Winterbotham, Russ
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1904-1971) US newspaperman and author who began publishing work of genre interest with "The Star that Would not Behave" in Astounding for August 1935, and was a prolific contributor of Genre SF in the magazine before World War Two, becoming inactive in that sphere until the 1950s, when he again began to publish serviceable fiction. For a period in the 1940s, he created several tales for the Whitman Publishing Company (generator of the Big Little Books and other series for children), writing at least sixty Big Little Books for the firm, including the Maximo the Amazing Superman sequence beginning with Maximo the Amazing Superman (graph 1940) as R R Winterbotham, about a Mutant Superman who performs good deeds. As the author of various Comic strips throughout his career (he retired in 1969), he initiated Chris Welkin, Planeteer in 1951 and scripted it into the 1960s.
His return to sf around 1952 led to several exercises in Genre SF, beginning with The Space Egg (March 1958 Amazing; 1958), about an Invasion of Earth; several other sf adventures followed, including The Other World (1963) as by J Harvey Bond, and Planet Big Zero (1964), as by Franklin Hadley. None of these tales surpassed the routine; none were incompetent. [JC]
Russell Robert Winterbotham
born Salina, Kansas: 1 August 1904
died Bay Village, Ohio: 9 June 1971
works
series
Maximo the Amazing Superman
- Maximo the Amazing Superman (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1940) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: Maximo the Amazing Superman: illus/hb/Henry R Vallely]
- Maximo the Amazing Superman and the Crystals of Doom (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1941) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: Maximo the Amazing Superman: illus/hb/Henry R Vallely]
- Maximo the Amazing Superman and the Supermachine (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1941) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: Maximo the Amazing Superman: illus/hb/Henry R Vallely]
Captain Midnight
- Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1941) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: Captain Midnight: illus/hb/Erwin L Hess]
- Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron vs the Terror of the Orient (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1942) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: Captain Midnight: illus/hb/Erwin L Hess]
individual titles
- Captain Robb of Dirigible ZR-90 (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1941) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: illus/hb/Al Lewin]
- Windy Wayne and His Flying Wing (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1942) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: illus/hb/Erwin L Hess]
- The Ghost Avenger Strikes! (Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1943) as R R Winterbotham [graph: in Big Little Book format: illus/hb/Henry R Vallely]
- The Space Egg (New York: Avalon Books, 1958) [first appeared March 1958 Amazing: hb/Ric Binkley]
- The Red Planet (Derby, Connecticut: Monarch Books, 1962) [pb/Ralph Brillhart]
- The Men from Arcturus (New York: Avalon Books, 1963) [hb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Other World (New York: Avalon Books, 1963) as by J Harvey Bond [hb/Ed Emshwiller]
- Planet Big Zero (Derby, Connecticut: Monarch Books, 1964) as by Franklin Hadley [pb/Ralph Brillhart]
- The Puppet Planet (New York: Avalon Books, 1964) [hb/Ed Emshwiller]
- The Lord of Nardos (New York: Avalon Books, 1966) [hb/Gray Morrow]
collections and stories
- The Whispering Spheres (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [story: first appeared July 1941 Comet: na/]
- Lonesome Hearts (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: first appeared July 1954 If: na/]
- The Minus Woman (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: first appeared July 1953 Imagination: na/]
links
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