Back now, after Father's Funeral
I haven't updated my LJ blog since about August 2004, due to invasions from the mundane world, such as not having my Math Professor contract renewed, thus suddenly being thrust into search for a full-time professorship in Mathematics or Astronomy. More on that later.
Even more tragic, my father, the notable Science Fiction editor Samuel H. Post was slowly and painfully dying. See mini-obituaries on sfwa.org, locusmag.com, and full version on sff.net.
My father was born in a semiprime year, lived to a
semiprime age, and died in a semiprime year.
Samuel Herbert Post, aged 82, passed away at home,
from inoperable cancer, on the evening of Friday 20
May 2005 in Wickford Village, Rhode Island.
He was an editor and publisher of note in book, trade
paperback, and magazine publishing, for such authors
as Margery Allingham, Poul Anderson, Pearl S. Buck,
Taylor Caldwell, Curtis W. Casewit, Winston Churchill,
Mark Clifton, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson,
Walter Gibson, R. C. W. Ettinger, J. Hunter Holly,
Damon Knight, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Veronica Lake,
Hedy Lamarr, Murray Leinster, John Lymington, H.
P. Lovecraft, Frank Belknap Long, George B. Mair, S.
Michael, Sam Moskowitz, Senator George Murphy, Eric
North [B. C. Cronin], Andre Norton, Alan E. Nourse,
Dorothy Sayers, Clifford Simak, Edward E. "Doc" Smith,
J. Stearn, William F. Temple, and A. E. van Vogt. One
novel of his own was published, and a number of poems.
A graduate of Harvard, cum laude, he served with
distinction in World War II as a Pilot-Instructor for
Free French pilots, including Jean-Jacques
Servan-Schreiber. He leaves a wife, Cynthia Trainer;
five children, Jonathan Vos Post, Andrew William Post,
Nicholas Charles Post, Joshua Stuart Post, Julia Hart
Post; and five grandchildren.
He had been a member of Science Fiction Writers of
America, Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers
of America, and the NRA. He worked with entertainers
such as Judy Garland, editors such as Hugo Gernsback,
poltitical leaders, poets and playrights. He had
hundreds of anecdotes about celebrities he had met,
from Neil Armstrong to T. S. Eliot, yet he believed in
heartfelt conversation with ordinary people about
subjects that mattered to him, including Art,
Literature, Philosophy, and Theology.
A modest innovator in publishing, he was responsible
for the first book with a Pop Art cover, the first
book with an Op Art cover, and the first "bookazine."
He lamented the decline of book editing from the
careful lifetime nurturing of authors and their
manuscripts by professionals educated in World
Literature, to mere acquisition of "product."
A traditionally conservative Wall Street Republican
whose father, Harry Pasternak, of Budapest, had risen
from penniless immigrant to owner of a seat on the New
York Stock Exchange, Samuel H. Post refused to vote
for George W. Bush, whom he felt had betrayed the
party and America.
There was funeral in Wickford Village,
Rhode Island, on Wednesday 25 May 2005.
=========
Further biographical and bibliographical details are available
at
http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/authorsP.html#SamPost
=========
Even more tragic, my father, the notable Science Fiction editor Samuel H. Post was slowly and painfully dying. See mini-obituaries on sfwa.org, locusmag.com, and full version on sff.net.
My father was born in a semiprime year, lived to a
semiprime age, and died in a semiprime year.
Samuel Herbert Post, aged 82, passed away at home,
from inoperable cancer, on the evening of Friday 20
May 2005 in Wickford Village, Rhode Island.
He was an editor and publisher of note in book, trade
paperback, and magazine publishing, for such authors
as Margery Allingham, Poul Anderson, Pearl S. Buck,
Taylor Caldwell, Curtis W. Casewit, Winston Churchill,
Mark Clifton, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson,
Walter Gibson, R. C. W. Ettinger, J. Hunter Holly,
Damon Knight, Cyril M. Kornbluth, Veronica Lake,
Hedy Lamarr, Murray Leinster, John Lymington, H.
P. Lovecraft, Frank Belknap Long, George B. Mair, S.
Michael, Sam Moskowitz, Senator George Murphy, Eric
North [B. C. Cronin], Andre Norton, Alan E. Nourse,
Dorothy Sayers, Clifford Simak, Edward E. "Doc" Smith,
J. Stearn, William F. Temple, and A. E. van Vogt. One
novel of his own was published, and a number of poems.
A graduate of Harvard, cum laude, he served with
distinction in World War II as a Pilot-Instructor for
Free French pilots, including Jean-Jacques
Servan-Schreiber. He leaves a wife, Cynthia Trainer;
five children, Jonathan Vos Post, Andrew William Post,
Nicholas Charles Post, Joshua Stuart Post, Julia Hart
Post; and five grandchildren.
He had been a member of Science Fiction Writers of
America, Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers
of America, and the NRA. He worked with entertainers
such as Judy Garland, editors such as Hugo Gernsback,
poltitical leaders, poets and playrights. He had
hundreds of anecdotes about celebrities he had met,
from Neil Armstrong to T. S. Eliot, yet he believed in
heartfelt conversation with ordinary people about
subjects that mattered to him, including Art,
Literature, Philosophy, and Theology.
A modest innovator in publishing, he was responsible
for the first book with a Pop Art cover, the first
book with an Op Art cover, and the first "bookazine."
He lamented the decline of book editing from the
careful lifetime nurturing of authors and their
manuscripts by professionals educated in World
Literature, to mere acquisition of "product."
A traditionally conservative Wall Street Republican
whose father, Harry Pasternak, of Budapest, had risen
from penniless immigrant to owner of a seat on the New
York Stock Exchange, Samuel H. Post refused to vote
for George W. Bush, whom he felt had betrayed the
party and America.
There was funeral in Wickford Village,
Rhode Island, on Wednesday 25 May 2005.
=========
Further biographical and bibliographical details are available
at
http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/authorsP.html#SamPost
=========