magicdragon2 ([info]magicdragon2) wrote,
@ 2005-05-28 18:39:00
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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

=========



(9 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Follow-up to Samuel H. Post's Obituary
[info]magicdragon2
2005-06-08 08:49 am UTC (link)
Short obits appeared as well at: Locus Online:
Editor and publisher Samuel H. Post died Friday, May 20, of cancer in Wickford Village, Rhode Island, at the age of 81. As editor for MacFadden-Bartell Corporation in the 1960s, he published editions of books by Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, Clifford D. Simak, A.E. van Vogt, and many others. Ultimate SF Web Guide entry

Ansible 215, June 2005, From Dave Langford, 94 London Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5AU.
R.I.P.
• Henry Corden (1920-2005)...
• Frank Gorshin (1934-2005)...
• Joe Grant (1908-2005)...
• Ed Kelleher (1943-2005)...
• Samuel H. Post (1924-2005), US editor, publisher and anthologist responsible for many 1960s MacFadden-Bartell sf titles, died on 20 May aged 81. His son Jonathan Vos Post co-maintains the `Ultimate SF Web Guide'.
• Thurl Ravenscroft (1914-2005)...
• Margaretta Scott (1912-2005)...
• Noreen Shaw (née Kane, 1930-2005)...
• Harold Wooster (1919-2005)...
• Pat York...
[which is too much talent to lose in one month]

Science Fiction Writers of America: News
***************************************************
Samuel H Post (1924-2005)
***************************************************
Samuel Herbert Post, who was a paperback editor for MacFadden-Bartell Corporation in the 50s and 60s passed away at home, from inoperable cancer, on the evening of Friday, May 20, 2005 in Wickford Village, Rhode Island. He was 81.

Although primarily working outside the genre, he worked with such science fiction authors as Poul Anderson, Gordon R. Dickson, and Frank Belknap Long.

There will be funeral in or near Wickford Village, Rhode Island, on Wednesday 25 May 2005, the details of which have not yet been announced.
***************************************************

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2005-07-14 06:42 pm UTC (link)
I think William punched me in the face when I was staying with his father in Westchester in 1963. Sorry to hear Samuel has passed on.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Hard-hitting anecdote
[info]magicdragon2
2005-07-14 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for your sympathy. I'd love to know more about that Westchester incident, since my father did indeed live there roughly then.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Samuel H. Post's father, Harry Pasternak
[info]magicdragon2
2006-02-22 05:30 pm UTC (link)
When my grandfather Harry Pasternak (my father's father) became wealthy ... a penniless immigrant who rose to the founder of a stockbrokerage, and owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange ... he told my father "you'll never want for money. Your children will never want for money. Your grandchildren will never want for money."

He smoked the big Cuban cigars. He played golf at the most exclusive clubs. The Mayor of New York dined with him. The Governor of New York State. My grandmother wore diamonds and mink; they had a yacht; they had drivers and cooks and maids. My grandfather sneered at the workman who tried to install a 3/4-size bathtub in the maid's apartment. "What sort of man forces his maid to bathe with her legs bent?"

But the Crash of '29 cut him down to a mere millionaire. When he died, the government got more than half of what he had left. My grandmother toured the world for a year or two, and when she died, the government got more than half of what she had left. Half of the half of the diminished half went into a trust fund for my aunt, and the other hemidemisemi-stash to a trust fund for my father, and lawyers and bankers feasted on the dripping roast. When my father died a few months ago, what was left got split between his five children.

I ended up with more than I've made selling poems and short stories, and less than I've made as a consultant.

But rather than mere money, my grandfather enabled my father to learn scholarship and sportsmanship. My Dad was captain of his high school football team, captain of his high school baseball team, captain of his high school basketball team, and valedictorian. My Dad had the chance to go to Harvard (English Lit, Cum Laude) -- with time out to enlist in the U.S. Army the morning after Pearl Harbor, and become a flight instructor. And to find a smart wife (my Mom's degree in English Lit was Magna Cum Laude), and invest in all the great intangibles of civilization in their children, myself the first.

So, continuing the trend, my investment in my son is in things more precious than money. Wealth is not money. Wealth is that which spins off cash and other things as needed, and frees you from selling your hours for dollars, while instead your dollars earn dollars.

The wealth I granted to my son: skills, meta-skills, and meta-meta-skills. Compassion, Science, Literature, Mathematics, Gamesmanship, Grantsmanship, Scholarship, Spaceship, Rhetoric, being socially engage', knowing how to kick ass, knowing when to walk away from a fight, knowing how to win in court.

Some say: "Social and economic success has no necessary connection to reproductive success." Okay, technically neither necessary nor sufficient. As channeled through the Bible channeled through Damon Runyon:

The race is not always to the swift.

But that's the way to bet.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Samuel H. Post's father
[info]magicdragon2
2006-02-22 05:33 pm UTC (link)
Science Fiction author S. M. Stiring commented (on Charles Stross's blog): "tsk, careless. You should always do generational transfers _inter vivos_, well before you kick off. It's a mystery to me why so many let themselves get caught by death duties."

