Talk:Lester del Rey

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Slate article[edit]

I haven't the time to check right now, but there may be some info in https://slate.com/culture/2023/10/lester-del-rey-invention-fantasy-book-publishing.html that could be added to the wikipedia page about del Rey. Kenguest (talk) 13:23, 12 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]


Birth name and background[edit]

I note that 209.163.43.41 claims (in the edit summary, not in the article itself) that "Lester Del Ray was born Leonard Knapp. He had 1 sister, Sally and a brother named Leon. They all grew up in the St. Charles, MN. area. Leonard left and the siblings never knew of him till his death." That doesn't jibe with LDR's claimed background and is unsourced, so I, for one, would be wary about incorporating it into the body of the article. Anyone know the facts here? Thanks, BPK 16:18, 3 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

  • And I just read a Usenet post by Lawrence Watt-Evans, saying that del Rey's real name was Leonard Stamm. DS 16:40, 7 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've heard a story via Harlan Ellison, you can hear him recount it on an audio.com conversation between Robin Williams and Ellison, that it was Lester del Ray who suggested to L. Ron Hubbard he create his own religion after he overheard at a party Hubbard complaining about perpetual financial problems no matter how much he worked and no matter how much material he sold - of course there have been other stories floating around that it was Robert A. Heinlein or Issac Asimov who bet/dared him to do it - so has anybody heard or read any other sources for this story? LamontCranston 15:10, 23 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]
  • Suggesting to Ron Hubbard that he start dianetics was probably not suggested by Asimov, else I would expect to see the event written up in Asimov's biographies. Almost no mention of dianetics in those biographies.
  • del Rey also wrote a book called Pstalemate in the 70's about hyperlight travel being somehow connected with special individuals with psi capability. Not a bad book, but don't remember much else about it. I see it was republished in 1986.


re: LEONARD KNAPP

the 1920 Census for Utica, Winona, Minnesota has Wright Knapp 56 Jenny Knapp 36 Leonard Knapp 4 7/12 [this would match Lester's dob] Leon Knapp 1 7/12

and the 1930 Census for St Charles, Winona, Minnesota has Wright Knapp 67 Jennie Knapp 46 Leonard Knapp 14 Leon Knapp 11 Sarah Alice Knapp 9

[this would match 209.163.43.41 claims about siblings names] I suspect Jennie Knapp was born Jennie Sidway daughter of Thomas W. (born NY) and Hannah B. Sidway (born ME or maybe MA) Wright Knapp is likely the son of Leonard and Sarah Knapp (both born in NY) Louisfallert 21:54, 25 August 2007 (UTC)louisfallert[reply]

Leonard Stamm/Knapp[edit]

As the apparent root source of the "Leonard Stamm" report, I'd like to hedge a little.

My own source isn't anything Lester told me; in the one letter I have from him where he mentioned his original name (in the context of trying to talk me out of using a pen name) he said it was Ramon Alvarez, and the subject never came up in conversation. After his death, however, I got a call from the lawyer handling his estate, who was trying to track down possible heirs and who had gotten my phone number from Lester's address book. He told me that the Alvarez name was hooey, that Lester had been born Leonard [somebody].

I remembered the surname as something like "Stamm," and have reported that, but seeing someone else mention the name Knapp, I suddenly find myself thinking that that sounds right, moreso than Stamm does. I think I may have misremembered the last name and gotten Stamm from seeing a Leonard Stamm mentioned in a completely different context. I hadn't written the name down or anything; I had assumed at the time that this was, or would become, common knowledge. I certainly never expected to be the sole source in fandom for the name.

For that matter, I didn't do anything to verify that the guy on the phone was really the lawyer for Lester's estate; why would I? I took him at his word.

