 Unknown: hb/Boris Artzybasheff]
The Carnelian Cube: A Humorous Fantasy (New York: The Gnome Press, 1948) with L Sprague de Camp [hb/David A Kyle]
The Well of the Unicorn (New York: William Sloane Associates, 1948) as by George U Fletcher [hb/Rachel Palacios]
Double Jeopardy (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1952) [fixup: first appeared April 1952 Thrilling Wonder as "Double Jeopardy" and June 1952 Thrilling Wonder as "The Square-Cube Law": hb/Whitney Bender]
The Undying Fire (New York: Ballantine Books, 1953) [first appeared May 1953 Startling as "The Conditioned Captain": hb/Richard Powers]
Invaders from Rigel (New York: Avalon Books, 1960) [first appeared Winter 1932 Wonder Stories Quarterly as "The Onslaught From Rigel": hb/Ed Emshwiller]
Alien Planet (New York: Avalon Books, 1962) [first appeared Winter 1932 Amazing Stories Quarterly as "A Voice Across the Years": hb/Ed Emshwiller]
The Blue Star (New York: Ballantine Books, 1969) [first appeared in Witches Three (anth/omni 1952) edited by Pratt: pb/Ron Walotsky]

collections and stories

Double in Space: Two Novels (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1951) [coll assembling two book-length tales: "Project Excelsior" (December 1951 Thrilling Wonder) as "Asylum Satellite"; and "Wanderer's Return" (October 1951 Thrilling Wonder): hb/Richard Powers]
- Double in Space: Two Novels (London: T V Boardman, 1954) [coll: rev of the above: replacing "Wanderer's Return" with "The Conditioned Captain" (May 1953 Startling): see The Undying Fire (1953) above: hb/uncredited]
Tales from Gavagan's Bar (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1952) with L Sprague de Camp [coll: hb/Inga]
- Tales from Gavagan's Bar (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Owlswick Press, 1978) with L Sprague de Camp [coll: exp of the above: hb/Tim Kirk]
The Long View (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press, 2006) [story: chap: first appeared December 1952 Startling: pb/Ed Emshwiller]
The Conditioned Captain (Floyd, Virginia: Positronic Publishing, 2013) [first appeared May 1953 Startling: pb/]

nonfiction (selected)

Rockets, Jets, Guided Missiles and Space Ships (New York: Random House, 1951) with Jack Coggins [nonfiction: illus/hb/Jack Coggins]
By Space Ship to the Moon (New York: Random House, 1952) with Jack Coggins [nonfiction: illus/hb/Jack Coggins]
- By Space Ship to the Moon (New York: Random House, 1958) with Jack Coggins [nonfiction: rev of the above: illus/hb/Jack Coggins]
Rockets, Satellites and Space Travel (New York: Random House, 1958) with Jack Coggins [chap: graph: edited by Willy Ley: hb/Jack Coggins]

works as editor

series

Twayne Triplets

Witches Three (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1952) [anth/omni: edited anonymously: in the publisher's Twayne Triplets series: hb/Herbstman]
The Petrified Planet (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1952) [anth: edited anonymously: in the publisher's Twayne Triplets series: hb/uncredited]

individual titles

World of Wonder: An Introduction to Imaginative Literature (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1951) [anth: hb/Herbstmann]

about the author

L Sprague de Camp. "Parallel Worlds: Fletcher Pratt" in Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1976) [nonfiction: coll: hb/Tim Kirk]

links

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