To which I reply:

He (grandfather Harry) was not very old, nor apparently in bad health. He had a problem that was misdiagnosed, and mistreated, and he died. Today, that would almost always (in the US, this this class) become a Medical Malpractice case.

As a result, my father always intensely distrusted the medical establishment. And, as I say, because of the mismanaged Trusts, hated the legal and banking establishments. He himself delayed attending to the medical problem that, when finally diagnosed, was too far along to cure. This socially inherited avoidance of doctors has been maladaptive. So was it me -- or my genes -- that made me marry the daughter, granddaughter, and sister of doctors?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Samuel H. Post bio/bibliography, part 1
[info]magicdragon2
2006-03-03 06:35 pm UTC (link)
Samuel H. Post, father of Jonathan Vos Post, husband of Patricia Vos Post,
father-in-law of author Christine Carmichael,
and grandfather of author Andrew Carmichael Post;
and a low-profile but very important
science fiction editor and publisher, who published (among others):
Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, H.P. Lovecraft, Frank Belknap Long, and Andre Norton.
11 consecutive best-sellers, the first book with a Pop Art cover,
the first book with an Op Art cover, the first "bookazine"...
Science Fiction:
Samuel H. Post was the uncredited anthologist/editor of two
collections of science fiction stories:
"The 6 Fingers of Time and Other Stories" (New York: McFadden,
50-244, 1965)
"The Frozen Planet" (New York: McFadden, 60-229, 1966)
As Editor of MacFadden-Bartell Corporation, Sam Post published the
following paperback books (acquired them, wrote blurbs and
introductions, designed covers, wrote contracts, designed ads...):
Margery Allingham, "The Mind Readers", (75-175, 1967)
Poul Anderson, "The High Crusade", (50-211, 1964)
Poul Anderson, "The High Crusade", (60-349, 1968)
Poul Anderson, "Time and Stars", (60-206, 1965)
Taylor Caldwell, "The Devil's Advocate", (75-126, 1964)
Taylor Caldwell, "The Devil's Advocate", (75-184, 1967)
Curtis W. Casewit, "The Peacemakers", (60-321, 1968)
Mark Clifton, "When They Come From Space", (40-105, 1963)
Mark Clifton, "When They Come From Space", (50-341, 1967)
Philip K. Dick, "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" (60-240, 1966)
Philip K. Dick, "Now Wait for Last Year" (60-352, 1968)
Gordon R. Dickson, "No Room for Man", (50-179, 1963)
Gordon R. Dickson, "No Room for Man", (50-329, 1966)
R. C. W. Ettinger, "The Prospect of Immortality", (75-166, 1966),
1st Cryonics book in paperback
J. Hunter Holly, "The Mind Traders", (60-291, 1967)
Damon Knight, "Beyond the Barrier", (50-234, 1965)
Damon Knight, "Cities of Wonder", (75-183, 1967)
Cyril M. Kornbluth, "A Mile Beyond the Moon", (40-100, 1962)
Cyril M. Kornbluth, "A Mile Beyond the Moon", (50-288, 1966)
Murray Leinster, "The Greks Bring Gifts", (50-224, 1964)
Murray Leinster, "The Greks Bring Gifts", (50-418, 1968)
John Lymington, "Froomb!", (60-287, 1967)
George B. Mair, "The Day Khruschev Panicked", (50-183, 1963)
S. Michael, "Journey Into Limbo", (60-140, 1963)
Sam Moskowitz, "Doorway Into Time", (50-311, 1966)
Sam Moskowitz, "Microcosmic God and Other Stories", (60-335, 1968)
Eric North [B. C. Cronin], "The Ant Men", (60-277, 1967)
Alan E. Nourse, "Tiger by the Tail", (50-199, 1964)
Alan E. Nourse, "Tiger by the Tail", (60-309, 1968)
Dorothy Sayers, "Human and Inhuman Stories", (50-156, 1963)
Dorothy Sayers, "Human and Inhuman Stories", (60-298, 1967)
Dorothy Sayers, "Stories of the Supernatural", (50-170, 1963)
Dorothy Sayers, "Stories of the Supernatural", (50-300, 1967)
Clifford Simak, "All the Traps of Earth", (50-165, 1963)
Clifford Simak, "They Walked Like Men", (50-184, 1963)
Clifford Simak, "They Walked Like Men", (50-381, 1967)
Clifford Simak, "Way Station", (60-198, 1963)
Clifford Simak, "All the Traps of Earth", (50-388, 1967)
Edward E. "Doc" Smith, "The Vortex Blaster", (60-325, 1968)
J. Stearn, "The Door to the Future", (75-152, 1964)
William F. Temple, "Shoot at the Moon", (60-239, 1967)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Voyage of the Space Beagle", (60-146, 1963)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Voyage of the Space Beagle", (60-318, 1968)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Beast", (60-169, 1964)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Beast", (60-343, 1968)
A. E. van Vogt, "Empire of the Atom", (60-267, 1966)
A. E. van Vogt, "Masters of Time", (50-334, 1967)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Changeling", (50-335, 1967)
A. E. van Vogt, "The Wizard of Linn", (60-366, 1968)

