Ernst, Paul
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1899-1985) US author, mostly of short fiction for pulp markets, sometimes under his own name and sometimes (once in Weird Tales) under the pseudonym Paul Frederick Stern; he should not be confused with either (Karl Friedrich) Paul Ernst (1866-1933), a German writer in various genres, or with Paul Ernst (1886-? ) who wrote 1930s detective novels. His first published story may have been "The Temple of Serpents" for Weird Tales in October 1928, and he remained extremely active throughout the 1930s, writing for sf, fantasy and hero magazine; a selection of this work has been assembled as The Red Hell of Jupiter and Other Tales from the Pulps (coll 2010). Under the House Name Kenneth Robeson, he was responsible for much of the contents of The Avenger, writing all 23 novel-length stories for that magazine between 1939 and 1942 [see Checklist for details of book publication], each featuring The Avenger, a Superhero who fought a wide range of villains; the Robeson House Name had already been made popular by Lester Dent in Doc Savage magazine, and it was in an attempt to cash in on the success of the name that it was offered for Ernst's use. Subsequent novels in the 1970s The Avenger series were originals written by Ron Goulart, also writing as Robeson.
Ernst's Doctor Satan series in Weird Tales, beginning with "Doctor Satan" (August 1935 Weird Tales) and continuing to the August/September 1936 issue, is fantasy along conventional hero-villain lines; five of these stories were reprinted as Dr Satan (coll 1974 chap) edited by Robert E Weinberg and the full set as The Complete Tales of Dr Satan (coll 2013; vt The Complete Stories of Dr Satan 2019). His singleton sf stories – the first of which were "The Black Monarch" (February-June 1930 Weird Tales), which features an Underground Lost Race ruled by an Immortal Telepathic Brain in a Box, and "Marooned under the Sea" (September 1930 Astounding) – include "The 32nd of May" (April 1935 Astounding), "The Microscopic Giants" (October 1936 Thrilling Wonder), a Dimensions tale whose protagonist enters a two-dimensional world, and "'Nothing Happens on the Moon'" (February 1939 Astounding). Ernst was less prolific after the early 1940s. [PN/JC]
see also: Astounding Science-Fiction; Counter-Earth; Justice, Inc.
Paul Frederick Ernst
born West Peoria, Illinois: 7 November 1899
died Zephyr Hills, Florida: 21 September 1985
works
series
The Avenger
- The Avenger: Justice, Inc (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared September 1939 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Yellow Hoard (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared October 1939 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Sky Walker (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared November 1939 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Devil's Horns (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared December 1939 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Frosted Death (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared January 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Blood Ring (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared February 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: Stockholders in Death (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1972) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared March 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: The Glass Mountain (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared April 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/Peter Caras]
- The Avenger: Tuned for Murder (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared May 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Smiling Dogs (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared June 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: River of Ice (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared July 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Flame Breathers (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared September 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Murder on Wheels (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared November 1940 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Three Gold Crowns (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared January 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: House of Death (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared March 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Hate Master (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared May 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Nevlo (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared July 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Death in Slow Motion (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Pictures of Death (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1973) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared November 1941 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Green Killer (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared January 1942 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Happy Killers (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared March 1942 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Black Death (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared May 1942 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: The Wilder Curse (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared July 1942 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
- The Avenger: Midnight Murder (New York: Warner Paperback Library, 1974) as by Kenneth Robeson [first appeared September 1942 The Avenger: The Avenger: pb/George Gross]
Dr Satan
- Dr Satan (Oak Lawn, Illinois: Robert Weinberg, 1974) with Basil Wells [coll: chap: four stories by Ernst, one by Wells: edited by Robert E Weinberg: Dr Satan: pb/Margaret Brundage]
- The Complete Tales of Dr Satan (no place given: Altus Press, 2013) [coll: Dr Satan: pb/Margaret Brundage]
- The Complete Stories of Dr Satan (no place given: Fiction House Press, 2019) [coll: vt of the above: Dr Satan: pb/Margaret Brundage]
individual titles
- Rulers of the Future (Medford, Oregon: Armchair Fiction, 2020) [dos: first appeared January-March 1935 Weird Tales: pb/]
collections and stories
- The Radiant Shell (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2007) [story: ebook: first appeared January 1932 Astounding: na/]
- The Raid on the Termites (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2008) [story: ebook: first appeared June 1932 Astounding: na/]
- The Planetoid of Peril (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared November 1931 Astounding: na/]
- The Red Hell of Jupiter (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2009) [story: ebook: first appeared October 1931 Astounding: na/]
- Mask of Death (no place given: Project Gutenberg, 2010) [story: ebook: first appeared August-September 1936 Weird Tales: na/]
- The Red Hell of Jupiter and Other Tales from the Pulps (Rockville, Maryland: Wildside Press/World SF Classics, 2010) [coll: pb/Lumir Jurka]
links
previous versions of this entry