Discussion about The Catacombs.
German Mondbasis Alpha 1 books
Who was Patrick O'Connor?
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| Author |
Post |
Martin
06 Sep 2004 19:25:44 |
Some interesting information from a correspondent, about the curious German year one books which mixed up UFO and Space 1999...
Breitschopf books- Catacombs guide
| QUOTE | As I was looking at your info on the German paperbacks, I
noted you said that three translations had been published under a "fictitious name,"
that of Patrick O'Connor.
Actually, Patrick O'Connor was not fictitious at all; he was in fact a tie-in editor
at various US paperback publishing houses. (When I first knew of him -- when I was a
kid, in the 60s -- he was at Popular Library, where he commissioned scribes like
Walter ["John Tiger"] Wager, Michael Avallone, Lou Cameron and various others to
write novels based on I SPY [Wager], MANNIX [Avallone], MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE [Wager],
THE OUTSIDER [Cameron] and many more.)
To the best of my knowledge, he was not an SF editor, but I wonder if he wasn't
somehow involved with the licensing deal at Pocket -- the acquisition or something
-- and as a result, had his name MISTAKENLY APPROPRIATED to use as a by-line, from
having been displayed prominently (or incorrectly) on a foreign rights contract.
From what I understand (Walter Wager, who just passed away, was a friend of mine),
Patrick O'Connor was a good and forthright fellow, so I think it unlikely that he
tried to siphon off any foreign money for himself. Compound that with the prominent
UFO bundling (and bungling) of those first German titles, and it seems pretty
certain the screw-up was on the German end of things.
David Spencer |
 |
Huntsman
08 Sep 2004 22:18:54 |
Was ANY money made off any of the novels? I can't imagine that they had a large print or circulation. But, I could be wrong... |
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