(Reply to this)

Samuel H. Post bio/bibliography, part 2
[info]magicdragon2
2006-03-03 06:36 pm UTC (link)
unacknowledged co-editor of several other books including "Thesaurus of Book Digests",
editors-of-record Hiram Hayden and Edmund Fuller, New York: Crown, 1949
[acknowledgment reads in part "... to the late Will D. Howe, under whose
supervision the project was started some eight years ago. Thanks are also
due to Samuel H. Post and Patricia Vos, for extensive and valuable editorial work...";
Responsible for several Hollywood-related books, including:
* Ecstasy and Me (autobiography of Hedy Lamarr)
* Veronica Lake (autobiography) a friend of Ms.Lake,
Samuel H. Post paid for her funeral
* Say, Didn't You Used to Be George Murphy (autobiography of the
first singing, dancing senator)
* unpublished book on Judy Garland
Broke purportedly exclusive book contract and thus published:
* Pearl S. Buck's Story Bible [by first American woman to win Nobel Prize
in Literature] an exploit that had "Publishers Weekly" dub Samuel H. Post
"the James Bond of book publishing."
Walter Gibson: Samuel H. Post's 1960s reprint in paperback of "The Shadow" by
Walter B. Gibson started the great book revival of pulp fiction and radio
plays, which brought authors such as H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard
to a new generation of readers, and helped fuel the great comic book boom.
{Walter B. Gibson (1897-?) Super-prolific author of almost 500 books;
American stage magician (confidant of Houdini,
Thurston, and Dunninger) best known for creating "The Shadow" for the
Smith & Street pulp "The Shadow Magazine" and then writing almost 300 (!)
Shadow novels. The Shadow is a cross between Sherlock Holmes and
Houdini, a rule-breaking arbiter of his own personal sense of justice
(which does not always agree with the state's legal apparatus), who
conquers criminals through a combination (new to fiction) of
analytical deductive detection and gun-slinging force, while
remaining intellectually above the fray, and using magical tricks of
invisibility. The Shadow novels are ingenious artifices of
ambiguity, misdirection, strange crimes, costumed super-criminals,
red herrings, and structured confusion. Gibson created several parallel
but lesser magician/detectives: Norgil, Valdor, Ardini.}

(Reply to this)

Samuel H. Post bio/bibliography, part 3
[info]magicdragon2
2006-03-03 06:39 pm UTC (link)
Biographical:
Jan 1924: Born in New York City, son of Harry Pasternak (deceased)
and Theresa Salomon (deceased),
one sister (Alice Baer, deceased) who has 2 sons, 2 daughters;
June 1941: Graduated Barnard School for Boys as Valedictorian;
Sept 1941: Entered Harvard University [Strauss Freshman House];
1942: moved to Harvard's Dunster Upper-class House;
1942: Leave of Absence to enlist in U.S. Army Air Corps;
14 May 1942: enlisted, entered Basic Training;
1943: began Aviation Cadet training;
11 Mar 1944: Completed Aviation Cadet training;
12 Mar 1944: Commissioned Pilot/Officer;
??? 1944:[personal details removed by request of author];
Mar-June (?) 1944- Special Training;
July (?) 1944: Special Duties -- Pilot-Instructor for Free French pilots;
28 Sept 1945: Appointed Reserve Officer;
7 Oct 1945 Separated from Service;
15 (?) October 1945: Re-entered Harvard University;
1946: Completed requirements for Bachelor of Arts (English Literature);
Jan 1947: Graduated Harvard, Cum Laude;
June 1947: joined Crown Publishers, New York City, beginning 57+ years
as editor/publisher of books, trade paperbacks, magazines, and
special projects;
??? 1949: [personal details removed by request of author];
??? 1950: Married Patricia Frances Vos;
3 children: Jonathan Vos Post, Andrew William Post, Nicholas Charles Post,
Jonathan Vos Post has one child (grandchild of Samuel):
Andrew Carmichael Post
Andrew William Post has one child (grandchild of Samuel):
Alexander ___ Post
Nicholas Charles Post is married to Roxana ___ Post
??? 1958: Divorced Patricia Frances Vos;
??? 1959: Married Barbara Stuart;
2 children: Joshua Stuart Post and Julia Hart Post;
Joshua Stuart Post has 3 children, (grandchildren of Samuel):
William Stuart Post, Cecilia Clare Post, and Aaron ___ Post;
Julia Hart Post is currently unmarried;
1969 (?): [personal details removed by request of author];
10 July 1993: [personal details removed by request of author];
24 July 1995: Moved to Rhode Island;
9 Sept 1997: [personal details removed by request of author]
2002: Married Cynthia [personal details removed by request of author]
Currently pursuing various publishing projects,
including the "Wickford Valentine" series

(Reply to this)


[info]smystery
2008-08-17 04:56 am UTC (link)
Everything is impermanent

Regards
Andy Landers




______________________________________________________________________________

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