So please, don't consider me an authoritative source on this. All I have is one half-remembered phone call. Whoever gave the Leonard Knapp account sounds like they know more than I do. -- Lawrence Watt Evans

I removed the footnote citing Watt Evans, since he notes he is not authoritative. I also removed the Prucher citation because it does not confirm or deny the statement regarding del Rey's lawyer's, which needs a citation. Shsilver 21:42, 22 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Might there still be some lingering doubt about Leonard Knapp? This is from Ansible 130:

"Lester del Rey's name remains controversial. A129 reported how that lengthy claimed version had been deflated to Leonard Stamm. But another old-timer, Frederik Pohl, remembers otherwise: 'Back in the '50s he had this bullshit story, which he stuck to for the rest of his life, about how his own birth records got destroyed in the little known great Nebraska forest fire, or the devastating Minnesota earthquake, or whatever it was, and so he had to use his cousin Leonard Knapp's papers.'" 4granite (talk) 07:45, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Moon of Mutiny[edit]

I'm pretty sure the copyright date on this book is 1961, not 1982... I'll check my copy when I get home. FusionKnight 19:30, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just checked. Definitely 1961. Changing now. FusionKnight 22:57, 15 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pseudonyms Section[edit]

I'd like to propose adding a section on Pseudonyms. It might make the article a little cleaner/clearer to have it broken out and added to the table of contents. Thoughts? If there's no objection in a few days, I'll go ahead and do it. FusionKnight 16:21, 3 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Inconsistency between articles[edit]

I was reading this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy-Lynn_del_Rey and I realized it says that Judy-Lynn del Rey was Lester's third wife, while this article says he was his fourth. I'm not sure which one is saying the true, that's why I haven't corrected it, but someone should (or at least the other in case the other one is wrong).

I'm sorry if I made any mistake, this is my first time doing this. Also, I'm not an english speaking person, so you'll have to excuse if I happen to make any mistake. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Locoturbi (talk • contribs) 06:25, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Judy-Lynn was his fourth wife, as stated in this article. His first was the one who died in a car crash in 1935; he married his second, Helen, in 1945; by the 1950s he was married to his third, Evelyn, who also died in a car crash. He met and married Judy-Lynn some years later. Since little was known about his early life until after his death, the first wife presumably didn't make it into the reckoning until then. I'll fix the Judy-Lynn del Rey article. BPK (talk) 16:44, 23 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"ham sandwich"???[edit]

In 1957, del Rey and Damon Knight co-edited a small amateur magazine named Science Fiction Forum. In response to a debate about symbolism within the magazine, del Rey accepted Knight's challenge to write an analysis of James Blish's story "Common Time" that showed the story was about a man eating a ham sandwich.[7]

Is this statement legit? It looks like vandalism. Damon Knight thought the story "Common Time" was about sexual intercourse.118.172.124.246 (talk) 11:19, 7 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Knight thought that, yes; but it sounds to me as though del Rey was sceptical of the symbolic analysis and claimed it could be interpreted to be about anything. I can see a snippet on books.google.com from Ketterer's Imprisoned in a Tesseract that makes it seem that "ham sandwich" is indeed correct. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:25, 7 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ballantine Books[edit]

One source given for our Ballantine biographies --both of them because I copied it from Ian to Betty-- says,

In 1973, following the sale of the company to Random House, the Ballantines were fired and replaced by another husband and wife team, Lester and Judy-Lyn Del Ray, who turned Ballantine books toward Science Fiction with the DEL RAY imprint. Ian Ballantine returned in 1981 as a special consultant.[1]

Certainly that is unreliable --del Rey is mis-spelled, for one-- and it is now reflected in this biography only by my parenthetical note "(as a Random House property, post-Ballantine)". If the fact can be ascertained it will be good to say here that the del Reys replaced the Ballantines at Ballantine, and to say whether they rehired Ian Ballantine.

--P64 (talk) 01:42, 12 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

and also to say whether "turned Ballantine Books toward Science Fiction" means to science fiction from fantasy, such as Ballantine Adult Fantasy.

The latter series, primarily reissues of overlooked or forgotten works, was terminated in 1974, soon after the Ballantines departed. In its article we say,

In 1977 both its fantasy and science fiction lines were relaunched under the Del Rey Books imprint, ...

--P64 (talk) 15:56, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sources[edit]

Frederik Pohl[edit]

Frederik Pohl covered the del Reys in his blog:

Re Ballantine he recalls, "... after a while, he [Lester, now her husband] joined Judy-Lynn at Ballantine, and — no surprise to anyone who knew them — with Lester handling the fantasy side of the operation while Judy-Lynn continued with the sf, they were fabulously successful ..."

--P64 (talk) 18:20, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

NNDB[edit]

http://www.nndb.com/people/208/000085950/ (Lester del Rey)

--P64 (talk) 18:31, 22 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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